Those of you with your ear to the web will know that Titleist has been testing an 'alternative to Pro V1 or Pro V1x' called AVX in Arizona, California and Florida over the winter months.
Now that testing is complete, the Titleist AVX ball has been officially released across the USA today and will be hitting the UK and Ireland in July.
Titleist say that their aim was to create a high performing ball that was long, but felt softer than the Pro V1. Michael Mahoney, Vice President of Titleist Golf Ball Marketing explains the rationale:
Our R&D team is constantly exploring new golf ball technologies, only a limited number of prototypes ever make it past the initial machine and player testing phases. AVX stood out from the beginning. Ultimately, it was important to let golfers decide whether this golf ball had a place in our line and the results of our test market were emphatic.
During the test market, we heard from a lot of golfers playing competitive models who realised they had been giving up performance in order to play a softer feeling golf ball. With AVX, not only were they getting the feel that they love, they were also getting longer distance with great performance in the short game – and they were playing better. That’s the reason so many golfers are talking about this golf ball
The AVX uses a 3-piece construction with a high speed, low compression core to create the ball speed. Around this is a new high flex casing layer that enhances this and also modifies the spin to keep it low for more distance.
Finally the GRN41 thermoset cast urethane elastomer cover promotes a soft feel with durability and control. The dimple pattern uses what Titleist calls a catenary aerodynamic design in order to deliver a lower, more penetrating trajectory.
This makes the AVX the lowest flying, lowest spinning and softest feeling high performance ball that Titleist has made to date and it comes in a white or high-optic yellow.