38 GOLF ASIAGOLFING
GEARGUIDE
GOLFING
GEARGUIDE
38 GOLF ASIAFEELING THE
SQUEEZE
Titleist’s Pro V1 is the most dominant golf ball on the world’s pro tours.
But for the first time in years, its leadership position is under pressure.
Richard Gillis looks at what this means for the brand and the club golfer.
B
illy Andrade was in a rut. The journeyman pro started the
2000 season badly and the year had gone from bad to
worse. By October, the American was 159th on the PGA
Tour Money List and staring a trip to Q School in the face. Then,
at the Invensys Open in Las Vegas, he won, shooting 68 in the
last round to hold off Phil Mickelson, take the US$765,000 first
prize and secure his card for the following year. “I’m speechless
the way the whole week went,” Andrade said afterwards. ”I’m
near tears after having such a bad year, to do this.”
Andrade’s win was more than a sporting comeback story,
however. It has a broader significance, marking a key moment in
the development of the golf ball. It was the first time a Tour Pro
had played with Titleist’s new Pro V1. Andrade was one of 47
players who switched that week from their old liquid filled balata
balls to the solid core Pro V1, described by Mark McClusky,
author of Faster, Higher, Stronger as ‘what might be the single
most influential product in the history of any sport’. This was the
start of the Pro V1 revolution – the legacy of which has defined
the golf market over the past two decades. And the speed of the
take up was extraordinary.
From the end of 2000 and over the course of the 2001
season, the average driving distance on Tour increased by six
yards, propelled by the Pro V1. Since that Sunday in Vegas,
more than 2,600 professional and top amateur players have won
playing the Pro V1 around the world. At the 2000 Masters, 59 of
the 95 players used a wound golf ball. One year later, only four