2023 Titleist White Box Testing Thread

[vandyland]

I just got given a box of ProV1x by a vendor (well my boss got it but he doesn't play golf so early Xmas for me). That means I have to test it against the "test" ball right? If nothing else to see if I have the same results with basically any ball would certainly take the pressure out of "do I play the right ball".

[GolfSpy_SHARK]

Got a few holes in this afternoon and played 2 balls for a portion.

needless to say the white box doesn’t mind being smashed off the tee. Definitly lost some spin around the green. This one rolled off the back of the green. Overall I find it to be very serviceable and actually like the feel in the cooler temp but not worth losing the control around the green which the PROV1 fits me

[Cfhandyman]

21 hours ago, funkyjudge said:

FINAL REVIEW and ASSESSMENT:

After an exhaustive (and exhausting) launch monitor/simulator session, a 90-minute chipping, pitching and putting session on and around the practice green at one of my favorite golf courses, and two rounds of golf (one 9-holer, and an 18-hole round today), I am ready to present my final assessment of these Titleist "White Box" Test balls.  First a refresher and summary of my prior findings --

Initial Impressions and Data from Launch Monitor Session (11/7/23)

You have already seen my unboxing impressions and the dissertation that I did regarding my planned testing methodology. Today, I spent more than 2.5 hours (actually closer to 3 hours) on one of the launch monitors/simulators at Baylinks Golf, which is the golf center where I do a great deal of my clubfitting and analysis work. The LM is an HD Golf model (made in Canada), and as someone who owns two other launch monitors, and who has done fitting and testing work with all of them, plus several other models, I have a great deal of confidence in these monitors, which I have used for close to 6 years, as has the PGA Professional who owns Baylinks Golf.  I collected ten pages of data, and did my tabulations and comparative analysis for another two hours after I got home late this afternoon.  The following is a summary of my findings and impressions based on this launch monitor session.

Partial Shots (25 & 50 yards) with 50* 54* and 58* Wedges:

Most of these shots were taken with my 54-12 and 58-10 Ping Glide 2.0 Wedges, with a small sample of low punched partial wedge shots taken using my 50* Cobra "Snakebite" wedge.  Here's a summary of what the data showed:

Total spin is between 900 - 1,550 RPM lower with this Titleist Prototype Ball than with either the 2023 Maxfli Tour X CG or the Titleist Pro V1x Left Dash balls on partial wedge shots from both of these distances.

Due to the lower spin, run-out is about 20% greater with the Titleist "Test" ball on 25-yard pitch and chip shots (ball speed average of 31.8 MPH), and a whopping 100% greater on-average when the Titleist White Box Prototype ("TEST") ball is used with any of these wedge lofts for 50-yard pitch or chip shots. This run-out gap widens by an even greater margin vs. the above-referenced balls (Maxfli Tour X CG and Pro V1xLeft Dash), plus vs. the standard Pro V1 ball) when hitting lower-trajectory partial wedge shots.

The combination of low spin and significantly greater run-out, which naturally go hand-in-hand, makes control very difficult on all types of short pitch and chip shots

Full Swing Shots with Irons and Pitching Wedge:

Once you get to full-swing shots with the irons and pitching wedge, the gaps in total spin and run-out actually widen. I saw an average spin difference of 1,060 RPM on full shots of 100 - 113 yards with my Paradym pitching wedge, which already produces fairly low spin numbers, and about 1,200 RPM less on full shots with my Paradym 7-iron when using the Titleist Test ball. The average spin rate of less than 3,600 RPM with this Titleist ball on full 7-iron shots of between 146-152 yards makes this Titleist Prototype ball unplayable with the irons, in my opinion .... at least, for me.

Add to the above the fact that I saw a consistent trend of almost 9 yards of additional run-out (8.8 yards actual delta) on full 7-iron shots, and about 4.5 to 5 yards of additional run-out on full PW shots with the Titleist Test ball, making the "unplayability factor" even worse.

Here's Some Positive Data Regarding this Test Ball .... at least for me!:

When it comes to the longer clubs (hybrids, and especially fairway woods and the driver), the lower-spin/greater run-out trend continues, which for me is a very good thing.  Lower spin and greater run-out leads to both longer shots (at least overall .... carry distance wasn't the greatest, but it was never more than 10-12 yards short of what I would expect from my better hits) and straighter shots, as well. With these longer clubs, particularly with the driver, I was seeing very straight shots and lots of run-out; however, the launch monitor/sim is set to "firm fairways", and because I was hitting these longer clubs VERY straight, I saw good overall distance. Nearly every shot that I hit with my driver, 4-wood, Apex Utility Wood and 21* Sub 70 hybrid went virtually dead-straight when hitting this ball, while that was not exactly the case with the balls that I was hitting for comparison purposes. There were no extreme hooks, in fact nothing worse than gentle draws and 2 to 5 yard fades with the Titleist Prototype ball, even when I was sure that I had hit some shots that were going to miss the fairways left, and maybe a couple that I thought could fade off the fairway to the right. I wasn't hitting the ball all that well today, and based on a few shots that I missed by a fairly wide margin with the other balls (almost exclusively hooks) I expected to see some that would at least show themselves to be significant draws when hitting this Titleist Test ball, but that definitely was NOT the case. I did hit a few driver shots and one or two with my 4-wood that carried farther when hitting the Maxfli Tour X CG and Pro V1x Left Dash balls, but they ended-up in the rough, or in the "virtual trees" on a couple of occasions.  We'll see how things go when I get outside and play these balls on a real golf course!

Keep in mind that this data and my impressions regarding this ball's performance were derived entirely from a 2.5+ hour launch monitor session. I still plan to spend an hour or more on the chipping/putting green and in the practice bunker at an area golf course tomorrow (I have to go there for an awards luncheon anyway, so I might as well make use of the facilities). This will be followed by a round of casual golf using these Titleist Prototype balls (and hopefully hitting some side-by-side shots with my favorite Maxfli Tour X CG balls for comparison purposes). I will post my final report and complete the questionnaire following these additional ball-testing activites .... stay tuned for the final report.

Next, off to the chipping and putting green (11/09/23) --

As I posted yesterday in my initial impressions from my launch monitor session, I got out on the chipping and putting green to test these Titleist "White Box" Prototype balls in a variety of around-the-green conditions [very short chips from adjacent to the green, longer chips (up to 10 yards) from the rough, high pitch shots and plenty of putts]. I had also planned to hit a variety of shots from the practice bunker, but that bunker was under repair, so that was impossible to do. Here is what I observed with these Titleist Test balls vs. both the 2023 Maxfli Tour X CG and the regular 2023 Maxfli Tour CG:

Feel - The Titleist Test ball feels quite soft; much softer than the Maxfli Tour X and also a bit softer than the Maxfli Tour ball. The Tour X from Maxfli is a very firm ball at more than 100 compression, and it has a rather firm feel on all shots, but the 2023 Maxfli Tour is only 85 compression, and this Titleist ball still feels noticeably softer than that Maxfli model, so I'm guessing that this Titleist ball is a sub-80 compression ball (?)

Responsiveness - It seemed that it took a more forceful strike on short chip shots with the wedges and with the putter to get the same distance with the Titleist ball as I got from either of the Maxfli ball models, especially with my favorite Tour X model. This is not necessarily a bad thing, especially on downhill putts and chips to tight pin positions or on chips and pitches with some downward slope toward the pin; however, you need to know what to expect, and when I first started hitting shots (particularly short chips and putts) with the Titleist ball, I was leaving everything short.

Performance - Once I got used to the softer feel, nothing about the Titleist ball was "bad", and I actually made a few reasonably long putts (15-25 feet) with it. I also hit some chips pretty close to a few of the holes that were in tough positions (I tried as many difficult chips as I could), and hit the flagstick one time with the Titleist ball, although I didn't hole the chip. Again, nothing to complain about with the Titleist ball, once I got used to the feel, but as soon as I dialed-in my stroke with those balls, I started blowing the putts well past the holes with the Maxfli balls, particularly the Tour X.

Overall Observations - I'm not a fan of "soft" or low-compression golf balls (one in the same, I guess), but when I got used to these Titleist "White Box" Test balls, they performed all right off the wedges and putter .... especially the putter. I was expecting to see some excessive run-out on chip and pitch shots, after what I experienced yesterday on 25 and 50 yard partial wedge shots when testing on the launch monitor, but this didn't happen outdoors under real-world golf course conditions, and this practice green was certainly not what I would call "slow" (in fact, it was pretty fast).

NOW FOR THE ON-COURSE ASSESSMENT: (performed 11/13 through 11/15/23)

As I mentioned in my introduction at the beginning of this post, I played nine holes on Monday and 18 holes today with the Titleist test ball (well, not actually a full 18 holes today, because I lost two balls by the 8th hole, and the third ball was so badly abraded from my Ping Glide 2 wedges that I had to take it out of play by the 10th hole). The on-course performance that I got with the test balls very closely paralleled what I saw on the launch monitor and during my time pitching, chipping, and putting with it .... but, if anything a bit worse for me, especially around the greens. Whenever I had the opportunity, I hit two balls off the tee, or into the greens, with the first being with the Titleist "White Box" test ball and the second shot hit with a Maxfli Tour X CG (2023 model).  Not one shot that I hit with the Titleist Test ball was as long as with the Maxfli Tour X that I hit from the same spot, using the same club. Now, of course you can say that no two swings are the same, and maybe I was making better swings and contact with the Maxfli ball, but it's just not realistic to think that I would always make a better stroke, better contact, etc. with one ball over the other!

With my Callaway Paradym X driver, I was hitting the Maxfli Tour X ball about 20 yards longer EVERY TIME than I did with the Titleist ball(s). On iron shots, I was at least 1/2 club longer with the Maxfli Tour X than with the Titleist ball (sometimes, close to a full club longer (meaning about 12-13 yards).

Here is the part that was most disturbing for me - The Titleist test ball would just not check-up at all for me on partial wedge shots and greenside chips! This was much worse than what I had experienced on the launch monitor, as I was seeing close to 2x, and sometimes even 3x, the run-out with the Titleist test ball than what I saw with the Maxfli Tour X. 

Putting was another area where I was VERY disappointed with the Titleist ball. I had 19 putts on my front nine today (all with the Titleist ball), and only 13 putts with the Maxfli Tour X ball on the back nine. Some of this was attributable to my approach shots ending-up far closer with the Maxfli ball, but then that speaks volumes regarding how much more spin and check-up that I got with the Maxfli ball hitting everything from an 8-iron to my 58* wedge.

Sure, a great deal of my better performance with the Maxfli ball (I shot 4-over on the back nine today, after shooting 8-over on the front nine) was due to getting into a groove and with my greater comfort level with the Maxfli Tour X. However, when you are playing a ball that doesn't work as well for you, as this Titleist ball definitely did not work well for me, you're going to shoot higher scores with the poorer-performing ball. 

I did not do as much of a comparison on Monday, as I played the Titleist ball exclusively. In addition, I was in a foursome where we were being pushed, so I did not have the luxury of hitting two balls on any holes. However, my observations during the nine holes that I played on Monday were about the same as I saw today on my first ten holes with the Titleist ball. 

Today, I spoke with my playing partners about my wish to compare balls on as many shots as possible, and their response was "as long as we aren't holding up the groups behind us". We played 18 holes in 3:46, so we were definitely not holding anyone up .... in fact, after the first hole, we never again saw the threesome behind us (we were a foursome, by the way).

