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2021 Titleist Pro V1 and Pro V1x: Continuing the pursuit of the perfect ball

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The Titleist Pro V1 is far and away the best-selling ball in golf, and for 2021, the engineers have delivered on their promise to never stop trying to make the best better with the introduction of the all-new 2021 Titleist Pro V1 and Pro V1x golf balls.

How do you make the most trusted golf balls better?

When the designers and engineers at Titleist are looking for feedback, they go right to the top—that means the best players in the world. Engineers seek to find out not just what they like about their current golf ball, but what if anything can be improved upon.

After lengthy discussion and research with the best golfers in the world, improvement came down to three factors.

  • Greater spin and softer feel
  • More control with a higher apex
  • Distance, but not at the sacrifice of the other two factors

By combining these wants from golfers, together with new and proven technologies, Titleist is giving golfers what they believe to the very best golf balls the company has ever produced, and players agree. 

“When a golfer chooses Pro V1 or Pro V1x, they are choosing absolute performance. Our R&D and Operations teams have spent years engineering new technology into each and every component of 2021 Pro V1 and Pro V1x. When it comes to the performance and quality of these products, we will continue to go to every length possible to help golfers play their best and shoot their lowest scores.” – Jeremy Stone, Vice President, Titleist Golf Ball Marketing.

2021 Titleist Pro V1 technology inside and out

Just like with golf clubs, engineers don’t focus on just one performance factor when designing a golf ball. It’s about bringing each component together to have it perform at the highest level, and for a golf ball, that usually means designing from the inside out. However, with the 2021 Pro V1 and Pro V1x balls, it actually worked the other way around.

New Spherically-tiled Tetrahedral Dimple Designs – Let me start by saying I don’t come up with these names, this is all about engineering. The Pro V1 features a new 388 dimple layout, while the Pro V1x has 348. Both patterns have been optimized for each golf ball model’s specific characteristics to maximize distance and flight consistency.

To make it easy to remember, the Pro V1 is intended to provide a penetrating trajectory while Pro V1x will fly higher.

It’s important to note that this is the first totally new dimple redesign of the Titleist Pro V1 golf balls since 2011, and since that time the Titleist R&D team has gone through the painstaking process of designing, manufacturing, and tested more than 1,900 aerodynamic patterns—including no less than 60 different iterations of the new 2021 Pro V1’s 388 dimple layout and more than 30 versions of Pro V1x’s 348 dimple design as per Titleist.

“It takes years of work – we’ve been working on these new packages for almost a decade – but it is that commitment to research that ensures each golf ball is optimized to fly at its longest and most efficient trajectory.” – Mike Madson, Titleist R&D’s Director of Aerodynamics & Research Engineering

Reformulated 2.0 ZG Process Cores – As mentioned off the top, at the core of every golf ball is, well, a core (see what I did there?) and each core has to designed to deliver maximum ball speed and consistency shot after shot. The ZG process ensures that through production, each solid core Pro V1 and dual-core Pro V1x is going to deliver distance and soft feel.

Fast High-Flex Casing Layer – The casing layer between the core and the cover adds speed and lowers spin on long game shots. This casing layer is comprised of a highly-resilient, high-speed (another way of saying firm) ionomer which was originally developed for the Pro V1x Left Dash—and like with any piece of golf technology has trickled its way into other products in the line where it can be used to increase performance variables.

Softer Cast Urethane Cover – To complete the package and deliver on the number one thing players requested with the new golf balls, the new formula for the cast urethane cover is the softest formulation Titleist has ever used the Pro V1 and Pro V1x balls to increases spin around the green and offer players more control. 

Price and availability

The new 2021 Pro V1 and Pro V1x golf balls will be available in golf shops starting January 27.

Both the Pro V1 and Pro V1x will be priced at $49.99 and be available in white with play numbers 1-4 and  5-8 along with the same numbers (00-99) through custom. High optic yellow will also be an option but only with the play numbers 1-4.

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Ryan Barath is a club-fitter & master club builder with more than 17 years of experience working with golfers of all skill levels, including PGA Tour players. He is the former Build Shop Manager & Social Media Coordinator for Modern Golf. He now works independently from his home shop and is a member of advisory panels to a select number of golf equipment manufacturers. You can find Ryan on Twitter and Instagram where he's always willing to chat golf, and share his passion for club building, course architecture and wedge grinding.

