FAIRHAVEN, Mass. -- Acushnet Company (Titleist, FootJoy, Cobra, Pinnacle) Chairman Wally Uihlein said his Fairhaven, Mass.-based company -- the world's largest golf company -- has started the process of notifying 60 employees to return to work Oct. 11.

Those 60 were among the 215 employees laid off last month from its golf factory after Hurricane Rita damaged DuPont's Orange, Texas, facility, where Surlyn is warehoused. Golf ball manufacturers use Surlyn to make the covers of many golf balls.

"Beginning the week of Oct. 24, we plan to return to our pre-Hurricane Rita golf ball production rate at Ball Plant II. Our intention is to have all of the 215 affected associates back to their normal positions at that time," Uihlein said.

Uihlein said that two truckloads of Surlyn previously marked for Acushnet in the DuPont warehouse were not damaged. One truckload arrived Oct. 3 and another Oct. 4.

"We have been in contact with other users of Surlyn resins and purchased varying volumes of Surlyn that were delivered this week with more deliveries to come in future weeks," Uihlein said. "DuPont has advised us that it will be able to allocate the majority of our monthly Surlyn orders beginning later this month."

Uihlein reiterated his earlier statement that the Surlyn situation will have "minimal impact" on Acushnet's shipments.

"We traditionally maintain our warehouse inventory at about two months of sales. However, we are allocating shipments during this period of uncertainty to ensure broad and fair distribution to our worldwide accounts," Uihlein said.