Linear thinkers love finding out historical past’s mysteries.
When skilled in actual time, life’s occasions often seem random and unrelated. They’re seemingly unconnected, arbitrary and inconsequential within the second. It’s solely via the lens of time that we will join these dots and create a “once-upon-a-time” story arc we linear varieties love a lot.
It’s how we make sense of issues.
Living proof: Nobody, and I imply nobody, might have identified it on the time however an offhand lunchroom remark in 1995 would, 5 years later, utterly change the sport of golf in simply 90 days.
But that’s simply what occurred almost 30 years in the past at Titleist’s Ball Plant 2 in North Dartmouth, Mass. A bunch of R&D engineers had been having fun with their lunch when certainly one of them held up a Pinnacle Gold golf ball and requested what turned out to be a billion-dollar query:
“What if we put a urethane cowl on this factor?”
By the beginning of the brand new millennium, that harmless little bit of curiosity was the Professional V1.
Historical past’s Mysteries: The beginning of the Titleist Professional V1
Golf within the early Nineteen Nineties wasn’t precisely hickory shafts and gutta perchas however it was so much completely different than it’s in the present day. On the PGA Tour, you had golfers who regarded extra like Craig Stadler than Adam Scott, no launch displays and guys with swings like Payne Stewart’s.
However that sport was evolving. Whereas Tiger was ending up highschool, energy gamers like Fred {Couples}, Davis Love III and, after all, John Daly had been hitting the ball a freaking mile. Gear was evolving as properly. Solid golf equipment such because the PING Eye 2 and Tommy Armour 845s had been simpler to hit whereas the Callaway Large Bertha and its all-titanium descendant, the Nice Large Bertha, had been altering the sport off the tee.
Nonetheless, regardless of all these modifications, golfers had been nonetheless enjoying with what amounted to 70-year-old know-how: the wound balata golf ball.
In 1994, Titleist launched what proved to be a significant innovation: the Titleist Skilled, a wound ball with a brand new invention: a solid urethane cowl.
“The Skilled was a reasonably large deal,” Titleist Golf Ball Advertising and marketing VP Jeremy Stone tells MyGolfSpy. “The solid urethane cowl added pace and improved sturdiness over the balata ball.”
The Skilled rapidly changed the Titleist Tour Balata because the No. 1 ball in golf.
Golf balls, circa 1994
Let’s pause the narrative for a second to attach some historic dots. Earlier than the Skilled, you might select between a balata-covered ball or an ionomer-covered ball. Higher gamers and Tour execs most popular balatas as a result of they supplied higher spin, management and really feel. Leisure golfers largely selected ionomer as a result of they had been noticeably longer, though it felt such as you had been hitting a rock.
Moreover, ionomer-covered balls had been way more sturdy. In case you hit a balata only a wee bit skinny, it will crack a smile and be unplayable.
Whereas balata balls featured a core (both rubber or a liquid heart) tightly wrapped with elastic, two-piece ionomer balls had a stable artificial rubber core. In 1994, the Titleist-made Pinnacle Gold and Spalding’s Prime-Flite had been prime sellers, every holding roughly a 17 % market share.
For golfers, it was both spin, management and really feel or distance and sturdiness. They couldn’t have each.
That was about to vary.
Again to the lunchroom …
Titleist has simply changed the previous No. 1 ball in golf, the Tour Balata, with the brand new No. 1 ball in golf, the Skilled. You’d determine they’d be good for some time however you’d be unsuitable.
“Though we had this game-changing ball within the Skilled, we had been nonetheless going to push and see what else we will give you,” says Titleist Golf Ball R&D VP Michael Madson. “That’s when any person picked up a Pinnacle Gold and requested what would occur if we put a skinny urethane cowl on it.
“Then it was, ‘Let’s go discover out.’”
Titleist already had loads of expertise with solid-core balls and it wasn’t trying to exchange the Skilled. A Pinnacle Gold with a urethane cowl was intriguing, nevertheless, so Engineering set to work. The consequence was the Professional 2-Piece. Titleist preferred what it noticed and deliberate to check market the ball in Texas.
Catastrophe, nevertheless, was looming.
“Robotic information that confirmed it was an impressive ball,” says Stone. “We check golf balls in a managed surroundings. The failure was not permitting them to sit down in a moist golf store in Texas.”
