Equipment
Inside Titleist’s Golf Ball Facilities
You want to know what a Titleist golf ball plant smells like? Rubber. Want to know what a Titleist golf ball customization plant smells like? Paint.
If you’re wondering anything else — like how Titleist designs and builds its golf balls, how a ball’s core is constructed or what role ball compression really plays — come with me on this journey as I relay my knowledge and experiences from my visit to Titleist’s golf ball facilities.
What’s it like there?
Let’s put it this way, Titleist’s research and design team are possibly the most over-qualified chefs in the world. Biochemists and chemical engineers develop formulas for ingredients with painful precision, and have access to a three-story, factory-style kitchen to cook up golf balls that sell like hot cakes — something to the tune of 240,000 Pro V1 and Pro V1x’s each day.
Ball Plant III (yes, there’s more than one in Massachusetts and another in Thailand) has a rubber mixer that’s taller than three basketball hoops stacked atop one another. It has top-secret rooms that aren’t to be photographed, X-ray machines, automated everything and a terrifying robotic guillotine that slices huge blocks of rubber.
Its R&D facility has a room full of its competitors’ golf balls — pretty much every golf ball ever made, just to keep an eye on the competition — laboratories everywhere and hallways of patent plaques that act as Titleist’s own golf ball hall of fame.
Just down the road from Titleist’s corporate headquarters in Fairhaven, Mass., is Ball Plant III, where its golf balls are made, as well as Plant C, where Titleist golf balls receive personalized touches.
So what’s it like at Ball Plant III and Plant C? Before I get to that, I’ll start from the beginning.
Chasing perfection
I stood on No. 18 green at New Bedford Country Club, putter and golf ball in-hand, waiting my turn to try the putt that started it all.
The story goes like this.
Acushnet Company founder Phil Young, who was an amateur golfer and owner of a precision molded rubber company at the time, was playing golf one Sunday in the early 1930’s at New Bedford CC. His foursome included Dr. Bonner, head of the x-ray department at St. Luke’s Hospital in New Bedford.
Young was considered a good player, but he was all over the course that day — hitting hooks and slices, struggling mightily to control his ball. On No. 18, however, he had a putt to win the match. Despite a good stroke, the ball rolled offline and missed the hole. While squaring away his bets from the match, Young claimed there was something wrong with his golf ball, not his game.
The argument got heated, and Young convinced Dr. Bonner to go to St. Luke’s Hospital and put his golf ball under the X-ray machine. It turned out Young was right — the exterior of the golf ball was round, but the core was way off center.
Young and Bonner returned to the pro shop and convinced the club professional to let them put a dozen balls of every model under the x-ray machine. Sure enough, every ball had an unbalanced core, some worse than others.
This discovery set a fire under Young, who set his mind to developing a truly balanced golf ball. It took nearly three years — in the midst of the Great Depression, mind you — to get a ball that was ready for the golf course. But when he did, he had built golf’s first, perfectly balanced golf ball.
Today, more than 80 years later, quality standards are still paramount with Titleist golf balls. Each Pro V1 goes through more than 90 quality checks, and each Pro V1x, because of its dual core, undergoes over 120 quality checks. And, sticking to it’s roots, every Titleist ball passes through an X-ray machine before it’s retail-ready.
With that said, I did miss my 6-foot putt on No. 18 at New Bedford CC with a new Pro V1x. Titleist balls have been much improved in the 80 years since Phil Young missed the putt that started it all, but it still takes a good stroke to knock a 6-footer in the hole.
Ball Plant III: The Mecca
Now for the fun stuff. Join me on a tour of Ball Plant III, where I saw Pro V1 and Pro V1x golf balls get built from scratch.
The Custom Plant
At the custom plant, employees sit at golf ball stamping machines and exhibit ninja-like hand-eye coordination. You can see below just how fast one of the factory workers moves her hands, changing golf balls in and out to get fresh stampings.
5 Minutes, Max
That concludes our tour of Titleist’s golf ball facilities. If you’re like me, you now have a new appreciation of what it takes to make a premium golf ball. Remember, the rules of golf only permit you to search for 5 minutes before a ball is deemed “lost” — even if it’s a Pro V1.
Complete Photo Gallery
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Whats in the Bag
Steve Stricker WITB 2024 (April)
- Steve Stricker WITB accurate as of the Zurich Classic. More photos from the event here.
