We tell you that changing golf balls makes a difference and you have see ball test data but if you want a Tour example, now you have a perfect example. Cameron Young changed golf balls before the Wyndham Championship in 2025 and his success since then is something to watch out for.
But there is one more thing that makes this story even more interesting. It has been reported that the Pro V1x Double Dot (the ball Young has in play now) is likely to match the new standard of overall distances proposed by the USGA and R&A. Young didn’t just find the right ball for his game, he may have accidentally found a ball that won’t hurt him at all with the proposed comeback.
Why did you change?
Young had been playing the Titleist Pro V1x Left Dot, a higher spin ball, for years. The problem is that he already spins it too much. Young has a quick swing and a steep angle of attack, which naturally induces spin on every iron shot. Playing a high-spin ball on him was working against him.
During a visit to the Titleist Performance Center in Massachusetts, Young worked with the team to test a Pro V1x Double Dot prototype. It is a lower revving model outside of the standard product line. Young was quoted as saying that the ball came out of a window that he really liked, describing how the top of the flight turned straight down instead of floating, which would signal true stability.
He put the new ball into play for the first time at the 2025 Wyndham Championship, setting just 48 hours before his opening round. He won by six strokes and matched the tournament scoring record. It was his first PGA Tour victory after 94 starts and seven runner-up finishes.
What changed
The area of his game that improved the most was his approach game and his ability to control iron shots to the green. Before the change, he was missing the field in approach shots on average during the 2025 season, ranking just outside 125 on the PGA Tour in that category. After the switch, his approach numbers turned around and stayed positive. Here’s how the top categories compare year-over-year.
| Statistics | 2025 (Full season) | 2026 (current) |
|---|---|---|
| SG: Access | -0.124 (129) | +0.486 (19) |
| Greens in Regulation | 64.18% (159) | 69.14% (20th) |
| Fairways Hit | 53.85% (167) | 61.90% (40th) |
| Average score | 70.06 (86) | 69.00 (4) |
| SG: Totally | +0.802 (19) | +1,703 (3) |
Approach Game: Before and After
To put it in perspective, here’s an example of what Strokes Gained: Approach looked like tour by tour before and after the change. Positive numbers mean he won field goals, negative means he lost them.
Before the pass
| tour | SG: Access |
|---|---|
| A well-known classic | -1.17 |
| Arnold Palmer’s Invitational | -0.57 |
| Valspar Championship | -1.53 |
| Masters | -0.49 |
| RBC inheritance | -0.97 |
| Open Championship | -0.52 |
After the pass
| tour | SG: Access |
|---|---|
| Wyndham Championship 🏆 | +0.77 |
| FedEx Championship St. Jewish | +1.14 |
| TOUR Championship | +1.41 |
| The invitation of Genesis | +1.49 |
| Arnold Palmer’s Invitational | +0.81 |
| Players Championship 🏆 | +2.01 |
| Masters | +1.02 |
| Cadillac Championship 🏆 | +0.57 |
Takeaway
It’s not just the ball that set Young’s career on track, but are we going to sit here and say it had nothing to do with it? A talented player, with so many mistakes, finds the right ball and suddenly wins three times.
What we do know is that Young looked for a ball that worked with his game instead of against it, and that all changed shortly after. You don’t need a prototype Titleist to do the same. You just have to find something that fits the way you move it.
