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Inside Titleist’s Golf Ball Facilities

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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.

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Titleist has over 1,000 patents, the most of any golf ball company, and owns 47 percent of all patents on golf balls.

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.

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Acushnet Founder Phil Young.

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.

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X-rays of out-of-round cores.

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.

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Factory workers in the 1960’s analyze Titleist golf balls for any imperfections.

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Not much has changed.

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.

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Outside Ball Plant III in New Bedford, Mass.

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Raw mixture for Pro V1x inner cores get flattened and labeled before getting sliced.

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Pro V1x inner core material is sliced and ready to be formed into “preps.”

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The two-piece core of a Titleist Pro V1x golf ball before they’re molded together.

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Titleist Pro V1 cores before they’re cut and individually separated.

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Pro V1x cores before the outer casing has been applied.

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The casing layer has been applied.

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Core’s for Titleist Pro V1 golf balls being automatically transported to undergo the next step in the process.

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The Urethane Room is so top secret that GolfWRX wasn’t allowed to take photos!

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Static electricity is used so that the cover materials better adhere to the core.

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Managing Editor Zak Kozuchowski preparing to enter the PAD Print room. It gets messy, plus Titleist didn’t want our hair to get in the paint!

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This is where liquid materials react to form the urethane elastomer cover.

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This tumbler machine smooths the surface of golf balls before paint is applied.

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Automated assembly line to paint the outer cover of Pro V1 and Pro V1x golf balls.

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Before adding print onto the balls, employees use a magnifying glass to manually ensure there’s no imperfections.

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Golf balls are automatically aligned and stamped either Pro V1 or Pro V1x.

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Sticking to its roots, Titleist puts every ball through an X-ray before it gets ready for packaging.

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.

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Golf balls with logos, sports teams, organizations, names and sayings lay around the custom plant by the hundreds of thousands. This batch of Titleist Pro V1X No. 7’s read “Junkyard Dog.”

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Many small-batch golf ball stampings are still performed by hand at Titleist.

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Yes, you’re in New England. At the Custom Plant, workers use chowder cups to sort paint.

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.

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He played on the Hawaii Pacific University Men's Golf team and earned a Masters degree in Communications. He also played college golf at Rutgers University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism.

12 Comments

12 Comments

  1. Pingback: ?? ???????? ????????? ??? Google ?? ???????????? ????????. ????? ???????? ?? ??????; - ?? ??? ????;

  2. Pingback: Best Babel » Google’s Toughest Interview Questions. Can You Answer Them?

  3. 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.

  4. FTWPhil

    Jan 16, 2015 at 1:17 pm

    And they will still think more of themselves than you ever will.

  5. 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.

  6. kev

    Jan 16, 2015 at 4:07 am

    think about this x-ray next time you want to purchase any x-outs.

  7. 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.”

  8. 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…. 🙂

  9. TR1PTIK

    Jan 15, 2015 at 3:50 pm

    Very good read!

  10. 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..

  11. slider

    Jan 15, 2015 at 3:09 pm

    best ball on the market

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Equipment

Spotted: Tony Finau’s driver shaft change at the 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open

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Tony Finau has always been known as one of the longest players on the PGA Tour, but he has recently been working on adding a little more distance. Last year, Finau averaged 118.3 mph club head speed and 178.08 mph ball speed, all while playing a Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 70 TX driver shaft. This year, he has increased his club head speed to 123.93 mph and his ball speed to 183.32 mph.

However, Finau’s overall distance has decreased by two yards in that time. From a fitting perspective, something was amiss. We asked Tony about the shaft change at the Texas Children’s Hospital Open.

“[I’m seeing] better numbers with the spin. My driver’s been a little high spin for me over the last month or so, and so I just figured it was time to probably check out the equipment,” Finau said. “And it definitely showed me that I was using a shaft that’s maybe a little too tip-stiff for me, the way I load the club now. [I’m seeing] better numbers with the spin.”

Finau switched from the Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 70 TX into the Diamana GT 70 TX. The newer Diamana GT has a slightly different profile than the D+ Limited with the stiffest handle section in the Diamana lineup. The mid sections between the two are similar stiffness but the tip is just slightly stiffer in the Diamana GT. Both shafts are within one gram of each other in the 70 TX. The torque rating on the GT is 0.1 higher than the D+Limited’s 2.7 measurement.

Mitsubishi lists the Diamana GT as a shaft between the mid-launching Diamana TB and the new low-launch Diamana WB shafts. For most players, it would be considered a mid/low launch and low-spin shaft option. Mitsubishi’s Xlink Tech Resin System makes sure the maximum carbon fiber content is there for smooth feel without reducing the strength of the shaft. MR70 carbon fiber is used for reinforcing the shaft and boron is used in the tip for its high strength and compression properties.

Finau is still using his trusty Ping G430 LST driver in 9 degrees and has the adjustable hosel set to -1 degree of loft (standard lie angle). Finau’s long-time favorite Lamkin UTX Green grip is installed. He definitely has a few extra wraps of tape under that grip as you can see the bulge down where the grip meets the shaft.

One final note: Per Ping’s PGA Tour rep Kenton Oates, Finau’s driver is also adjusted to play one degree upright to help dial in his desired launch.

We’ll see how he fares with the new setup this week in Houston!

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Whats in the Bag

Zac Blair WITB 2024 (March)

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Driver: Titleist TSR2 (10 degrees, A1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Red 6 X

3-wood: TaylorMade M5 Rocket 3 (14 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Speeder 757 Evolution V1 X

Utility: Titleist U510 (3)
Shaft: Aldila Tour Blue 85 X

Irons: Ping i210 (4-6), Miura MB-001 (7-9)
Shafts: Nippon N.S. Pro Modus3

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (46-10F, 58-08M @57, 60 @61), Vokey Design WedgeWorks (52-M)
Shafts: Nippon N.S. Pro Modus3 Tour 105 X

Putter: Scotty Cameron prototype

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet

Ball: Titleist Pro V1

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Whats in the Bag

Martin Trainer WITB 2024 (March)

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Driver: Wilson Staff Staff Model (6.5 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Kai’li Blue 70 TX

3-wood: Wilson Staff WLabs Prototype (13 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei CK Orange 80 TX

Irons: Wilson Staff Staff Model (2, 4-9)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100

Wedges: Wilson Staff Staff Model (52, 56, 60)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100

Putter: Bobby Grace Greg Chalmers Prototype

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet

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