I initially thought that I might be able to play this Titleist ball model as my "winter golf ball", but today's results in particular were telling me clearly that I would not get along well with that Titleist ball model.

There you have my take on these golf balls; everyone will get different results and impressions, but my impression is that these balls are not a good fit for me.

Wow, extremely thorough and in depth review.  You are to be commended. That's a lot of work.  Well done and thank you for sharing your findings.

[Cfhandyman]

12 hours ago, Josh Parker said:

 

I have made several post on my findings throughout the testing but I wanted to recap all my findings.

Distance: 
I found this ball to have slightly less distance than my normal ProV1X but that is to be expected from a softer ball.  It seemed to be about a half a club less with my irons and once I adjusted it played out well.

Ball Flight:  
I experienced a nice high ball flight during my testing.  I also found that the ball wanted to stay straight off the entire bag of clubs.  This can be very beneficial for a player that tends to have a slice or hook shot.

Course Testing:
I played 27 holes with the first Titleist test ball and the findings were quite interesting.  The first hole on my course is a dogleg left and played driver off the tee.  I immediately found that the ball wanted to travel straighter than my normal gamer ball.  It came off the face of the driver with a smooth buttery feel and the elevation was nice.  I did find that the ball traveled less than my gamer but with a straighter ball flight, it was acceptable.  From 60 yards out, I hit my 58 degree wedge to what ended up being 3.5 foot from the flag.  Made the birdie putt and proceeded to the cart.  Looking at the ball, one thing became very clear.  Durability is going to be the issue on this test ball.  After one hole, we now had scuffing on the ball.  It had not dug into the cover or made it unplayable, but it would be something that I was going to observe with my use. 

As I continued to play the round, I found that my iron shots were about a half a club shorter.  Once I made the adjustments to the distance, I didn’t find that it was a huge deal as the ball wanted to fly straight and it feels good coming off the clubface.  Hitting a mid to short iron into the green, I found that the ball would take a one hop and stop or a slight backspin which was nice to see.  Knowing the ball wouldn’t take a long skip forward allowed me to be a little more aggressive on my approach shots and have confidence that it was going to stop where it landed. 

Chipping from just off the green was consistent with the amount of spin I expected, and I was able to control how the ball would react once it hit the green.

Putting with this ball provided a soft feel off the face of the putter and the ball rolled well.

Overall impressions:  
My overall impression of the Titleist Test Ball is positive.  While I don’t think I would be switching to this ball full time, I do think there is a huge market for it depending on the price point.  As I mentioned above, the ball wants to fly straight.  I noticed this the most on my tee shots with driver, where I tend to have a fade. 

My Likes: The ball is soft and feels good off the face of the club.  It has a nice trajectory and for me personally, it stops well on the greens.  It will stay straight and that is beneficial to a lot of players. 

My Dislikes: The biggest downfall on this test ball is the durability.  With the prices of everything going up and up, I want a ball that will last more than one round. 

Who Is This Ball For: I think this is a perfect choice for someone who has a fade/slice off the tee.  The ball wants to stay straight.  For a player that may not have as much swing speed or creates as much spin with the wedges this ball would be perfect.

 

 

Great review and thank you for sharing.  Well done.  I agree there is an adjustment required to playing this ball, particularly if you normally play a much firmer ball such as the ProV1x and this ball does fly very straight.

[Josh Parker]

9 minutes ago, Cfhandyman said:

Great review and thank you for sharing.  Well done.  I agree there is an adjustment required to playing this ball, particularly if you normally play a much firmer ball such as the ProV1x and this ball does fly very straight.

Thanks!  I think its a great option for a lot of golfers depending on the price point the bring it in at.  @Javs and I have chatted on this as well and it needs to be $35 or less to compete with some of the other brands out there.

[Cfhandyman]

2 hours ago, buckpillar said:

Let me add to this thread, what's the possibility that Titleist is completing multiple ball test?

Since they have all our contact information, they can track which type of ball goes to a specific person and flag those reviews for each ball?

Could be why the tests / comments are all over the board.

 

Short answer it could be.  Its good R&D to test different balls and they could even be the same ball but with different core variations.  The challenge of that is keeping track of which ball went to whom, which ball they are testing and then having a large enough sample size to be statistically significant.  So challenging.  We have a wide variety of testers with varying swing speeds and ability playing in very different conditions with respect to temperature, turf, wind etc.  All we can report on is what we see, feel or are able to measure. So am I surprised that the results are at times quite different.  No, not really.  What were seeing is real world data and observations.

[Cfhandyman]

4 minutes ago, Josh Parker said:

Thanks!  I think its a great option for a lot of golfers depending on the price point the bring it in at.  @Javs and I have chatted on this as well and it needs to be $35 or less to compete with some of the other brands out there.

I tend to agree with both of you, but this is a premium ball made by Titleist so I really don't know how they are going to price it or who they are really targeting with this ball, but there is a market for it.

[Cfhandyman]

Indoor testing results: 54* Wedge (full – 100 yard and partial – 50 yard)

Full Wedge test: Carry and total distance, spin and other values represent the average of 8 – 10 shots per ball.  The ProV1x and Bridgestone performed the best with respect to carry and total distance as well as spin.  Srixon Z star XV spun the most, but it was slightly shorter with respect to carry and total. See Chart 1 & 2.  The Titleist test ball performed admirably, approximately equal in carry and total distance and spin with Callaway Chrome soft X LS and equal in carry and total distance to the Srixon Z star XV.  Club head speed (75-76 mph) and ball speed (79-80 mph) were similar for all balls. Height and land angles were approximately the same for all 6 balls and were within 1-3 feet of each other.  Launch angles were all very similar ranging from 25.9 for the Callaway to 27.3 for the test ball.  Club path, attack angle and dynamic loft were all approximately the same for all 6 balls.  See chart 3

                                                                                         Chart 1                                                                                                                                                                                                      Chart 2

    

Chart 3  

On the partial wedge shot (50 yard pitch shot), all balls were fairly similar.  The Callaway spun the most (see chart 4 and 5), but had the shortest carry and distance totals.  The ProV1x, Srixon performed the best with respect to distance and spin. The Test ball was equivalent to the ProV1x and Srixon with distance (Carry and total, but had the least amount of spin, slightly less than the Bridgestone and less than the AVX.

