Titleist Golf Balls – Page 3 – Syndication Server

Titleist announces limited release of special Tour ball: Pro V1 Left Dot

The Titleist Pro V1 Left Dot has been available to pros for years, providing a low flight with less full-swing spin favored by some players.

Gear: Titleist Pro V1 Left Dot golf ball
Price: $49.99 per dozen
Specs: Three-piece golf ball with a cast urethane cover.
Available: Sept. 1

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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 Pro V1, Pro V1x golf balls (2021)

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.

Titleist Pro V1 (2021) — 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.

Titleist Pro V1x (2021) — 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.

2021 Titleist Pro V1 & Pro V1x golf balls review

Golfweek’s David Dusek reviews the all new 2021 Titleist Pro V1 & Pro V1x golf balls.

Titleist brings prototype Pro V1 and Pro V1x balls to Las Vegas

Pros at the 2020 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open will get to use the new newest Titleist balls for the first time.

The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted just about everything, but at least one time-honored tradition is rolling on like clockwork, the release of prototype Titleist Pro V1 and Pro V1x golf balls at the PGA Tour’s event in Las Vegas.

White boxes are distributed and put into players’ lockers every two years when the Tour arrives at TPC Summerlin, and this year was no different. While Titleist’s ball factories and headquarters had to close during the pandemic’s height in the spring, the prototype Pro V1 and Pro V1x balls were manufactured at Titleist Ball Plant 3 in New Bedford, Massachusetts.

As Golfweek reported last week, the company has been hiring scores of people to help it ramp up production once again.

Titleist Pro V1 and Pro V1x prototype balls. (David Dusek/Golfweek)

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the release of the first Titleist Pro V1 at the 2000 Invensys Classic. That week, 47 players in the field switched into the new multi-layer, urethane-covered ball, including Billy Andrade, who went on to win.

Historically, Titleist brings prototypes of the three-piece Pro V1 and the four-piece Pro V1x balls to Las Vegas to get feedback from players, then makes the balls available to consumers in late January of the following year.

The company is not providing any details regarding modifications it has made to the balls at this time, but it is likely that the balls are receiving refinements instead of significant overhauls. Why? According to Titleist, about 73 percent of all the players on the PGA Tour last season used either a Pro V1 or a Pro V1x. That number jumps to 75 percent on the European Tour and 83 percent on the LPGA Tour.

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Titleist Tour Speed golf ball

Titleist’s Tour Speed is designed to deliver distance and greenside spin at a lower price point than premium balls.

Gear: Titleist Tour Speed golf ball
Price: $39.99
Specs: Three-piece construction with a urethane cover

When manufacturers know they can charge $50 for a dozen premium Tour-quality golf balls, it lets chemical engineers and people who specialize in aerodynamics go crazy and make the no-holds-barred, best ball possible.

When balls are targeted around $20 per dozen, those same ball designers can typically add one or two good attributes, but golfers know the bargain balls are not going to perform like their premium counterparts.

Between those types of balls in the $27-$40 range, things get tough. Consumers expect products that deliver on every shot, but price restraints mean companies have to be smart.

The new, three-piece Titleist Tour Speed is retailing at $39.99 per dozen, about $10 to $15 less per dozen than the most popular ball in golf, the three-piece Pro V1 played by Webb Simpson, Adam Scott, Tony Finau and 2019 U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland. Ask people at Titleist and they will tell you, the Pro V1 performs better than then Tour Speed, but for golfers who don’t want to pay the premium price, they made the Tour Speed to be the best-performing ball in its category.

You might recall, Titleist released the very limited EXP-01 ball in select pro shops in October. The stores that did get a shipment of those balls received only a few boxes, and it turns out the EXP-01 was a prototype of the new Tour Speed.

Titleist Tour Speed golf ball — The three-piece Tour Speed has a large core, firm casing layer and a soft, TPU cover. (Titleist)

The core of the Tour Speed is designed to deliver distance off the tee, and it is surrounded by a firm, low-spin casing layer. On top of those layers, Titleist gave the Tour Speed a 346-dimple cover pattern designed to create a penetrating ball flight that bores through the wind.

While the Pro V1 and Pro V1x are made with cast urethane covers, the Tour Speed has a cover made from a proprietary thermoplastic polyurethane. Titleist said it is more durable and provides more greenside spin than the Surlyn covers commonly found on balls in this price range, but it is more cost-effective than the urethane used in the Pro V1 and Pro V1x.

Golfers who participated in blind tests at Titleist’s Manchester Lane facility in Massachusetts said that while they preferred the short game performance of the Pro V1 and Pro V1x to the Tour Speed, they like the Tour Speed more than other balls in its category, which was Titleist’s objective.

When the Titleist Tour Speed arrives in stores, it will be available only in white, but a yellow version is expected in the coming months.

