Golf Balls

Ball Lab: Titleist Pro V1 Golf Ball (2023)

BY Tony Covey
May 3rd 2023
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MyGolfSpy Ball Lab is where we quantify the quality and consistency of golf balls. Today, we’re reviewing the 2023 Titleist Pro V1. To learn more about our test process, click here.

About the Titleist Pro V1

If there’s a ball that needs no introduction, it’s the Titleist Pro V1. It’s been the No. 1 ball on the market since it was introduced.

If there’s a knock on the Pro V1, it’s that Titleist has increased prices for 2023. The whole of the Titleist premium line, which includes Pro V1, Pro V1x, Left Dash and AVX. is now US $54.99.

While it’s not unheard for balls produced at Ball Plant 4 in Thailand to occasionally land on U.S. store shelves, all of the balls in our sample were produced at Ball Plant 3 in New Bedford, Mass.

Titleist Pro V1 Construction

The 2023 version of the Titleist Pro V1 remains a three-piece ball with a 388-dimple urethane cover.

Compression

On our gauge, the 2023 Titleist Pro V1 has an average compression of 87. That’s a not-so-whopping one point firmer than the previous model, which is to say, it’s functionally the same.

It’s a slightly firm ball, though arguably ever-so-slightly soft by PGA TOUR standards. Similar compression balls in our database include the Taylormade TP5, VICE Pro and Wilson Triad.

Compression Comparison Chart

We’ve had requests for a standalone compression comparison tool. As it turns out, that tool exists. We created it as part of our Golf Ball Compression FAQ page. At some point, we may merge the two charts but, for now, the plan is to include this chart in future Ball Labs.

Diameter and Weight

a Titleist Pro V1 (2023) being weighed in the MyGolfSpy ball lab.

All of the balls in our 2023 Titleist Pro V1 conformed to the USGA rules for weight.

Likewise, 100 percent of the sample met our standard for roundness.

A price summary graphic for the 2023 Titleist Pro V1

Inspection

Centeredness and Concentricity

With respect to centeredness and concentricity (and the entirety of our visual inspection, for that matter), we found nothing of note or concern.

Core Consistency

a view of the core of a 2023 Titleist Pro V1

Core color was consistent across the sample. We didn’t observe any unusual material within the cores.

Cover

No notable cover defects were identified.

Pro V1 – Consistency

In this section, we detail the consistency of the 2023 Titleist Pro V1. Our consistency metrics provide a measure of how similar the balls in our sample were to one another relative to all of the models we’ve tested to date.

A quality chart depicting each ball tested for the 2023 Titleist Pro V1 ball lab.

Weight Consistency

Weight consistency for the Pro V1 sample falls within the Average range.
It’s not the flattest line we’ve seen from Titleist but there aren’t any issues, either.

Diameter Consistency

Diameter consistency falls within the higher end of the Good range.
Box 3 was slightly smaller on average and a bit less consistent which likely kept the score out of the Good range.

Compression Consistency

Compression consistency falls within the Good range.
The compression delta across the entire sample was only five points which falls in the top 10 of ball models measured to date.

True Price

True Price is how we quantify the quality of a golf ball. It's a projection of what you'd have to spend to ensure you get 12 good balls.

The True Price will always be equal to or greater than the retail price. The greater the difference between the retail price and the True Price, the more you should be concerned about the quality of the ball.

Summary

To learn more about our test process, how we define “Bad” balls and our True Price metric, check out our About MyGolfSpy Ball Lab page.

Titleist (2023) Golf Ball Quality Summary

Bits and pieces of a 2023 Titleist Pro V1 golf ball

As has been the case with every Pro V1 (and Pro V1x) model tested to date, the 2023 Pro V1 displays dependable, above-average quality. It’s what we’ve come to expect from Titleist.

The Good

Above-average compression consistency
Exceptionally tight compression delta
No bad balls in the sample

The Bad

The worst we can say is that the Pro V1 only falls within the Average range for weight and diameter.

The Score

The True Price for the 2023 Titleist Pro V1 is $54.99. That’s the same as the retail price.

At the time of testing, the 2023 Titleist Pro V1 receives a Ball Lab score of 85. That’s 12 points better than the current database average of 73 and crosses the threshold for our Ball Lab Quality Award.

It’s the first ball we’ve tested in 2023 to do so.

A chart depicting the overall grade in this Titleist Pro V1 review.

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comments

Join The Discussion

Disappointed

2 years ago

Super disappointed in Titleist. Just bought two boxes of Pro V1X and 12 of the 24 are out of balance using the Saline float test. Not just a little out of balance either. All 12 quickly returning to the marked side. The other 12 were perfect. Nothing like paying $110 + Tax for 12 golf balls. Never again.

Jay Nichols

You don’t have a clue what you’re talking about, maybe you should explain to the golf world how a golf ball is “out of balance”? Please enlighten us all.

Big G

1 year ago

So Tony, how do we get rid of this clown that loves making all these asinine comments and cutting down other commenters?

Erik

I’ve been surprised at how easily the cover of the 2023 Pro V1 scratches and mars. The 2021 Pro V1 covers were much better. Sorry.