Because it turned out, the Professional 2-Piece was a greater sponge than a golf ball. It absorbed all that humidity and have become, for lack of a greater time period, waterlogged. That made the ball sluggish to the purpose of being unplayable.
“It was a real market failure,” admits Stone. “However with out that failure, we wouldn’t take pleasure in in the present day as a result of it taught us belongings you wouldn’t uncover in any other case.”
The Titleist Professional 2-Piece turns into the Titleist Professional V1
Ever surprise why the Professional V1 is named the Professional V1?
“Professional” stands for Skilled. That was Titleist’s No. 1 ball on the time, and like several good firm, Titleist was constructing off that ball’s identify recognition.
“1” is for the primary model of the ball.
The “V”? That’s the place issues get attention-grabbing.
After the Texas failure, Titleist realized it wanted one other layer to maintain moisture out of the core so it developed a Surlyn mantle to stop absorption. They known as it a “veneer” layer.
The “V” in Professional V1 stands for veneer.
“We have now a hell of lots of failures on our patent wall,” says Madson. “Chances are you’ll begin with an thought and write a patent and it would wind up being complete crap. However there could also be one piece of chemistry in there that opens up pathways to innovation. We’re taking a look at constructing new concepts so we let the artistic minds in R&D simply run rampant.”
Titleist R&D ran rampantly for 5 years whereas growing the primary Professional V1 technology. Within the interim, Mark O’Meara used the solid-core Prime-Flite Strata to win the 1998 Masters and Open Championship. Two years later, Tiger blitzkrieged the U.S. Open subject at Pebble Seashore with the NIKE Tour Accuracy. Titleist noticed what was happening however knew what it had. It was simply in search of the ultimate items of the puzzle.
The “100 Man March”
By the summer time of 2000, the Professional V1 was nearly prepared for prime time. That final puzzle piece was Tour testing and validation. Beginning in June, Titleist Tour reps labored driving ranges and walked observe rounds with greater than 100 PGA Tour execs, in search of suggestions. The defining second got here at Ocean Forest Golf Membership in Georgia, courtesy of Davis Love III.
“Mac Fritz (Titleist VP of Tour Promotion) took a dozen ‘white field’ prototypes to check with Davis,” says Stone. “He had one directive: Come again with all 12. Don’t lose any of them.”
They arrange testing on one gap with a marsh bisecting the green some 340 yards away. That marsh was out of play for Love and his gamer, the Titleist Skilled. Love was hitting into the wind and Fritz was standing 300 yards down the green. Professionals had been touchdown close to Fritz’s ft, properly wanting the marsh.
In keeping with Stone, that’s when Fritz had Love tee up a Professional V1 prototype with easy directions: Let ‘er rip.
“The ball sailed over Mac’s head and proper into the marsh. They spent 45 minutes wading via the marsh looking for that ball. Mac needed to head dwelling along with his tail between his legs and solely 11 prototypes.”
Legend has it that Love and his son Dru felt so unhealthy they returned the subsequent day and spent hours scouring the marsh for that ball. It stands because the very first Professional V1 ever misplaced and is probably going nonetheless in that marsh in the present day.
“That was validation for Davis,” says Stone. “That marsh hadn’t been in play for him earlier than. Now, hastily, it was.”
What occurs in Vegas doesn’t all the time keep in Vegas
As we speak the USGA updates its conforming record electronically. In 2000, nevertheless, OEMs would watch for a brand new record to be printed earlier than new merchandise could possibly be performed on Tour. Titleist was able to unleash the Professional V1 however the brand new USGA record wasn’t printed till early October, simply earlier than the Invensys Basic in Las Vegas.
Fritz introduced 60 dozen Professional V1s to the event, anticipating 20, perhaps 25 Titleist gamers to place them into play. Forty-seven did. It was the only greatest shift in gear utilization in PGA Tour historical past.
“Gamers are creatures of behavior,” says Madson. “Even when they see efficiency they know deep down is healthier for them, they’re going to take their time earlier than switching. For that many gamers to change so rapidly simply confirmed how significantly better the Professional V1 was.”
One of many gamers who switched was a struggling veteran from Rhode Island, Billy Andrade.
Andrade was 160th on the cash record and had already despatched in his examine for Qualifying Faculty. Seems he needn’t have bothered. Andrade tore up TPC Summerlin for his fourth and closing PGA Tour win, a win for the Titleist Professional V1 in its first occasion.