7 Comments

7 Comments

  1. Pingback: GolfWRX Members Choice: Best golf ball of 2022 (best tour ball) – GolfWRX

  2. Pingback: GolfWRX Members Choice: Best golf ball of 2021 – GolfWRX

  3. Ryan

    Jan 21, 2021 at 5:53 pm

    I’m so confused about these balls—when they first debuted, the ProV1 was the softer, higher spinning ball, while the X was firmer and spun less. Now it seems the X spins more and launches higher. I did a trial on my GCQuad and the X spun around 500-700 rpm more on a 75 yard shot. Am I totally wrong?

  4. Jbone

    Jan 21, 2021 at 11:21 am

    I hope it’s as soft as the bridgestone tour xs. Feel is the only reason I switched from prov1 over to Bridgestone

  5. Gunter Eisenberg

    Jan 21, 2021 at 10:32 am

    We’ll see what Rick Shiels has to say. He recently did a performance comparison between the original 1.0 Pro V1 from 2000 vs the 2020 version. Other than the more durable cover for the 2020 version there was little performance difference between the two.

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Whats in the Bag

Kevin Tway WITB 2024 (May)

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Driver: Ping G430 LST (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X

3-wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2 (15 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 80 TX

5-wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2 (18 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 90 TX

Irons: Wilson Staff Utility (2), Titleist T100 (4-9)
Shafts: Mitsubishi MMT 100 TX (2), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (4-9)

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (48-10F @47, 52-12F @51, 56-14F), SM7 (60-10S)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (48-56), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 (60)

Putter: Scotty Cameron T-5 Proto
Grip: Scotty Cameron Black Baby T

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Plus4

More photos of Kevin Tway’s WITB in the forums.

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Did Rory McIlroy inspire Shane Lowry’s putter switch?

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Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from a piece our Andrew Tursky originally wrote for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report. Head over there for the full article.

The timing of Lowry’s putter changeup was curious: Was he just using a Spider putter because he was paired with McIlroy, who’s been using a Spider Tour X head throughout 2024? Was Lowry just being festive because it’s the Zurich Classic, and he wanted to match his teammate? Did McIlroy let Lowry try his putter, and he liked it so much he actually switched into it?

Well, as it turns out, McIlroy’s only influence was inspiring Lowry to make more putts.

When asked if McIlroy had an influence on the putter switch, Lowry had this to say: “No, it’s actually a different putter than what he uses. Maybe there was more pressure there because I needed to hole some more putts if we wanted to win,” he said with a laugh.

To Lowry’s point, McIlroy plays the Tour X model, whereas Lowry switched into the Tour Z model, which has a sleeker shape in comparison, and the two sole weights of the club are more towards the face.

Lowry’s Spider Tour Z has a white True Path Alignment channel on the crown of his putter, which is reminiscent of Lowry’s former 2-ball designs, thus helping to provide a comfort factor despite the departure from his norm. Instead of a double-bend hosel, which Lowry used in his 2-ball putters, his new Spider Tour Z is designed with a short slant neck.

“I’ve been struggling on the greens, and I just needed something with a fresh look,” Lowry told GolfWRX.com on Wednesday at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship. “It has a different neck on it, as well, so it moves a bit differently, but it’s similar. It has a white line on the back of it [like my 2-ball], and it’s a mallet style. So it’s not too drastic of a change.

“I just picked it up on the putting green and I liked the look of it, so I was like, ‘Let’s give it a go.’”

Read the rest of the piece over at PGATour.com.

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Webb Simpson equipment Q&A: Titleist’s new 2-wood, 680 blade irons, and switching to a broomstick Jailbird

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With seven career wins on the PGA Tour, including a U.S. Open victory, Webb Simpson is a certified veteran on the course. But he’s also a certified veteran in the equipment world, too. He’s a gearhead who truly knows his stuff, and he’s even worked closely with Titleist on making his own custom 682.WS irons.

On Wednesday at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship, I caught up with Simpson to hear about his experience with Titleist’s new prototype 2-wood, how Titleist’s 680 Forged irons from 2003 ended up back in his bag, and why he’s switching into an Odyssey Ai-One Jailbird Cruiser broomstick putter this week for the first time.

Click here to read our full story about Simpson’s putter switch on PGATOUR.com’s Equipment Report, or continue reading below for my full Q&A with Simpson at Quail Hollow Club on Wednesday.

See Webb Simpson’s full WITB from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship here

GolfWRX: It seems like you’ve been a little all over the place with your irons in the past six months or so, and now going back to the 680’s. Is that just a comfort thing? What’s been going on with the irons?

