TITLEIST PRO V1 GOLF BALL

In the mid-1990s, Titleist led the way in providing performance balls with its Professional and Tour Balata wound models. But it was always innovating, and towards the millennium it had experimented with a number of prototype multicomponent balls. By early 2000, the experts at Titleist had singled out one of those prototypes and earmarked it as having particular potential.

It had a solid core, a surlyn casing and a urethane cover featuring a 392-dimple icosahedral pattern.

In testing, the feedback from the pros was outstanding and they wanted to put it in play as soon as possible. Titleist needed to give the ball a name to get it on to the USGA’S conforming balls list. It quickly came up with Pro V1 – Pro being professional, V being the urethane veneer and 1 because it was the first.

It was a temporary name, or so they thought… When the guys at Titleist told the pros, they liked it and it stuck. The Pro V1 is the single most successful piece of golf equipment in the history of the game.