How the Magic is Made: Inside Titleist's R&D Facilities

*In Partnership with Titleist*

For the last decade of my life, I've exclusively played a Titleist Pro V1 Golf Ball. I remember as a little girl watching my dad and brother go berserk on countless holidays and birthdays because someone had gifted them either a sleeve or a box of golf's most infamous ball. They kept them sacred, and as far away from me as possible until I was "good enough".

I don't think they realized what kind of fire they lit under me, but by age 11, I was hitting the golf grind hard so that "good enough" became "better than", and I was beating my dad all so I could play the same ball he did. By my freshman year of high school, as a member of the varsity golf team, I had officially retired my neon pink balls to play the Titleist Pro V1 (that I decorated with little pink flowers from Sharpie-ing in the dimples).

I'm sure we all have a Pro V story, or at least a story about Titleist shaping our golf journeys—and it's difficult not to, the brand has been a trusted leader in our sport for nearly nine decades. Since 1932, Titleist has been at the crux of excellence in golf, but especially in golf ball development that is driven by data and research.

The very origin story of Titleist outlines its pursuit merit, when founder Phillip E. Young missed a putt but proclaimed that it was not because of human error, but because his ball was simply wrong, and he set out to prove exactly that. X-ray images confirmed Young's theory, the ball's off-center core was the root of the issue—leading him to set out to create higher quality balls.

The first Titleist ball introduced to the market came three years after Young's discovery in 1935. At the turn of the millennia, through decades of technological advancements, the Pro V1 debuted on the PGA TOUR in October 2000. Two months later, it was made available to the public in late December—months before its scheduled release due to demand. By March 2001, the Pro V1 became the best-selling ball in the marketplace, and it has retained that position every month since.

In the special 25th anniversary year of the iconic ball, I was given the opportunity to see exactly what goes into developing my ball of choice (and the ball that 70% of PGA TOUR players use).

"Product, Process, People."

This is the philosophy that Titleist and it's Research and Development Team (more frequently referred to as R&D) pride themselves on. Exceptional products, developed by extremely skilled people, tested with rigorous processes is the recipe to superior quality and innovation in golf equipment.

I got to witness all three, and how they're intertwined at the home of the R&D team located about an hour and change outside of Boston in Fairhaven, Massachusetts.

It was everything and nothing like you'd imagine. The main building the R&D team work out of is a formulated mix of cubicles, testing labs, mechanical workshops that make you feel like you're in shop class in high school, and rooms filled with varying equipment—all designed to assist in the process of ball production.

I don't know much about software engineering or robots—well, to be frank I know absolutely nothing about any of those things, but I was surrounded by folks who build and program state of the art machinery all for the sake of the most cherished item in my golf bag. (This can't be overstated enough, okay?)

Guiding me along my tour of the facilities was Rich Daprato, Director of Testing, Engineering, and Analytics for the R&D team. He walked me through three different locations and taking time with countless members of his team who outlined each part of the process. From 3D printers building testing materials, to where hundreds of thousands of balls get scripted and painted—the Titleist machine is a well oil one, with intention behind every step.

The meticulous levels these individuals go through to ensure that we're getting the best of the best was incredible to witness. Nothing is out of place—even in the room that stores every Titleist ball ever made, pre-dating the second World War. (Yeah, I got hold golf balls from the 1940s.)

I was basically in golfer's paradise, surrounded by machinery and equipment that people would pay a lot of money to see, but what really struck me the most was that the R&D team aren't the type to be golf-obsessed like you and me, but rather people who are intrigued by solutions and being the ones to solve them.

This is a close knit-team who work together to make a product we can all take for granted sometimes. I got a special behind-the-scenes walk through of not only the science and innovation that goes into creating the best ball on the market, but the care and consideration to ensure the type of quality that many would consider the blueprint of precision.

They think and care about our equipment more than we do, so that we don't have to. To us, it's just another ball and we can order boxes of them at the click of a mouse. But for the R&D team, this is their life's work. There's pride in what they build and produce because Titleist are the ones who pave the wave to an innovative future in golf—take a peak behind the curtain and prepare to be amazed.