Titleist Pro V1 Vs Range Ball: How Much Distance Are You Giving Up?
Ever wondered how a range ball compares to one of the best golf balls on the market? Sam De'Ath put them head-to-head and analysed the data
Unless you're a professional or a member of an exclusive Country Club, then chances are the golf balls you hit on the range aren't similar to the ones you would use on the golf course.
The sport is growing in popularity and the emergence of gamified driving range experiences means ranges are busier than ever. Consequently, the golf balls used need to be durable enough to withstand the test of time.
Usually possessing a one or two-piece construction, range balls are significantly different to the three, four and five-piece builds you'd find among the best premium balls on the market.
We would naturally expect to see a some difference between range balls and premium golf balls - we've all hit those shots on the range where the ball flight just doesn't look right. But how big of a gap is there really between the two when it comes to performance?
Heading to the Golf Monthly Performance Lab, we got our hands on the typical range ball you'd find at any practice facility around the country, as well as one of the kings of the golf ball sector, the Titleist Pro V1.
Sam De'Ath testing the balls in the Golf Monthly Performance Lab using a QuadMax Launch Monitor
Featuring a three-piece construction, high-gradient core, and a urethane elastomer cover, the Pro V1 is widely regarded as the best golf ball franchise ever created.
Before jumping into the figures, it's worth noting that our tester, Sam De'Ath, possesses a swing speed of 84mph with a pitching wedge, 93mph with a 7-iron, and 115mph with a driver, and it's with the latter club that we begin this experiment.
Starting with the Titleist Pro V1 and the big stick, Sam managed 163mph of ball speed and a launch angle of 13.1°. This resulted in a carry distance of 284 yards, a spin rate of 2239 rpm, and a peak height of 129 feet.
Continuing further down the bag, the 7-iron carried 177 yards from a ball speed of 124mph, while Sam's pitching wedge produced 132 yards of carry with 102mph ball speed and a spin rate of 9,129rpm.
So, how do these numbers compare to a lowly range ball? Well, beginning with the scoring section of the bag revealed a rather interesting result...
Almost matching the Pro V1 ball speed of 102mph, the range ball, with a pitching wedge, accumulated numbers of 101mph ball speed, 128 yards of carry, and near-identical metrics in both launch and height.
The only noticeable difference was in spin and, where the Pro V1 produced 9,129rpm, the range ball was 1,440rpm more at 10,569.
On the whole, both were pretty well matched, but as we move our way up the bag, does this trend continue?
In terms of the 7-iron, the theme of more distance in the Pro V1 continues, as it carried 177 yards, 12 yards further than the range ball. Ball speed was also up 3mph, while the launch and height numbers were marginally lower than the range ball.
The likely reason for the distance increase will come down to spin and while the Pro V1 ball sits at 6,430rpm and the Range ball averaged at 7,495rpm, the driver is where we see the key difference between the two models.
The Pro V1 showed its pure dominance at the top end of the bag, where it was 9mph quicker than the range ball - equating to a 30 yard distance gap.
Throughout the experiment, the range ball has lagged a little behind its premium challenger, and with the driver, this was massively exaggerated. The range ball produced 154mph ball speed and 254 yards of carry, simply no match for 163mph and 284 yards that the most-played ball on tour produced.
Sam De'Ath ready to hit the Pro V1 with his 7-iron
As clubhead speed increased with the decrease in loft, so did the spin rates.
Where the Pro V1 produced significantly lower spin rates with a wedge and 7-iron, its 2,239 rpm average with the driver was a huge 1,100rpm less than the 3,364rpm of the range ball. On the tracer, this was clear in the ball flight, where the range ball just seemed to climb and hover for what felt like forever.
You can see in this image the three layers of the Pro V1 (left) compared to the singular construction of this range ball
One continuous theme throughout is that the launch and height numbers of the range ball were higher for all three clubs. That is fairly typical of a one or two-piece ball construction, particularly as clubhead speed starts ramping up.
Sam De'Ath testing the range ball with his driver
From our testing, we know that the Pro V1 consistently performs across all areas of the game and, in terms of the figures, Titleist's Research & Development team's hard work excels at the high end and bottom of the bag by producing the correct launch and spin, time and time again.
The other thing this test hasn't factored in are the aerodynamic properties of the balls. Titleist does exhaustive testing of dimple patterns to optimise how its balls fly through the air, and so you are likely to see an even bigger discrepancy in distance if you were testing both balls side by side outdoors.
Ultimately, don't be discouraged if your ball flight looks a bit off at the driving range. Often, systems like Trackman and Toptracer can normalize for the characteristics of a range ball so you're numbers aren't affected. But if you think slipping a couple of range balls into your bag to use on the course is a good idea, think again!
Treat your time practicing as the place to refine your swing mechanics and develop your ball-striking, but take those launch monitor yardages with a grain of salt. Unless you're practicing at an exclusive club that stocks premium practice balls, those range distances simply won't translate to the course.
