What Is Spin Slope?

Table of Contents
How Can One Golf Ball Do It All?
Understanding Spin Slope
Spin Slope Comparison: Driver
Spin Slope Comparison: Wedge
Why Spin Slope is Important
Golf Before Pro V1
Golf After Pro V1
FAQs

How Can One Golf Ball Do It All?

A golf ball must do a number of different things. When you hit driver, the golf ball needs to launch high, fly straight, but with relatively low spin. This optimizes carry distance and allows the ball to roll forward once it hits the fairway. In the iron game, the ball must fly predictable distances with each club and descend steeply enough and with enough spin to stay on the green once it lands. And in the short game, where control is king, the golf ball must spin a great deal in order to land, check up and grab with maximum stopping power. But how can just one golf ball do everything you need it to?

Understanding Spin Slope

The answer can be found by examining Spin Slope, a term used within Titleist Golf Ball R&D to describe the comparative performance of different golf ball models. In the video above, Golf Digest's Luke Kerr-Dineen visited The Titleist Performance Center at Manchester Lane in Acushnet, Massachusetts. There, Luke met with Mike Madson, Senior Vice President of Titleist Golf Ball R&D. As Mike shared with Luke, Spin Slope is the differential between a golf ball's long game spin and short game spin. The objective is to find a golf ball that delivers low driver spin for distance off the tee and high wedge spin for maximum control in the short game. In other words, the goal is steep Spin Slope.

Spin Slope Comparison: Driver

During his visit, Luke compared two different Titleist golf ball models, Pro V1 and Velocity. With driver, the models were remarkably similar, each spinning right around 2,800 rpm on Luke's tee shots. The reason for this is that the driver has the lowest loft of any club in your bag (except for the putter). This means that the driver collides with the ball very squarely at impact, transferring a great deal of energy directly into the ball. On a driver shot the launch angle, speed and spin rate is primarily a function of the way the core (and casing layer in the case of Pro V1 and Pro V1x) compresses and rebounds through impact. The cover has very little effect on the spin or the resulting flight that you observe.

Spin Slope Comparison: Wedge

Spin between Pro V1 and Velocity becomes very different, however, as you work your way down the set. As clubs get shorter they have more loft. With a wedge, the club makes more glancing, tangential contact with the ball at impact. And on these slower shots where the collision between club and ball is more oblique, the core and casing layer of the ball play a much smaller role. The interaction of the cover is the main driver in what you see in terms of spin. And as Luke saw on the 60-yard pitch shots he hit, the softer polyurethane cover of Pro V1 resulted in 3,000 more rpm of spin than he saw with Velocity, which utilizes an ionomer cover material. That higher spin rate translates into much greater stopping power, more predictable green interaction and roll-out and much shorter putts for your next shot.

Why Spin Slope Is Important

Titleist makes many different golf ball models in order to give golfers a wide array of choices - including significant differences in Spin Slope. As Mike Madson explains,

"The balance between the dimensions of all the layers, the materials, the hardnesses - everything within the golf ball changes when that spin rate is going to start accelerating within the bag and become higher."

Spin Slope is a key to finding the specific golf ball model that helps you optimize performance in every aspect of your game. But how do you know what Spin Slope is right for you? The best first step is to get professionally fit by a Titleist golf ball fitting expert. Click the following link to see the many resources Titleist offers to help you find the right ball for your game:

https://www.titleist.com/fitting/golf-ball-fitting

THE PRO V1 REVOLUTION

Golf Before Pro V1

Before the evolution of the Pro V1 golf ball, golfers had to choose between maximum distance off the tee or maximum spin in the short game. Golfers who favored distance tended to play two-piece distance balls that featured a high compression solid core and a hard Surlyn cover. With driver, these balls flew far, with low spin and they rolled a good deal after landing. Unfortunately, these balls also flew far and had low spin with every club in the bag. Hitting and holding greens with iron shots was difficult and these balls had very little "bite" around the greens. Getting chips and pitches to finish close to the hole was extremely challenging compared to balls with higher short game spin.

Prior to December 2000 (when the first Pro V1 golf ball came to market) golfers who wanted maximum short game control favored 3-piece golf balls that were played on tour at the time. These balls typically featured a small liquid-filled rubber center that was then wrapped in hundreds of yards of thin rubber thread windings. The construction was topped off with a cover made of balata, a soft natural rubber extracted from the Guayule (pronounced Why-You-Lee) bush.

