Titleist PGA ball Tech on the local radio

I was listening to a local radio golf show a week or so ago and they had a Ball Tech from Titleist on, she was talking about working with the players to find the right ball for them. I would assume that no one on tour plays any product other than the prov's (old and new). But she made it out like they had the ability to tweak the ball for each player to fit there game better. While I'm sure it is possible to make a ball to custom fit someone, wouldn't that ball need to under go USGA testing? She also kept mentioning thier other product, Nxt and DT, when talking about the tour players. Does anyone know if there is someone on tour playing them?

According to their own website, everyone is either using the V1, or the V1x:

http://www.titleist.com/players/playersgolfballs.asp

maybe they just don't list the others as there's really no hype around them, but I would think that wouldn't matter. Even if a player isn't playing a ProV, they're still using your equipment.

According to their own website, everyone is either using the V1, or the V1x:

 

http://www.titleist.com/players/playersgolfballs.asp

 

maybe they just don't list the others as there's really no hype around them, but I would think that wouldn't matter. Even if a player isn't playing a ProV, they're still using your equipment.

I don't think there's full disclosure. I looked at your link and what I find interesting is that there is no distinction in that list of who is playing which year's model of their ball of choice. This is contrasted by the Canadian website which claims that everyone is playing the 'new' ProV1 or ProV1x: http://www.titleist.ca/players/playersgolfballs.asp even though there would appear to be at least a little evidence that some players play the older balls http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=172902

It wouldn't surprise me if they have some custom variation in their production given that Nike was (apparently) making Tiger his own version of the NOP until this year. I'm not certain, but I would imagine that sales of their premium balls might suffer if people knew that some of the pros were playing NXT Tours or DT balls, but I don't know if that would necessarily be a bad thing given that urethane balls supposedly have a much smaller profit margin due to higher production costs.

There is no way that a pro is playing something other than the ProV1/V1x. Could you imagine trying to spin an NXT or a DT Roll/Carry out of the heavy rough on greens that are running a 13?

While I'm sure it is possible to make a ball to custom fit someone, wouldn't that ball need to under go USGA testing?

Yes, any new model would have to undergo USGA testing to be conforming for play in a tournament.

Here are my two suspicions about what is going on. Firstly, it may be that when designing the ball, many different variations are made, and then the best two are chosen as the production models. The best being the ones that the most pros liked, or the ones that was hated the least by the pros.

Or, she could have been talking about taking the production runs today, and then testing each individual ball to find the specific characteristics that each player liked. No production process is perfect, and I am sure that there are variations in each and every single ball that is made. Maybe they separate the balls into the variations that each one possesses, and then give each pro the variations that they like. The balls overall are still conforming, but each pro is playing the specific ones they they like the best. So a pro can play a ProV1x because he likes the firmer feel overall, but they sort out the ones with the covers that accept more spin for a little more spin around the greens. Or any of the other variations.

I really don't know, though. It would be interesting to know more about the details of the process.

Aren't there like 8 variations of the ProV1 on the USGA conforming list? I really have no clue. just going by what I've read here.

I'm not aware of any pros using something like a DT or NXT Tour, but it wouldn't surprise me if a few were using a harder-covered ball.

I remember Daly winning at St Andrews with the Ultra Competition. It was like a rock, but Daly's short game isn't built around lots of spin and he obviously found the trajectory to his liking back then and had some sucess with the ball.