The new and improved Titleist AVX brings with it everything you’ve come to expect from a golf ball release. It’s longer, it spins more around the green, and it preserves everything AVX players love about the ball.
Titleist AVX History
It’s probably reasonable to say that the original Titleist AVX was a ball the company had to make. When soft was the exclusive domain of inexpensive 2-piece balls, it wasn’t an issue. When the popularity of Chrome Soft soared, Titleist, and I suspect begrudgingly so, felt it needed to offer golfers an alternative.
In the most basic of terms, the challenge was to create a better soft ball; something that would appeal to preference driven golfers, while besting the competition in terms of performance and quality. It had to be a Titleist.
The result was AVX, the softest, lowest spinning of Titleist’s three premium offerings.
Where Does AVX Fit?
There’s invariably some confusion about where a given ball fits within its manufacturer’s larger lineup. After shuffling the deck a few years ago, Titleist has made things simple and straightforward.
On a comparative basis, Pro V1x is high launch with high spin. Pro V1 is mid-launch with mid-spin, and AVX is low launch with low spin. Just an FYI, the Left Dash Pro V1x that hit the market last year is high launch like the standard Pro V1x, but with a spin profile that’s between Pro V1 and AVX.
What’s interesting about AVX is that while it’s slotted to compete directly against Chrome Soft, Titleist seldom talks about the ball in terms of how it feels. It’s not that AVX isn’t soft (it is), but the discussion always centers on how Titleist fills a performance gap it within its lineup with a ball it believes vastly outperforms similar compression offerings from its competitors.
AVX was created as an alternative to Pro V1 and Pro V1x for Titleist players who may not have been entirely loyal to either ball. If some others got switched from other brands along the way, all the better.
What’s New and Better?
As with any brand that creates something its customers like, improving the product means striking a delicate balance. With AVX, Titleist wanted to make the ball a bit faster and add a little bit of greenside spin without changing how it played off the irons. It also needed to retain the identity of the ball – the reason why golfers play it. That meant retaining AVX’s low spin performance characteristics, and of course, its soft feel.
There’s not much new in this part of the story. Titleist tweaked AVX’s core formulation and made the core itself a bit larger. That created an opportunity to thin out the casing layer and make it a bit more flexible. The combination provides more distance off the tee with low long game spin – and yes, despite no change to the compression, Titleist says the new AVX will feel a touch softer.
The last piece of the puzzle is a thinner cover that Titleist designed specifically for AVX. It helps deliver a lower trajectory and the greenside spin that every golfer wants.
In robot tests, Titleist found gains of 2-3 yards. It’s not massive, but perceptions being what they are, some will likely find it to be significantly longer.
Who is the Titleist AVX Player?
It should go without saying that brands will often position a product where it’s most beneficial to the bottom line. Within that context, it should also go without saying that AVX is designed to appeal to the preference driven golfer. To put it bluntly, in many cases, that’s going to be a guy for whom performance considerations sometimes take a backseat to less important things like feel and color.
No judgment today. If you’re looking for a softer-feeling Titleist ball, here you go. Please, enjoy.
That’s not to say there aren’t players who won’t benefit from AVX’s performance characteristics.
Prefaced with in any fitting scenario, there will always be outliers, on performance alone, the ideal AVX player is typically a golfer who exists on the poles of the fitting bell curve. Slower swing speed golfers will likely lose only fractions of yards with a low compression ball while gaining distance with their irons. Full disclosure, the risk here lies in iron play, where AVX may launch too low with too little spin for some.
High Speed, high spin guys will lose a bit of pop off the driver because of the softer compression, but for those who typically generate more than 3000 RPM, the speed loss is often offset via spin reduction. The lower spin performance throughout the rest of the bag can be ideal for that same golfer.
Titleist would almost certainly say that the majority of golfers will better fit into the Pro V1 or Pro V1x. For a niche segment of golfers or for those seeking a softer feeling high-performance golf ball, however, the new Titleist AVX might be what you’re looking for.
Colors, Pricing, and Availability
The new Titleist AVX is available in both white and optic yellow. MAP is $47.99. Available now.
For more information, visit Titleist.com.
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Ro
2 years agoI just played a round using the new avx – my distance off the driver was considerably more then chrome soft, however I didn’t care for the lack of feel around the green. I have to say the distance was impressive
Randog
2 years agoJust played the 2020 AVX. I quit playing for quite awhile and currently just looking for the right ball. During the round I hit some Bridgestone Tour RX balls and had played the Snell models in previous rounds. Off the cuff, i would say that i gained about twenty yards with the driver(100 swing speed) and 10 yards with my irons. Greenside spin felt reasonable but i did have some trouble holding greens with my approach shots
James
2 years agoNo you didn’t
Eric
11 months agoSomebody’s dreaming… 20 yards!
Francis Stellitano
2 years agoThe second generation of AVX is spot on in my opinion. It is not as long off the tee as the original but man-o-man is it much improved around the greens.
I traded all my 2020 Pro-V1’s for the new AVX’s.