You’re just another critic who doesn’t have a clue, FYI, the cover on the 2021 & 2023 V1 & V1X are exactly the same, so the defects you mentioned are in your mind, not in the product.

John JF

Tony, any chance you’ll look at the new Snell Prime and Prime X? Started playing the Prime and it’s an exceptional performing ball in my opinion. Just wondering if the quality has changed any now that they are being manufactured in another country/plant?

Tony Covey

It’s on the list.

Tim Gath

In my humble opinion, the average amateur would probably not be able to tell the difference in playability between the 2021 and 2023 even with the lesser rating. Both are great balls. If you can save a few dollars why not, but you are not going to save multiple shots per round.

Alan

I’d like to share my interaction with Titelist customer support. I purchased 3 dozen of the new Prov1s prior to a trip out to Scottsdale from the PGA Superstore in Bethesda MD. I normally mark all the balls at the same time while sitting around watching golf. When I did I noticed there were 7 out of the 36 where the cover wasn’t aligned properly. Rather than take them back to the store, I emailed Titelist. They were quick to respond asking for pictures of the flawed balls. Once I sent them the photos, they called me to apologize and were quick to offer a complete replacement of my order. That’s 36 new balls to replace 7 that were a problem. I’ve been playing Prov1s for a few years now, having moved from Bridgestone. I’ve never had an issue before and don’t expect to have any more. I’m sure they have dealt with this early production issue, probably before my dealings with them. Titelist fan for life.

Ed

Very interesting information

Justin J

If this is driven by averages of balls tested, does the baseline for average change overtime with the quality of the balls being produced? So if everyone makes better balls, what made Titleist exceptional before is just good now?

Absolutely. The database is kind of a living thing. As new models are added, things (including existing scores) can shift. We have enough models in the database now where things are relatively stable, which is why the average score doesn’t move much.

But yes…if we did see an industry-wide improvement in quality, scores would trend higher and that would likely pull the highest-scoring stuff towards the middle a bit.

Ultimately, if quality becomes less differentiated, it will be reflected in the scores.

Stuart

Haha…gotta laugh at those saying they’ll stock up on 21 or play their 21 balls, bet most can’t break 90 and couldn’t tell the difference between a proV1 and a pinnacle in a blind test.

Smogmonster

I’ll take that bet…

Jack

You must be fun at parties… Breaking 90 =/= ability to differentiate between a ProV1 & Pinnacle Gold. Most players who score 90+ only do so because of poor shot choice or poor consistency of strike, not because they have terrible ability to identify the little ball they hit with the end of a stick towards a hole.

Emery

So far, after a couple of dozen, the 2023 ProV 1’s seem to scratch & cut easier than the previous model which we still have a couple dozen. Everything else seems quite the same…except, durability of cover.

The cover material, cover layer measurement, coatings are exactly the same for the 21 & 23 V1 and V1x, so the durability is simply in your mind, or how you’re hitting the balls.

bob

Titleist dropped 12 points and also dropped from Excellent to Good and Good to Average in 2 categories. Struggling to see why $100 for four boxes of Maxfli Tour X or Tour balls is not a far superior price/ball performance combo than $54.99 for a single box of Pro-V’s. It’s really not even a close call.

That’s one way to look at it, I suppose. While there can be issues with individual models, we have enough data to suggest that quality is, by and large, a factory-level thing.

With that, what we’ve measured to date suggests that Ball Plant 3 is the most consistent ball factory on the planet right now. Foremost, where Maxfli is made, is likely second – though that may be limited to the brands that pay for enhanced quality. FWIW, both Maxfli (DSG) and Wilson say they have a higher quality standard at Foremost, and the results suggest that’s true.

So all of that said, I believe Titleist still makes the most consistent balls in golf, but … (again, based on our data), I can’t make an argument against Maxfli as the best value brand on the market right now.

If you’re looking for differentiation, what I would say is that we’ve run into a few Foremost boxes that range somewhere between questionable and a total mess. It’s the reason why we have poorly ranked Vice and Maxfli (old Tour X) in our charts. That hasn’t happened with Titleist to date.

I am a Maxfli devotee. There is a humorous pride in playing with my weekly foursome who all play Pro-V’s. There is one guy who is not going to outdrive any of us but the other three of us are all on the same level. When I pump a drive beyond their drives or carry that bunker that takes a great poke it is an eye opening moment for them. When you stick an approach or put some lovely two hop and stop on a 40 yard wedge shot it is fun to look over at them and just say, ‘Maxfli?’ and shrug. It is kinda like showing up on the black top with some Pro Wings and noticing all of the Air Jordans the other team is wearing, seeing them snicker and then erasing their grins with a tomahawk dunk over their cockiest player.

Let me know when the professional golfers on any tour make the switch, and before you make the false statement that all pros get paid to play Pro V1 balls, I’ll tell you in advance, that’s not true at all.

Tom R

I am waiting for the day when you are able to marry up this info with performance info (carry, spin, etc.)

Cody

Go look at the Ball Test, it’s been on the site for a couple of years now. This is just a QC comparison to keep brands honest. What good is a “good” performing ball if they vary wildly from one ball to the next?