Webb Simpson: Titleist has been so great at working with me, and R&D, on trying to get an iron that kind of modernizes the 680. And so the 682.WS took the T100 grooves, but kinda took the look and the bulk and the build of the 680’s into one club. They’re beautiful, and awesome looking. I just never hit them that well for a consistent period of time. It was probably me, but then I went to T100’s and loved them. I loved the spin, the trajectory, the yardage, but again, I never went on good runs. Going through the ground, I couldn’t feel the club as well as with the blade. So last week, I’m like, ‘Alright. I’m gonna go back more for…comfort, and see if I can get on a nice little run of ball striking.’

So that’s why I went back.

 

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A post shared by GolfWRX (@golfwrx)

OK, that makes sense. I know you had done some 2-wood testing recently. Is that in the bag right now?

It’s like day-by-day. I used it at Hilton Head every day. Valero, I used it one round. And this week, me and my caddie will do the book every morning, and if it’s a day where we think we need it, we’ll just put it in and take the 3-wood out. I love it because it’s a super simple swap. Like, it doesn’t really change much.

Yeah, can you tell me about that club? I mean, we don’t really know anything about it yet. You know? I haven’t hit it or anything, obviously.

It has grooves like a 3-wood. Spin is perfect. And it’s honestly, like, everything is in the middle of a 3-wood and driver number. Trajectory, spin, carry, all of it. So, a Hilton Head golf course is almost too easy to talk about because, you know, there, so many holes are driver 3-wood.

Valero, our thinking was we had two par-5’s into the wind, and we knew that it would take two great shots to get there in two. So instead of hitting driver-driver, we just put it in. And I used it on those holes.

Hilton was a little easier because it was off-the-tee kind of questions. But Colonial will be a golf course where, you know, there’s a lot of driver or 3-woods. It’s kind of like a backup putter or driver for me now. I’ll bring it to every tournament.

So it’s, like, in your locker right now, probably?

Well, it would be. It’s in my house [because Webb lives near by Quail Hollow Club, and is a member at the course.] It’s in the garage.

Oh, yeah, that’s right. Do you know what holes you might use it out here if it goes in play? 

Potentially 15, depending on the wind. Second shot on 10. Could be 14 off the tee. The chances here are pretty low (that he’ll use the 2-wood). But, like, Greensboro would be an awesome club all day. I’m trying to think of any other golf courses.

There’s plenty that it’ll be a nice weapon to have.

It’s interesting, the wave of 2-woods and mini drivers. Like, it’s just really taken off on Tour, and all the companies have seemed to embrace it.

Yeah. The thing I had to learn, it took me, like, at least a week to learn about it is you gotta tee it up lower than you think. I kept teeing it up too high. You need it low, like barely higher than a 3-wood. And that was where I got optimal spin and carry. If you tee it up too high, you just don’t get as much spin and lose distance, I don’t know if that’s just a mini driver thing.

And you obviously have a Jailbird putter this week. What spurred that on?

Inconsistent putting. I’m stubborn in a lot of ways when it comes to my equipment, but I have to be open minded – I just hadn’t putted consistently well in a while. And I’m like, ‘Man, I feel my ball-striking coming along. Like I feel better; for real, better.’

If I can just get something in my hands that I’m consistent with. Being on Tour, you see it every year, guys get on little runs. I can put together four to five tournaments where I’m all the sudden back in the majors, or in the FedExCup Playoffs. You can turn things around quick out here. I’m like, ‘Man, whatever’s going to get me there, great.’

My caddie, David Cook, caddied for Akshay at the Houston Open and he putted beautifully. Then, I watched Akshay on TV at Valero, and he putted beautifully. And, I’m like, ‘I’m just going to try it.’

I’ve never tried it for more than a putt or two, and I just ordered what Akshay uses. It was pretty awkward at first, but the more I used it, the more I’m like, ‘Man, it’s pretty easy.’ And a buddy of mine who’s a rep out here, John Tyler Griffin, he helped me with some setup stuff. And he said at Hilton Head, he wasn’t putting well, then tried it, and now he makes everything. He was very confident. So I’m like, ‘Alright, I’ll try it.’”

And you’re going with it this week?

Hundred percent.

Alright, I love it. Thank you, I always love talking gear with you. Play well this week. 

Thanks, man.

See Webb Simpson’s full WITB from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship here

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