Equipment

Titleist launches Pro V1 Left Dot in latest limited-run CPO offering

Published

3 years ago

Sep 1, 2021

Launching today on Titleist.com, Titleist’s Pro V1 Left Dot is the Fairhaven-based company’s latest instance of a Custom Performance Option (CPO) coming to retail — albeit in an extremely limited fashion.

While Titleist acknowledges the hype surrounding a “tour only” product coming to retail means a lightning-quick sellout, moving golf balls isn’t really the objective here.

With the launch, Titleist is both testing the market and looking for customer input. Based on fitter feedback, tour staff, and elite amateur perspectives, the company knows there’s a market for Left Dot. They just don’t know how big it is or if a full-fledged “turn a Custom Performance Option into a standard performance option” move is warranted (ala Pro V1x Left Dash).

And while the company believes, for roughly 80 percent of golfers, Pro V1 or Pro V1x is the appropriate ball, it wants to have a Pro V1 product at retail for 100 percent of golfers.

As a refresher: CPO “models are designed to fit players with very distinct needs and preferences,” according to Jeremy Stone, Vice President, Titleist Golf Ball Marketing.

“They might launch in a slightly different window to fit a player’s eye, offer slightly more or less spin, or feel softer or firmer. CPO’s give us more tools in the toolbox to optimize and personalize performance for a small percentage of the hundreds of players we work with weekly on tour.”

Titleist Pro V1 Left Dot: The details

Left Dot has a small group of professional devotees, including Tony Finau, Daniel Berger, Patrick Reed, Henrik Stenson, and Keith Mitchell. Of the CPO Pro V1 products on tour (Left Dash, Left Dot, Star), Left Dot is the most widely played, with somewhere in the range of six to 12 players putting it in play at every PGA Tour event.

So, who is Left Dot for? According to Titleist, for the better golfer who generates plenty of clubhead speed, spin, and high initial launch but is looking to kill spin and flight the ball lower — and a player who is looking for more spin into and around the green than s/he gets with AVX but less than Pro V1.

Spin will be most similar off the tee as the current Pro V1
Most noticeably different (less spin) with full short irons.
It is the lowest flying Titleist Pro V1 golf ball.
Compared to the Titleist AVX, the Pro V1 Left Dot has similarly low spin and flight off the tee
More spin with irons and wedges than AVX

Layer-by-layer view of the 2021 Titleist Pro V1 Left Dot

Titleist indicates The Pro V1 Left Dot is the fifth most played golf ball on the PGA Tour this season (behind the 2021 Pro V1 and Pro V1x and 2019 Pro V1 and Pro V1x).

Left Dot is available today, September 1, and like Pro V1 and Pro V1x, retails for $49.99.

Your Reaction?

LIKE87
LEGIT8
WOW11
LOL9
IDHT2
FLOP3
OB3
SHANK22

Equipment

A shocking Backstryke putter appearance + 7 interesting gear photos from the Zurich Classic

Published

47 mins ago

Apr 25, 2024

Andrew Tursky

Welcome to New Orleans, where TPC Louisiana plays host to the 2024 Zurich Classic. In between breakfast beignets and nightly Creole feasts, PGA Tour players are also competing in the unique two-man format at the Zurich this week.

Although the vibes in Nawlins are a bit lighter-fare than the recent back-to-back competitions the Masters and the RBC Heritage signature event), the gear news was no less serious this week.

We spotted some recent changes from Rory McIlroy, a very rare Odyssey Backstryke putter, dove into the bag of legendary New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, and spotted Patrick Cantlay continuing to test new equipment.

Get your beads out and crack your crawfish, because it’s time for an equipment rundown from The Big Easy (meaning New Orleans, of course, not Ernie Els).

See all of our photos from the Zurich Classic here

Rory’s on-and-off lob wedge

Since the end of 2023, Rory McIlroy has had an on-again, off-again relationship with a Titleist Vokey K-Grind lob wedge. In his last start, it was on, and the wedge is back in the bag again this week. We got a great look at the complicated grind that McIlroy uses.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by GolfWRX (@golfwrx)

A full look into McIlroy’s bag above also shows that he switched out of the TaylorMade BRNR Mini Copper that he used at the RBC Heritage, and he’s back into the Qi10 core 3-wood. As we discussed last week, McIlroy will likely keep the BRNR around as a course-specific club, trading it in and out for the 3-wood.

