The 2018 Titleist Velocity golf ball has screamed and wants to go faster than the previous 2016 Velocity and Titleist has given their little girl their wish.
The high speed LSX core has Been made softer and provides the speed for the Velocity. It sits under an improved NaZ+ cover which provides good durability and now it comes in a variety of colours from white and 'Visi-White' to orange and pink.
The Visi-White with the 00 is interesting to look at as it has an off-white and slightly sparkly look about the ball at address, which I am not sure about. The pink follows the same theme and whilst I like the colour, from a distance against the grass it does look darker on the grass than the more visible orange.
The same double numbers, chosen through a poll of Team Titleist members, of 00, 22, 77 and 99 are available with the Visi-White, whereas the rest are just standard 1 through 4.
There are the same 328 dimples as before in a spherically tiled tetrahedral design to give that high flight to go with the speed, so I headed out with GC2 to compare new with old.
With a 7-iron the faster core did generate a slight distance gain with good height and a steep descent angle to compensate for the low spinning nature of the ball.
With the driver the spin was down and the ball speed was up and the gain was 4 yards, so you can see the changes more with the longer clubs.
It did have a lower flight and that is probably due to the fact I had more draw spin on the 2018 ball shots than the 2016 one, which may account for some of the spin reduction too. Either way though, it seems that one of the longest balls in the Titleist range is now longer and it is also one of the cheapest too.
However before you increase your personal velocity to the pro-shop, note that the Velocity is not a particularly spinny ball around the greens as control on the chips was not as sharp as the Titleist Tour S and well below a Pro V1, because these balls have more premium covers and different constructions.
Compared to the 2016 version, the 2018 Velocity sounds a feels a little softer on chips and about the same with putts so I think it is a good improvement. It's also a little firmer than the Tour Soft, but nothing that should put you off.
None of this spin control might matter for players who can't generate enough spin even with a premium ball, so for them the Velocity is a great choice as it is a good quality ball at a competitive price that really goes the distance. For everyone else it would be worth trying to see if these benefits offset any loss of control compared to their current ball.