Hey Team Titleist!
A new year on the PGA TOUR often brings with it new goals, improved routines and equipment changes for the world’s best players.
This week in Hawaii, those changes include teeing up the all-new Pro V1 and Pro Vx golf balls.
Titleist is the overwhelming #1 golf ball among the elite 39-player field, with 72% of players teeing up a Pro V1 or Pro V1x model. That list includes Brand Ambassadors Will Zalatoris and Sungjae Im as well as Titleist golf ball loyalist Viktor Hovland who each put 2023 models in play for the first time on Thursday.
Keep reading to learn more about why they made the move:
Will Zalatoris | 2023 Pro V1x
Heading into his first PGA TOUR event since his victory at the FedEx St. Jude Championship this fall, Will Zalatoris made the move to the new 2023 Pro V1x after testing the new models at home.
“The golf ball is the engine of everything I do equipment wise. So the big thing that I look for whenever I’m testing balls, is ‘does it do exactly what I think it’s going to do?” said Zalatoris. “When I switched to the [2023 Pro V1x], the big thing I saw was it had the exact same reactions around the greens. I actually gained a little bit of distance with the driver, but it was actually better through the wind.”
SungJae Im | 2023 Pro V1x
Joining Zalatoris in the move to the 2023 Pro V1x is Brand Ambassador SungJae Im, who entered this week ranked 7th this season in strokes gained off-the-tee.
“The seemed as if the new Pro V1x is less affected by the wind and is more consistent than the previous Pro V1x,” said Im while testing the new models at last year’s Shriners Children’s Open.
Viktor Hovland | 2023 Pro V1x
Long-time Titleist golf ball loyalist Viktor Hovland followed suit, also teeing up the new Pro V1x this week in Hawaii.
“Any chance you get to improve I think that’s very exciting,” said Hovland during a testing session with Titleist Tour Rep Fordie Pitts. “The new ball can certainly do that.”
Get a behind-the-scenes look at his testing process and what goes into putting a new ball in play: