V1 vs. V1X

[Hat Trick]

How close are these two models?

According to Titleist the V1 spins less and has a mid ball flight while the V1X spins more and has a higher ball flight.

It has been suggested that I am a V1X player because I hit he ball a little lower and need more spin - but I like the softer feeling V1 better than the firmer V1X.

My driver swing speed is about 94-96 mph.

 

[CDM]

As I know it that is pretty spot on. It you want a high ball flight and need spin I would look at other balls. IE: Bridgestone RXS might be better based on your swing speed.

[hammergolf]

Try the Mizuno balls, they spin quite a bit more than other balls. If you want something softer feeling try the 2018 Tour B XS.

[Mahamilto]

RXS will NOT be even close to the V1x on spin. Not even close. The V1x is a very spinny ball.

Only ball I’m aware of that spins more is the Bridgestone Tour B XS (NOT THE R). Issue is this ball doesn’t launch as high as the V1x, but it is very soft (softer than the V1 IMO). The XS is a great ball.. it’s tigers ball...

The TP5 (NOT TP5x) is also soft and spins very well, but for me is lower off most clubs than the Bridgestone.

But in all honesty, the V1x is the highest spinning high launch ball on the market. Period. It’s firm, sure, but that gives you better ball speed (yes, even at your swing speed) and will benefit you’re driver distance. You play it exclusively and it doesn’t feel that hard; the cover is very soft and it’s more the sound of the click than the impact feel. At impact it feels just fine.

‘but if you must have soft, try the 2020 Tour B XS... great ball.

[bluedot]

Nothing on the market spins more than a ProV1x; nothing. That's not my opinion; that's what a mountain of independent testing data shows. The V1 is going to spin a bit less off irons, especially wedges.

Two things you can forget about to simplify your decision making about golf balls:

Launch angle off the driver. ALL golf balls, whether they are expensive or cheap and regardless of the manufacturer, and going to launch within a degree or so of every other ball. There is an interaction between spin rate and launch angle, and to maximize carry, all the manufacturers have to hit the same balance. There just isn't much difference at all, and if you think you are seeing a launch angle difference between two balls, it's either due to a very small sample size, or a little bit of difference in spin rates leading to a little bit of difference in carry distance, which may or may not translate to overall distance. In the case of the V1x and the V1, overall driver distance tests out at less than a yard of difference off the driver. Feel. Testing shows that this is mostly sound, and isn't really a performance characteristic at all. Performance characteristics are things like launch angles and spin rates, and those have to do with the construction of the ball, not with how it sounds or "feels".So if you want a ball that will spin more off a wedge, get the V1x. If you want less spin off a wedge (the actual difference is somewhere around 300 rpm's) then get the V1. Forget all the rest of the stuff; that's the only factor you should be thinking about.

[cristphoto]

The ProV1 flies lower for me than the ProV1X. I used to play the ProV1 for years but in the prior generation pair of balls Titleist flipped the characteristics. I believe it was to get a bit more distance out of the ProV1 they made it fly lower to get more roll off the driver. Not a huge difference but easily noticeable.

[Carolina Golfer 2]

This should be pinned at the top of any ProV1/Prov1X thread

[North Butte]

You can consider these my "opinions" but they're consistent with everything I've ever seen in terms of independent ball tests and the experience of good players...

1) For someone who swings a driver at 90-something mph and doesn't have a plus-handicap quality swing, the differences between multilayers urethane golf balls are pretty subtle. So when we think we see some sort of major, game-changing difference when switching from Pro V1 to Chrome Soft or from TP5 to TP5X or whatever, we are just fooling ourselves. Not to say one ball won't work better than the others but it's small differences, not game-changers for a guy driving it 230 yards and shooting in the 80's.

2) I think I'm like a lot of speed- and skill-challenged golfers in almost never having too much spin or too much elevation on a shot (except when I try to punch under a tree and it goes too high!). Over-spinning a shot just doesn't affect my game more than once in a blue moon and when I see better/stronger players hit iron shots, the height they get is literally twice as much as my best shots. So a ball like the Pro V1x which is designed to have the maximum combination Titleist know how to build of distance, spin and peak elevation is targeted directly at me. Forget the idea that "an X ball is for big hitters" or any of that stuff. It may have been true in 2002 or something but all the modern Tour balls work for short-hitting hackers as well.

3) I've played at least 50 or so rounds with probably a dozen different golf balls over the past decade. Just because I'm always curious. But every single time I switch back to Pro V1x after a few months with Chrome Soft, B330, TP5, AVX, etc. the ball simply flies higher and more consistently stops on the greens with the Pro V1x. Again, not talking OMG night and day differences. But better suited to my game, if only slightly.

