Titleist has posted an excellent article on their site titled Where’s the Harm? which challenges the idea that golf ball technology is harming the game of golf.

For those who deem a distance “problem” exists, to identify the golf ball as the sole contributor to and the solution for is an over-simplification. While the professional game has experienced a paradigm shift toward the “Power Game” in the past two decades, it has been the result of six contributing variables, five of which are continually overlooked by the media and antitechnology pundits. In addition to lower spinning, high performance golf balls, other factors include larger, thinner-faced titanium drivers with graphite shafts; improved golf course conditioning and agronomy; bigger, stronger and better conditioned athletes; improved technique and instruction; and launch monitors and customization of equipment.

This summer I bought some mint condition Titleist Pro V1 golf balls off eBay and I can assure you they didn’t improve my scoring by much, if at all. I like the feel of the ball and the confidence I have hitting them, but I’m not sure they’re worth the money.