Pad Printing, also known as Transfer Pad Printing, is a process whereby products of odd shapes, sizes, or substrates can be printed on without any sacrifice to detail. Golf ball printing is an area in which pad printing proves particularly useful. Due to the size and texture of a golf ball, other printing methods are likely not to produce the quality images that are attained through pad printing Herein lies the benefit!

Pad Printing, is similar to lithography in that an image is transferred from one surface to another. Lithography uses a rubber blanket to transfer an image to the final product, whereas pad printing utilizes a silicon pad. Due to the fact that silicon is able to conform to the surface that it contacts, there is significantly more flexibility achieved in pad printing. This translates to a cleaner and more precise image on your product!

http://www.uniquepadprinting.com/pad_printing.htm

Note in the above text that "pad printing utilizes a silicon pad"
and compare with the information from Wikipedia that says the same in the spanish defrinition of Tampografía

La tampografía, en la impresión, es un proceso de reproducción relativamente joven. Consiste en una placa metálica revestida de una emulsión fotosensible, donde se graba la imagen por un proceso químico, formando un huecograbado, esta placa es cubierta de tinta y barrida por una cuchilla, posteriormente un tampón de silicona presiona sobre el grabado de la placa recogiendo la tinta del huecograbado y transportándola sobre la pieza que será impresa por contacto. Este sistema es actualmente muy utilizado para el marcaje de piezas industriales y publicidad.