WYBob

Thanks for testing the new Pro V1. As previously pointed out, the 2023 ball dropped 12 points from its high water mark of 97 in 2021. Heck, it’s about the same as the 2019 Pro V1 score. And it’s 8 points lower than the 2021 Pro V1x and the 2019 Pro V1x- (which are 4 piece balls and more susceptible to centeredness and concentricity issues).The one change that Titleist calls out for 2023 is “a new high gradient core.” Given that, is this new gradient core the possible culprit as to why the new ball doesn’t test as well, especially in the compression scoring? Glad I still have 3+ boxes of the 2021 Pro V1 model but am suspicious as to the causes of the decline in 2023.

Sean M.

Tony,

Does that mean the 2021 ProV1s are of a more consistent build and are more consistently made?

Golfinnut

This is what I was going to ask as well. Should I hoard the 2 dozen boxes I have of the 2021 version or hype them up to sell them on Ebay? LOL ;)

Steve S

Be careful with the year to year comparison. Remember they only use 3 boxes of balls. If box 3 had been equal to 1 and 2 the score would be higher. Similarly, if one of the 2021 boxes was a little off they wouldn’t have ranked as high. The MGS ball lab is a great tool for finding really bad balls but I think its a bit of a stretch to think that a 36 ball sample out of 10’s of thousands of balls of good quality will give you an accurate picture of what are relatively minor differences.

Also, smaller, heavier balls go further, so I’d like to get all the balls that are at the bottom of size and weight tolerance.

Correction, I’d like balls that are at the lower end of the size tolerance and upper end of the weight.

Mike Billings

Was lucky enough to get the ‘white box’ last summer and got to test the Proto version of this ball and the ‘x’ as well. I was using AVX at the time and found the ProV1 to be comparable. The ‘X’ however had astonishing performance. Flew high and went far. In some cases I had personal best drives of 20-30 yards further than my regular drives. This did not happen 1 or 2 times. More like half a dozen times the first round I played with it. Shot multiple front 9 scores of 40, where 45-50 is the norm.

Come on. 20-30 yards

John O

If you apply the 2023 filter to the quality comparisson chart – the new Pro V1 does not show up.

JG

Is it possible to determine what plant the balls were made in just by looking at the box in the store?

Titleist puts provides factory-level detail – Ball Plant 2 (Ionomer stuff + Tour Speed), Ball Plant 3 (Premium, USA), Ball Plant 4 (Thailand).

Most everyone else just includes the country of origin.

Nick

Surprised to see it drop from 97 for the 2021 model. Any ideas why the 12 point drop?

The biggest factor is that our 2021 Pro V1 sample was exceptional.

Looking at the quality chart, you’ll see that the 2021 ball is one of only two models (I think) in the database to achieve an Excellent rating (compression). This year’s ball *only* achieved a good rating, which is still better than most.

Similarly, the ’21 ball also hit the good range for diameter, while our sample of this year’s model fell every-so-slightly short of that mark. If Box 3 had been as consistent as boxes 1 and 2, it’s likely the score would have been in the high 80s or low 90.

Because the scoring model is statistically driven (everything in the good range can be thought of as statistically the same), we don’t give additional points for falling at the higher end of the range. If we did…we’re looking at a score of 88…something like that.

Bottom line, the new model didn’t test quite as well as the ’21 ball (nothing in the database has) but it’s still an above-average quality ball, which is what we’ve come to expect from Titleist’s Ball Plant 3 offerings.

So buy 2021 balls on discount now for a likely more consistent ball?

I’d say, STOCK UP 2021 for sure.

Andrew

And I think way too many people are reading too much into the quality difference between 21 and 23. If you had a different 3 boxes of balls in 23 there’s a very good chance it would have equaled 21. And a different set of boxes in 21 could have fallen to 23 levels. The important thing is that we don’t see bad boxes from Titleist.

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Driver Titleist TSi3	3-Wood Titleist TSi2 13.5°
5-Wood Titleist TSi2 18°	7-Wood Titleist TSi2 21°
Irons (5-9) PXG 0311 GEN5 T	Wedges Vokey SM9 (46° F, 50° F, 54° D, 60° T)
Putter PXG Blackbird	Ball Titleist Pro V1x Left Dash

Golf Balls

Ball Lab: Titleist Pro V1 Golf Ball (2023)

About the Titleist Pro V1

Titleist Pro V1 Construction

Compression

Compression Comparison Chart

Diameter and Weight

Inspection

Centeredness and Concentricity

Core Consistency

Cover

Pro V1 – Consistency

Weight Consistency

Diameter Consistency

Compression Consistency

True Price

Summary

Titleist (2023) Golf Ball Quality Summary

The Good

The Bad

The Score

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comments

Disappointed

Big G

Erik

John JF

Tim Gath

Alan

Ed

Justin J

Stuart

Smogmonster

Jack

Emery

bob

bob

Tom R

Cody

WYBob

Sean M.

Golfinnut

Steve S

Steve S

Mike Billings

Ed

John O

JG

Nick

Sean M.

Emery

Andrew

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