2023 Titleist Pro V1 and Pro V1x Golf Balls Land on Tour

Continuing today’s theme of showing you stuff you probably can’t get until next year  …

The 2023 Titleist Pro V1 and Pro V1x golf balls made their debut last week at the Sanderson Farms Championship.

According to Titleist, the new balls were originally slated to debut this week at the Shriners in Las Vegas but M.J. Daffue, Gary Woodland and THE Garrick Higgo asked to put the new models in play ASAP. The company overnighted boxes which arrived last Tuesday.

(Upon hearing this news, I immediately checked my porch. Turns out I was overnighted … nothing.)

If not for Daffue’s ace on Thursday and Higgo leading the field in birdies (both with the new balls), use at the Sanderson likely wouldn’t have reached footnote status in this story but here we are.

The trickling of the new balls into the wild is all part of what Titleist bills as its “Tour Seeding and Validation” process. The new product is often referred to as “prototypes” but, at this stage of the game, it’s really more of a you’ll eat it—and you’ll like it situation, even for the best in the world.

That said, the seeding process will ramp up significantly this week and it’s a safe assumption that Tour use will continue to climb as more Titleist staffers familiarize themselves with new ball.

What We Know So Far

As is typical for this phase of the game, Titleist is providing little in the way of details, though a reading of the selected quotes from Scotty Scheffler suggest that short game and wind performance will be a point of emphasis with the new balls.

As expected, Titleist makes no specific mention of Pro V1x Left Dash or Pro V1 Left Dot. For now, the focus is on the mainstream which you can expect to launch in January.

Titleist is nothing if not predictable with its ball releases. With the company rumored to be attending the PGA Merchandise Show in January, the smart money is on a Jan. 26 embargo.

Set a reminder to check your email at 9 a.m.

So, while full details are likely nearly three months away, you probably know what to expect. The new balls are unlikely to be radically different. Titleist accounts for more than 70 percent of play on the PGA TOUR and the reality is that while Tour players may like the idea of a better ball, they certainly don’t want a different ball.

Pro V1x is still going to fly higher and spin more than Pro V1.

What About the Other Two?

While it’s largely fodder for gearheads, the more interesting question is what becomes of the other two: the Pro V1x Left Dash and Pro V1 Left Dot?

Despite being relatively new to golfers, both models have remained unchanged for the last few Pro V1 release cycles. It’s worth noting that Titleist says lessons learned from both balls have filtered into the mainstream products.

With that in mind, it’s possible that Left Dash carries on unchanged. Ideally, it gets a cover update to provide a bit more greenside spin but, fundamentally, it’s not broken and the ball team in Fairhaven probably isn’t feeling much pressure (despite my best efforts) to launch an updated model.

Pro V1 Left Dot was a limited-release experiment that some golfers fell in love with. The affinity for the ball coupled with its scarcity is why it continues to command absurd prices on eBay.

Like the Left Dash, there’s likely not much pressure to refresh the ball but I’d wager Titleist doesn’t love the secondary market it inadvertently created with the limited release.

As soon as the supply chain allows, I expect Titleist will do something to satisfy demand. Whether that’s a full retail launch, special order or an entirely new ball remains to be seen.

It’s just one guy’s opinion but Left Dot as a full retail offering makes sense to me. As the market has chased lower spin off the driver (and off the irons via loft-jacking), the Pro V1 has slowly followed. Our data suggests the current Pro V1 trends towards the lower-spinning side among balls played on Tour.

Left Dot in the lineup would give Titleist the flexibility to put a little bit of lift and spin back into the Pro V1. That would likely work to the benefit of average golfers but whether Tour pros would welcome the changes is another question entirely.

Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait until January for answers.