Where exactly does Titleist’s AVX fall in the golf ball hierarchy? It’s a question golfers have continued to ask since the model was first introduced in 2018. It’s a premium offering with a urethane cover, making it the closest thing to Pro V1 in Titleist’s lineup, except you won’t find it on Tour.
Even though the three-piece AVX isn’t considered a member of the Pro V1 family, Titleist still believes it serves a vital role for golfers who admire the performance of Pro V1 but require something with a lower launch and spin package. It’s one of the main reasons why AVX’s packaging offers comparisons to Pro V1.
“We continue to compare to Pro V1,” said Jeremy Stone, Titleist’s VP of golf ball marketing. “The relationship remains the same. Despite the changes we’re talking about with AVX, the ball continues to be the lower spinning, lower flying alternative to Pro V1.”
Consider it the little brother to Pro V1, if you must. Just don’t underestimate what’s housed inside AVX — a combination of materials and layers delivering a combination of game-changing distance with short-game control.
“While AVX isn’t winning millions of dollars of the PGA Tour and LPGA Tour week in, week out, it’s still a very important part of our tool kit,” said Frederick Waddell, Titleist’s director of golf ball product management. “People have described [AVX] as the ‘Fountain of Youth Ball,’ because they’re hitting their 8-iron 150 yards again. Because the ball has such a fervent following, we have to make sure we balance what those golfers already like with new requests — be it a softer feel or better short-game control. We’ve used the last few years to find ways to add those attributes without taking away from what the product already is.”
Indeed, Titleist has been busy the last two years finding new ways to make AVX even better, without altering the original recipe too much.
In terms of short-game improvements, everything starts with a new urethane cover construction that’s softer and thicker than its predecessor to improve greenside performance. For the gearheads out there, overall softness increased by 3.3 points, a significant jump compared to the 2022 version. And for those wondering if making the cover softer might have a negative effect on durability — it won’t.
“The softer cover won’t affect durability,” Mike Madson, Titleist’s senior director golf ball research and engineering told GOLF.com. “Urethanes, in particular, are a little counterintuitive. The softer the material, the more durable the urethane can be. It affords us the luxury to go softer and not sacrifice durability. Hard segments bring abrasion. Softer, linear constructs — what you’d find with AVX’s urethane cover — help a golf ball perform its best.”
Underneath the cover is a reformulated casing layer made purposely thinner to balance out the thicker, softer cover. The minor alternation to the thickness of the layer sandwiched between cover and core serves an important purpose, driving down long-game spin with a hard-over-soft relationship that doesn’t negatively affect short-game performance.