Driver: Titleist TSR3 (9 degrees, C4 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Motore Speeder VC 7.2 X
3-wood: Titleist 915F (13.5 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro White 80 TX
Hybrid: Titleist 816 H1 (17 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Motore Speeder VC 9.2 X
Irons: Titleist T200 (3, 4), Titleist T100 (5-9)
Shafts: Project X 6.5
Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM8 (46-10F @55), Titleist Vokey SM10 (54-10S @53), Titleist Vokey SM4 (60 @59)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold X100 w/Sensicore
Putter: Odyssey White Hot No. 2
Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Grip Rite
Check out more in-hand photos of Steve Stricker’s clubs here.
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Whats in the Bag
Alex Fitzpatrick WITB 2024 (April)
- Alex Fitzpatrick what’s in the bag accurate as of the Zurich Classic.
Driver: Ping G430 LST (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X
3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (15 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Black 7 X
Hybrid: Ping G430 (19 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black HB 10 TX
Irons: Ping iCrossover (2), Titleist T100 (4-PW)
Shafts: Fujikura Ventus Black HB 9 TX (2), Nippon N.S. Pro Modus 3 Tour 120 X (4-9)
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (50-12F, 56-12D, 60-08M)
Shafts: Nippon N.S. Pro Modus 3 Tour 120 X
Putter: Bettinardi SS16 Dass
Grips: Golf Pride MCC
Check out more in-hand photos of Alex Fitzpatrick’s clubs here.
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Equipment
What’s the perfect mini-driver/shaft combo? – GolfWRXers discuss
In our forums, our members have been discussing Mini-Drivers and accompanying shafts. WRXer ‘JamesFisher1990’ is about to purchase a BRNR Mini and is torn on what shaft weight to use, and our members have been sharing their thoughts and set ups in our forum.
Here are a few posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.
- PARETO: “New BRNR at 13.5. Took it over to TXG (Club Champ but TXG will always rule) in Calgary for a fit. Took the head down to 12, stuck in a Graphite Design AD at 3 wood length and 60g. Presto- numbers that rivaled my G430Max but with waaaaay tighter dispersion. Win.”
- driveandputtmachine: “Still playing a MIni 300. The head was only 208, so I ordered a heavier weight and play it at 3 wood length. I am playing a Ventus Red 70. I play 70 grams in my fairways. I use it mainly to hit draws off the tee. When I combine me, a driver, and trying to hit a draw it does not work out well most of the time. So the MIni is for that. As an aside, I have not hit the newest BRNR, but the previous model wasn’t great off the deck. The 300 Mini is very good off the deck.”
- JAM01: “Ok, just put the BRNR in the bag along side a QI10 max and a QI10 3 wood. A load of top end redundancy. But, I have several holes at my two home courses where the flight and accuracy of the mini driver helps immensely. Mine is stock Proforce 65 at 13.5, I could see a heavier shaft, but to normal flex, as a nice alternative.”
Entire Thread: “What’s the perfect Mini-Driver/Shaft combo? – GolfWRXers discuss”
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bob
Jan 19, 2015 at 10:13 am
I was hoping for more, something similar to the “How its made” series on discovery.
This turned out to be just pictures of ball forms with no detail as to how they really got that way.
FTWPhil
Jan 16, 2015 at 1:17 pm
And they will still think more of themselves than you ever will.
Jim
Jan 16, 2015 at 12:17 pm
Terrific article and great photos. I knew someone that worked at the facility and he said the amount fuel required to run the facility is pretty incredible too – it apparently takes a a great deal of resources to make the balls. Nice to know that they are made in my backyard too. And the photo of the static electricity is awesome.
kev
Jan 16, 2015 at 4:07 am
think about this x-ray next time you want to purchase any x-outs.
Jon
Jan 15, 2015 at 9:36 pm
As expensive as Titlest balls are, they should be made 100% in the USA. Bring back our jobs please.
Seth
Dec 8, 2015 at 10:46 am
Thank you Jon. No reason for Titleist to build a golf ball plant in Thailand “to meet international demand.”
Mats B
Jan 15, 2015 at 7:56 pm
Looking forward to test the New 2015 series of Pro V1:s both the regular and the X…. 🙂
TR1PTIK
Jan 15, 2015 at 3:50 pm
Very good read!
Johnny
Jan 15, 2015 at 3:35 pm
I’m surprised they even let him in the facility. A big chunk of patent applications come from Golf ball manufacturers and they’re very secretive how they make their golf ammo..
slider
Jan 15, 2015 at 3:09 pm
best ball on the market