                                                                                       Chart 4                                                                                                                                                                        Chart 5

Overall, if the Test ball is a new prototype AVX, it performed significantly better than the old ball with respect to spin and distance on the wedge test.

As an experiment, I tested the test ball with a slow swing speed player (driver club head speed of 62 - 67 mph), the comparator ball was her Srixon Z star divide.  There was no difference with respect to clubhead speed or ball speed (all within 0.2-1 mph).  Height and land angles were higher with the Srixon Z star ball.  No difference in height for wedges, however, 7 iron and driver were on average 2' and 8' higher than the Test ball.  Launch angle was the same for wedge, but 0.5 and 3 degrees higher for the 7 iron and driver with the Srixon Z star ball.   Overall, for the slow swing speed player (my wife), the Titleist test ball performed well.  It was slightly longer, with reduced spin, slightly lower height and lower launch angles.

[Rob Person]

4 hours ago, buckpillar said:

Let me add to this thread, what's the possibility that Titleist is completing multiple ball test?

Since they have all our contact information, they can track which type of ball goes to a specific person and flag those reviews for each ball?

Could be why the tests / comments are all over the board.

 

I mentioned this a few posts back as well, or in the message group,  I don't remember.   but after reading this post, the only way to determine that, is if everyone cut all their testers in half and posted the cores and covers pics

[ArizonaLogan]

Here is my on-course performance data after about a half dozen shots with each model in each category. I excluded the Chrome Soft X and TP5x from this testing for pace of play.

Starting off with feel, softest to hardest (feel is subjective, of course). Based on putter and 30-50-yard wedge shots.

1. Chrome Soft: No surprises here; it's the only ball with "soft" in the name.
2. Triad: Lower compression than the others so also not surprising.
3. TEST: I feel it as "pretty standard", I originally guessed that it would feel softer than the Triad.
4. ProV1: Very standard feel, softer than the X models but harder than the low compression balls.
5. TP5: Again, very standard feel.
6. ProV1x: It makes sense that the only X model here feels the hardest. In my original notes, I had this listed as the hardest ball, even when compared to TP5x and Chrome Soft X.

My driver shots only had one trend worth mentioning (no launch monitor numbers). The trend was "TEST" ball VS everything else. Every ball besides the "TEST" ball flew at a normal height and with a 5-15 yard fade. The "TEST" ball flew noticeably lower and favored a 0-5 yard fade. The lower launch and straighter flight put it at the top of the average distance list below.

1. TEST: This was also the straightest.
2. TP5: Slightly longer than average, but it also favored the higher end of left-to-right movement.
3. Triad: This ball probably fits my swing speed better than the balls below.
4. ProV1: Normal distance.
5. Chrome Soft: This might possibly be too soft for me.
6. ProV1x: Opposite of Chrome Soft, I'm probably not comressing ProV1x enough.

7 iron shot results listed from longest to shortest. Decent spin and flight with all but the ProV1 seemed to be spin slightly more.

1. TP5: Longer than most but farthest from the pin.
2. ProV1x: Interestingly, it averaged longer than the others, even though with driver, it was the shortest.
3. ProV1: This ball averaged the closest to the pin.
4. TEST: This was the 2nd closest on average.
5. Triad: Averaged 3rd closest.
6. Chrome Soft: Averaged only 1-3 yards shorter than the "TEST" ball but still the shortest.

Pitching wedge shot results: listed from longest to shortest.

1. TP5: This ball is again, longer than most but is usually farthest from the pin.
2. Chrome Soft: This was very high spinning and typically stopped within a foot (forward and backward) of the pitch mark.
3. TEST: This averaged the closest to the pin, but it didn't stop very quickly to get there. It was releasing 7-8 feet from the pitch mark.
4. ProV1x: Averaged 2nd closest to the pin, high spin as well. 2-3 feet of release.
5. Triad: Good balance between distance and spin. 3rd closest overall. Medium-high spin with 5-6 feet of release.
6. ProV1: Not much shorter than the others, but still the shortest. Possibly the highest spin, like in the iron test, with 2-3 feet of release.

I will post Launch Monitor numbers and a chop test here in the future. If the numbers don't match what I've discovered on-course I'll probably re-test certain data points. After that, I'll try to play as many holes with one as I can to test durability. My current personal record is 57 holes with a Wilson Triad, but I think it was  actually unplayable after the first 36.

[2puttbogey]

Finally got mine in yesterday. I practiced some chipping and putting before I took it on the course today. What I saw in practice carried over to the course. It’s got a soft feel, and a little less spin than I’m used to. The biggest issue I had with it in practice and on my round today is distance control with putting. I found that sometimes it would be springy and other times like mush. This ball seems very low spin. Off the driver I had a couple that just dove down out of the sky. That did roll out to be near my usual total. Off the irons the ball was pretty normal, but I did catch a couple jumpers. Wedge approach shots were pretty good. I was happy with the amount of spin I was getting there. Overall my first impression was pretty meh. I suppose if it is the new AVX it did what it’s supposed to do. It’s definitely not a ball for me. I will give it some more short game practice and another round to see, but today it only made it 12 holes before I changed back to my normal gamer.

[BKervin]

Hi Spies

Got another round in this week. White Ball played about the same for me this week.  I played it against a Stnine Misty and Srixon Soft Feel. Also have been chipping/hitting into the net in the back yard.

