Ever been to a brewery? There's a decent chance you have. And if you've walked into one, you've probably seen on the board some new beers from the brewers. Maybe they're having a tapping party to celebrate a new recipe no one's ever drank in public.
The brewers feel pretty confident in what they've created. After all, they're experts and have the experience to know what makes a tasty beer. However, they're on pins and needles waiting to hear feedback from their fans and fellow beer lovers.
And that's pretty much what Titleist is doing with their newest golf ball release. They're tapping a brand new, mystery recipe and hoping you, the golf-playing public, will give them feedback.
Titleist has released the EXP-01 golf balls, a rare golf-ball concept that is seeing the light of day outside of Titleist's 75-person R&D team. The ball has an "experimental multilayer construction" using a new urethane MTR cover formulation and process, which enhances short-game spin. A new core construction and casing layer is designed to deliver lower spin on longer shots for tighter dispersion and greater distance. The 346-dimple design offers an "optimized" flight.
The company decided they had to get the ball to the public as part of the new Titleist EXP Project. The idea is to allow the public to experience newly formulated, experimental golf balls in limited runs to expose consumers to new ball technologies in hyper-limited runs with the hope of getting feedback.
It's a form of consumer testing -- and marketing -- that's unique in golf.
“The EXP Project invites golfers into the early stages of our R&D process, and allows us to broadly test experimental materials, constructions and processes that could be integrated into any segment of our golf ball line,” said Michael Mahoney, Titleist's Vice President of Golf Ball Marketing. “EXP-01 is truly an exploratory product and there’s no better way to evaluate our progress than getting it into the hands of dedicated golfers.”
The Titleist EXP-01 golf balls will be available for a limited time at select golf shops in the United States in Canada, as well on Titleist.com for $40 per dozen.