Dan Eastep
3 years agoI played the yellow AVX all of last year. I pretty much convinced myself that it was indeed a distance ball. I am no longer putting the ball in play. When it comes to course management i would rather have a better feeling ball on the green and around the greens than a distance ball. So i am back to a softer feel ball. Callaway ERC or Pro V1
Tom
3 years agoHow does the updated AVX compare to the “white box” EXP-01 from last year?
Andrew
3 years agoDoes anyone like me use this ball and have any positive things to say? I play the first gen model and I enjoy the added distance with a lower trajectory off the tee. I do not notice a difference in spin off my wedges in play but I did test on a GC quad and the numbers showed lower spin as expected than a ProV1.
paul
2 years agothis ball has since switching to it last season 6 wins in as many weeks.
great feeling ball off the tee and around the greens, loving the low spin
mizuno29
3 years agoI tried this ball yesterday, same low trajectory, which is a good thing, they really did improve on the greenside spin!
Magnus Skold
3 years agoThank you for this info MGS.
Unfortunately it’s extremely disappointing to hear the compression is the same, this makes this release totally uninteresting.
Original AVX was a dream for a high spin high launch player like me for the irons(excellent results). But since you could’t drive it I couldn’t use it, so frustrating. So all my hopes was that this new release would have the same flights characteristics but with a higher compression.
Tim
3 years agoThis ball looks just like the Bridgestone series with different printing
Andrew
3 years agoI feel like I will get roasted here since “Soft is slow” blah blah. 2019 was my first year playing one ball only and that ball was the AVX (in yellow). Granted I put a lot of work into my game I was able to drop from a 18.1 index stuck there for 3-4 years to the improvement to 14.4 in one season. This was mainly do to lessons and practice. I choose AVX bc in my option it flew very straight and penetrating off the Tee. This gave me confidence to keep the ball in play. Another reason I really liked it was the distance I got off my irons. As a higher handicapper longer irons were never my friend. As for the greenside spin I have not noticed any difference but maybe bc I did not generate much wedge spin as is and have been saving shots by playing a more bump and run style shot. All I am saying is I enjoy the ball and believe many others enjoy it also clearly. This ball gives me confidence and that alone makes it my go to. Maybe once I get down to the 11-12 index range ill look into other options with more spin once I get better contact with my wedges.
Joe D
2 years agoI wish I knew how it spin around the green, because I am a pitcher not a bump and run player. I wish I could know weather this ball will hit the green and check up within a foot. I had the similar amount of improvement this season as well. Went from scoring 106, to scoring 85 consistent. We are pretty similar except for our short game techniques. Good to see you like it though!
Eric
11 months agoDude you can’t really spin any ball around the greens. It takes clubhead speed and full shot to generate real spin.
SFlaGlfr
3 years agoInteresting turn of events. Seems many of the new balls from the manufacturers seem to be moving to large core with quite thin outer layers. Wonder if this is really to address core issues with lower cost and (potentially) more accuracy. Certainly interesting development….
Is it possible the cutting of golf balls is having an effect on the golf ball industry??? Particularly given how off many of them were.
Kevin
3 years agoApparently this is a popular ball, but I don’t get it. The original AVX felt softer than the ProV balls, but its performance around the green was so much worse that I immediately hated it. I can get a soft feeling ball that’s not very good around the greens for a LOT less money. Absolutely no interest in the 2020 version.
Chris
3 years agoLikewise. Never could quite figure this one out. It was good for a shrug off the driver and irons, feel no different than any other decent ball, but noticeably harder for me to spin on chips and pitches.
Jimmy
3 years agoThis just means it’s not for you. I’m mid-high speed and prone to low strikes so the only way for me to get driver spin down is to go with the Sub Zero-type drivers. The problem is they’re horribly unforgiving. The AVX helped me play a more normal driver setup without ballooning. For context, in a fitting I was spinning a G410 at 3600 rpm with a Pro V1. I’m the type of player AVX is supposed to help.
I didn’t stick with the AVX because I hated it around the greens just like you did. I’ve been mostly playing Chrome Soft after playing only Titleist since the Tour Balata & the Professional in the 90s. The 2019 Pro V1 is much better than the 2017 so I’ve been mixing it back in.
Very curious to try this AVX; the first version was too extreme. Titleist was trying too hard to protect the Pro V1 so they gimped the AVX like Porsche gimps the Cayman to protect the 911. If this AVX is closer to the Pro V1 but the same directionally, it will be very popular.
Ball Tester
3 years agoI’m a huge Titleist fan and expected too much with the 2019 ball. It was described to me as a low trajectory Pro V1. It has a urethane cover. The ball feels great, fly’s straight, and goes a little farther but loses most everything in the spin category. I was seriously disappointed. I’ll try the new one but please don’t put a urethane cover on a ball just to market it to me when it seems to do nothing for the balls spin performance.
Ed
2 years agoThe 2020 version they fixed the green side spin. Wedge shots have the same spin numbers as the ProV1 and ProV1x. So the irons still spin low but the wedge spin has been fixed. YouTube 2020 AVX and watch the test fron TGX guys.