Titleist Pro V1x Left Dash golf ball review
What’s new? How much does it cost? And how does it perform? Jack Backhouse brings you the low down on the new Titleist Pro V1x left dash golf ball
According to Titleist, the Pro V1x Left Dash offers a firmer feel, a high flight and drop and stop short game control.
So how does the Titleist Pro V1 left dash perform? Find out in our 2023 Titleist Pro V1x left dash golf ball review.
Titleist Pro V1x Left Dash golf ball review: NCG Summary
NCG SUMMARY
The 2023 Titleist Pro V1x Left Dash is the lowest-spinning, firmest model in the Pro V1 line up.
I certainly found this to be a step up from the Pro V1x in terms of feel around the greens. It definitely feels firmer but it still reacts nicely on the putting surface
It’s great to be able to get your hands on the previously unavailable to public tour version of the Pro V1x, but you need some serious speed to make it work!
PROS
- Extremely consistent
- Tighter dispersion
- Great short-game spin control
CONS
- Won’t suit a low speed player
- Spins less than Pro V1x
First Impressions
There is an air of mystique around the Titleist Pro V1x left dash. For a few years, there was a lot of chatter in the golf nerd forums about a tour-only version of the Pro V1, does it exist? does it not exist? Where we can get our hands on them, and so on.
A couple of years ago, Titleist surprised the fans and released the Pro V1x Left Dash model, and I was extremely excited to hit it.
NCG Review
The Pro V1 line features Titleist’s most premium and high-performing golf balls. Of the two main models, the Pro V1 and the Pro V1x, and the lesser-known tour ball, the Pro V1x Left dash. The Left Dash model is designed to feel firmer and spin less on full-swing shots than the other 2 balls in the family.
The big tech story with these golf balls was to provide longer distances, lower long-game spin and greater consistency. So the first thing to do was get the driver out and see if we could see any notable differences.
I’ve been a standard Pro V1 user for basically 12 years, and I’ve gained a fair amount of speed in the last 12 months, so I wondered if a move to a different Pro V1 model might help my scores out on the course.
Now I should state testing golf balls is one of the harder product tests we have to do. The impact variables undoubtedly change every time you hit a ball, so you are not always comparing apples to apples. We can’t afford a robot to do testing with, but I have spent many years now working on my swing to be as robotic as possible, but sadly I am not quite there yet, so this is the best I can do.
The big headline is that this was the longest ball I tested on our big NCG ball test trip to Woodhall Spa. 267.5 yards average carry is very long for me, and that’s with quite high spin numbers. The ball really seemed to rocket off the face, and the 163mph average ball speed echoes that.
Interestingly I also hit the Left Dash Pro V1x higher than any other ball I tested. This isn’t what you’d intuitively expect from the hardest lowest-spinning ball Titleist produce, but it is designed to go high and spin low and go a long way.
High-speed tour players hit the ball so hard and compress it so much that they need a ball that doesn’t just melt into the face of a driver or spin up too much, the Left Dash Pro V1x is the right solution to their problem.
The mega ball test then moved to the chipping green, hitting lots of short chips and putts and a few bunker shots to get a feel for the ball in the scoring zone. I found this ball didn’t feel anything like the Pro V1 feel I was used to, and personally thought it felt too firm for me. I was, however, able to get the ball to react and spin how I would expect, which was great.
The next part of the test was hitting 50-yard wedge shots. This is a key shot for a golfer as we want to try and generate as much spin as possible with a short swing for maximum control when the ball lands on the green.
The data above is quite interesting in that the shots all landed near 50 yards, but I saw a bit of variation in the spin. I did see my two highest-pitch shot RPM at nearly 11,000 (which is enough to get the ball to spin back) but also saw a few where it dropped right off, probably due to strike location.
Tour players one hundred percent strike the ball better than I do, so won’t suffer with the low spin numbers I produced. I was surprised that a ball that feels so firm could produce such high-spinning numbers, and I’m starting to see why tour players use this ball.
My 7-iron data with the Pro V1x Left Dash ball is great. Look at how consistent those numbers are! The spin, launch angle, descent angle and carry distance all have incredibly small variances. There is not one thing I could criticise about the ball from my 7 iron shots.
Overall, this is clearly a great performing all-around golf ball. It performs exceptionally well across all categories. Personally, it felt too hard for me around the greens, but Titleist do produce some other great options in the Pro V1 and Pro V1x, so if, despite its really solid testing scores, it still isn’t quite right, you can still get the same performance out of a different Titleist.
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Titleist Pro V1x Left Dash golf ball review: The Details
Available: Now
RRP: £50
Titleist Golf Ball Line-Up
The Pro V1 offers a low trajectory, low long game spin, and soft feel.
The Pro V1x golf ball offers a high trajectory, high short game, spin and long distance.
Of the three performance golf balls the AVX offers the lowest flight, lowest spin, and a soft feel.
The Tour Speed offers soft feel, penetrating flight, and exceptional distance.
The Tour Soft gives you distance, feel, and short game control.
The Velocity gives you a high flight with extremely low long game spin.
The TruFeel offers ultra soft feel with superior distance.
How do we test golf balls?
At National Club Golfer, we are passionate about producing accurate and thorough reviews and make sure our testing process is rigorous so we get a good understanding of how each club performs.
We headed to Woodhall Spa Golf Club to allow us to collect launch monitor data with our in-house TrackMan and Flightscope. We tested each golf ball on the putting surface and around the greens before collecting data on 50-yard pitch shots, with a 7-iron and with a driver.
What to consider when buying a new golf ball?
Feel
Golf ball feel is a personal preference. Different balls on the market will feel softer or firmer depending on their compression and structure. It is crucial to test balls when putting, chipping and hitting long game shots to check you like the performance across all areas.
Distance
How far you want to hit the golf ball is a crucial consideration when picking a brand and model. Getting the right compression relative to your swing speed and strike will help you get the maximum distance out of a golf ball. You also need to consider if getting maximum distance is important to you or if you would rather give up some yardage to gain in other areas.
Spin
Generally, lower handicappers are looking for a ball that spins more so they can get more control around the greens. In this case, getting a ball with a urethane cover is really important as it will give you the most spin and control.
Price
Not everyone wants to spend £50 a dozen on golf balls. When picking the right golf ball for you, you should consider how much you want to spend relative to what performance you want.
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Jack Backhouse
Jack is a PGA Golf Professional who specialises in coaching, teaching golf to beginners and top-level amateurs for 10+ years. He also loves his golf equipment and analysing the data of the latest clubs on the market using launch monitors, specialising in blade irons and low-spinning drivers despite having a chronically low ball flight.
Although Jack has no formal journalism training, He has been reading What's In The Bag articles since he started playing at 12 and studying golf swings since his dad first filmed his swing to reveal one of the worst over-the-top slice swings he reckons has ever been recorded, which set him off on the path to be a coach. His favourite club ever owned was a Ping G10 driver bought from a local top amateur with the hope that some of the quality golf shots would come with it (they didn't), and worst was a Nike SQ driver he only bought because Tiger was using it.
Jack is a member of Sand Moor Golf Club and regularly gets out on the golf course to prepare for tournaments. Jack uses a TaylorMade BRNR Mini driver, a half set of TaylorMade P7MB irons, MG4 wedges and a TaylorMade TP Reserve putter.
