Monday
Oct112010
Pro V1s Promise Not To Get Emotional On You As Highly Anticipated Anniversary Nears
Golf World Monday notes the 10-year anniversary of the paradigm-shifting introduction of Titleist's Pro V1 this week. Confirming that the fall is indeed a slow news time in golf.
Monday, October 11, 2010 at 10:27 AM
Reader Comments (23)
And all the bank accounts started to swell
But then It was again starting to smell
As all the old courses were starting to fall
The USGA began to counter as well
That everyone was now so strong and tall
The fields were in the end just too small
The day the old courses began to fall
I went from a 13 to a 5 in 2 rounds!!! not really.
Great thing is, here in the hill country of Texas, the stray tee shots all end up in the same collecton areas, so if it's not a Top Flite #3, it is usually a new ProVI. I can pay for a round by allowing an exra 20 mnutes to ball hound.
As for thanking Wally? Maybe, but probably not. I should be playing from my blue tees (a hilly 6250 yards) rather than the gold tees (6800). The fallen angel on my right shoulder that tells me I do have a better swing than in 1999 reinforces the notion that I am getting better instead of older, just like WR. Playing an uphill 440-yard hole with a driver and 7-iron (when the stars are aligned) is seductive, given that 10 years ago it would have taken a driver and 5-wood and 10 years before that a driver and stepped-on 3-wood (both made of persimmon) from a perfect fluffy lie in the first cut of rough. Granted, the 460-cc titanium driver and spin-milled wedge also contribute to my current "skills" (a "3" now, a "7" then). But they are mostly due to the domesticated 5-piece Pinnacle that gazes back up at me from the 4-inch tee in the ground (I have mixed up my manufacturers, but you get the point). The better angel on my left shoulder realizes that the bargain is not worth the expense, in either money or vandalism, of what I see on my teevee, from Augusta, St. Andrews, and elsewhere. It would have been cheaper to my psyche, not to mention the Game, to stay on the blue tees for now while looking forward to the white tees in another 10 years, and just let the hotshots on TV and the college boys have the gold tees for their very own playground.
As for buying them today...I still don't. If my case of ProVphobia has helped in any way, it's that I'm very open to trying new ammo, which has lead to an attitude somewhere around "they'll take my Z-StarX's out of my cold, dead hands". Although I did try the new NXT Tour on the weekend and was very pleasantly surprised...
The nxt tour is a better ball than the pro v for the majority of club golfers.Not always easy to convince people though.
The others had the same idea but for some reason, brand loyalty or monthly check, were never embraced. Since they were not widely used, they didn't affect much.
One of the bigger innovations in golf balls that hasn't gotten as much attention is the dimple pattern. When Callaway came out with the HX golf balls, the hexagonal dimples made the ball much more stable in the wind. So much so, that Titleist came out with their version of the hexagonal dimples for the Pro-V1s a couple of years later.
Most guys on Tour thought it was pretty crazy when Tiger switched to the Nike (Bridgestone) ball.
Then he pummeled the crap out of everybody with it, and the ball wars began.
Bridgestone was light years ahead of everybody at that time, and their balls were so much more consistent from ball to ball, it was unbelievable. There were at least 4 options of the Bridgestone balls, in the Tour Accuracy model alone.
This was the time when really good players began to understand fitting the ball to their own wings and launch characteristics/optimums
Worth the look.
By the way, Nicklaus can't say ten words without including I or my.
"Precept may have had a solid core multi layer ball on tour at that time as well.'
Bridgestone made the Precept and if IIRC won a bunch of patent infringement cases v. Nike and/or TM and/or Calloway. I always got the impression they were at the forefront of the technology but were never able to leverage it.
The Pink Precept that Paula Creamer on the LPGA used to play was actually a rebadged Tourstage ball as it was a urethane covered ball and not a surlyn covered balll that was made available to the public. That ball is no longer on the conforming list as it is no longer manufactured and that Paula now plays a Bridgestone branded ball. Tourstage (Bridgestone) has a ton of different balls available in Japan. They also make a ball specificlally for Ryo as well. The number of conforming golf balls by Tourstage on the USGA list is staggering.
Not sure if Bridgestone ever sued Nike on golf balls as Nike has been under contract with Bridgestone to manufacture their golf balls. I do believe they settled with TM, Callaway and Titleist on ball patent suits.
What I really want is a box of a Precept precursor, the Dyna Wing. I found one once and it was like hitting a super ball. Compliance be damned, look at the flight of that 7 iron. :)
To clarify something I posted above.... Precept did selll the Paula Creamer pink urethane ball for a short time. They sold it in 1/2 dozen packs for around 20.00
just to clarify, Ryo Ishikawa actually plays a Srixon ball product