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

Although technically this week begins the official seeding process for Titleist, the company has already been working with some PGA TOUR players to get their feedback. Some players liked it so much that they wanted to put the ball into play for competition a bit early.

For example, Hayden Springer switched into the new Titleist 2025 Pro V1 golf ball for the start of the FedExCup Fall at the 2024 Procore Championship, going on to finish T8 in his next start at the Sanderson Farms Championship. Additionally, Lee Hodges began using the 2025 Titleist Pro V1 at the Sanderson Farms, and he finished a season-best T8 at the Black Desert Championship the following week using the new ball.

According to Hodges, he’s picked up significant speed with every club in the bag, and he’s hitting the ball straighter, too.

“It’s actually an unbelievable ball,” Hodges told GolfWRX.com on Tuesday at the 2024 Shriners Children’s Open. “It has the same feel that you would want out of a Pro V1, but I’ve noticed 1.5 mph of ball speed with every club. The thing that I’ve loved the most is off-center hits, just seeing it stay on line a little bit longer. There was one [shot] I had in Jackson (Sanderson Farms) when I first put it in play, I hit a driver a little bit off the toe, and instead of going to the left, it just hung in there and caught the left side of the fairway. For me, that was a huge thing to see, and that’s what I’ve noticed with basically every club. Everything has been the same except it’s a little bit quicker, and the mishits have seemed to stay on line just a little bit longer.”

Gaining 1.5 mph of ball speed on each shot is certainly nothing to scoff at, especially on the PGA TOUR where every inch matters.

Golf ball expert Fordie Pitts, Titleist’s director of Tour Validation and Research, is on-site at TPC Summerlin ahead of the Shriners Children’s Open making sure that every PGA TOUR player has the opportunity to test and provide feedback on the new 2025 Pro V1 and Pro V1x golf balls, should they wish.

On Tuesday, GolfWRX.com caught up with Pitts to get his take on how the validation process has been coming along in Las Vegas.

“This is our official launch of the 2025 Pro V1 and Pro V1x,” Pitts said. “We’re very excited to be here. We’re here for a few days to introduce the product to the players. We’ve been talking to them for the past couple months, preparing them for this day, but these are the days to really get into it, hit shots, and see if it’s going to be a good option for them… the goal was to make a consistent, well-performing golf ball that satisfies all the players’ needs. So we look at things like speed, spin and flight windows to try and dial in an even better version of Pro V1 and Pro V1x… every player out here has a machine and they’re looking at numbers so they’re already figuring out what the new product is doing for them…

“This week we’ve got, I don’t know the exact count, but we’re pushing close to 100 Titleist ball players this week, and our goal is to see every single one of them. We have a handful of guys already making the move; they’ve already seen some speed and spin benefits from the product. And we’re anticipating a fairly good conversion rate for the first week with the product.”

Read the full article on PGATour.com.

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