The Pro V1 was introduced in October 2000 at the PGA Tour’s Invensys Classic in Las Vegas, but Titleist had been developing the ball for about five years, trying to blend the short-game spin and control of wound balata-covered balls with the distance of two-piece, solid-core balls.
The Pro V1’s large rubber core, firm mantle layer and soft urethane cover created more distance off the tee, consistency with irons and spin control with wedges for players in prototype testing. At the Invensys Classic that week in 2000, Titleist hoped the seeding process would convince 20 to 25 players to use the ball, and Mac Fritz, then senior vice president of tour promotion, brought 60 dozen golf balls to the tournament.
That turned out to be an underestimation, as 47 players immediately switched to the Pro V1, including that year’s tournament winner Billy Andrade as well as runner-up Phil Mickelson.
In the weeks that followed, the buzz surrounding the Pro V1 grew and demand swelled, prompting Titleist to move the ball’s retail release forward from March 2001 to December 2000.
Within four months of Andrade’s win in Las Vegas, the Pro V1 became the best-selling golf ball in the marketplace – a position it has held ever since.
Six months after Andrade’s victory in Las Vegas, the Pro V1 was the most-played ball at the 2001 Masters, and Retief Goosen used it to win the 2001 U.S. Open.
Titlelist says the Pro V1 accounts for more than 4,000 worldwide professional victories on different tours.
On Monday, as pros arrived at the practice area at TPC Summerlin to prepare for this week’s Shriners Children’s Open, they were greeted by white boxes containing the newest versions of Titleist’s flagship golf balls: the 2025 Pro V1 and Pro V1x.
New golf balls: Players can use new balls from Titleist this week on Tour.
For decades, Las Vegas has been a place where fortunes can be made, and many professional golfers have amassed their fortunes using a Titleist Pro V1 or Pro V1x golf ball. On Monday, as pros arrived at the practice area at TPC Summerlin to prepare for this week’s Shriners Children’s Open, they were greeted by white boxes containing the newest versions of Titleist’s flagship golf balls: the 2025 Pro V1 and Pro V1x.
While Titleist is keeping details of the new designs under wraps, the seeding process that started Monday is the first sentence in the next chapter of the Pro V1 story – a story that began in research and development offices in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, but truly became a page-turner in Las Vegas.
Pro V1 history
The Pro V1 was introduced in October 2000 at the PGA Tour’s Invensys Classic in Las Vegas, but Titleist had been developing the ball for about five years, trying to blend the short-game spin and control of wound balata-covered balls with the distance of two-piece, solid-core balls.
The Pro V1’s large rubber core, firm mantle layer and soft urethane cover created more distance off the tee, consistency with irons and spin control with wedges for players in prototype testing. At the Invensys Classic that week in 2000, Titleist hoped the seeding process would convince 20 to 25 players to use the ball, and Mac Fritz, then senior vice president of tour promotion, brought 60 dozen golf balls to the tournament.
That turned out to be an underestimation, as 47 players immediately switched to the Pro V1, including tournament winner Billy Andrade and runner-up Phil Mickelson.
The 2023 Titleist Pro V1 (David Dusek/Golfweek)
The name “Pro V1” was initially just an interim stamp for balls submitted to the USGA for conformance testing – not a permanent name. The ball was made to replace the Titleist Professional (Pro), and the mantle layer was created using veneer (V). The number 1 indicated that it was the first version submitted to the USGA.
In the weeks that followed, the buzz surrounding the Pro V1 grew and demand swelled, prompting Titleist to move the ball’s retail release forward from March 2001 to December 2000.
Within four months of Andrade’s win in Las Vegas, the Pro V1 became the best-selling golf ball in the marketplace – a position it has held ever since.
Hello, Pro V1x
Titleist introduced the first Pro V1x in 2003 as a companion ball to the Pro V1. While the Pro V1 has always been a three-piece ball, the Pro V1x has, from the start, been a four-piece ball with a dual-core design that offers a firmer feel, higher flight and slightly more short-game spin than the Pro V1.
The 2023 Titleist Pro V1x (David Dusek/Golfweek)
The updated, third-generation Pro V1 was also released in 2003, and Titleist has followed a two-year product cycle for updating both models ever since.
Pro V1: Today’s most-played ball
Six months after Andrade’s victory in Las Vegas, the Pro V1 was the most-played ball at the 2001 Masters, and Retief Goosen used it to win the 2001 U.S. Open.