See Rory McIlroy’s full 2024 WITB from the Zurich here

Turning Back the clock

Unless Tommy Gainey is in the field, it’s unlikely you’ll ever see Odyssey’s Backstryke technology make an appearance on the PGA Tour.

But then, when you least expect it, Russ Cochran shows up.

For more than a decade – since the 2013 Sony Open in Hawai’i – Cochran has been stuck on 599 PGA Tour starts. This week will be his 600th.

Cochran is in the field at the Zurich this week playing alongside Eric Cole, whose regular caddie is Reed Cochran, Russ’s son.

The Backstryke putter was first released back in 2010, and its unique design helps shift the axis point of the putter closer to the CG of the head. And, the putter is getting a nod this week at the Zurich Classic, thanks to Cochran’s 600th career PGA Tour start.

The putter is certainly awesome, but don’t forget to check out Cochran’s full WITB from this week.

Drew Brees with a Super Bowl winning Scotty Cameron putter

Drew Brees, a legendary retired quarterback for the hometown New Orleans Saints, made an appearance at the Zurich’s Wednesday Pro-Am, playing alongside Zach Johnson, Ryan Palmer, and current Saints QB Derek Carr.

Brees’ bag included a TaylorMade Stealth2 Plus driver, a BRNR Mini 13.5-degree, a Stealth 5-wood, a mixed set of P-790 and P-760 irons, Milled Grind Hi-Toe wedges, and a custom Scotty Cameron “New Orleans Saints” putter, which Scotty made for Brees following his Super Bowl MVP-winning performance in 2010.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by GolfWRX (@golfwrx)

It should also be noted that Brees has his Venmo QR code as a bag tag.

If you’re gambling with Brees on the course, just know that not having cash won’t work as an excuse.

Brilliant.

See Drew Brees’ full WITB from the Zurich here

Stricker’s unrecognizable putter

Steve Stricker has made numerous upgrades to his bag recently, including a new TSR3 driver and T100 irons, but his longtime Odyssey White Hot No. 2 putter is still going strong. It’s the most recognizable unrecognizable putter ever.

Here’s a better look at Stricker’s flatstick, which he started using back in 2007.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by GolfWRX (@golfwrx)

Patrick Cantlay has opened the equipment-switching floodgates

Over on the PGA Tour’s Equipment Report this week, we covered Cantlay’s recent switch into Ping Blueprint S irons, and a Titleist TSR2 driver.

Cantlay hadn’t switched irons for about seven years, so the iron switch he made at The 2024 Masters came as a shock to the norm. He simply isn’t one to change gear very often, so anytime Cantlay makes a switch, it’s news.

It seems the floodgates of equipment testing have opened up a bit for Cantlay, who was also spotted testing a custom Scotty Cameron blade putter on Tuesday this week. By Wednesday, Cantlay was back practicing with his familiar Scotty Cameron T5 Proto mallet, but it’s certainly something to keep an eye on going forward.

Daniel Berger’s custom Jailbird site lines

Berger, who’s currently using Odyssey’s Ai-One Mini Jailbird mallet putter, has a unique 3-dot, 2-line alignment on the crown of his navy-white-navy-white mallet putter. Looking down at the putter, it’s easy to see why this alignment system would help; it just seems impossible to set up to the ball off-center, or misaligned to the target.

Also, for anyone worried, you can rest easy. Yes, he’s still playing the 2013 TaylorMade TP MC irons, which we highlighted in our recent “Modern Classics: Old vs. New” video testing series.

FitzMagic teams back up

Brothers Matthew and Alex Fitzpatrick are teaming up once again at the Zurich this year, and Bettinardi Golf hooked them up with some festive “FitzMagic” headcovers to match this week.

See what else is in Alex Fitzpatrick’s WITB here

And, with that, we say goodbye to the Zurich Classic in New Orleans. Don’t forget to check out all of our photos from this week, including 30 unique photo galleries full of equipment photos.

We’ll see you next week in Texas for the 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson!

Your Reaction?