Titleist has expanded its player-validated golf ball alignment offering with the introduction of four new Alignment Integrated Marking (AIM) models to help golfers achieve more precise alignment on the greens.
Complementing the AIM designs already available on Pro V1, Pro V1x and Pro V1x Left Dash golf balls, the addition of four unique patterns on Titleist’s AVX (SRP £44), Tour Soft (SRP £34), Velocity (SRP £28) and TruFeel (SRP £26) models rounds out the lineup of advanced alignment designs across the brand’s entire golf ball family.
AVX and TruFeel models are both offered with new AIM 360 markings custom printed around the circumference of the golf ball, while AIM Performance designs are featured opposite the sidestamp on Tour Soft and Velocity.
“We’ve conducted significant testing around alignment tendencies and how accurate players are with different types of markings,” said Scott Cooper, Titleist’s director of golf ball product development. “The data consistently shows improvement for most golfers when they align their putts with our AIM designs. When we talk about improved performance, it needs to be discernible and impactful to the golfer.”
“Interestingly, AIM is more valuable as you get farther from the hole,” said Frederick Waddell, director of golf ball product management. “On a 4ft putt, you might be okay lining up your ball with a standard sidestamp because it’s such a short putt. As you go back to 12ft or 16ft, you could be off by up to 1ft on either side of the hole as that dispersion cone gets wider. The data illustrates that, for golfers who like a form of alignment on their ball, our AIM designs can help them be more precise on the greens.”
Roughly 65% of Titleist golf ball players on the PGA Tour mark their Pro V1 or Pro V1x with some kind of alignment cue. The first AIM Performance design, currently available on Pro V1 family models, was inspired by the most popular of those tour player additions – a long, straight line.
Titleist also extended AIM research to dedicated golfers, testing more unique, custom alignment features with Team Titleist members to gauge design appeal.
To assess the effectiveness of AIM designs, Titleist Golf Ball R&D developed a proprietary device that measured how precise golfers were in aligning their golf ball to a target in a controlled test. The new technology helped Titleist uncover thousands of data points around alignment tendencies.
Golfers were instructed to line up their golf ball to the hole using a variety of alignment cues, and precision was evaluated by measuring the left-right proximity of their aim to the hole through absolute angles. Results revealed a noticeably tighter alignment distribution for golfers using AIM alignment aids compared to those using a standard length sidestamp. Specifically, golfers using AIM were up to 35% more precise with their alignment.