Justin Thomas won both his his PGA Championships using a Titleist Pro V1x ball. (Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports)
Since 2001, the Pro V1 has been the most-played ball in every men’s major championship. Last season, 70 percent of the golf balls played on the PGA Tour and 76 percent of the balls played on the LPGA were either a Pro V1 or Pro V1x. Among elite amateurs the percentages are even higher: 84 percent at the U.S. Amateur and U.S. Women’s Amateur, 89 percent at the NCAA Division I Men’s Championship and 92 percent at the NCAA Division I Women’s Championship.
What to expect from the new Pro V1, Pro V1x
While Titleist has not revealed specific details about the 2025 versions of the Pro V1 and Pro V1x, players and fans will be watching the Shriners Open and monitoring social media for any insights into the performance differences experienced by pros in Las Vegas. Historically, each new iteration of the Pro V1 and Pro V1x brings refinements in distance, greenside control and overall feel, rather than radical changes.
2023 Titleist Pro V1, Pro V1x golf balls (Courtesy of Titleist)
For instance, the 2021 models featured a redesigned aerodynamic package, with the Pro V1 carrying a 388-dimple pattern and the Pro V1x featuring a 348-dimple count. Titleist later explained that the new patterns generated more consistency and longer flight. In 2023, Titleist introduced High Gradient Core (Pro V1) and High Gradient Dual Core (Pro V1x) technologies to further reduce spin off the tee while maintaining control in the short game.
When will 2025 Pro V1, Pro V1x be in stores?
If tradition holds, after the new Pro V1 and Pro V1x are seeded on the PGA Tour, they will be made available to the public in January 2025, likely shortly after the PGA Merchandise Show scheduled for Jan. 21-24.
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The 2023 Pro V1 and Pro V1x retain their greenside spin, and now each has a gradient core designed to help boost distance.
Gear: Titleist Pro V1, Pro V1x (2023) Price: $54.99 per dozen Specs: Three-piece construction with cast urethane cover (Pro V1); Four-piece, dual-core construction with cast urethane cover (Pro V1x) Available: Jan. 25
Who They’re For: Golfers who want more distance off the tee and from the fairway with the maximum level of short-game spin.
The Skinny: The 2023 Pro V1 and Pro V1x retain their soft urethane covers and greenside spin, and now each has a high-gradient core designed to boost long-game distance.
The Deep Dive: Titleist ran the table in 2022 at the men’s majors, with Scottie Scheffler (Masters), Justin Thomas (PGA Championship), Matt Fitzpatrick (U.S. Open) and Cameron Smith (British Open) each winning with a Pro V1 or Pro V1x ball.
For 2023, Titleist is releasing updates to the Pro V1 and Pro V1x, the most-played golf balls on the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, LPGA, NCAA Championships and every major amateur championship. The Pro V1 remains a three-piece ball with a large core inside a casing layer covered with a 388-dimple cast thermostat cover. The Pro V1x remains a four-piece ball with a dual-core design inside the casing layer and a urethane cover. The most significant change to the balls is how the cores are designed.
For 2023 the Pro V1 and Pro V1x have a high-gradient core designed to be soft in the center and grow progressively firmer toward the perimeter.
The 2023 Titleist Pro V1 is a three-piece ball with a gradient core and urethane cover. (Courtesy of Titleist)
Titleist made the core of the Pro V1x Left Dash and 2021’s limited-release Pro V1 Left Dot with high-gradient core technology without calling attention to it. After listening to player feedback and tweaking the design, the brand decided to add it to the Pro V1 and Pro V1x this season.
Titleist said a large differential between the rigid outer portion of the core and the soft inner area produces less spin on long-game shots because it transfers more energy, more efficiently, to the inner portion of the core.
In other words, the gradient core allows for more energy created by your swing to become forward thrust on long-iron, hybrid, fairway wood and driver shots instead of creating spin. However, because the soft cover of the Pro V1 and Pro V1x is easily pinched between the face of your wedge and the stiff casing layer, golfers can generate greenside spin on slower-swinging short-game shots.
The four-piece Pro V1x feels firmer and creates more spin than the three-piece Pro V1. (Courtesy of Titleist)
In the dual-core Pro V1x, the inner core’s volume was increased 44 percent, and now it has a gradient core. The outer core, which is slightly thinner, was made marginally firmer.
