This week we talk with George Sine, Vice President of Golf Ball Marketing and Strategic Planning and Bill Morgan,
Senior Vice President, Golf Ball Research & Development of Titleist about the new 2009 Pro V1 and Pro V1x. Some myths are dispelled, some fitting advice is given, and a whole lot more in this episode of Golf Talk.
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For this week’s Show Notes – links to articles we discuss in the show and additional information – just read on.
Interviewees
George Sine
Vice President of Golf Ball Marketing and Strategic Planning
Bill Morgan
Senior Vice President, Golf Ball Research & Development
Questions
- The new balls tout more distance, but virtually every ball made in the past six years bumps up against the USGA’s Overall Distance Standard already… so how will players see this increased distance in “real world” situations?
- Increased durability is a pretty big win. Tell us about that.
- Age old, timeless question: what swing speed do you need to get performance out of a Pro V1x?
- How do you advise players to choose the ball that fits them? Is it about driver distance, feel off the irons, or short game performance?
- A lot of amateurs seem to alternate between the V1 and the V1x based on playing conditions. Do any pros that you know of do this, and are amateurs likely wasting shots when doing so? Would they be better off testing each, choosing one, and sticking with it?
- Some people seem to believe that the release of these new balls was necessitated by the ongoing lawsuit with Callaway. Can you set the record straight?
- The groove rule goes into effect for professionals next year, and it’s been said that many pros are going to switch to spinnier golf balls as a way to generate short-shot spin. Might we see a shift towards more spin in the Pro V1 line as early as next spring, breaking the two-year release cycle?
- I suspect we know the answer to this, but are you willing to call these the two best golf balls ever made with available technology?
Colophon
This show was recorded with Audio Hijack Pro over a Skype connection. We then used Soundtrack Pro to edit the show and GarageBand to produce the AAC file from the AIFF file, to add the artwork, and so forth. Feeder was used to create the XML file.
Note: This is an AAC (MP4) file, an open file format. iTunes – free software – can play AAC files, as can numerous other players, though we heartily recommend iTunes.
You Can Contribute
If you’d like to submit a listener question that we can answer on the air, send the question to podcast@thesandtrap.com.
Are you going to publish a transcript of the questions/answers? The RSS feed link didn’t work, & I’m not going for that stupid BestBuy come-on : free 60 days & then you get a bill when you forget to cancel — no thanks. Or is the iTunes thing a revenue stream for you? No problem if so. More power to you, I guess.
We don’t plan to, no. 25 minutes of conversation would take quite awhile to transcribe.
I’m sorry to hear that. It works just fine here and is provided for those who want to subscribe to our podcast feed outside of iTunes.
With all due respect, what are you talking about? iTunes is a free download from Apple. You don’t “sign up” for anything. Our podcast is free within iTunes (or to download it directly).
And we make no money from people downloading within iTunes.
You seem to be confused about how this all works.
Go here and click “Download Now.” Don’t include your email address. After you’ve installed iTunes, click here and you’ll be taken to our show’s page within iTunes, from which you can subscribe to the whole show or download – both again for free – any episode individually.
Great interview. I hope this finally puts the “Pro V1x is only good for Tour pros” myth to rest.
Great podcast guys…hopefully more bloggers will realize that they have to get equipment that fits THEIR game not just the same stuff the pro’s use.
I too use a Pro V1x (5 hcp)…keeps my spin down and gives me control in the windy/softer conditions we often get in the UK!!
It would be interesting to hear Callaway come and put their money and billboards where their mouths are!! 😉
This is a great podcast. I especially like the ball fitting section of it with going from green to tee.
Time for some testing!
Highly worth a listen. Great information directly from the source.
I’ve been switching between ProV1 and ProV1x for years now testing each balls +’s and -‘s. In the last 2 seasons, I’ve chosen to use ProV1x more often as I believe it better suits my game…..keeping spin down on the driver in particular. I enjoyed the comments from the interviewees regarding this subject and the discussion regarding ball fitting.