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.
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 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.