The trajectory is very similar on all 3 balls.  I get a little further carry with the Srixon and the Stnine.  I don't feel that the carry on the Titleist would rule it out.  It does seem to need a little firmer tap on the green against the other 2 softer balls.

Here's a layup onto the green with all 3.  You can see the Titleist is just short of the green while the Srixon and Stnine are on it.  Like I said not quite as far distance carry but not short enough to throw it out of the bag!

Edited November 17, 2023 by BKervin

[PJVicary]

Another round of testing. This time only 7 holes due to rain. I should have paid more attention to the rain suit testing as we have had solid rain for three days here in Central Florida. But I digress. 
 

The balls do seem firmer than my go to Titleist Tour Soft. For me the balls flew higher than my Tour Soft with the driver. Mid iron flight about the same. Distance 4-5 yds further. I noticed no difference from 80 yds in although coming off the putter face seemed firmer. Crazy but true. I asked the two other guys in my group to try them on a couple of greens. They all felt the ball was much firmer off the face than their existing balls. We also determined the putts rolled approx 5% further than the Tour Soft using a tape measure and calculator. We weren’t holding up anyone as it was pouring rain and no one else on the course. This was my fourth round and I believe it’s time to return to my trusty old Tour Soft. 

Edited November 19, 2023 by PJVicary

[Prodigal Duffer]

Played an executive course yesterday with the kids. I wanted to test the short game spin and the durability of the ball, as other testers above have indicated that the cover wears out fast.

I found that the ball spun a bit more than I’d like around the green, both on flop shots and bump and runs. The ball felt really good off the wedges, though. Probably the shot of the day ended up here:

I didn’t evaluate the balls today on the green (as you can see, the course was using temporary greens that just won’t give good feedback).

The ball was still in pristine condition after this round. I have one more round on the books, so will hopefully be checking back in.

[JeremyD]

I'm trying to upload my video but having issues. I was hoping last Saturday to play and use the launch monitor, but the weather changed overnight to colder and drizzly, so I wasn't able to use it. I did use my gps, and compared to distance left to pin, to get a general idea of how I was doing.

I played the first 8 holes with one ball, my usual Maxfli Tour X. Honestly, it's one that likely wasn't new but I didn't see any markings. With the colder weather, I still hit about 255-265 off the tee. I hit my 7 on a hole of 160 and flew it as expected. On the 9th tee, I switched to the test ball. I proceeded to play the next 10 holes with it. I refused to change it, unless I lost it of course. Do I feel it flew shorter? yes. I measured 249 off one tee shot. I will say, it flew pretty darn straight. I tried to over cut or hook and struggled. That's definitely a positive. Will the perceived loss of distance dissuade me from this ball? Absolutely not.

The biggest takeaway is the damage to the ball. My irons are 24 years old, and my wedges are over 10. They haven't been sharpened ever, and this ball did not handle it well. I'm someone who always wanted to play a ball as many holes as possible. This ball needed to be changed on the second hole I played. Even not losing one, do I want to go through 2-3 sleeves per round at $55-$60? Nope. 

My Maxfli had zero damage, and even hit a tree at one point. I'll get a picture, and hopefully the video on shortly. 

[HikingMike]

2 hours ago, JeremyD said:

The biggest takeaway is the damage to the ball. My irons are 24 years old, and my wedges are over 10. They haven't been sharpened ever, and this ball did not handle it well. I'm someone who always wanted to play a ball as many holes as possible. This ball needed to be changed on the second hole I played. Even not losing one, do I want to go through 2-3 sleeves per round at $55-$60? Nope. 

Wow that is nuts

[Slater]

3 hours ago, JeremyD said:

I'm trying to upload my video but having issues. I was hoping last Saturday to play and use the launch monitor, but the weather changed overnight to colder and drizzly, so I wasn't able to use it. I did use my gps, and compared to distance left to pin, to get a general idea of how I was doing.

I played the first 8 holes with one ball, my usual Maxfli Tour X. Honestly, it's one that likely wasn't new but I didn't see any markings. With the colder weather, I still hit about 255-265 off the tee. I hit my 7 on a hole of 160 and flew it as expected. On the 9th tee, I switched to the test ball. I proceeded to play the next 10 holes with it. I refused to change it, unless I lost it of course. Do I feel it flew shorter? yes. I measured 249 off one tee shot. I will say, it flew pretty darn straight. I tried to over cut or hook and struggled. That's definitely a positive. Will the perceived loss of distance dissuade me from this ball? Absolutely not.

The biggest takeaway is the damage to the ball. My irons are 24 years old, and my wedges are over 10. They haven't been sharpened ever, and this ball did not handle it well. I'm someone who always wanted to play a ball as many holes as possible. This ball needed to be changed on the second hole I played. Even not losing one, do I want to go through 2-3 sleeves per round at $55-$60? Nope. 

My Maxfli had zero damage, and even hit a tree at one point. I'll get a picture, and hopefully the video on shortly. 

Yea mine were beat up pretty badly too, just from club contact.

[Rob Person]

so I was able to test out these balls around the green, chip area,  and on the range today

I'm a higher handicap, newer golfer, of maybe 20 rounds in last year, and a dozen or so range sessions. I have a reduced swing speed due to physical limitations (I can't create a full motion backswing)

approach shots 50yds out- sw, gw, pw, ball sounded like it hit harder,  it was a definite increase in the "click sound' on contact. pw half swing, slightly open face. ball connected well,but was not the height I expected.  it landed 10 feet and rolled past the pun another 4 feet.

sw from rough-ish lie, sound was less firm, but landed 3 feet from pin and hopped once about a foot.

gw was similar to sand wedge at half swing, landed super soft and just barely hopped.

putting,- 4, 8 15 foot from pin. the greens were just rolled out, and definitely fast. im using a mallet putter, and compared to my normal connecting sound, this felt and sounded softer, and I had to use a little more effort than normal to get them to roll.

uphill putts were alot heavier than I'm used to for distance and speed.

