Titleist is No. 1 ball at U.S. Open for 75th Consecutive Year

FAIRHAVEN, Mass. (June 15, 2023)   –  At the 1949 U.S. Open at Medinah Country Club, more players chose to put a Titleist golf ball in play than any other brand, with 32 (20%) of the 159-player field teeing up a Titleist. For the first time, Titleist was the #1 ball at the U.S. Open Championship.

At every U.S. Open for the next three-quarters of a century – from Oakmont to Olympic and Pinehurst to Pebble Beach – Titleist golf balls have been the top choice of players competing for the U.S. Open trophy and a place in history.

Of the 156 players at LACC, 106 (68%) are playing a Titleist Pro V1 or Pro V1x model, more than five times the nearest competitor with 21 (13%), according to Darrell Survey.

Titleist was also the #1 ball among the more than 850 amateurs and professionals who teed it up in a final U.S. Open qualifier, with 77% playing a Pro V1 or Pro V1x.

“Anytime you can make a piece of equipment that can be the best for that amount of time is pretty cool,” said  Tony Finau . “I’ve played Titleist pretty much most of my life. I grew up playing Pro V1 golf balls when you came out with the very first one. The longevity tells you that the best players are playing it and I’m just happy to be a part of that group.”

“It takes a lot of work to get to that point and then it takes, I would say, even more work to stay there. And so when I think of the Titleist ball, I think of how reliable it is,” said  Scottie Scheffler.

The Titleist brand started with a vision when Phil Young, a dedicated amateur golfer and owner of a precision moulded rubber company, missed a well-stroked putt to lose a match at the Country Club of New Bedford. Convinced that his golf ball was at fault, Young asked his opponent, a doctor at nearby St. Luke’s Hospital, to put the ball under an x-ray. The results showed the core was indeed off-center.

With his discovery, Young set out to develop the highest quality and best performing golf ball in the world, one that would provide golfers with consistent performance, ball after ball. After three years of development, the first Titleist was introduced in 1935.

Needing a way to convey the ball’s performance and quality, the Acushnet Golf Ball Demonstration Machine was introduced to golfers in the 1940’s. The machine, led by Claude Hastings – part salesman, engineer and showman – toured golf courses around the country, launching golf balls from a dual pendulum machine. Competitors’ golf balls flew erratically compared to the consistent flight of the Titleist.

By 1945, Titleist golf balls were gaining momentum across the collection of professional golf tournaments being played around the country. Titleist became the most played golf ball on the winter tours in California and Florida by the late 1940’s, leading up to the groundbreaking ball count victory at the 1949 U.S. Open.