In a higher-compression ball such as the Pro V1x, more spin is typically created with longer clubs, but using two cores creates a hardness gradient that allows for more speed. The new gradient core amplifies that effect, so the 2023 Pro V1x retains its firmer feel but can now deliver more speed.
While Titleist is not touting that the updated Pro V1 and Pro V1x feel softer because of the gradient cores, PGA Tour reps did hear that as a comment from some players during the seeding process in the fall.
In addition to providing more distance off the tee and with long clubs, Titleist said that in testing the 2023 Pro V1 and Pro V1x created tighter dispersion because overall spin is reduced, so the effect of hooks, slices and wind are diminished.
The relationship between the two balls has not changed with the update. The 2023 Pro V1x should fly slightly higher and generate slightly more spin than the Pro V1, while the Pro V1 will still feel softer.
The next generation of Titleist’s premium balls, the 2023 Pro V1 and Pro V1x, are at the PGA Tour’s 2022 Shiners Children’s Open.
The only place better than Las Vegas in October for testing golf equipment is indoors because the weather is consistently good and TPC Summerlin, the site of this week’s Shriners Children’s Open tends to yield at a lot of birdies. Last year, Sungjae Im won with a score of 24 under par.
So, Titleist has opted to once again bring the next generation of Pro V1 and Pro V1x balls to Las Vegas for their tour debut this week.
Sort of.
Before the start of last week’s Sanderson Farms, three players who had been involved in the balls’ prototype testing—Garrick Higgo, M.J. Daffue and Gary Woodland—asked if they could put the balls in play. The new balls are made in Ball Plant III, one of Titleist’s facilities in New Bedford, Massachusetts, so several “white box” prototype packages were delivered overnight to the players so they could be used.
It turns out the extra expense was worth it as Duffue made a hole-in-one using his new Pro V1x on the 182-yard fourth hole on Thursday and Higgo finished in third, just one shot out of the playoff between Mackenzie Hughes and Sepp Straka.
While Titleist has not released any details about the new balls, the company can only hope to match the success it enjoyed on the PGA Tour last season because each of the four major championships was won by a player using a Titleist ball—Scottie Scheffler (Masters, Pro V1), Justin Thomas (PGA Championship, Pro V1x), Matt Fitzpatrick (U.S. Open Pro V1x) and Cameron Smith (British Open, Pro V1x).
Titleist Pro V1 (David Dusek/Golfweek)
The 2021 Titleist Pro V1 is a three-piece ball with a large rubber core encased in a mantle layer that also features a cast urethane cover. Since it debuted in Las Vegas in 2000, the Pro V1 has always been a three-piece ball, so it would be surprising if the 2023 model was not a three-piece construction.
Titleist Pro V1x (David Dusek/Golfweek)
The 2021 Pro V1x is a four-piece ball that has a dual-core design encased by the mantle. Like the Pro V1, it has a cast urethane cover, but its design gives it a firmer feel and helps it produce a slightly-higher ball flight and spin rate.
BROOKLINE, Mass – Brooks Koepka, a two-time U.S. Open winner, is considering substantial equipment changes before the 2022 U.S. Open at The Country Club.
However, on Tuesday morning Koepka practiced putting and worked in the short-game area using a 2017 version of Titleist’s Pro V1x, the ball he used to win both his U.S. Open titles (2017 and ’18) as well as two PGA Championships (2018 and ’19).
Brooks Koepka’s putter and ball Tuesday at the 2022 U.S. Open (David Dusek/Golfweek)
While hitting a series of pitch shots, he spoke briefly with Justin Thomas and asked which ball Thomas played. The winner of last month’s PGA Championship replied that he is playing the 2021 version of the Pro V1x, then he asked Koepka if he was having golf ball troubles. Koepka smiled and said he was working with the 2017 Pro V1x again.
Brooks Koepka’s golf balls Tuesday at the 2022 U.S. Open (David Dusek/Golfweek)
Thomas said his ball, the 2021 version, would spin more than the 2017 version, smiled and went back to hitting pitch shots.
Thirty minutes later on the driving range, after Koepka warmed up with his Cleveland wedges and Srixon irons, he took a Srixon headcover off his driver, but the club was a TaylorMade M5.
Brooks Koepka practices with a TaylorMade M5 driver at the 2022 U.S. Open. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
Koepka used the TaylorMade M5 to win the PGA Championship at Bethpage.
Koepka is scheduled to start his first round at 1:25 p.m. Thursday alongside Cameron Smith and reigning Masters champion Scottie Scheffler.
