Titleist Unveil The 2013 Pro V1 And
Pro V1x Golf Balls
Longer performing and longer lasting.
"It's no easy task for our Golf Ball R&D team to improve upon our industry leading products." Titleist's Mary Lou Bohn.
Since it's launch in 2000, the Titleist Pro V1 (and Pro V1x) have been the go-to ball for professionals and wannabe-professionals (i.e. amateurs) across the globe. Offering a premium level balance of distance and feel, the Pro V1 range has undergone 5 renovations since then.
Now, in preparation for the 2013 season, the Titleist Pro V1 and Pro V1x have been updated once again. Both will be in shops from March.
What's New
The 2013 Titleist Pro V1 is the softest Pro V1 golf ball Titleist have ever produced. Designed to offer improved driver and long-game performance and a shallower angle of descent that produces more roll, the 353-dimple 3-piece Pro V1 has also seen some cosmetic enhancements to maintain that out-of-the-box appearance longer.
The 2013 Titleist Pro V1x has been tweaked to offer a slightly different launch than previous generations. The 328-dimple 4-piece ball features an extremely soft ZG process core that produces a lower, tighter ball flight whilst maintaining the x-level downrange peak trajectory.
Tour Feedback
Before the 2013 Pro V1 and Pro V1x balls make it to market, they are rigorously tested by Titleist's R&D team along with their Tour players. Feedback and test results help Titleist engineers tweak the design and ensure the changes to the balls are meaningful performance improvements.
Titleist also invited 45,000 golfers around the world to join in the testing process, sending them prototype balls in order to gain their opinion on the changes the R&D had made.
Pro V1 vs Pro V1x
Simply put, the Titleist Pro V1 has more driver spin, a softer feel and slightly less distance when compared to the Titleist Pro V1x. The 2013 Pro V1x will also promote a lower ball flight than before.
When talking with Titleist, they told us that of the amateurs that play Pro V1 balls, 60% prefer to use the Pro V1 over the Pro V1x, whereas only 25% of Titleist's Tour players prefer the Pro V1 model.
Tour Success
Titleist's Tour players have been using the new balls for a few weeks now and have already found success. In fact, Brian Gay's win with the new Titleist Pro V1x, at the Humana Challenge last week, made it seven wins already for the new Pro V1 range.
The new Pro V1 and Pro V1x were first offered to Titleist's players at the Shriners Hospital for Children Classic in October last year. Immediately, eighteen players switched, five of whom finished in the top 13 that week.
Since then, players like Adam Scott (Pro V1) and Luke Donald (Pro V1x) have trusted the new ball in victories.
What They Said
"I like to see a slightly lower ball flight on my driver. I feel like when I bring the ball flight down, I can control it a little better and with this ball I’ve been able to do that."
- Adam Scott (Pro V1)
"I put the 2013 Pro V1x into play for the first time at the Dunlop Phoenix and won on a tight, demanding golf course. From tee to green, I felt I had total control of distance, ball flight and shot shape, and on and around the greens, the ball performed just as I needed."
- Luke Donald (Pro V1x)
"The 2013 Pro V1x has all the characteristics I want. You want something that (flies) high but is low spin off the tee, but then something you can control with your wedges and your irons."
- Zach Johnson (Pro V1x)
"What I’ve seen is with the cover…I can play a ball a full round now. I can probably play it more than that…. The ball’s durability is great.”
- Webb Simpson (Pro V1x)
What We Said
Back in November, Titleist sent us some prototype of new Titleist balls and asked to give our feedback on our findings: