ProV1x - Are they all made in Thailand?

[spring70]

I know that the Mass. ball plant has been the subject of awe with podcasters and such, but every ProV1X I buy are all made in Thailand - I am not saying these are inferior, just weird that one of their flagship balls are not made at HQ.

[North Butte]

Where are you located?

 

My yellow 2019 Pro V1x boxes all say MADE IN TITLEIST BALL PLANT 3 USA. I live on the east coast of the USA so maybe if you live other parts of the world you get balls made in a different factory?

[spring70]

> @"North Butte" said:

> Where are you located?

>

> My yellow 2019 Pro V1x boxes all say MADE IN TITLEIST BALL PLANT 3 USA. I live on the east coast of the USA so maybe if you live other parts of the world you get balls made in a different factory?

 

Cleveland, Ohio hmmm

[Llortamaisey]

Where are you buying them from? Green grass, big box, or online?

[GoGoErky]

Their tour balls are all from USA. Maybe the guys who went to the trip can answer

[2012BFT]

Mine are usually a mixed bag over the years... lately (I haven't bought many balls recently) but the ones I have gotten seem to all be USA now.

[titleistek]

Got some from big box store: USA

[Socrates]

> @spring7 said:

> I know that the Mass. ball plant has been the subject of awe with podcasters and such, but every ProV1X I buy are all made in Thailand - I am not saying these are inferior, just weird that one of their flagship balls are not made at HQ.

 

It seems like they make different lines at different plants. For example, all out ProV1's and AVX come from Plant 3. Velocities and TruSoft come from Plant 2. It only makes sense to have a plant in the Asian Rim to take advantage of the demand there and to save on some shipping and tariff costs.

Rest assured, that Titleist has the exact same components and QA taking place as the NA plants. Depending on timing and demands, you can expect products to come from any plant in any country.

 

 

[North Butte]

My surmise would be that some Asian market Pro V1x (made in Thailand) must have found their way into a USA retailer's inventory by some path or another. Whether by gray market or by Titleist redirecting inventory to accommodate unexpected demand patterns.

 

If they have a factory in Thailand and one in Massachusetts, it wouldn't make sense for the normal procedure to involve shipping Asian production literally halfway around the world to be sold a few hundred miles from their USA facility.

 

I seem to recall seeing a box of Pro V1 in the distant past that said Made in Thailand but at least since 2013 or so every box I've had was from the USA factory.

[Socrates]

There are 3 plants in Eastern USA. I would imagine while one plant re-tools for a new model, the other plants take up the slack on the current line.

[spring70]

> @Llortamaisey said:

> Where are you buying them from? Green grass, big box, or online?

 

Dicks mainly, I have also bought dozens off Amazon. I will see what my course sells.

 

As far as the tariffs etc., the money they save in labor over "made in USA versions", probably outweighs the shipping, tariffs and I would bet that their profit margin is greater.

[North Butte]

> @spring7 said:

> > @Llortamaisey said:

> > Where are you buying them from? Green grass, big box, or online?

>

> Dicks mainly, I have also bought dozens off Amazon. I will see what my course sells.

>

> As far as the tariffs etc., the money they save in labor over "made in USA versions", probably outweighs the shipping, tariffs and I would bet that their profit margin is greater.

 

If that were the determining factor, they'd make them all in Thailand. Or some place even cheaper.

 

Obviously, Titleist doesn't chase the lowest possible manufacturing costs or they wouldn't have multiple production lines in the People's Republic of Massachusetts!

[Socrates]

I was talking about tariffs and duties that other countries charge for US goods coming into their country. There might be significant cost savings importing them into Asian countries from another Asian country. Hence a reason to open a plant in Thailand.

[spring70]

> @Socrates said:

> I was talking about tariffs and duties that other countries charge for US goods coming into their country. There might be significant cost savings importing them into Asian countries from another Asian country. Hence a reason to open a plant in Thailand.

 

gotcha

[Hack Daddy]

> @Socrates said:

> There are 3 plants in Eastern USA. I would imagine while one plant re-tools for a new model, the other plants take up the slack on the current line.

 

They don't "re-tool" for anything. Same tooling, different marketing...

[North Butte]

I believe the split between the Massachusets factories mostly depends on type of construction. Urethane vs. ionomer and so forth. The equipment for cast thermoset urethane is pretty specialized and it wouldn't make sense to spread it around any more than necessary. The equipment for ionomer covered two-piece balls is pretty basic and generic by comparison.

[Allergic2Birdies]

Most boxes say ball plant 3 at the store i work at

[Socrates]

> @"Hack Daddy" said:

> > @Socrates said:

> > There are 3 plants in Eastern USA. I would imagine while one plant re-tools for a new model, the other plants take up the slack on the current line.

>

> They don't "re-tool" for anything. Same tooling, different marketing...

 

You should cut apart a few generations of ProV’s. From yr to yr, they are different in many ways. It even surprised me.

[Filipposhka]

I also wrote that it is made in Ohio

[cristphoto]

I have four dozen 2019 ProV1X's and just looked at the boxes. They all say made in ball plant 4 Thailand. They were purchased at either Dicks or Golf galaxy at various times this year. I'm in the DC area.

[deepred]

I’ve never seen a box from Thailand and I won’t ever buy one that doesn’t say made in USA.

If it is made in Asia I might as well save a few bucks and buy from a competitor .

[inertiamonster]

To chime in on this:

- Titleist has 3 functioning ball plants globally

- Ball plant 1 in Mass. no longer makes balls, it is now where their personalization department and their gear (bags, hats, gloves, etc) design teams are

- Ball plant 2 in Mass. makes all of the single core surlyn covered balls

- Ball plant 3 in Mass. is where all multi-layer urethane balls are made for North America, they also make the dual cores for the Japanese VG3 balls which are the only non-urethane dual core balls they make

- Ball plant 4 is the one in Thailand, it is essentially identical to ball plant 3 making multi layer urethane balls for Asia and some other parts of the world

They can and will use plants 3 and 4 to take up slack in other parts of the world if needed which is why there will periodically be balls from plant 4 in North America.

[sharkiesj]

It is my understanding, and I could be wrong, but I thought I remembered reading about this very topic. According to Fila, the Thailand plant #4 is used primarily to service balls to the western US. (ProV1/Vx). Most stores in the western US will have the plant 4 Thailand sticker on it. Not every single dozen but most, in general. People in the Midwest and East coast primarily get their balls from plant 3.

[Bad9]

> @spring7 said:

> > @Llortamaisey said:

> > Where are you buying them from? Green grass, big box, or online?

>

> Dicks mainly, I have also bought dozens off Amazon. I will see what my course sells.

>

> As far as the tariffs etc., the money they save in labor over "made in USA versions", probably outweighs the shipping, tariffs and I would bet that their profit margin is greater.

 

How much labour is involved in making golf balls nowadays? Is it enough to make a difference?

[Zen_Golfer]

I recently got a dozen from Target that were made in Thailand. It really didnt seem to matter much. They played just like any other Pro V1x Ive ever used.

[Smitty120]

My last few dozen of ProV1's at my Club are from Thailand.

[ryanarneson]

Ball Plant 3. Bought with the Buy 3 Get 1 spring promotion with custom personalization from my club in Colorado.