Titleist AVX golf ball (2020)

Titleist has updated the AVX to offer players more distance and enhanced greenside spin.

Gear: Titleist AVX golf ball (2020)
Price: $47.99 per dozen
Specs: Three-piece, urethane-covered ball. Available in white and yellow.

The most-played balls in golf are the Titleist Pro V1 and Pro V1x. The Pro V1x tends to fly higher off the tee, spins slightly more and feels firmer at impact while the Pro V1 flies slightly lower, spins a little less and feels softer. With cast urethane covers, both balls also produce great greenside control.

In 2018 Titleist started offering a softer-feeling, lower-spinning option, AVX, for golfers who tend to create excessive spin and players who want an even softer feel.

For 2020, Titleist updated the AVX to offer players more distance and enhanced greenside spin.

Titleist AVX (2020) — For 2020, the Titleist AVX has a larger core and firmer casing layer. (Titleist)

The AVX’s position within the Titleist premium ball lineup has not changed. It is still the lowest-spinning, lowest-flying of the three balls, and the updated AVX has a larger core to help it develop more speed off the tee. Titleist also tweaked the casing layer than surrounds the core, making it thinner. While the core of the new AVX is bigger than the original ball’s, the compression is still around 80, so it remains softer than the Pro V1 (90) and Pro V1x (100).

The 352-dimple tetrahedron pattern that covers the AVX ball has not changed, but the walls of the dimples were tweaked slightly to give the ball more lift. The 2020 AVX flies higher than the original ball but still lower than the Pro V1.

To create more shortgame control, Titleist made the cover 17 percent thinner so the grooves in wedges and short irons can grab the ball more effectively and generate more spin, which should give golfers more control.

Titleist Tour Soft golf ball (2020)

The second version of the Titleist Tour provides more distance off the tee and control around the green while maintaining soft feel.

Gear: Titleist Tour Soft golf ball (2020)
Price: $34.99 per dozen
Specs: Two-piece, Surlyn-covered ball. Available in white and yellow.
Available: Jan. 22

Titleist debuted its first Tour Soft golf balls in 2018 to replace the NXT Tour and NXT Tour S in the company’s stable. According to the company, golfers who bought the Tour Soft liked the soft feel at impact and the distance produced with their irons.

Still, company research showed that if there were areas where players wanted to see improvement, it was distance off the tee and control around the greens. For 2020, with the release of the updated Tour Soft balls, Titleist made a point to address those two areas.

The spherically-tiled 342 cuboctahedron dimple pattern has not changed for 2020, but the edges and depth of the dimples were modified slightly and the Surlyn blend used to make the cover is subtly firmer. As a result, the Tour Soft now has a lower, more penetrating trajectory.

The ball also should deliver more greenside spin because the cover is thinner, so the grooves in wedges and short irons can bite into it and generate spin more effectively.

Titleist Tour Soft balls — The Tour Soft has a bigger core plus a new side stamp and alignment aid. (Titleist)

To make the ball longer off the tee, the core has been enlarged to 1.61 inches in diameter (by rule, balls cannot be smaller than 1.68 inches in diameter including the cover). It’s the largest core found in any Titleist ball, and the company said it delivers more speed off the tee and with long irons. The softness of the core also helps offset the slightly firmer cover material, so the ball still feels soft at impact.

Finally, Titleist gave the Tour Soft a new side stamp, modeling it after a popular custom offering the company had made available online. The perpendicular lines are designed to boldly stand out against the white and yellow balls and make it easier for golfers to align putts and square their putter at address.

Titleist Velocity golf ball (2020)

The fifth-generation Velocity is still long off the tee, but now it has more stopping power on approach shots.

Gear: Titleist Velocity golf ball (2020)
Price: $27.99 per dozen
Specs: Two-piece, Surlyn-covered ball. Available in white, matte green, matte orange and matte pink.
Available: Jan. 22

There is nothing subtle about the updated Titleist Velocity golf balls. They are an unabashed attempt by the Fairhaven, Mass.-based company to help golfers who want more distance off the tee and more style in their game. However, after conducting research and gathering feedback from Velocity players, Titleist has added more stopping power on approach shots.

To help golfers add yards off the tee, the fifth-generation Velocity has been designed with a slightly larger core for more speed. It also has an updated cover pattern. The tiled 350-dimple octahedral pattern was developed to give the ball more lift. Coupled with the larger core, that should aid in creating more carry distance with the driver.

The added lift also will help golfers hit their long irons and hybrids higher, which means those shots should come down on a steeper angle and stop faster after landing.

For 2020, Velocity is available in white, matte green, matte orange and matte pink. The white and pink balls are available with single-digit numbers (1-4), while the green and orange balls are available in double-digit numbers (00, 11, 22, 33).