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Pro V1 for a 20 handicapper?

SuperStroke
cnl390

cnl390

Well-known member
Albatross 2024 Club
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Location
San Antonio TX
Handicap
19
Played a last minute 9 today and didn't have time to buy my favorite e12 Contacts. All I had was a sleeve of Pro V1's a vendor gave me. Never played them before because a) too expensive for a hacker b) my swing speed is only mid 90's. I was in for a surprise. I was long and straight off the tee, and the ball felt great off my irons. Was this a fluke, or can higher handicap, slower swingers play a premium ball like this?
 
Great ball for your swing speed and will feel soft around the greens
 
High handicaps can absolutely play and benefit from a premium ball. It's all about the fit.
 
premium is for all players. Just have to be good with cost and loss. there are a lot of seen performance items from premium
 
It is honestly a great ball. Play it if you got it!

I love the ProV1, I really just shy away from the higher priced premium balls.
 
Balls are the one piece of equipment where we suddenly get judgy about if a player is good enough to play it.

If an 18 handicapper wants to bag a new Stealth 2 driver, go for it. If they want to buy Paradym irons, knock yourself out and enjoy them.

But suddenly with balls (arguably a relatively cheap part of golf equipment in relation to cost), we suddenly go 'whoa, is that a smart investment?'

ProV1s are remarkably consistent and a great fit for a lot of golfers (if you choose the right model). Players may not get all of the benefits, depending on their skill level, but they may get the best for their game.
 
Some folks like to run it onto the green, some prefer to fly it there. Both with approach and short game shots. You can see a difference with a driver swing speed in the 60’s so not a fluke. Running it up on the green was tougher with a tour level ball comparing iron to iron. If it fits the game you like to play there’s no reason not to give it a long term tryout. Nothing to lose but a few bucks.
 
Like others have said, tour balls offer "all that and more" as compared to the cheaper balls. The questions are basically #1 money and #2 is the change in performance visible to your game.

You are definitely seeing #2, so it's really just down to #1.
 
mantan said:
Balls are the one piece of equipment where we suddenly get judgy about if a player is good enough to play it.
Click to expand...

IDK if I agree with this statement. I think irons are more judgmental about who should play what and who shouldn’t even stand near certain iron sets. Second up is the various models of drivers in the same lineup.

It feels like even experienced golfers don’t tend to know much about balls and are perfectly content playing whatever is on sale or whatever they find on the course and end up hitting well or whatever ball they are familiar with, good or bad for their game.
 
It’s all about fit. The premium ball might offer you more. If you don’t lose a lot of balls it might be worth continuing the tryout.
 
That post said:
IDK if I agree with this statement. I think irons are more judgmental about who should play what and who shouldn’t even stand near certain iron sets. Second up is the various models of drivers in the same lineup.

It feels like even experienced golfers don’t tend to know much about balls and are perfectly content playing whatever is on sale or whatever they find on the course and end up hitting well or whatever ball they are familiar with, good or bad for their game.
Click to expand...

You're right. I didn't do a good job of expressing my thoughts. I think people get judgy on the types of irons someone plays, not necessarily the cost. If a high handicapper bought some Muira blades, there would likely be some judgement. But if a high handicapper spent a premium on expensive SGI irons (maybe some XXIO 12's), it wouldn't be seen the same as buying Pro V1s.
 
Totally possible it is a good fit for you. I feel like if you like the feel and performance, and dont mind the cost, play whatever makes you happy.
 
could work, I think it is about the fit. Funny thing is I found an e12 a few weeks ago and started playing it yesterday. I really liked the feel off well struck irons hots. Hit a few Pro V's and they did not feel as good; result was fine or about the same. was chipping and pitching so poorly yesterday that came to no conclusion on greenside spin.
 
ProV1's are one of those products that are easy to hate on because of price. My opinion as being a golfer for the last 30 years is that Titleist premium balls are the most consistent product on the market. You know what you're going to get and it's going to be good. The performance characteristics of their balls are as follows:

ProV1X - High flight, low release
ProV1 - Mid flight, mid release
-ProV1X - High Flight, mid release
AVX - Low flight, high release

Pick the one that sounds right for your game and go with it. If you want to save some money I buy from lostgolfballs.com and use the Near Mint 4A balls. I have never had one not perform for me. Honestly I have found OG ProV1's from 20 years ago on my home course and played them and while they are a bit less lively than the newest versions they still perform well after all that time since they rolled out of the Titleist ball plant.
 
I guess my counter point would be if one is slicing a pro v into the thicket or lake on a regular basis, maybe a less expensive low spin ball would be fine. On #18 my near 75 year old father sliced two terrible tee balls into the woods and as we walked up 18 I ask him why he was playing a high compression, expensive, higher spin ball vs the low spin soft balls his son uses? He said he had no idea but simply though the pro V was better. I think many less read golfers automatically think the Pro V fixes a swing or something and it does not.

on cost, I don't think I've ever bought a pro v but I have a bucket full that I've found that I use when the greens and fairways get baked out in summer. From the locations I find them, I know many high handi's are playing them;;;; short and right.
 
If you want spin around the greens, then yes, a urethane ball like the ProV1 will work. I typically like the ProV1X for a higher flight off irons and more spin because my speed is mid-90's when I'm in golf shape.
 
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I learned to play on a cheap but well maintained executive muni that has areas of very high grass and woods.
Everyone loses balls because the way the course is set up.

I plan to find another course that is more ball friendly so I can play balls that have more spin when I hit approach shots.
 
Play what anyone likes to play. Some just buy off marketing and I get it.

Knowing how a ball fits your game can do great things for ones game without changing anything else. Benefits obviously increase with a match and play level. I don't think a lot of people actually test or get fit for a ball unfortunately.
 
If they work for you and you can stomach $4.50 every time you lose a ball, play them!
 
If you want to know for sure, grab a sleeve of each the next time you head out and alternate balls between shots/holes. The only thing I’d be concerned about is the “straight” part, if you typically have a lot of movement in your ball path. ProV’s cannot fix that.
 
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