Due to the incredible momentum Pro V1 experienced in the first few months on TOUR, Titleist had to accelerate the market launch of the new ball from March 2001 to December 2000.



"Did we expect Pro V1 to be this successful? You always hope," Morgan said. "Anytime you're working on a product, you always hope this is going to be the product that replaces all the ones before it.



"For whatever reason, the particular design we came up with really resonated with TOUR players. It was finally the one that did move the needle, so to speak.



"We knew we had something big, but we didn't know it would be this big."



Since Andrade's maiden win with Pro V1, both models, Pro V1, a three-piece multilayer ball, and Pro V1x, a four-piece multilayer ball that was introduced alongside the second-generation Pro V1 in 2003, have combined for a staggering 1,999 wins across the worldwide professional tours.



Approximately two-thirds of every TOUR pro plays a Pro V1 or Pro V1x.



"When we first introduced Pro V1, there was never a plan in place to build a second version," Morgan said. "Through player feedback and testing, we decided the TOUR needed a second ball -- Pro V1x."



Options are important when it comes to the best players in the world. Titleist has even gone so far as to design a TOUR-only Pro V1x+ ball that has a slightly different trajectory than its Pro V1x counterpart.



"Titleist listens to its players," said Billy Horschel, who currently plays the Pro V1x+ and took a tour of the Titleist ball plant two days before this year's Deutsche Bank Championship in nearby Norton, Mass. "We're constantly giving them feedback on the ball and they do a great job of coming up with something that works for us. I think that's a big reason why the ball is so popular.



"I've been playing it for years and there's a trust factor with the ball. I put my trust in the ball every time I play, and it does exactly what I want when I hit a great shot. You're always looking for that in every club in your bag, including your ball."



The ball has grown in popularity over the years to the point that Pro V1 and Pro V1x are now constructed from start to finish in Titleist's Ball Plant 3 — a cavernous 225,000 sq. ft. facility in New Bedford that opened in 2000 and has 586 employees that churn out 300,000 Pro V1 and Pro V1x balls per day, as well as the dual-cores of the NXT Tour, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.



Between the three ball plants, including Ball Plant 4 in Thailand that also makes the Pro V1 line, Titleist produces one million balls per day.



"Making the Pro V1 is a very complex and technological event," said Morgan. "It ranges in technologies from rubber chemistry to polymer science, and various forms of molding technology."



There's an exact science that goes into making a Pro V1, and it starts with the core materials — a mixture of Polybutadiene, a synthetic rubber that produces a high-energy return and can be altered to a number of desired characteristics, cross-linking agents that increase resiliency and speed when cured, peroxides, and fillers to adjust weight.



The materials are then mixed and turned into a slab of uncured rubber that's heated at more than 300 degrees, pressed and rolled into sheets. Each sheet is cooled for at least two hours before going through the extrusion process, where the ball goes from a "Prep" -- a long, cylindrical piece of rubber material -- to a machine that shapes each "Prep" into a core.



From there, each core is pre-treated by abrading the surface so it will accept the casing layer that's molded over the top. The cover is then attached to the core in two pieces -- top half first -- and then welded together for cover molding. The core and shell are then placed in a mold that features the dimple design.



Once the ball has been molded together, a unique Urethane cover is added before it's buffed and sprayed with a latex primer and finishing coat of paint. Vision Technology is then used to locate within the dimple pattern the correct placement of the Titleist logo, number and side stamp.



From there, balls are X-rayed and hand checked by a Titleist employee for imperfections.



Yes, you read that right. That balls are X-rayed. That's something Titleist has done from the beginning when Phil W. Young, an avid golfer and graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was playing a round of golf in the early 1930s when he missed a well-stroked putt in the match. Thinking there was something wrong with his ball, Young had his dentist friend X-ray the ball and found its core was off-center.



Convinced the he could make a high-quality ball that boasted superior precision and performance, he partnered with three other men to found the Acushnet Process Company.



Three years later, in 1935, Titleist introduced its first golf ball. Sixty years after that, experiments began on the Pro V1. The X-rays still continue to this day.



"I honestly can't believe you X-ray every ball," Horschel said during his tour of the plant. "I knew the process was precise, but this takes it to another level."



Of course, things have changed since then.



New technology and a more streamlined ball-making process has been a game-changer for Titleist, so much so that it only takes five days to go from mixing to shipping a ball out the door. It used to take 30 days to make and ship the Tour Balata.



While it's all rather complex, seeing the ball-making process first hand give golfers an appreciation for what goes into making the most popular ball in golf.



"Seeing the plant process is going to make me appreciate the ball a little bit more." Horschel said. "I'll be more appreciative of that golf ball.

"It may not be thrown in the water as much."

