After Vokey launched its wedge fitting app, you had to figure it was only a matter of time before Titleist would create something similar for the golf ball.
It was, and so here we are.
Titleist has just announced Version 1 (internally, it might be Version 1.32 or something like that but we can round down) of its ball-fitting app. As you would probably guess, the app is designed to fit golfers for Titleist golf balls and with that come both cool features and limitations.
About the Titleist ball-fitting app
At the risk of being exhaustingly specific, in its current state the app allows Titleist ball fitters with access to a Trackman launch monitor to effectively fit golfers for a premium Titleist golf ball off both grass and mats.
Let’s dissect that a bit.
Firstly, out of the gate, the app will be available exclusively through Titleist fitting accounts. While that sounds limiting – and to an extent, I suppose it is – it shouldn’t be long before you can find it at big box locations like PGA Tour Superstore and Dick’s/Golf Galaxy, as well as green grass locations.
The next point is that the initial release works exclusively with Trackman launch monitors. Obviously, the launch monitor world extends beyond the confines of everyone’s favorite little orange box. The hope, perhaps even the expectation, is that the app’s expansion will loosely mirror that of the RCT golf ball. It starts with Trackman but will quickly expand to include other offerings like Foresight and Flightscope and perhaps, eventually, consumer gear like SkyTrak, Rapsodo, Bushnell, Full Swing, Mevo, etc.
More on that in a bit.
As you’d expect, the Titleist ball fitting app is designed to recommend Titleist golf balls exclusively and a narrow set of them at that. Ball fitting is entirely about maximizing performance. With that, Pro V1, Pro V1x, Pro V1x Left Dash and AVX are in the fitting matrix. Titleist’s preference-driven options; Velocity, TruFeel and Tour Soft are not.
Finally, as a nod to the reality that golfers often see different results hitting off mats than they do from grass, the app is designed to normalize or convert data collected from mats to grass equivalents.
How the Titleist ball-fitting app works
Like Bridgestone’s OTTO, the ball-fitting app goes beyond the Q&A approach found in most online fitting tools and requires golfers to hit shots as part of the fitting process.
Wild, I know.
Like a club-fitting does (or should, anyway), the ball-fitting app begins with a series of questions designed to learn more about you, where you play and, to an extent, your golf ball preferences.
You’ll be asked about your playing style, handicap, feel preferences, the ball you play and the firmness of the greens you typically play.
Once that’s squared away, you’re ready to hit golf balls.
The 20,000-foot overview goes like this: Using a current-generation Pro V1 to establish a baseline, you’re asked to hit three representative shots each with a partial wedge (roughly 50 yards), a full wedge, a full 7-iron and your driver.
The key word here is representative.
Titleist isn’t looking for three perfect shots or even three good shots. With allowances for your half-wedge shanks, we’re looking for three shots that represent what you actually do on the golf course.
In my fitting, I would say that, most of the time, we kept two pretty good shots and one of the meh things that happens enough that it can’t be sensibly removed from the equation.
Was it a good shot? Not really.
Am I likely to hit several just like it over the course of the round? Unfortunately.
As you’d expect, distance, flight and spin are part of the conversation but if you wanted to identify a single key metric that Titleist is leaning into, it’s descent angle.
Followers of recent Titleist iron stories know that descent (angle) is one of the four “Ds” of club fitting. The idea is that the combination of descent angle and spin rate is what creates stopping power. And a good bit of that comes from the combination of your clubs and your golf ball.
After you’ve hit your shots, the Titleist ball-fitting app will spit out a recommendation.
With my irons and wedges, Pro V1 was the answer. I also learned that my driver (at least the one I brought with me) was in severe need of tuning. That’s a story for another day.
As the original Left Dash guy (among the non-Tour crowd, anyway), the results were a bit of a shock. I mean, I feel like a good bit of my identity as a golfer is tied to that golf ball but that’s the thing about fitting: it’s not about getting what you want (or what you already have), it’s about getting what’s going to work best.
While the fitter can see ranking of balls and the confidence in the result, this isn’t a case where Titleist is going to suggest you try the top two and see which you like best.
First, we’re talking about a tool that recommends one of four golf balls so suggesting golfers try 50 percent of the recommendation set doesn’t make much sense.
Second, Titleist is confident in its algorithms and the results and so it’s pretty sure you’re getting the right answer and you’re going to like it (even if that answer isn’t Left Dash).
With that, Titleist suggests playing several rounds (like a month’s worth of golf) with your new ball so you can get a true sense of how it performs.
(Guys, I’m trying but I’m so used to looking down and seeing a red number on my ball.)
The future of Titleist ball fitting
Looking forward to Versions 2, 3 and beyond of the Titleist Ball Fitting App experience, you’ll find a mix of things that are definitely going to happen and some things that might happen.
As noted, Titleist understands that a Trackman-only approach isn’t viable for the long term. So, while it assumes some cooperation on the part of launch monitor manufacturers, it shouldn’t be long before the app integrates with other launch monitor systems.
Again, I expect this will mirror the RCT golf ball rollout. That started with Trackman but it wasn’t long before nearly every radar-based launch monitor of consequence was in the fold.
The more compelling piece – and the thing that could bring ball fitting to the yearning masses – is whether Titleist will make the ball fitting app free and consumer-facing.
Look, I think the Vokey wedge fitting app is awesome. To my mind, it asks the right questions, requires you to hit shots and ultimately spits out a good recommendations.
It’s the best wedge fitting tool I’ve seen.
Yet for most golfers, and despite not leveraging actual shot data, I’m going to tell you that PING’s WebFit wedge fitting tool is the more viable option because there are no barriers to entry.
Everyone can use it … from their phone. It’s a wedge-fitting tool quite literally in your pocket.
That’s really cool.
My point here is that to be broadly successful, any digital fitting tool needs to be widely accessible.
Ball fitting for the masses?
With that, Titleist is looking into making its ball-fitting app consumer-facing but there are a couple of obstacles.
First, the ball-fitting app uses a current-generation Pro V1 to establish a baseline. It’s one of the keys to the whole system. Because Titleist understands the relative performance of its golf balls, if it knows what a Pro V1 does for you, it can extrapolate what its other golf balls will do.
Said another way, Titleist’s ball-fitting tool won’t work right if you’re not hitting a Pro V1 or, more specifically, the current Pro V1 that serves as the baseline.
Second, there’s the nuanced difference between good shots and representative shots I mentioned. The success of any fitting is, in part, dependent on keeping the right shots. Obviously, that’s hard to quantify but a good bit of doing it right comes from the natural conversation that happens during a fitting.
If the DIY golfer is a little little heavy-handed dropping shots or not heavy-handed enough, the app is going to struggle to make the appropriate recommendation.
Titleist wants golfers to have good experience with the ball it recommends and if it can’t guarantee that – or at least be confident – the company isn’t going to do it.
Clearing the hurdles
With modern technology, neither of those hurdles should be insurmountable. I’m just spit-balling a bit here but maybe the app could require photo validation of the side-stamp of the control ball.
Your phone can definitely do that.
Math probably solves the second. It would require more shots (and fatigue is always a risk in fitting) but it’s certainly possible to build in some outlier math.
Have the user define a good shot and build around it.
Other than humans just being humans, there are few problems in the golf world can’t be solved with math and programming.
For now, the Titleist Ball Fitting app should be available through a fitter near you. End-to-end, the fitting process takes less than half an hour and while it might be nice if it were brand-agnostic, I’d wager you’re going to be better off with a properly fitted Titleist ball than not being fitted at all. For more information or to find a fitting location near you, visit Titleist.com.
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