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Every week on the PGA Tour, a vast majority of golfers use either the Titleist Pro V1 or Pro V1x golf balls. Two weeks ago at the Northern Trust, 87 of the 123 players (71 percent) used either a Pro V1 or Pro V1x, including winner Tony Finau (Pro V1) and the man he defeated in a playoff, Cameron Smith (Pro V1x).
Titleist says those two balls are ideal for most players, but the company does offer other premium models for players who have particular needs or preferences.
And today, Titleist announced a limited retail release of a custom performance option: the Pro V1 Left Dot for golfers looking for a lower flight and less spin with woods and long irons than the Pro V1.
The Left Dot joins another ball released in limited batches: the Pro V1x Left Dash balls, which have a high flight similar to the Pro V1x but with less full-swing spin and a firmer feel. That Left Dash ball had been available to professional golfers as a custom performance option and was available by order for consumers and at a small selection of retail shops.
And in 2018, Titleist launched the AVX for golfers who want a softer feel, lower flight and less spin on full-swing shots. That ball was updated in 2020, which means it is due for an update in 2022.
The company also allows professional golfers to continue using previous generations of balls after discontinuing their availability at retail, along with subtly different versions of the Pro V1 and Pro V1x, lumping them into the custom performance category.
Keep scrolling for more details on the new Left Dot.
Titleist updated the most-played balls in golf to make the Pro V1 and Pro V1x higher-flying, softer feeling and spinnier around the greens.
Gear: Titleist Pro V1, Pro V1x (2021) Price: $49.99 per dozen Specs: Three-piece, urethane-covered ball (Pro V1); four-piece, urethane-covered ball (Pro V1x) Available: Jan. 27
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The latest version of the Titleist Pro V1 and Pro V1x, the most-played golf balls on the PGA Tour, LPGA Tour and every other professional circuit, first appeared in the public eye at the Shiners Hospitals for Children Open in October.
Handed out to players in white boxes on the range at TPC Summerlin – nearly 20 years to the day after the first Pro V1 balls went into play at the 2000 Invensys Classic in Las Vegas – 12 golfers immediately put the new balls into play. In the weeks that followed, more players switched into the latest Pro V1 and Pro V1x, including Justin Thomas and Adam Scott.
Based on conversations with players and caddies over the last several years, Titleist has made enhancements and refinements to this season’s Pro V1 and Pro V1x, and now the Fairhaven, Mass.-based company is making them available to the public.
Every company that makes golf balls talks with golfers and asks what they like, don’t like and would love to see from their golf ball, but Titleist does more than chat with golfers on the range. It holds sit-down conversations regularly with PGA Tour pros before tournaments to gauge what they are looking for, as well as surveying recreational golfers around the world. The company heard most in recent talks that golfers wanted even more greenside spin and higher-launching shots from the fairway, along with a softer feel.
The three-piece Titleist Pro V1. (Titleist)
To make that happen with the 2021 Pro V1, Titleist gave the three-piece ball a softer core encased in a new, more rigid casing layer. The firmer casing layer increases ball speed and lowers spin on high-speed shots, but the softer core offsets the firmer feel that otherwise would be created. Over those layers, Titleist designed and applied a softer thermoset cast-urethane cover that features a new 388-dimple pattern. It is the first new dimple pattern for the Pro V1 since 2011, and the company said it makes the Pro V1 more aerodynamic and consistent.
Off the tee and from the fairway with longer clubs, golfers can expect the new Pro V1 to boost ball speed and fly slightly higher. Around the greens, the softer cover can be grabbed by the grooves in wedges and short irons more easily, resulting in more spin and control. And with the firmer casing layer and softer core canceling each other out, the softer cover also should create a softer feel for golfers on every shot.
The Titleist four-piece Pro V1x for 2021. (Titleist)
Titleist also made similar modifications to the four-piece, dual-core Pro V1x.
Engineers utilized the same casing layer found in the Pro V1 and softened the dual cores’ overall compression for extra ball speed. After testing 32 dimple patterns, Titleist found a new 348-dimple pattern developed in 2012 that delivers the combination of aerodynamic stability and speed the company wanted to pair with the newly enhanced core and casing layers. Like the Pro V1, the 2021 Pro V1x has a softer thermoset cast-urethane than was used in previous years.
The result is the 2021 Pro V1x flies higher than the new Pro V1, feels softer than previous versions and provides golfers with more spin on chips, pitches and approach shots.