So if you want wedge and iron spin and you like seeing the ball fly high, then play the Pro V1x and just get used to the fact it has a slightly louder click coming off the club than some others. Seriously, you can get used to "feel" after a few rounds. That's better IMHO than going with a "feel" you like but then wondering if that next shot is going to carry far enough or stop without rolling off the back of the green.

[cugolf14]

Everyone has hit the nail on the head here. The X is probably going to be the best ball for you. Longer off the tee and will spin more with your wedges.

[cardoustie]

good comments above - thx for sharing

Me personally … on higher end balls I see a difference in driver distance, tp5x is long for my swing with the big stick

Irons are all very close

[North Butte]

At the risk of unfairly "piling on" about the feel thing, I have no great love for that M-G-S site but do appreciate the big robot ball test they did a while back. As is their style, they over-hyped the whole "softer is slower" thing to make a fairly small difference sound like huge deal, which it isn't.

However I do share their tendency toward ranting about the whole topic of sacrificing other performance characteristics of a ball in order to get one that makes a certain sound at impact. The whole industry has restructured itself around catering to golfer's feel/sound preferences. Not that Chrome Soft or similar "soft" balls have bad performance. And as I said above the differences in all these balls certainly isn't going to cost you the ability to break 80 or anything like that.

I'm happy with Titleist (or Bridgestone or anyone else) simply making the best performing golf balls they can make and letting the feel or sound however they turn out. As someone with an engineering background, I find it easy to believe that forcing a ball to be perceived as "feeling soft" almost has to mean trading off some other characteristics, at least slightly.

[Carolina Golfer 2]

I agree with pretty much everything you said.

But want to add one point, and please note you didn't say this, but it is often said in general terms by many. There is a prevailing theory that the 90 mph swing doesn't benefit from the premium balls like a Pro V or VX. And as you pointed out that is without a doubt the case off the tee and in most iron play as well.

However, most of those 90 mph swings--and I am one--has a short game swing that is pretty much the same speed as any other level player, I have seen this as fact on Trackman at Titleist and Taylormade fittings. Now the quality of strike and impact sure is still different, but if a 90 mph player can put even halfway decent contact on the ball from 30 to 60 yards out, they will definitely see the benefit of a premium tour ball versus a mid range or budget ball, that some advocate a slower swing speed player should be using.

 

[The Pearl]

How low do you hit the ball? Do you need more height off the tee? Are you having problems holding greens on full shots, partial wedges, etc.?

 

Really good feedback for you in this thread from posters. For your average golfer, the ProV1x is almost always the default choice in terms of making the "least" bad choice. In terms of the M G S study, it confirmed to some extent what I had known as a slow swing player (90MPH) for years, that the you "can't compress the ball" was total BS. Nearly every long drive I have ever hit was with a tour ball and more often not a ProVx.

With that said, I think the MGS study exaggerated the characterisitics seperating the tour balls in term of compression, particularly for slow swing players. In other words, you are not going to blast a ProV1x or a Snell MTB-X 15 yards past a regular ProV1 on a consistent basis.

What the study does is provide a pretty nice base line for you to head in the right direction in making an intelligent decision.

Any tour ball whether it feels "soft or hard" should spin plenty to play great golf regardless if you are a low ball hitter or not. But, as mentioned above, it only takes a few rounds to get used to the "firmness" of any X ball. In fact, if you play an X ball it becomes difficult to go back and play a soft ball. With that said, the game is suppose to be fun and pleasrable and a big part of that is how the ball feels of the club face when you flush one or even when you hit the sweet spot of the putter. If you like a softer ball, play a softer ball, just make it a tour caliber ball. At the margin, I doubt there is any significant downside.

At the end of the day you really have to go experiment with your ball options on the course. What works for us and in a study may not be optimal for you or more importantly may not fit your budget. There are tremendous options available as Bludot mentioned with the Snell MTB-X and with others such as the MG Tour and Oncore balls.

 

[bluedot]

If you looked at the testing data without any ball names, and tried to pick out the two balls that are the most similar in performance at all swing speeds and with all clubs, you might very well pick the ProV1x and the ProV1. Honestly, I really suspect that Titleist just made the V1 sound a little bit softer than the X, and spin just a tad less off a wedge; that's all. The launch angle numbers are absurdly similar, and if anybody tells you they launch one or the other higher or lower, you can suspect an optical illusion or a confirmation bias.