I did manage to hit about a dozen drives after the range was picked and cleared, and my natural slice was not present with this ball. I ended up drawing it a bit , and actually had to adjust my grip to a more neutral position (drives I use a strong grip normally to correct my slice) after adjusting, I was surprised how straight the ball flew! I did lose about 2o yards though consistently. 

the tee height was adjusted to a higher setup next, and was able to gain some loft. again distance was shorter than expected, but it definitely went straighter!!!

out of the 3 balls, the most damage was off the driver. it had a more dense sound, and I actually scuffed 2 of the balls pretty bad.

 

final thoughts- like any piece of equipment,  you have to make adjustments, and practice with it to gain its maximum potential.

if this was my only ball option, I would say it is designed towards newer golfers, to help gain confidence through the balls design/  trajectory correcting ability.

I did not weigh the ball (probably should have) but it felt through impact like it was a heavier or denser ball, based on sound off the driver and the extra effort made in putting.

I don't think I could buy/play this ball under normal circumstances,  but would definitely use it as a backup as a "found ball "

again, my experience is limited in this field, and my opinions are my own as well.

as a side note, could this ball be a test ball to perhaps be introduced under the radar, due to rumors and talks of USGA trying to change game-ability conformance from equipment manufacturers?

 

 

[Tom the Golf Nut]

I’ll call this my final review, but I am playing the ball for another 18 tomorrow.

My normal ball of choice is the Maxfli Tour but on windy days I usually play the Titleist AVX due to it playing better in the wind with a lower ball flight. The test ball had similar characteristics to the AVX and upon comparing the dimple pattern is became clear to me that the Test Ball was a new model of the AVX.

This ball is softer than the previous model AVX’s. The ball did have plenty of pop coming off the face of the club. I was seeing slightly more spin than the previous model and getting a slightly higher ball flight. I found that the ball just wants to go straight. Not a bad problem to have! I was checking the numbers on my MEVO. Everyone’s numbers would be different depending on your approach to making contact, so I’ll leave numbers out but as I mentioned in a previous post, I was getting 600 more rpm on the 9 iron. The percentages were pretty consistent between clubs with the increase of spin from the older model AVX.  

I found on the longer irons and woods there was more roll out. If you had a long iron into a green the ball did not check up well. Landing on the front of the green I would find the ball at the back of the green. However, if you had an 8 iron or less into the green it was a one hop and stop. You just needed a sharper decent angle to stick the green.

Total distance was good. It was similar in distance to the Maxfli Tour and a tab bit better than the previous model AVX.    

Chipping and pitching did take some getting used to. If you didn’t play a higher shot into the green with the wedges there was more roll out. It just didn’t stop quick enough for my taste. I found myself past the pin more than I would like to see. If I was trying to leave myself an uphill putt, sometimes I wound up with a downhill putt.

The Test ball putted well. Soft off the face and stayed online toward its intended target. I didn’t see much difference between the balls I play normally. I do tend to play a slightly softer tour ball. I am not an” X” ball player. They are to firm and clicky for me.  

Durability was disappointing. The cover scuffs pretty easily. I am on my third round with the same test ball, and it is not holding up as well as my normal ball. A solid swing with a 60* and the ball looks like it needs a haircut. I do have new wedges, so they do have some bite to them.  

Final full round with the ball tomorrow and I will submit my form to Titleist.  

Edited November 18, 2023 by Tom the Golf Nut

[jbern]

Earlier this week, I played 9 holes with my usual gamer, the Vice Pro, vs. the Titleist Test ball. The course conditions were very soft fairways and rough. The greens were firm but slow. It was windy with forecasted winds of 10-15 mph with gusts up to 30 mph.

Scoring: I varied which ball was hit first off the tee and then played the farthest ball out from there so I didn’t have “2nd shot me is a pro” syndrome. My score was +4, 39, with the Vice Pro and +7, 42, with the Titleist TEST ball. I lost a TEST ball on hole 4 and the rest of the dropped shots were putts. Some of the putting blame was proximity to the hole and some is a speed issue I had doing this 9 hole side-by-side. 

Driving: In summary, the TEST ball flew lower and had seemingly less spin than the Vice Pro (the TEST ball rolled out farther than the Vice). Under the windy conditions, on-course performance varied. When the wind was helping, the Vice was 10-15 yards farther total distance than the TEST ball. When the wind was hurting, the TEST ball was 7-15 yards farther than the Vice. The TEST ball had more roll out than the Vice on every drive (it was soft so the ball divot was easy to spot). 

In the photo below, hole 8 is a drivable 274 yard (pin was 267) par 4 and the wind was into and slightly off the left. I hit both balls very solid and the TEST ball was 12 yards farther than the Vice. I also wanted to brag that I drove a par 4 with each ball on back-to-back shots (Please note that I've played this hole about 20 times and these two shots are the first two times I've hit the green in 1)! 

Irons: On iron shots the TEST ball flew higher and farther with less spin than the Vice. My sample size was small for a perfect comparison here because I only used the same club into the green one time. It was an 8 iron from 134 almost straight into the wind and the TEST ball flew 142 (just off the back of the green). The Vice ball had 135 and flew 132 short and left of the pin. There’s a chance there was more wind for the Vice, but on multiple iron shots with the TEST ball I expected to be short of the pin by a couple yards and I was long every time. The Vice ball definitely had more spin and stopping power. 

