Team work: Titleist members improve balls

• By Global Golf Post
• Feb 21, 2012 9:31 AM ET

Performance validation is key when it comes to creating new Titleist golf ball models, or tweaking ones already in existence. Which is why the ball maker enlisted thousands of Team Titleist members to help develop the latest additions to its line – NXT Tour, NXT Tour S, Velocity and DT SoLo.

Titleist began the process by asking team members what they liked most about models already in existence – and what they might do to improve them as well as fill potential gaps in the line. According to Matt Hogge, director of product implementation of golf balls, those who had been playing the three-piece NXT Tour, which is geared toward aspirational golfers, said they wanted longer distance without giving up anything around the green. So, Titleist engineered a new version with a higher energy outer core and a soft Fusablend cover boasting improved aerodynamics.

Research also revealed that some NXT Tour users wanted a softer version of that popular ball. Enter NXT Tour S, a two-piece product targeted to the same aspirational player and featuring the same cover formulation and aerodynamics as the new NXT Tour. But this offering came with a low compression/highly resilient core, and also in two colors – high optic yellow and white.

Next up was the all-new Velocity, another two-piecer that sells for slightly less than the NXTs. Its main attribute is distance, and its name comes from the distance-producing speed its LSX core technology is designed to generate as well as the NAZ2 cover formulation. But it is also geared to deliver “playable feel” in the short game. Another twist was its availability in orange play numbers, in the traditional 1-4, and also double digits, 00, 11, 22 and 33.

As for the venerable DT SoLo, which was priced lower than Velocity, this iteration is the softest yet, employing a large, soft core and an aerodynamically improved cover made of two soft Surlyn ionomers. It, too, comes in optic yellow and white.