Cameron Young reportedly playing golf ball that would conform under rollback

Now a three-time PGA Tour winner, Young first tested the ball — which is one of Titleist’s Customized Performance Option (CPO) balls designed to fine-tune performance and flight characteristics — about two years ago. Titleist’s director of tour research and validation Fordie Pitts delivered the finished prototypes to Young at the Wyndham, and he has played the ball ever since.

Interestingly, Data Golf looked at Young’s 50-round driving distance average since he made the switch last August and noticed he’s lost about 3 yards off the tee. But his accuracy is up dramatically this season; he ranks 46th in the category, finding more than 61 percent of his fairways, a rise of 121 spots from last year. He ranks 6th in SG: Off the Tee, up from 31st.

Why this has garnered attention during one of the biggest weeks of the year is due to Young’s marginal driving losses. If he’s losing only a couple of yards per drive with a rolled-back ball, some might argue the rollback might not accomplish what it set out to do.

Titleist identified Young as having unique delivery characteristics, which could be optimized by the Double Dot prototype. From what Titleist has divulged about the prototype, the ball has a lower spin and flatter flight than the standard Pro V1x. Young has a naturally strong ball flight with his irons, and the ball helped optimize his launch conditions.

“For me, the biggest thing, like I said, is the irons,” Young said Wednesday. “This ball is easier to control with the irons. It doesn’t spin as much, and it just allows me to be better with my distance control just because it’s more consistent.”

Since he added the ball, he’s worked to optimize the top end of his bag for its lower-spinning flight, adding an 11-degree GT3 driver, high-launching GT1 3-wood and a new GTS3 7-wood, his first time using the club type.

Balls

Chairman of Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters Tournament Fred S. Ridley speaks to members of the media in a press conference prior to the start of the 2026 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club, Wednesday, April 08, 2026. (Photo by Joe Toth/Augusta National/Getty Images)

“The driver is kind of the easiest thing to deal with, I feel like,” he said. “For me to get it where it needed to be, I had to just add a little bit of spin, and it kind of comes out at a perfectly playable range.”

In March, Young unleashed a 375-yard bomb with that new GT3 setup and Double Dot ball on the 72nd hole of the Players Championship that was the longest drive recorded on TPC Sawgrass’ 18th hole in the ShotLink era. But while the ball wasn’t developed with Young in mind, it has been a perfect fit for him and come during the height of his career thus far.

“I don’t think any of us are out here playing the ball that goes the farthest,” Young said. “I think you’d struggle to find a single person that’s doing that. We’re all sacrificing a certain amount of things that we feel are worth it, control with irons, control with wedges. For me, that’s the biggest thing is being able to control spin.”

Conforming or not in 2028 — or 2030, as the governing bodies are floating the idea of delaying implementation — Young is convinced that the Double Dot is the best ball for him.

“I was kind of surprised in a sense, but at the same time, it didn’t change that I had played well with it, and I was comfortable,” Young said of learning of the ball’s conformance under the proposed rule. “I feel like I’m playing a golf ball that’s best for how I’m playing the game at the moment. If that works out to mean that this goes into effect and I’m still playing the ball however many years from now makes it an easy change.”

The author welcomes your comments at Jack.Hirsh@golf.com.

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