“The ball was 20 yards longer than the Tour Status I used to be enjoying on the time,” says Andrade. “I chalked a few of that as much as altitude however the distance and total efficiency was like nothing I had ever performed.”
Phil Mickelson, additionally enjoying a Professional V1, completed second to Andrade. Lower than a month later, he would outduel Tiger on the Tour Championship in Atlanta. In a profession full of fuse-lighting moments, Mickelson’s post-tournament feedback might have been the largest:
“I actually consider that when you’re not enjoying this golf ball, then you might be at a definite drawback to your entire subject.”
Quantity One with a bullet
Titleist initially deliberate to launch the ProV1 to retail in March 2001. Andrade and Mickelson pressured that plan to vary and the Professional V1 was launched to Solar Belt retailers in mid-December. Issues bought crazier in January. Brad Faxon received the Sony Open in Hawaii with the Professional V1, tying the 72-hole scoring document. Mark Calcavecchia set the 36-, 54- and 72-hole scoring information with the Professional V1 the next week on the Phoenix Open. One week later, Love fired the bottom closing spherical ever for a winner at Pebble Seashore.
By the point the West Coast swing was over, the highest eight cash winners had been enjoying the Professional V1.
“We needed to speed up product,” explains Stone. “It’s not like we mothballed our wound-ball traces. Our expectation was for a far decrease adoption of the Professional V1 and we anticipated folks to play wound balls via the yr as a result of that’s what our typical transition regarded like.”
Typical, nevertheless, flew out the window in Vegas.
It’s unattainable to overstate the pace and totality of the Professional V1 takeover. In mid-March, solely 90 days after its retail launch, the ProV1 rocketed to primary in golf ball gross sales.
It hasn’t moved from that perch since.
By the 2001 Masters, 42 of the 45 Titleist gamers within the subject switched to the Professional V1. In June, Retief Goosen received the U.S. Open with a Professional V1 and Karrie Webb gamed the Professional V1 to win the Girls’s U.S. Open by eight strokes, the most important margin of victory in over twenty years.
“The Professional V1 responded to the altering nature of the sport,” says Titleist Golf Ball President Mary Lou Bohn. “The arrival of the facility sport necessitated golf balls that delivered low spin within the lengthy sport whereas sustaining spin, really feel and management of the premium liquid-center, wound-technology balls.”
USA As we speak and an existential disaster
Within the three months from mid-December of 2000 to mid-March of 2001, the Professional V1 went from nothing to No. 1. Nobody at Titleist had that on their bingo card which meant management had some troublesome choices to make.
“We simply couldn’t make sufficient,” says Stone. “I don’t assume any Tour participant would have dreamt of hitting a ball as lengthy off the tee because the Pinnacle however with the Skilled’s efficiency across the inexperienced. That wouldn’t have been within the realm of risk.”
The patron frenzy went thermonuclear in March when USA As we speak printed a front-page story on how the Professional V1 turned golf upside-down. There have been even unfounded rumors that Titleist was artificially suppressing provide to spice up demand.
That spring, Titleist confronted an existential disaster: Absolutely embrace the brand new Professional V1 and out of date 70 years of wound ball manufacturing or hedge its bets, let the market settle and transition slowly.
“The philosophical query on the time was, ‘Are we the wound-ball development chief or are we the golf ball know-how chief?’” says Stone. “That’s 70 years of legacy we’d be strolling away from. You higher consider there have been folks right here who thought that may not be the neatest selection.”
In the end, Titleist determined its legacy wasn’t wound golf balls, it was higher golf balls.
“Our model actually exists as a result of, in 1930, golf ball makers hadn’t found out how one can make a golf ball persistently,” Stone says. “Phil Younger found out how to try this. He felt his job was to make a greater golf ball if he might. It wasn’t as a result of it was wound; it’s as a result of it was higher.”
“We’re working across the clock …”
Retooling to fulfill demand was no simple process. It was like making an attempt to vary tires on a automobile going 90 miles an hour. As you’d anticipate, Titleist had a tough time maintaining.
“Wally (Uhlein, Acushnet CEO on the time) wrote a letter printed within the golf magazines saying, ‘Hey, we’re making an attempt our greatest to maintain up with manufacturing,’” says Stone. “We had been working across the clock however we simply couldn’t make sufficient.
