Titleist Pro V1x

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~ ~ The Titleist Pro V1x is the successor to the Titleist Pro V1, which Titleist launched back in 1996.
Before the mid-1990’s, the golf ball of choice of the vast majority of professional and top amateur golfers was a ball manufactured from soft balata rubber. This was because the softer balata ball with its wound rubber core allowed the top players to impart more spin, and thus to land it more softly on the putting surface. ...
...this has now changed since Titleist launched the new Pro V1x.
So why exactly is it that so many of the top players are now changing to this new ball from Titleist?
The answer to that question is very simple and straightforward. The Pro V1x simply goes miles further than any other ball currently being produced.
In recent tournaments Ernie Els, the South African professional and current holder of the British Open title has routinely ... more

~ ~ It’s appropriate that I should be writing about the new golf ball from Titleist, the Pro V1x, as I sit watching the last nine holes of the 2003 U.S. Master’s Championship at the Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia.
As I type, past Master’s champion Vijay Singh has just launched yet another absolutely enormous drive of well over 330 yards down the 10th fairway, leaving him a relatively simple pitch shot to a par 4 that measures all of 490 yards, and which ordinary mortals could only dream of reaching in two shots. (Singh has just birdied the 10th hole, by the way)
I mention Singh, as he is one of more than 50% of touring professionals who are now using the Pro V1x in preference to any other type of golf ball.

~ ~ The Titleist Pro V1x is the successor to the Titleist Pro V1, which Titleist launched back in 1996.
Before the mid-1990’s, the golf ball of choice of the vast majority of professional and top amateur golfers was a ball manufactured from soft balata rubber. This was because the softer balata ball with its wound rubber core allowed the top players to impart more spin, and thus to land it more softly on the putting surface. But this extra feel and control came at a price. The softer ball, because of its design, didn’t travel so far as a solid two-piece ball.
All this changed in 1996, when Spalding manufactured the “Strata” golf ball. The Strata was the first two-piece solid construction golf ball (no wound rubber band interior) that gave players extra distance with their long shots, (particularly the driver) while at the same time imparting almost as much spin as a balata ball for the more delicate shorter shots around the green.
Other manufacturers soon followed suit, with companies such as Nike, (Tiger Wood’s ball) Maxfli, Precept, Callaway, Maxfli, and, of course, Titleist, all coming out with two-piece construction balls similar to the original Strata.
But despite the extra distance gained by using the new two-piece balls, many of the top players still continued to use the softer balata balls, as the extra distance they gained was insufficient to entice them over to the two-piece balls.

~ ~ But this has now changed since Titleist launched the new Pro V1x.
So why exactly is it that so many of the top players are now changing to this new ball from Titleist?
The answer to that question is very simple and straightforward. The Pro V1x simply goes miles further than any other ball currently being produced.
In recent tournaments Ernie Els, the South African professional and current holder of the British Open title has routinely been hitting drives well in excess of 330 yards in length. He even had a drive measured at 405 yards at a tournament on the U.S. Tour!
So why does the Pro V1x travel so much further than any other golf ball?
The ProV1x is a four-piece ball, with a high compression dual core, that is manufactured in order to give top players extra yardage on every shot they hit.
But the true answer to the extra distance it achieves would appear to be in a new dimple pattern. The dimples are the small indentations on the exterior surface of the ball, that dictate the amount of spin that will be imparted when it is struck by the golf club, and also the flight pattern of the ball through the air.
The Pro V1x has 332 dimples (fewer than most other balls) in seven different patterns. Put simply, what this means is that the Pro V1x leaves the club head at a greater velocity and with far less spin than other balls. Therefore it travels further in the air when hit with the same club head velocity.

~ ~ But before all you golfers out there go rushing off to your nearest golf shop, it has to be said that the Pro V1x is not a golf ball that can be used successfully by the vast majority of ordinary golfers.
It was designed very much with the top players in mind, and in order to get the massive extra distance it delivers, you have to be able to hit the golf ball FAR harder than is within the prowess of the mid to high handicap golfer.
I tried it out recently during a round at my home club, and changed back to my usual Maxfli Revolution ball after only six holes. The truth, much as I hate to admit it, is that my ageing 51-year-old body is simply incapable of generating sufficient club head speed to achieve good results using the Pro V1x ball.
In fact, if anything, I was actually hitting the Pro V1x a shorter distance than my normal Maxfli Revolution ball.
So beware, and don’t go spending your hard-earned spondoolicks (money) on this new ball unless you are a low handicap golfer who swings the golf club like an express train.

