Your Questions for... The man who designed the Titleist Pro V1 golf ball

[MikeH]

Afternoon all

Next week Neil Tappin and I are off to the US to visit Titleist HQ and one of the things we have the opportunity to do is put questions to Bill Morgan, the Senior Vice President of Titleist Golf Ball Research & Development. Bill is the man who designed the Pro V1 ball so knows pretty much everything there is to know about the one piece of golf equipment we use on every single shot...

We know golf balls are always a hot topic of conversation on the forum so we'd like those questions to come from the forum.

This is your chance to raise questions and queries about design, marketing, performance anything you like really.

Any questions we use from the forum we'll find a small prize for the person who posed it.

<<sorry quick EDIT - as soem of you have already done can you put your real name & home town/area in there too>>

Thanks in advance
Mike

 

[matt71]

Hi Mike

"off to the USA" not a bad life for some lol!

Anyway my question:

In the beginning how did you manage and what strategy’s did you use to convince the whole golfing world that Titleist golf balls are the best in the world?

Do you have any plans to make a floating PRO V 1 golf ball so I can find the many I lose in the water?

 

[Rooter]

How many variants did you try in R&D before settling on the perfect number of dimples? and what were the lowest and highest number you tried? is there a holy grail of number of dimples? we see other manufacturers using 333, 322, 326 etc, and the Pro V1 has 352 (if Google is correct)

 

[bladeplayer]

Hi Mike

Bill , In your opinion At what handicap or ability should a club golfer move up to premium balls like the ProV ?
In other words does a premium ball make any different scoring or playing wise to someone starting out or of poor ability ,

Thanks

Bill Martin
Athy
Co Kildare

 

[vkurup]

Wat were you thinking??

--- on another note --

1) Given that the ProV1 are considered the very best and there are various regulations around how the ball should be, where is the next big innovation in golf ball come from?

2) Will we see different balls for Pros & Ams? (can the Ams have GPS beepers so that we can go and locate it in the wild)

3) How many golf balls are there in Florida at the moment?

 

[patricks148]

A few years ago ProV1X was marketed to lower handicap players with fast-er swing speeds, (I think it was 115 with a driver, but not sure)now they are targeted for every golfer, no matter what the club head speed. So what has changed to allow this?

 

[Val]

I'm seriously resisting the desire to ask about Bridgestone and patents

All joking aside, I would like to ask

How much further do Titleist feel ball technology can be pushed now in terms of generating more control/spin and generating more distance or are we now at the limit?

Martin Clarke
Lanarkshire

 

[c1973]

I got 2 free Titleist balls in the post and I never entered a comp. Why? Anyway thanks for the free balls, I'm still using them.


Edit: Are any of the golf balls on the moon ( 7 I think) Titleist?

 

[mcbroon]

Given the distances that players hit the ball now (think Bubba's drive over the corner at 13 at Augusta), do you think there should be greater restrictions placed on the design of the golf ball to limit distance?

David Brown
Scottish Borders

 

[richart]

Why can't they make a ProV1 that stays reasonably white, rather than going grey so quickly ?

 

[One Planer]

Is there a valid reason as to why you don't offer a yellow option in the Pro V1 line similar to Srixon and Bridgestone with their premium ranges?

Gareth Phillips
Stoke-on-Trent

 

[vkurup]

I got 2 free Titleist balls in the post and I never entered a comp. Why? Anyway thanks for the free balls, I'm still using them.


Edit: Are any of the golf balls on the moon ( 7 I think) Titleist?

I believe 2... and these are Wilson from memory..
More here.. http://www.matthewweathers.com/year2007/golf_balls_moon.html
There is a video showing it http://youtu.be/KZLl3XwlAIE Though to be perfectly honest I dont think the FC/PP is in his HNSP.. Now you would expect NASA to get the basics right..

 

[Maninblack4612]

Do you believe that the velocities of balls for pros Should be restricted so that (a) the courses don't need to be so long and (b) amateurs could play the same courses without having to hit a 3 wood to a green designed to receive a 7 iron. Moving tees forward often doesn't compensate.

Bill Allon
South Shields

 

[Imurg]

How long can a ProV1 be stored before it deteriorates and falls below "standard"..?

Ian Murgatroyd
Aylesbury

 

[FairwayDodger]

Titleist seem to have been stuck on version 1 for several years now.... when will we get a Pro V2 ?

Karen Ferguson
Edinburgh

 

[Rooter]

Titleist seem to have been stuck on version 1 for several years now.... when will we get a Pro V2 ?

Karen Ferguson
Edinburgh

I think thats an awesome question!!

 

[CMAC]

Titleist seem to have been stuck on version 1 for several years now.... when will we get a Pro V2 ?

Karen Ferguson
Edinburgh

I think thats an awesome question!!

from a marketing perspective the #1 ball in Golf will never call itself #2 :mmm:

do I get a prize as thats what Bill Morgan will say.

 

[CMAC]

Would or have Titleist ever advocated a change in ball size from 1.68mm as a way of either increasing perceived distance with a smaller ball, or reducing distance with a larger ball?
If Titleist are not advocates what is his (Bill Morgan) view if a competitor championed such an idea?

Colin McAdam
Glasgow

 

[hines57]

If all restrictions were lifted, in terms of design constraints placed by the controlling bodies - what revolutionary design options does that open up for you? Which options do you think offer the most potential; materials, aerodynamics, size, compression?

Les Hines - Maidenhead

 

[matt71]

Hi Mike

"off to the USA" not a bad life for some lol!

Anyway my question:


In the beginning how did you manage and what strategy’s did you use to convince the whole golfing world that Titleist golf balls are the best in the world?

Do you have any plans to make a floating PRO V 1 golf ball so I can find the many I lose in the water?

as I posted 1st before the update:

Matt Harris -Preston