RECAP: Titleist ProV1 Experience Thread, July 12-13. Behind the scenes at Titleist Headquarters!

[HipCheck]

Tour time

 

 

Pro V1 cores before compression.

 

 

 

 

 

you should run an IG LIVE through the @golfwrx account.

 

I'd love to but there's a lot of "off limits" items we can't disclose.

[HipCheck]

Really an amazing thing to watch. QA process is mind bowing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JStang]

Great experience for you guys. The 2017 Pro V1 line is outstanding. I'm due for more soon...

[swgolf12]

For the first time in my WRX career I was one of the “Chosen ones” fortunate enough to get to go to Manchester Lane and tour the Titleist ball plant. In my past life I worked in a retail golf shop for a top 100 fitter and was known there as “the golf savant” due to my seemingly above average knowledge of equipment and my weird ability to quote raw shaft specs. And while I may have been an extremely knowledgeable fitter, I never paid too much attention to the ball. My main takeaway from this trip is there is so much more that goes into a golf ball than even a super tech golf nut can even imagine.

 

Our day started at Headquarters where we got to meet and see some of the R&D that goes into the Pro V1 and Pro V1X golf balls as well all of the other golf balls Titleist/Pinnacle produce. We all spend hours researching shafts, club heads, launch angles, etc and rarely put much thought into the golf ball. Well that is OK because the people at Titleist spend their lives thinking of all the different characteristics that go into the golf balls that we play. Titleist doesn’t outsource any aspect of manufacturing golf balls. Everything is engineered and developed for the purpose of creating the most consistent products available. From the angle of the dimple, size of core, materials, there is not a single aspect of the ball that they aren’t trying to push the envelope on while still maintaining the consistency Titleist is known for.

 

The thing that far and away impressed me the most about the people at Titleist is their passion for creating better products. And while a lot of research and everything gets done at the facilities up here in MA, a lot of testing is also done by Titleist employees. One of the employees tests competitors balls, so he’ll go out and play 18 holes with one, bring it back to HQ and the R&D team will go through it and look for a bunch of different things and then determine and analyze for data collection. Titleist wants to know as much about a competitors ball as they do their own, and to say they know a lot would be the understatement of my life.

 

Manchester Lane quite simply put is a little slice of heaven here on earth. There was not a blade of grass out of place until I got out there and started laying the sod over it. Overall from the conditions, to the peoples it was an awesome opportunity. Seeing the impact dimples have on a golf ball was one of the single most eye opening experiences. Changing the dimple angle by a few degrees on one half of a ball can cause it to fly something like 50 yards offline. This gets back to the R&D emphasis and why they go through the processes that they do, to ensure each golf ball you get performs just as the last one.

 

After leaving Manchester Lane we headed to BPIII or Ball Plant 3, where production golf balls are made. They can make a golf ball from prototype to finished product in R&D but not on the scale needed to meet worldwide demand. The amount of experience that the workers of BPIII have is second to none. Over 2/3 of the employees there have been working at Titleist manufacturing golf balls for over 10 years, with 2 of the longest tenured employees getting ready to celebrate 52 years of work at Titleist Ball Plants. The passion and pride these people have in their work is truly second to none. After meeting and interacting with some of them and seeing how excited they are to be at work and to make golf balls, I don’t know if I will be able to play another brand. The dedication, precision, and desire to improve current products is never ending, and a bit contagious to be around.

 

That pretty much wrapped up day 1, we had a nice little dinner where we got to unwind and talk a little bit more about general topics. Sorry for ranting and rambling, I’ll try to post a day 2 recap tomorrow night, or a full recap sometime Friday.

[KARL M]

did anyone top one because they were nervous?

 

Topped a couple of the wedge shots. The grass is mowed shorter than any fairway that I've played on in a long time. But the spin numbers the grass helped produce were more than I would have expected. A couple of my wedge shots were as high as 11,000.

[rymail00]

did anyone top one because they were nervous?

did anyone top one because they were nervous?

 

Top one, no one, shank a couple yes ( )

[rymail00]

For the first time in my WRX career I was one of the “Chosen ones” fortunate enough to get to go to Manchester Lane and tour the Titleist ball plant. In my past life I worked in a retail golf shop for a top 100 fitter and was known there as “the golf savant” due to my seemingly above average knowledge of equipment and my weird ability to quote raw shaft specs. And while I may have been an extremely knowledgeable fitter, I never paid too much attention to the ball. My main takeaway from this trip is there is so much more that goes into a golf ball than even a super tech golf nut can even imagine.

 

Our day started at Headquarters where we got to meet and see some of the R&D that goes into the Pro V1 and Pro V1X golf balls as well all of the other golf balls Titleist/Pinnacle produce. We all spend hours researching shafts, club heads, launch angles, etc and rarely put much thought into the golf ball. Well that is OK because the people at Titleist spend their lives thinking of all the different characteristics that go into the golf balls that we play. Titleist doesn’t outsource any aspect of manufacturing golf balls. Everything is engineered and developed for the purpose of creating the most consistent products available. From the angle of the dimple, size of core, materials, there is not a single aspect of the ball that they aren’t trying to push the envelope on while still maintaining the consistency Titleist is known for.