[Hat Trick]

Thank you for all the comments.

I am a 5.3 index and have played the V1X pretty religiously the last 6 years because it fit my profile as I stated in the original post.

This season, I committed to playing the V1X and only the V1x, but I won a dozen V1s and liked the softer feel. So that is why I asked the original question. But all of you clearly agree (confirming my feeling) that the V1X is the better ball for me.

[The Pearl]

It is interesting the bias we all have created by the logos.

[North Butte]

TItleist would agree that the launch angle of Pro V1x and Pro V1 are "absurdly similar". That's because in the most recently couple of versions they've made the spin rates almost identical between the two models. Launch angle depends almost entirely on spin, the two are inversely linked by the mechanics of the ball/club contact.

The difference is in trajectory of the shot. The dimples on Pro V1x are designed for high trajectory. The dimples on Pro V1 are designed for what they refer to as "boring" trajectory. Ball flight is what matters, not launch angle.

Pro V1 and Pro V1x nowadays only differ in three ways. Slightly softer sound/feel for Pro V1, higher trajectory of flight for Pro V1x and a very small amount higher spin on wedges and short irons with Pro V1x. Otherwise, almost no differences.

P.S. You won't see any difference between Pro V1 and Pro V1x on 99% of the YouTube videos and such where they compare balls while hitting into a net. The difference is in downrange ball flight.

[The Pearl]

To expand on "bias" I mentioned earlier. I was excited to try the Snell balls and of course the MTB-X. I purchased the test pack. I played several holes and was really impressed with the ball. Hit some long drives and hit a really long 3 wood over a green...my longest 3 wood of the year. On the next tee, after really crushing a drive for me, I looked at the ball. I thought I was playing the MTX-B and I was actually playing the MTB Black.

 

Go figure.

Oddly, I have played the MTB-X and it found it no better than the MTB-Black. So really have my head spinning now. Maybe I will just stick with the ProV1x. In related WTF, I found a TM Project A from last year, and have found it to be as good as the ProV1x.

Maybe this is just all a bunch of craziness.

 

[Leftlove94]

I always figured the MTB-X was just a rebranding of the MTB Black with minor adjustments. You could see the naming convention “black vs red” was harking back to Dean’s days at TM with the TP Red/Black. X seems to be the industry standard naming convention for that class of ball.

Either way, I love the MTB-X. Really good ball comparable to the prov1x. Maybe a touch longer.

[jwb10]

  Like everyone else here, BD has it figured out. They are both great, but I can rip back the X easier. Sometimes that's not a good thing !

[bluedot]

I haven't watched any videos of balls being hit into a net; I'm not even sure what videos you are referring to.

M G S testing shows the V1 with an apex of ONE FOOT higher than the V1x with a driver speed of 100 mp, and 3' higher at 115 mph; at 85 mph, the V1x actually has a higher apex. The descent angles at all three speeds are within a degree, and the V1x is a few yards longer at each swing speed. The spin rates in the M G S testing are almost identical regardless of swing speed or club.

In the Today's Golfer testing, which I think is maybe a little bit more thorough, the data is pretty much the same for those two balls except there is a bigger difference in wedge spin; around 300 rpms. You can decide the significance of that for yourself; 300 is a lot of rpms, but a small percentage of total spin, a little less than 4%.

Two things worth noting: The V1x has 4 layers, which likely accounts for it being the highest spin ball on the market. And while Titleist advertises the trajectories as different, there isn't any real testing evidence that shows that. The launch angles AND descent angles are just too similar.

Again, it just comes down to preference; a little bit of distance and a little bit of spin, vs. a softer "feel", which is probably why the Titleist guys on Tour are pretty much equally split between the two.

[Old Tom Morris]

For me, the balls are the same off of wedges and irons. The V1x is a little higher and maybe a little longer with driver.

[FakeClubPro]

The V1x seems to be a straighter ball for me and maybe a tiny bit harder than Pro V1. I have not tried the premium Bridge,Srix, Mizu,Vice and others. I fool around with some other balls but the Pro V1x never seems to disappoint it seems to do everything well.

[tbowles411]

Agreed. This is virtually the number one question we get asked in the store and in newsletters. Nothing spins more. Nothing. And that's why I use it. On approach shots, I need the ball to stop dead. This does it every single time.

[Carolina Golfer 2]

Exactly the same for me. I've tested them both a TT event and at TPI, both times the VX worked better for me with the wedges and irons. I'm not going to notice anything one way or the other off the tee.