Tour pro validation for new Titleist Pro V1 balls

Titleist new Pro V1 and Pro V1x prototype golf balls are proving a big hit following a period of 'white box' seeding across the worldwide professional tours

Ian Poulter
Ian Poulter with new Titleist Pro V1x prototype golf balls

Titleist new Pro V1 and Pro V1x prototype golf balls are proving a big hit following a period of 'white box' seeding across the worldwide professional tours

Titleist new Pro V1 and Pro V1x prototype golf balls are proving a big hit following a period of 'white box' seeding across the worldwide professional tours.

Tour seeding of the 2015 balls began at the PGA Tour's Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in October.

Since then, more than 100 players - including Jordan Spieth, Adam Scott, Bubba Watson, Ian Poulter and Rickie Fowler - have put the new Pro V1 or Pro V1x into play.

The white box signifies tour-level validation with the best players in the world and only happens after an extensive period of planning, testing, research and more from a vast team of golf ball specialists.

Titleist's golf ball R&D team includes chemists, physicists, mathematicians, computer scientists, engineers, technicians and turf management specialists.

Feedback is also provided by tour pros, elite amateurs, club professionals and members of team Titleist to ensure every new product is validated at every level of the game.

Every new product has to be better than what preceded it, not just different.

The new Pro V1 balls have already achieved considerable success on tour.

In November, Bubba Watson became the first player to win the with the new Pro V1x prototype at the WGC-HSBC Champions - the first week he put it into play.

Since then, Charley Hoffman (OHL Classic at Mayakoba) and Spieth (Australian Open, Hero World Challenge) and Padraig Harrington (Indonesian Open) have also been triumphant with the new balls.

The likes of Lee Westwood, Victor Dubuisson, Luke Donald and Henrik Stenson will continue to test the balls over the Christmas break.

Victor Dubuisson

"When we see the white box product on the range it is really exciting, as Titleist is the expert in golf ball technology and performance," said Thomas Aiken.

"You can be certain the product has been improved in some way."

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Nick Bonfield
Features Editor

Nick Bonfield joined Golf Monthly in 2012 after graduating from Exeter University and earning an NCTJ-accredited journalism diploma from News Associates in Wimbledon. He is responsible for managing production of the magazine, sub-editing, writing, commissioning and coordinating all features across print and online. Most of his online work is opinion-based and typically centres around the Majors and significant events in the global golfing calendar. Nick has been an avid golf fan since the age of ten and became obsessed with the professional game after watching Mike Weir and Shaun Micheel win The Masters and PGA Championship respectively in 2003. In his time with Golf Monthly, he's interviewed the likes of Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose, Jose Maria Olazabal, Henrik Stenson, Padraig Harrington, Lee Westwood and Billy Horschel and has ghost-written columns for Westwood, Wayne Riley, Matthew Southgate, Chris Wood and Eddie Pepperell. Nick is a 12-handicap golfer and his favourite courses include Old Head, Sunningdale New, Penha Longha, Valderrama and Bearwood Lakes. If you have a feature pitch for Nick, please email nick.bonfield@futurenet.com with 'Pitch' in the subject line. Nick is currently playing: Driver: TaylorMade M1 Fairway wood: TaylorMade RBZ Stage 2 Hybrid: Ping Crossover Irons (4-9): Nike Vapor Speed Wedges: Cleveland CBX Full Face, 56˚, Titleist Vokey SM4, 60˚ Putter: testing in progress! Ball: TaylorMade TP5x