 

The thing that far and away impressed me the most about the people at Titleist is their passion for creating better products. And while a lot of research and everything gets done at the facilities up here in MA, a lot of testing is also done by Titleist employees. One of the employees tests competitors balls, so he’ll go out and play 18 holes with one, bring it back to HQ and the R&D team will go through it and look for a bunch of different things and then determine and analyze for data collection. Titleist wants to know as much about a competitors ball as they do their own, and to say they know a lot would be the understatement of my life.

 

Manchester Lane quite simply put is a little slice of heaven here on earth. There was not a blade of grass out of place until I got out there and started laying the sod over it. Overall from the conditions, to the peoples it was an awesome opportunity. Seeing the impact dimples have on a golf ball was one of the single most eye opening experiences. Changing the dimple angle by a few degrees on one half of a ball can cause it to fly something like 50 yards offline. This gets back to the R&D emphasis and why they go through the processes that they do, to ensure each golf ball you get performs just as the last one.

 

After leaving Manchester Lane we headed to BPIII or Ball Plant 3, where production golf balls are made. They can make a golf ball from prototype to finished product in R&D but not on the scale needed to meet worldwide demand. The amount of experience that the workers of BPIII have is second to none. Over 2/3 of the employees there have been working at Titleist manufacturing golf balls for over 10 years, with 2 of the longest tenured employees getting ready to celebrate 52 years of work at Titleist Ball Plants. The passion and pride these people have in their work is truly second to none. After meeting and interacting with some of them and seeing how excited they are to be at work and to make golf balls, I don’t know if I will be able to play another brand. The dedication, precision, and desire to improve current products is never ending, and a bit contagious to be around.

 

That pretty much wrapped up day 1, we had a nice little dinner where we got to unwind and talk a little bit more about general topics. Sorry for ranting and rambling, I’ll try to post a day 2 recap tomorrow night, or a full recap sometime Friday.

 

 

You really summed it up very well.

 

I suppose I went into this with a very small idea of what we might see, but was surprised completely.

 

I'd say by far Manchester lane was the "most fun" (hitting balls, and ect.) but the R&D part really blew mind. Like mentioned above the details, research, trial and error, ect. was be on comprehensible. Again it just blew mind.....I really can't explain it. It was just so far more complex than I could even imagine. The aerodynamics part was super interesting, and how basically indistinguishable by sight details like mentioned above like angle of the edge dimples, or dimple depth, shaping and pattern can have such severe affect on flight.

 

But at the end of the day (again mentioned in the post above) the people there were incredible, from Manchester Lane, to Ball Plant 3, to R&D, people really seem to care, and love doing what they do, and it was infectious. It just seems like a cool place to work, and must be. When your the "newbie" at work, and have been there for 7 years or more, you know people really do like their jobs.

 

 

 

Lastly, the guys and gals (WRX'ers, and the fitting crew, and guys who brought us through each spot on the tour) made a great day, even better.

[CTSpinDoctor]

We are all headed to play 18 pretty soon at a gem of a course. Will update.

[tsecor]

did anyone top one because they were nervous?

did anyone top one because they were nervous?

 

Top one, no one, shank a couple yes ( )

That would be me too. Thanks for sharing. I am living through you guys on this....love reading every post you guys are putting out there

[tsecor]

What a day so far !

 

 

that orange bag and dark gray head covers looks awesome.....

[HipCheck]

On to the Custom Ball Plant.

 

 

 

Fantastic gift for our members.

 

 

 

Every ink color imaginable.

 

 

 

 

[Oaks]

We are all headed to play 18 pretty soon at a gem of a course. Will update.

 

Looks like a great experience thus far....

 

Kittansett?

[swgolf12]

We are all headed to play 18 pretty soon at a gem of a course. Will update.

 

Looks like a great experience thus far....

 

Kittansett?

 

Warwick CC. Titleist shoots some of their commercials there, I'm sure many photos will follow.

[QMany]

How cool, nice touch!!!

 

[joey2aces]

Eating lunch then teeing it up at Warwick CC in Rhode Island. View is ok

[tsecor]

We are all headed to play 18 pretty soon at a gem of a course. Will update.

 

Looks like a great experience thus far....

 

Kittansett?

 

Warwick CC. Titleist shoots some of their commercials there, I'm sure many photos will follow.

right on the bay....nice place!!!

[longballjs]

I cannot wait to post my review of the trip, just need to get to a keyboard

[Sean2]

How cool, nice touch!!!

 

 

Yes, very nice!

[rymail00]

How do I resize pics? It says file was to big to up load.