“We had been making an attempt to determine how one can retool and reinvest within the essential capability which is how Ball Plant 3 got here to be. Ball Plant 1 was the place we made our wound balls. We couldn’t simply tear it down and renovate it. We would have liked an entire new facility.”
The very fact Tour gamers had been leaping to the Professional V1 in droves made the transition simpler. Professional V1 manufacturing ramped up whereas Tour Balata, Tour Status and Skilled manufacturing ramped down. By July, the final Tour Balata was performed on Tour. By November, the final Skilled was performed on Tour.
How monumental was the 2001 sea change? Golfweek Journal reported in December that 2001 was the primary yr that nobody – not one single golfer – received on the PGA Tour utilizing a wound ball. Nobody on the LPGA, Seniors, European, Canadian, Purchase.com or Japan Golf excursions received utilizing a wound ball, both.
In some unspecified time in the future in 2002, Titleist made its final wound ball. The Professional V1 takeover was full.
“One among our mantras is that if it’s higher for the golfer, we’ll determine it out finally,” says Madson.
A rose by another identify
Since historical past is nearly all the time unintended, it’s vital to notice that Titleist had no intention of calling the Professional V1 the Professional V1. That was merely the prototype identify. They deliberate on arising with a greater identify earlier than launch.
Throughout the “100 Man March”, Tour gamers grew to become acquainted with the Professional V1 identify. Titleist additionally known as it Professional V1 through the lengthy USGA conforming course of so by the point Vegas rolled round, the identify simply caught. All that early Tour success solely solidified the identify in everybody’s thoughts.
In 2003, there was discuss of calling the brand new mannequin the Professional V2. Nonetheless, Advertising and marketing 101 says when you will have a game-changing, top-selling golf ball, don’t mess with what you name it.
The addition of the Professional V1x was a smaller game-changer in its personal proper.
“The Professional V1 was the very best ball for execs and it proved to be the very best ball for amateurs,” says Stone. “However the Professional V1x allowed for distinctive flight, spin and really feel traits to be designed right into a ball with a function. It actually created ball becoming.”
2000 versus in the present day
Whereas speaking with Stone and Madson, one query saved bugging me.
“If I performed a 2001 Professional V1 and the brand new Professional V1 (due in January) collectively, how completely different would they be?”
The solutions got here quick and livid.
“You’re going to have a steeper spin slope,” stated Madson. “We’re all the time making an attempt to drive spin down with the motive force to get extra distance off the tee whereas maintaining spin up with irons and wedges.”
Moreover, enhancements in core gradients, cowl chemistry, aerodynamic packages, even paint, whereas incremental, add up over 1 / 4 of a century.
“It’s laborious to see variations from one technology to the subsequent,” Madson explains. “However over time, once you preserve at it, you find yourself with large efficiency modifications over the generations. It’ll be sooner and the higher dimple sample means it’ll fly farther. It’s additionally going to be extra sturdy. It’ll keep whiter longer and the ink goes to look higher.”
Historical past’s Mysteries: The Titleist Professional V1 legacy
So why did historical past select the Professional V1 to vary the sport and never the NIKE Tour Accuracy and even the Prime-Flite Strata? In any case, NIKE had Tiger Woods, an unprecedented U.S. Open blowout and a six-month head begin. The Strata had a two-year head begin.
“It’s one factor to have an amazing product,” says Stone. “It’s one other factor to be dedicated and have a path to the market.”
Titleist had the top-selling golf ball earlier than the Professional V1 confirmed up and it had been tops on Tour for many years. It additionally had a stronger professional store and golf retail presence than NIKE. NIKE had Tiger however was nonetheless a relative newcomer to golf gear and had no actual monitor document. Spalding offered lots of golf balls however, as we’ve documented earlier than, was having its personal troubles on the time.
“There’s a sure credibility that comes from being the market chief in an business introducing a product, versus another person,” says Stone.
The Professional V1 represented an inflection level that was many years within the making. Energy was taking up the professional sport and ball makers might see it coming. That’s why that engineer within the lunchroom requested the everlasting query: What if?
Titleist was uniquely positioned. It had the R&D juice, the manufacturing capabilities, the advertising power and the distribution channel to show that product right into a game-changing second in golf historical past.
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