[ajbrown]

Originally Posted by Dr Winston O Boogie jr

I've seen that video many times before and it's very interesting. You do have to put it into context however. The video is on of a club striking a ball at 150 mph. It's of a ball traveling at 150 mph slamming into a steal plate several inches thick.
As has been noted Tiger Wood's clubhead speed in about 130 mph and driver heads have some give to them. So a ball being hit by a driver, even by Tiger does not react like this.
Also, ball compression is a myth. The difference between compressions of balls is so small as to not be a factor.
The Pro V1 is an amazing product. Nothing like it had ever been developed before. It is designed to react very differently at various clubhead speed.
This is done through the three layers. A short iron striking the ball only penetrates the first and softest layer which give the ball a great amount of spin. Medium irons begin to penetrate into the middle and second firmest layer thus causing a bit less spin and a bit more distance. Finally, a driver penetrates into the middle and hardest layer thus giving maximum distance and least amount of spin.
Prior to the Pro-V1 balls performed in a similar manner but had a fairly consistent club head speed-loft-spin rate. With the Pro-V1, the spin rate on the driver is reduced significantly more than on older model balls.
I was fortunate to meet the man who developed the Pro-V1 a few years back. I can't recall his name, but he now works for Taylor Made and was the one that developed the TM Tour ball.
I've also been to the Titleist plant and have spoken with their engineers. Ball manufacturing is a very interesting process. Distance is only one consideration. In fact, the Pro-V1, Taylor Made ball and almost all of the other balls intended for use by highly skilled players are designed around how they react on short shots. Good players are looking for optimum spin rates. It doesn't matter to Tiger if the ball goes ten yards further. He wants to know what it will do when it hits a green from 100 yards. In fact as kbace6 noted, the most expensive balls are not the longest. They are not the longest for you or for the tour pros. If you want a ball that simply goes long you should be looking at the cheaper balls like the Pinnacle or the Velocity. They are very hard, very long balls that don't spin much off of the short irons.

Interesting read, thanks for taking the time to post...