For those of you who might have somewhere to be, I’ll cut to the chase.
Compared to the 2023 balls, the Titleist Pro V1 and Pro V1x 2025 offer:
- More speed off the tee
- More control with irons
- More spin with your wedges
If that’s all you need to hear to try out the new balls, great. They go on sale January 25th and are still $54.99 a dozen.
Thanks for stopping by. I appreciate you.
If you want some of the behind-the-scenes stuff like the design goals and how Titleist was able to achieve them, feel free to stick around.
25th Anniversary Pro V1
Do you know that the year 2025 marks 25th anniversary of the original Pro V1? Now that you’re aware, you (like me) might think Titleist would do something crazy to blow the doors off this thing.
A seven-layer Pro V1? A new gold urethane cover? What about the long-awaited (by me) Pro V2?
No.
We’re keeping it simple. This isn’t so much because Titleist lacks an adventurous spirit as it is a classic case of not trying to fix something that clearly isn’t broken.
Consider the following:
- The Titleist Pro V1 is a dominant no. 1 in the retail market.
- On average, 70 percent of the ball counts on the PGA Tour each week.
- It was used by 92 percent of the field at the NCAA Women’s Championship and 89 percent at the Men’s.
- Apart from Japan, it accounts for more than 65 percent of the balls in play at every major tournament and elite amateur event.
And so, 25th Anniversary ball or not, the process that went into developing the new ball really wasn’t all that different from the back nine.
He started, as he always does, by figuring out how to improve on what was in front of him.
With that, you could say that Step 1 in developing a new golf ball is to listen.
The challenge for Titleist is that too often the feedback from Tour pros is “don’t change a thing.”
Press them down a little and, “Well … more rolling with my irons.”
What does this do? really meaning?
What irons? How much more spin?
Hit and swing and “more spin” becomes “more stopping power with a 5-iron, but none of the driver.”
Targets – what Titleist calls its own The North Star – be a product summary and we are at work.
Here’s how it looked this time.
For V1 – Maintain spin and driver distance. Give more iron and wedge spin.
Pro V1x – Maintain spin and driver distance. Increased iron and wedge spin (not exceeding 2021 Pro V1x)
Pro V1x Left Dash* – Change literally nothing (apparently) because there isn’t a new one yet (and I’m not bitter about it at all).
* To be fair, Titleist isn’t doing anything about the Left Dash. There have been several prototypes, some more promising than others. The other left dash isn’t ready yet, but that doesn’t mean it’s not in the works.
Becoming a V1 Pro: The Process
With the big stuff out of the way, the next step is figuring out how to give players what they want.
With golf balls, the avenues for improvement are somewhat limited. The enhancement comes, in some combination, through the core, mantle, and cladding.
However, determining the right levers to pull to achieve the desired outcome is a process.
Ideas become about 100 prototypes. Those 100 are whittled down to 70. From there, there’s a lot of testing, analysis and optimization. If something is wrong, try again. Make new prototypes. Lather, rinse and repeat until the last best options are ready to take on tour.
As you can imagine, the quality of feedback varies from player to player. Some provide very detailed and meaningful insights. Others, not so much, but there is still something to learn from the launch monitor.
In blind testing, if a player happens to say that a ball feels hotter or that he is hitting his windows and feels like he has more control, then cool off.
He nailed it.
You can think of the last step in prototype testing as Titleist offering a menu, but players choose the ball that becomes the ball.
But how?
While making (and improving) a golf ball requires a fair amount of expertise, there is no special magic to it.
To some extent, the process is cumulative where the work done on the ’21 and ’23 makes for what I suppose could be described as a more tuned Pro V1.
For 2025, the evolution of the Pro V1 comes primarily by way of a fundamental reformulation that builds upon improvements made to the graduated core pattern found in the 2023 balls. Continuing our restaurant analogy, golf balls are like cakes, but instead of flour and sugar, Titleist changes things like gum compounds and zinc salts while adjusting the cooking time and other parts of the process.
By the time the oven timer goes off, you’ll hopefully have something better.
More speed?
You may have noticed that in the beginning I shared Titleist’s claim of more speed. You may have also noticed that it wasn’t part of the product brief (tournament players weren’t necessarily looking for it) and nothing I’ve said so far explains where the increased speed came from.
Let’s clear this up.
While improving torque characteristics was the goal, speed is more of a happy little bonus. Consider that 25 tons sharedth anniversary gift
Over the past several years, we’ve talked about Titleist’s competitors spending big money to improve the quality and durability of their golf ball products. While Titleist may not have a line item dollar amount to show, quality improvements are an ongoing and never-ending part of Titleist’s process.
In many respects, quality improvements manifest as tighter tolerances, and since those production distribution curves are narrowed as a result of those improved tolerances, this creates an opportunity to push speed targets closer to USGA limits. without increasing the risk of exceeding them.
It’s basically the same thing you hear about on the club side. Tighter tolerances allow brands to increase their CT targets. Likewise, the tighter tolerances allowed Titleist to add some speed to the new Pro V1 and Pro V1x.
How soon are we talking?
In robot testing at approximately 100 mph, Titleist sets the speed gain to an increment of 0.5. That’s not a ton, but it’s nothing. The potentially interesting thing is that the gains in player testing average close to 1.5 mph, although there are some who aren’t seeing any speed increases.
With the new 2025 Pro V1 and Pro V1x, you’ll get some spin benefits and, with a little luck, you might even get some speed.
Aerodynamic optimization
As part of every new ball release, Titleist looks for opportunities for aerodynamic improvement. The catch is that you can’t separate the aerodynamic package from the rest of the ball, so a promising new dimple pattern can provide optimal results with a given build. Likewise, an optimized package can push the distance beyond what the USGA’s ODS (overall distance standard) allows.
It’s simply a balancing act.
For the 2025 balls, Titleist found that the existing aero package on the Pro V1 worked well with the new ball and so the cover carries over unchanged from the 2023 ball.
With the Pro V1x, the pattern itself is the same, but Titleist changed the depth of the dimples to lower the flight a bit. The lower flight is why Titleist says the new Pro V1x offers more control.
The lower flight from the driver is something players have been asking for, but it’s equally true that if Titleist hadn’t made the changes, with the added speed, the 2025 ball might not have passed the ODS test (mainly due to of the math behind the USGA jump and the pulley model).
Nice, so which one is right for me?
Unfortunately, the right golf ball varies from golfer to golfer. That said, there is no one starter (or any other ball for that matter) that is right for everyone.
The Pro V1x will fly higher and spin more, especially off iron shots. The Pro V1 will fly lower and roll a little less in the long game. Both offer plenty of short game spin.
It’s probably obvious that Titleist fits more golfers into the Pro V1x than any other ball in its lineup. While high compression may work well for faster players, its higher flight and higher spin properties make it a great option for players who struggle to generate enough spin.
On the other end of the spectrum, Left Dash and AVX offer options for players who generate a lot of spin. The Dash is faster and will fly higher while the AVX is softer and often longer out of the irons.
If possible, we would recommend passing a ball mount to find the best ball for your game.
Price and availability
The 2025 Titleist Pro V1 and Pro V1x golf balls retail for $54.99 a dozen. Both are available in white and high-optic yellow. The extended reach option (side seal of the reach) will also be available at launch.
Available at golf shops worldwide starting January 25th.
For more information, visit Titleist.com.
The old one is still pretty good
While supplies last, 2023 For V1 it’s marked down to $49.99 a dozen.
Post Titleist celebrates the 25th anniversary of the Pro V1 with two new golf balls appeared first on MyGolfSpy.
