Justin Thomas on recent golf ball switch, career holes-in-one after practice round ace

Justin Thomas’ week at The Riviera Country Club is off to a good start. He made a hole-in-one during Wednesday’s pro-am on the famed 16th, a short one-shotter that’s heavily defended by bunkers.

Making an ace is always special, but Thomas, one of the best iron players on TOUR, now has so many holes-in-one that he’s lost count.

Most players know exactly how many holes-in-one they have. Not Thomas.

“It’s 25-ish,” Thomas told GolfWRX.com on Wednesday. “It’s bad I don’t know that, but I should.”

What is for certain, though, is that it’s Thomas’ first hole-in-one using the new 2023 edition of the Titleist Pro V1x golf ball, which he switched to ahead of the Hero World Challenge in December.

The switch has coincided with Thomas’ successful start to 2024. After enduring the worst year of his career, Thomas appears to be his old self after starting the year with three consecutive top-12 finishes. That includes a third-place showing at The American Express and T6 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

For years, Thomas used Titleist’s 2013 Pro V1x golf ball, then switched between the Pro V1 Star and Pro V1x golf balls in 2019. He eventually landed on the 2021 Pro V1x model, which he switched to before winning that year’s PLAYERS Championship.

Prior to the 2023 Hero World Challenge, though, Thomas began an extensive testing process with Titleist’s new 2023 Pro V1x, both independently and under the watchful eye of Fordie Pitts, Titleist’s Tour Consultant for Golf Ball R&D at Titleist.

According to both the fitter and the tester himself, Thomas was able to find more reliability with his irons, especially when playing in the wind.

“I used the (Pro V1x 2013) for a really, really long time, and then I wanted something that had more spin … on firmer greens with longer irons. I just wasn't holding them well enough, and, I achieved it, but I think I was going about it the wrong way,” Thomas told GolfWRX.com. “I think I should have been looking for height instead of spin, because I sometimes I would just get, like, a breath of wind, and felt like I had to play so much extra (yardage), and this ball, it spins probably 300-500 rpm less with irons, but launch is a little higher. I feel like I'm pretty good at launching it low if I need to, so it just kind of matched up a little closer to that ‘13x that I've played so well with for so long.”

Pitts also weighed in with his insight on Thomas’ testing process, and how the new golf ball is helping his performance on the course.

“He played a lower spinning product early in his career, moved into something that spun a little bit more for shaping, workability,” Pitts said. “That was the 2021 Pro V1x. It just got to the point where he was starting to notice in the wind, just having to compensate too much for the wind, like having to drop down two clubs instead of one. Having to just manipulate it to get it to perform better in the wind. And so it got him thinking.

“Then we had done some testing with him where he tested some prototypes, and it kind of initiated the thought that, ‘Hey, maybe I want to go to something that’s kind of like the prior product I used to play with, with a little bit less spin, so it’ll be better in the wind. We sent him a couple options that would have spun a little bit less than the 2021 Pro V1x, one of which is the current 2023 Pro V1x. … He says his distance control has been excellent, and it’s much better in the wind.”

For amateur golfers who think a golf ball is just a golf ball, it might be time to reassess that opinion. Thomas ranked a career-worst 39th in Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green last season, and he’s currently ranked 17th so far in 2024 using the new golf ball, which he says is providing more control with the irons.

To see what else is in Justin Thomas’ bag in 2024, head over to GolfWRX.com.