Wedges: On less than full swings and chips I could really tell that the Vice spun more than the TEST. It didn’t bother me much at all this day because the greens were so slow, but I could see having to compensate in summer conditions. One thing that caught me off-guard was the sound. The Vice was much “clickier” and the TEST seemed to thud and was more muted. Feel between the two, I thought was nice and I like the feel of both for different reasons. 

Putting: For some reason, during the round, I was consistently hitting the TEST ball putts much longer than expected. I have no clue why, but it lead to 4 three-putts. I did not have the issue on the putting green before the round and feel of the ball off the putter was good (the sound was much different, just like with the wedges). I might chalk this round up to an anomaly because I like the feel of the TEST ball off the putter face.

I’m excited to get to a launch monitor to see if my on-course experience matches the simulator numbers and I’ll hold off on my final thoughts until then. 

[gingerbeast87]

Spin Comparisons

Thursday I was given a very gracious session on the simulator at my local driving range, The Bristol Golf Centre, at Hambrook in Bristol.  The team were very accommodating and made the session extremely enjoyable.  Our host Declan set me up with the driving range setting as I wanted to get some spin data on the balls, but by the looks of it there were options for playing full rounds of golf as well (could be fun to be able to play middle of winter!).

 

I used the following balls:

Titleist Test Balls (TT)

Fazer Distance Balls (FD)

Slazenger V300 Balls (SV)

Volvik Vimat Balls (VV)

Fazer Distance were the hardest core, going down to the Vimats which were super soft feel.  

 

I only used my 7 iron and my driver for the test as i felt they would give a good idea of how the Titleist balls felt compared to my usuals.

Here is a look at the averages of the data that i collected there:

From what i could see the Titleist balls they had less spin than the Fazer Distance balls, but more than the supersoft Volviks, and the soft Slazengers.  Distance-wise it performed similar to the Volviks, but better than the Fazers.

 

Driver:  Titleist balls did best off the driver, carry was about 8 yards more than the Slazengers.

7-Iron: Produced a lot more spin off of the face than the soft core balls, but a fair bit less than the Fazer distance balls.  

 

The feel was good, the Titleist balls felt good off of the face, they seemed to pull to the right a bit more. I have a general fade on my swing anyway, but the Titleist balls seem to go further off course than the others.

 

Went to my other local driving range Windmill Academy in Westerleigh to use the chipping and putting green.  The Titleist balls felt good off of the face and had a fairly good roll out.  Putting with them was very good.

 

I'll be playing a round with them on Sunday.  Be interesting to see how they compare with the other balls.

 

If anyone local wants to check out the Bristol Golf Centre then here's the link to their site, they have inRange tracking as standard on all of their bays, thank you to Darren for setting it all up for me, I really appreciate you doing that!:

https://bristolgolfcentre.com/driving-range/

 

All the best folks

 

Ryan

[Cfhandyman]

2 hours ago, gingerbeast87 said:

Spin Comparisons

Thursday I was given a very gracious session on the simulator at my local driving range, The Bristol Golf Centre, at Hambrook in Bristol.  The team were very accommodating and made the session extremely enjoyable.  Our host Declan set me up with the driving range setting as I wanted to get some spin data on the balls, but by the looks of it there were options for playing full rounds of golf as well (could be fun to be able to play middle of winter!).

 

I used the following balls:

Titleist Test Balls (TT)

Fazer Distance Balls (FD)

Slazenger V300 Balls (SV)

Volvik Vimat Balls (VV)

Fazer Distance were the hardest core, going down to the Vimats which were super soft feel.  

 

I only used my 7 iron and my driver for the test as i felt they would give a good idea of how the Titleist balls felt compared to my usuals.

Here is a look at the averages of the data that i collected there:

From what i could see the Titleist balls they had less spin than the Fazer Distance balls, but more than the supersoft Volviks, and the soft Slazengers.  Distance-wise it performed similar to the Volviks, but better than the Fazers.

 

Driver:  Titleist balls did best off the driver, carry was about 8 yards more than the Slazengers.

7-Iron: Produced a lot more spin off of the face than the soft core balls, but a fair bit less than the Fazer distance balls.  

 

The feel was good, the Titleist balls felt good off of the face, they seemed to pull to the right a bit more. I have a general fade on my swing anyway, but the Titleist balls seem to go further off course than the others.

 

Went to my other local driving range Windmill Academy in Westerleigh to use the chipping and putting green.  The Titleist balls felt good off of the face and had a fairly good roll out.  Putting with them was very good.

 

I'll be playing a round with them on Sunday.  Be interesting to see how they compare with the other balls.

 

If anyone local wants to check out the Bristol Golf Centre then here's the link to their site, they have inRange tracking as standard on all of their bays, thank you to Darren for setting it all up for me, I really appreciate you doing that!:

https://bristolgolfcentre.com/driving-range/

 

All the best folks

 

Ryan

Nice review and pictures.  Thanks for sharing.

[jbern]

12 hours ago, jbern said:

Earlier this week, I played 9 holes with my usual gamer, the Vice Pro, vs. the Titleist Test ball. The course conditions were very soft fairways and rough. The greens were firm but slow. It was windy with forecasted winds of 10-15 mph with gusts up to 30 mph.

Scoring: I varied which ball was hit first off the tee and then played the farthest ball out from there so I didn’t have “2nd shot me is a pro” syndrome. My score was +4, 39, with the Vice Pro and +7, 42, with the Titleist TEST ball. I lost a TEST ball on hole 4 and the rest of the dropped shots were putts. Some of the putting blame was proximity to the hole and some is a speed issue I had doing this 9 hole side-by-side. 

Driving: In summary, the TEST ball flew lower and had seemingly less spin than the Vice Pro (the TEST ball rolled out farther than the Vice). Under the windy conditions, on-course performance varied. When the wind was helping, the Vice was 10-15 yards farther total distance than the TEST ball. When the wind was hurting, the TEST ball was 7-15 yards farther than the Vice. The TEST ball had more roll out than the Vice on every drive (it was soft so the ball divot was easy to spot). 