[golf9596]

did anyone top one because they were nervous?

did anyone top one because they were nervous?

 

Top one, no one, shank a couple yes ( )

It's been a long time I felt that much pressure to hit a 50 yard wedge shot....LOL

[joey2aces]

First I want to offer a huge thank you to GolfWRX and Titleist for giving us the opportunity to experience this event. I can't get into more detail than what Mike had to offer so I will get into what I experienced.

 

I knew making a golf ball wasn't easy but to see the day to day operations was a real eye opener. So much brain power in one facility yet the ability for them to relate to us was seamless. From showing us the R&D to full scale operations was amazing.

There is literally never a stone that goes unturned... They know that maybe 1 of 100 ideas will be plausible but if they don't try then they don't know. Different shapes of the cores, dimple patterns... thousands of molds ... to testing colors etc.

The Hall of Patents was truly a sight to be seen. The literally need to either build another wing or wallpaper the entire walls with all the intellectual property that they have.

 

I didn't exactly know what to expect. I have admittedly been skeptical of 'a ball is a ball is a ball is a ball.' Well, that was dispelled when I hit five 90 yard shots with the Pro V1X and they all ripped about 20 yards back and off the green. Then I hit the Pro V1 and they spun half as much and found themselves close to the pin. Then they threw in an unknown 2 piece distance ball and it was like I was a different player altogether, and not a better one

 

Next was the iron testing and the results were much of the same. The Pro V1x simply spun too much. Just on my drives the Pro V1 spun 700 RPM less than the Pro V1x, although all my spins were out of control but that is another issue that I need to deal with. The ball test simply works.

 

They have a team dedicated to fitting you and they are awesome. I know, "it's their job" but if these people don't love their jobs then they have a great way of showing it. The attention they gave us was beyond expected. Listening to our concerns, telling us why we were experiencing more spin or less spin. Asking us about feel etc.

From what I recall my ball speed was even 2 MPH more with the Pro V1 than with the Pro V1x. Seriously, you will find threads from the past where the cynic in me will tell you that it's all hooey.... nope, this is ACTUAL science.

 

We also got to meet the MyProV1 team and they were just as proud and excited to see us as everyone else was. I know I could design my own Pro V1 but I didn't know I could design my own packaging... and for only a few bucks more. That is something that the charity events I run will definitely take advantage of in the future.

 

The fact that the average time worked at Titleist is 20+years is beyond jaw dropping but not surprising after you meet the people, the management and see what Titleist has to offer its employees for being loyal.

 

We did end up getting rained out for golf on Thursday but at least we got to play some golf on a very nice course in Warwick CC.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[broth518]

Where to start... I will do a larger post later but I learned so much on what goes into a golf ball that it blew my mind.

 

I want to thank GolfWRX and Titleist for allowing us to see behind the curtain and really understand and open my eyes to the dedication they have to making the best ball in golf. Hands down nothing compares to a Pro V1 and through my testing (before and now after the trip) it has always been the most consistent golf ball in the market place.

 

Here are some pictures I took and will have a further deep dive shortly. This trip proves to me why the number #1 golf website GolfWRX and the #1 ball Titleist would work together on this promotion.

 

A little trivia when asked in the future who was the first person to hit onto the longest putting green? You have to answer broth518 as I shanked at least 2 balls when get fitting for the Pro V1!

 

Thanks again!!!

[tsecor]

That deep orange bag is outstanding....what is that?

[broth518]

That deep orange bag is outstanding....what is that?

 

That's joey2aces golf bag. Got to admit it I was jealous of the bag, the head covers and the circle t putter he had!

[HipCheck]

There's traditional packaging like this...

 

 

And custom. Here are "Folds of Honor" Pro V1 balls with custom packaging.

 

 

Two members visited the custom shop to and had a little surprise. Their My Pro V1 orders were being customized during the tour!

 

 

 

 

 

No truth to the rumor these are about me :) (well, some truth)

 

[Oaks]

What no MillerTime balls?

[HipCheck]

What no MillerTime balls?

 

I need them! Working on it ;)

[tsecor]

That deep orange bag is outstanding....what is that?

 

That's joey2aces golf bag. Got to admit it I was jealous of the bag, the head covers and the circle t putter he had!

me too....perfect looking set up.....me likey

[IHFN]

This is really great stuff. Congrats guys. It does make me wonder how much a blemish on a golf ball can effect it's flight. If changing tiny things all around the ball has drastic effects, does a cut here or there do anything?

[swgolf12]

Guys, I plan to post a 2nd review re-capping day 2 and an overall experience of the trip (It was a little more eventful for myself than some others, which I'll get into lol) but I was wondering if anyone reading this had any specific questions regarding our time there. I'd be happy to try and answer any of them as part off my re-cap, just post here or send me a message and I'll do my best to answer when I write up my final post.

 

-Mike Dubecky