Balata-covered, wound construction golf balls delivered very soft feel and prodigious spin in the short game. Unfortunately, similar to their solid-core cousins, three-piece balls produced high spin rates throughout the bag. While high spin is advantageous on approach shots and around the greens, on tee shots it presents a problem. On tee shots with balata balls, it was common to see the ball launch low but then climb aggressively upward. While many golfers found this visually appealing (like a jet fighter soaring into the wild blue yonder) it's a serious liability from an aerodynamics standpoint. When the ball balloons like this, it carries far shorter, lands much steeper and rolls out far less (if it rolls at all) than a drive struck with optimal spin.

Golf After Pro V1

What made Pro V1 such a revolutionary product is that it combined the best parts of two-piece distance and tour-played balata golf balls. It utilized a resilient solid core like two-piece models at the time, enveloped in a thin ionomer casing layer. This multi-layer construction was then finished by applying a new cover material, elastomer urethane, which was more durable than balata, yet provided very similar spin rates on iron and finesse wedge shots.

As Luke found out in his testing with Mike Madson, Pro V1's multi-layer construction results in different golf ball spin throughout the bag. With driver, the Pro V1 launches high with low spin and substantial roll-out. On iron shots, the Pro V1 strikes the green, takes one bounce forward, and comes to rest very close to the impact location of the second bounce. At Titleist this type of control is known as Drop-and-Stop Performance. And in the short game, Pro V1 provides soft feel and precise spin control, a key to shooting your lowest scores possible. In short, Pro V1 is the golf ball that does it all.

Click here to learn more about the history of the Titleist Pro V1 golf ball:

https://www.titleist.com/learning-lab/titleist-expertise/25-pro-v1-years-of-innovation

For more information on all Titleist golf ball models, click here:

https://www.titleist.com/explore-golf-balls/

FAQs

What is Spin Slope? 

Spin Slope is a term used within Titleist Golf Ball R&D to describe the comparative performance of different golf ball models. Spin Slope is the differential between a golf ball's long game spin and short game spin. .

Why is it important for golfers to know about Spin Slope?

There are significant differences between golf ball models in terms of flight, spin and feel. By examining spin slope, you can find the specific golf ball model that provides optimal spin performance across every club in your bag. You'll be able to hit long, low-spinning tee shots with your driver, accurate iron approach shots that hold the greens and high-spinning chips and pitches that maximize your ability to save strokes in the short game.

What is multi-layer construction and how does it contribute to the performance of Pro V1 and Pro V1x golf balls?

In golf ball design and manufacturing, multi-layer construction describes a golf ball that features a core, a secondary casing layer and an outer cover layer. Pro V1 is engineered with a single core made primarily from Polybutadiene, a synthetic polymer rubber material. Polybutadiene is resilient, meaning that it recovers quickly when a stress is applied to it, such as an impact with a golf club. Pro V1x utilizes a dual core construction that allows Titleist engineers to achieve precise differences to Pro V1 in terms of flight, spin and feel. In both Pro V1 and Pro V1x a thin ionomer casing layer is molded over the core to protect the core from moisture and to fine-tune each model's speed, spin and feel. In each model, a soft thermoplastic urethane cover layer is applied over the cased core using a proprietary casting process 

Multi-layer construction is what allows Pro V1 and Pro V1x to achieve something that was previously unobtainable - Steep Spin Slope. This is characterized by large differences in long game and short game spin and optimal golf ball spin in every aspect of the game. With driver, Pro V1 and Pro V1x launch high with low spin and substantial roll-out. With irons, shots launch high, strike the green, take one bounce forward, and come to rest very close to the impact location of the second bounce. At Titleist this type of control is known as Drop-and-Stop Performance. And in the short game, Pro V1 and Pro V1x provide soft feel and precise spin control, a key to shooting your lowest scores possible. 

How can I find the right golf ball, with the right spin slope for my game?

The best first step is to get professionally fit by a Titleist golf ball fitting expert. Click the following link to see the many resources Titleist offers to help you find the right ball for your game:

https://www.titleist.com/fitting/golf-ball-fitting