In the photo below, hole 8 is a drivable 274 yard (pin was 267) par 4 and the wind was into and slightly off the left. I hit both balls very solid and the TEST ball was 12 yards farther than the Vice. I also wanted to brag that I drove a par 4 with each ball on back-to-back shots (Please note that I've played this hole about 20 times and these two shots are the first two times I've hit the green in 1)! 

Irons: On iron shots the TEST ball flew higher and farther with less spin than the Vice. My sample size was small for a perfect comparison here because I only used the same club into the green one time. It was an 8 iron from 134 almost straight into the wind and the TEST ball flew 142 (just off the back of the green). The Vice ball had 135 and flew 132 short and left of the pin. There’s a chance there was more wind for the Vice, but on multiple iron shots with the TEST ball I expected to be short of the pin by a couple yards and I was long every time. The Vice ball definitely had more spin and stopping power. 

Wedges: On less than full swings and chips I could really tell that the Vice spun more than the TEST. It didn’t bother me much at all this day because the greens were so slow, but I could see having to compensate in summer conditions. One thing that caught me off-guard was the sound. The Vice was much “clickier” and the TEST seemed to thud and was more muted. Feel between the two, I thought was nice and I like the feel of both for different reasons. 

Putting: For some reason, during the round, I was consistently hitting the TEST ball putts much longer than expected. I have no clue why, but it lead to 4 three-putts. I did not have the issue on the putting green before the round and feel of the ball off the putter was good (the sound was much different, just like with the wedges). I might chalk this round up to an anomaly because I like the feel of the TEST ball off the putter face.

I’m excited to get to a launch monitor to see if my on-course experience matches the simulator numbers and I’ll hold off on my final thoughts until then. 

Since I was so enamored with the sound difference between these balls and there was no one behind me for 3 holes, I threw the Maxfli Tour S in the mix and did a sound/feel test around the 9th green for a while after my round. Hopefully you can pick up how much more clicky the Vice is than both the Maxfli and the TEST. 

Then I got out the putter to record a video for the sound and again Vice was much more clicky, followed by the Maxfli and then the TEST ball.

I prefer the firmer, clickier sound of the Vice over the Maxfli and TEST (especially for wedge shots), but I think I could get used to something with a more muted sound. 

[2puttbogey]

Took it back for more short game practice. Again it’s good on chop shots. The spin is good. Feel is a bit soft. Putting is the main issue. It’s just too soft off the putter for my preference. The softness leads to distance control issues for me. I was starting to get a better feel for it after this round of practice. I will be using it on course again tomorrow, and will see if some of the issues I had first round are still there.

[Blenderman]

On 11/4/2023 at 12:19 PM, GolfSpy BOS said:

 

As the (probably) closest member to Titleist HQ I just received mine today!

 

Let the testing begin!  (sadly no, the balls do not have the spy logo on them, that is another ball)

Is that other ball a Bridgestone?

[JayBoGolfs]

Cant wait to hear how everyones experience is going with it

[rkj427]

Well, I have played the Titleist test ball for my last 3 rounds, and have another round scheduled for tomorrow, after which I will post a final review.

All I will say is that it continues to be a disappointing performer for me when compared to my usual Maxfli Tour or Pro V1 balls I typically play.

Lower flight, slightly less distance off almost all clubs, and more "roll out" on approaches than I am actually used to seeing or playing.

They are starting to show some "scuffs" from use, mostly when I use scoring clubs. 

Edited November 18, 2023 by rkj427

[Tom the Golf Nut]

2 hours ago, rkj427 said:

Well, I have played the Titleist test ball for my last 3 rounds, and have another round scheduled for tomorrow, after which I will post a final review.

All I will say is that it continues to be a disappointing performer for me when compared to my usual Maxfli Tour or Pro V1 balls I typically play.

Lower flight, slightly less distance off almost all clubs, and more "roll out" on approaches than I am actually used to seeing or playing.

They are starting to show some "scuffs" from use, mostly when I use scoring clubs. 

I’m with you on this. Played my last round with the Test Balls today. Still have all 3 but they will not be back in the bag. I actually stopped using them after a couple holes. Just didn’t perform. Wondering if they will go into production after seeing all the reviews.

[snoopy79]

Took it back for more short game practice. Again it’s good on chop shots. The spin is good. Feel is a bit soft. Putting is the main issue. It’s just too soft off the putter for my preference. The softness leads to distance control issues for me. I was starting to get a better feel for it after this round of practice. I will be using it on course again tomorrow, and will see if some of the issues I had first round are still there.

I’m of the same opinion as you with this test ball. It was so soft that you couldn’t feel it off the putter. Several of my approach shots in my last round from a 100 yards out I couldn’t even tell I hit the ball.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Parshooter36]

I did some more testing yesterday with my Uneekor QED launch monitor. This time I tested the test ball against 2 of my gamers from this season. The Callaway Chromesoft Truvis and the Srixon Q Star Tour.  I also gamed the OnCore Elixr for a while, but couldn't find the one I had dotted up for the launch monitor.

I hit 9 iron, 5 hybrid, and driver this time.  I had eerily similar numbers this time around on all 3 clubs.  I wasn't swinging the driver my best, by my 9 iron and hybrid numbers were right where I would expect.  The only real difference was the Chromesoft spun about 10% less than both the test ball and the Q Star Tour.  The Chromesft was also 1 to 2 mph slower which explains why the totals where pretty much dead even.

Overall, I really like the test ball.  It seems to fit in with the lower compression urethane cover balls I've played the past several years.  But assuming this is a premium Titleist, I don't see any significant difference over the Srixon that is about $20 cheaper per dozen.

Thanks again to Titleist and MGS for the opportunity to test.