Titleist AVX golf ball: What you need to know
What you need to know: The fiith iteration of the Titleist AVX features a reformulated core and a new aerodynamic package on a softer cast urethane cover to produce the driver and iron flight of the previous AVX but with more short-game spin and control.
Availability/Price: The new AVX will be available in golf shops starting Jan. 21 in both white and high-optic yellow. Price is $50 per dozen
3 Cool Things
1. No compromises
When making pretty much any bit of golf equipment, whether it be driver, iron, putter or golf ball, compromises must be made. Enhancing one performance attribute often results in modestly giving way in another. For Titleist’s golf ball team, the desire among golfers for its new three-piece AVX was more challenging: more short-game spin but keep everything else exactly the same.
“AVX golfers are very clear about why they play AVX,” said Frederick Waddell, Titleist’s director of golf ball product management. “They like the long distance, the low long-game spin and especially the soft feel. These players are looking for specific performance attributes. They were also telling us that if they could get more of anything with AVX, it was short-game spin and control, as long as it didn't compromise the other aspects of AVX that they love.”
2. Layers of performance
When it comes to creating spin one of the biggest contributors is the hardness relationship between the various layers. In general, if you have a hard shell over a soft core, spin is going to go down. If you have a soft shell over a hard core, spin is going to go up. But that doesn’t always hold true depending on the club.
The increase in short-game spin comes via a reformulated urethane cover, which is thicker (5/1000th of an inch) than the prior generation. Because the cover is the softest part of the ball, the added thickness also led to an even softer feel. Its thicker dimensions are offset by a thinner high flex manle layer, which helps dial in spin rates from distance.
3. Keeping the speed up
Unfortunately, a thicker cover can slow down speed. To combat that the core of new AVX was reformulated to deliver more speed and keep low long-game spin.
“These soft-over-hard, hard-over-soft relationships really drive spin performance for all golf ball models,” said Mike Madson, senior vice president of Titleist golf ball R&D. “A soft cover over a firm casing layer adds spin on shorter shots where the cover plays the biggest role. Then you have a firm casing layer over a softer core, which lowers spin when you get to those higher-speed impacts like a driver or hybrid. With AVX, it's really every piece of its construction that we’re using to fine-tune spin and give AVX players exactly what they’re looking for with this ball.”