2009 Pro V1 and Pro V1x Review

2009 Pro V1 Review

TITLEIST Pro V1 2009

Grade: B+
Teacher’s Comments: Long. Great spin around the green. Nice to putt with. Durable. But EXPENSIVE.

I’ve always been skeptical (if not downright disbelieving) of claims made by golf equipment companies connecting the performance of pros to the desirability of their products. So over the years, the notion that I should play a Pro V1 because it’s the number one ball in golf has had no impact on me whatsoever. I’ve always played balls I believed more attuned to amateurs, especially the Callaway HX Hot. I just never thought I had the game to play with a Pro V1, any more than I have the game to play with a set of Mizuno blades.

But Titleist has apparently reforumulated the Pro V1 line. Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been playing the 2009 Pro V1 and Pro V1x, and am coming to a different conclusion. I CAN play the Pro V1, and it’s turned out to be a nice ball for this mid handicapper.

Titleist offers two balls in the Pro V line: the Pro V1 and Pro V1x. The V1 is a three piece and the V1x, a four. I played them interchangeably, and to be honest I really can’t tell the difference between the two. I sometimes felt as though I hit longer shots with one, sometimes the other. The same thought applies to the spin. For me, the real comparison is between these premium balls and the lower priced ones I usually play.

My biggest complaint in the past about the Pro V1 models was that I felt I couldn’t take advantage of its qualities. With a moderate swing speed, I was sure that I didn’t properly compress a ball designed for pros who can swing at 120 miles per hour. For whatever reason—the reformulation, or a change in my own game—I haven’t found that to be the case with the new 2009 Pro V1 and Pro V1x. Shots with my driver, woods and irons are no shorter—or longer for that matter—than with my favorite, the Callaway HX Hot. (It helps here to play the same course on a regular basis—I know where my shots usually land.)

Ball flight for both the Pro V1 and Pro V1x were moderately high. Both balls were very straight. But again, I didn’t think there was any real separation from the Callaway HX Hot.

Where the Pro V1 earns its money—so to speak—is that it takes the length of my favorite distance ball, and combines that with outstanding spin around the green. Off the wedges, from 110 yards in, the Pro V1 and Pro V1x fly in high, and check up almost immediately. My normal aiming point with a wedge has in the past been well short of the hole because I knew that—once it landed—the ball would start rolling. With the Pro V1, I can aim for the center of the green, knowing that the ball won’t skid off the rear.

I haven’t done one of those Tour spin backs yet, but the balls do stop very, very quickly.

That kind of spin makes a big difference in my game. In a scramble last weekend, I was absolutely fearless around the greens, taking big swings in the certainty that the ball would fly high, land and stop. When we missed the approach shots, it more often than not was my ball we played for the first putt. (I’d also like to tell you how often we used my tee shots, but that was only when everyone else spun their balls off into the wilderness, leaving me the only one in the fairway).

On the green, the 2009 Pro V1 and Pro V1x both feel very nice coming off the face of my Heavy Putter. As in Goldilocks and the Three Bears, they’re not too firm, not too soft, but just right.

Titleist claims that the 2009 Pro V1 models have a cover that offers improved durability. I can’t speak to that, since I really haven’t spent much time playing the previous models, but they are indeed durable. I can’t finish a round without hitting a couple of trees and a cart path or two, and I didn’t notice any scruffing that would cause me to retire a ball.

And that’s good, because at $45 a dozen, you can’t toss these aside with impunity. In fact, they’re probably too expensve for me to justify playing on a regular basis. At the rate I lose balls, I very quickly would burn through my golf budget. If these were $15 cheaper, I think I’d play them on a regular basis.