~ ~ To be honest, and although this is a contentious viewpoint, my own belief is that the current high-tech revolution in the manufacture of both golf clubs and golf balls is now totally out of control.
Let me illustrate what I mean. One of the most enduring images in golf is the photograph of the late, great Ben Hogan hitting his marvellous one iron shot to the 18th green at the Merion Golf Club in the USA, during his famous victory there in the 1950 U.S. Open. Most of today’s Tour players today would most likely be hitting no more than a wedge shot to the same hole for their approach shot!
Over the last few years, even the famous and VERY conservative Augusta National Golf Club (where the U.S. Masters is played each spring) have felt the need to purchase extra land in order to lengthen the golf course. There was the distinct possibility that one of the top players was going to make the course look very foolish by scoring a sub-60 round. Consequently, Augusta now measures a massive 7,400 yards of the Championship tees.
And Augusta is by no means alone in altering their golf course in order to make it a tougher test for today’s modern touring pros.

~ ~ What this means is that some of golf’s most famous courses are now being altered almost beyond recognition, purely and simply to stop the top professionals from shooting ridiculously low scores.
Any new course being built today that has aspirations to becoming Championship standard simply must be well in excess of 7,000 yards in length, which makes it extremely difficult to play for ordinary handicap golfers.
Even the K-Club here in Ireland, which was only built as recently as the early 1990’s, and which is due to play host to the Ryder Cup in 2007, have had to embark on a project to lengthen and toughen up their golf course. (It’s already plenty tough enough, in my honest opinion!)
Peter Allis, the BBC golf commentator, put it all into perspective when replying to an e-mail query from a viewer during this years Masters at Augusta.
The viewer asked what an average 10 to 20 handicap golfer could realistically hope to score if they played Augusta from the Championship tees.
Allis’s reply was that if 100 golfers of this standard were to play a round there, he would bet his house that not a single player would even break 100. And remember this is on a golf course that ostensibly has a par of 72 shots!
So a 10-handicap golfer SHOULD be able to shoot a round in the low to mid-80’s, and even break 80 on a good day.

~ ~ The Royal and Ancient and the USPGA have always had standards that have to be adhered to by club and ball manufacturers, and all new equipment must first be passed by them as legal before it can be marketed.
There was a well-publicised disagreement in recent times between the two bodies when a new driver from Callaway was deemed to be illegal and to give a player an unfair advantage by the R. and A., but which was passed as legal by the authorities in the U.S.A. This meant that it could be used over in America, but not here in Europe.
With today’s advanced technology, manufacturers spend most of their time (and masses of money) trying to discover new ways to circumnavigate the standards set by the sport’s governing bodies. As new standards are set, some manufacturer or another soon finds a way to beat the system.
Now, I’m not adverse to new technology, and anything that makes golf easier and more enjoyable for the average player has my firm endorsement.
But I do think that the sport’s authorities should now introduce a standard ball for use by EVERY top professional, with a strict limit on the maximum distance it can be hit. (They have the necessary testing equipment to achieve this goal, by the way)
This would level out the playing field for everyone, and stop the headlong rush by golf clubs to lengthen their courses, thus making them practically unplayable by the average golfer.
This step to restrict technological advancements in equipment ruining the sport has already been taken by the ruling authorities in squash, who have introduced a standard tournament play ball. And the same thing was done in athletics, as modern javelin throwers were in danger of skewering someone in the crowd with the new technologically advanced javelins that were being manufactured!

~ ~ As I said earlier, I’m no Luddite, and don’t oppose change simply for the sake of it. The restrictions that I would like to see put in place would only apply to the top professionals in the sport, and different standards could easily be adopted for the average amateur golfer. Anything that makes a difficult and frustrating sport easier and more enjoyable to play for the average golfer is very welcome in my book. And golf IS a very difficult and frustrating sport to play well!
But this headlong rush to be constantly finding ways to hit the golf ball greater distances has to stop somewhere, or the sport as it has existed for centuries will cease to be recognisable as the same game!

~ ~ Anyways, that’s my tuppence worth on the subject, for what it’s worth.
After all of that tirade, if you still want to purchase a box of Titleist ProV1x golf balls, they’ll set you back in or around the £35 (Sterling) mark for a dozen.

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Copyright KenJ April, 2003.

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