If you're a top tour player, you may be able to get your hands on it. But it will probably be March before most golfers can get a sleeve of the new Titleist Pro V1 and Pro V1x balls.
"We haven't introduced it yet, so it's hard to get into the features and benefits," said Joe Gomes, director of communications for Acushnet Golf, who expects a release date on or around March 1.
The prototypes, which are based on the current three-piece Pro V1 and four-piece Pro V1x, were in the bags of 15 players at the season-opening Mercedes-Benz Championship. Eleven, including winner Vijay Singh, had the Pro V1x model.
Titleist introduced the prototype ball to PGA Tour players in October, when Davis Love III used it to win the Chrysler Classic of Greensboro. Since then, more golfers in Titleist's stable have been making the switch. Singh first played the ball at the Funai Classic at Disney World, while Mercedes runner-up Adam Scott put it in his bag for the first time at Kapalua.
The ball is not the only new thing from Titleist as Ben Curtis, Luke Donald and Arron Oberholser all played a prototype 907D2 driver at the Mercedes.
IRON UPGRADE: Joe Durant, winner of last year's Funai Classic at Disney World, unveiled new Cleveland equipment at Kapalua. He admits he is not one for change -- the TA7s he was playing are circa 1998 -- but felt comfortable going to the CG4 Tour irons.
"It was time to make a switch," Durant said. "With where the purses are now and just the chances we have week after week, you don't want to go out with equipment you're not comfortable with, so it took me that length of time to find something I could play with."
Durant said he worked with Cleveland last year to find new irons that would really work for him, and that the transition took nearly the whole year.
"They are probably a touch smaller than my old TA7 irons. But they feel great," he said. "They have a nice, soft feel to them. Very easy to line up and they are easy to work. Not that I work the ball a lot, but I feel like I can hit a lot of different shots with them."
Durant also added a new HiBore driver from Cleveland, and moved from playing a Titleist ball to the Callaway 56 HQ Tour ball.
MAKING THE SWITCH: As is the case in most years, several players used the off-season to make a few changes to their equipment. Notably, David Toms put down his Cleveland sticks in favor of TaylorMade, including a new putter. TaylorMade is also in the process of signing deals with John Senden, Vaughn Taylor and Shaun Micheel.
Nike signed Lucas Glover and recent Q-School grad Anthony Kim, while D.J. Trahan went from Nike to Wilson.
