We’ve already seen 11 PGA Tour events this season. (Even though the Hero World Challenge isn’t technically part of the official schedule, it’s a small-field event with many of the best players in the world so it’s worth including.)
Looking at those first 11 events, something interesting is starting to emerge.
For years, one golf ball has dominated the PGA Tour winners’ list. If you track the equipment that Tour players use, as I do, you get used to seeing the same pattern over and over. I keep a close eye on these trends and the small shifts that start to show up from season to season.
This year, I noticed something with the golf balls used by tournament winners.
To keep things consistent, I looked at the first 11 events of the season in 2024, 2025 and 2026 and tracked the golf ball used by the winner of each event.
For years, Titleist golf balls have dominated the PGA Tour winners’ list, especially early in the season. Here’s what that comparison looks like.
Share of wins in the first 11 events (Titleist golf balls)
- 2024: 10 of 11 wins (91%)
- 2025: 8 of 11 wins (73%)
- 2026: 4 of 11 wins (36%)
Winning golf balls from the first 11 events
Below is a look at the golf balls used by winners in the first 11 events across the past three seasons.
What’s going on?
This doesn’t mean anything dramatic has changed about what players prefer to play.
Titleist is still, by a wide margin, the most popular golf ball on the PGA Tour. Their overall ball count remains far ahead of every other manufacturer. What we’re seeing so far this season is simply a different mix of winners across the first 11 events of the year.
Some notable examples include:
Here’s a look at the golf balls used by winners so far in 2026.
| Player | Event | Golf Ball |
|---|---|---|
| Hideki Matsuyama | Hero World Challenge | Z-STAR XV |
| Scottie Scheffler | The American Express | Pro V1 |
| Chris Gotterup | Sony Open | Tour B X |
| Justin Rose | Farmers Insurance Open | Pro V1x |
| Collin Morikawa | Pebble Beach Pro-Am | TP5x |
| Chris Gotterup | WM Phoenix Open | Tour B X |
| Jacob Bridgeman | Genesis Invitational | TP5 |
| Nico Echavarria | Cognizant Classic | Z-Star Diamond |
| Akshay Bhatia | Arnold Palmer Invitational | Chrome Tour |
| Ricky Castillo | Puerto Rico Open | Pro V1 |
| Cameron Young | Players Championship | Pro V1x Prototype |
Final thoughts
Nobody is worried about the long-term future of the most popular golf ball on the PGA Tour. It still dominates overall usage and will almost certainly continue to show up in the hands of many winners.
But through the first 11 events of the 2026 season, the winners’ list looks very different from what we’ve seen in recent years.
Whether that trend continues is something worth watching as the schedule moves into some of the biggest events of the year.
