Vice Golf Balls Review: Do They Outperform the ProV1?

This post was updated in April 2023 to reflect current opinions and pricing changes for both the Vice Pro Plus and Titleist ProV1x.

As a golf blogger, one of the most common questions I get is: what are the best golf balls? There’s no easy answer to that, as everyone has a different swing and different needs out of a golf ball.

The obvious answer is Titlest ProV1. They’re the balls used by the most Tour players, and are widely regarded as the gold standard in golf balls.

But these days a lot of brands have caught up. They may not always have the name of ProV1, but often the performance is just as good at a fraction of the cost.

This brings us to the question “what golf ball do I play?”

More often than not? I play Vice Pro Plus golf balls. They’re a fraction of the price of the Titleists and perform just as well (as you’ll read below).

But honestly? I’m not a good enough golfer to be the judge of that. So I recruited Zach from The DIY Golfer to help do a proper Vice Pro Plus vs ProV1x comparison.

So now that you know how I feel about it. Let’s get a scratch golfer’s take on it. Take it away, Zach!

Vice Pro Plus or Titlest ProV1x: Which is Actually Better?

As a former collegiate golfer, golf balls used to be free for me. I played the Pro V1x golf balls for 6 years, but when I left college, reality sunk in. I came to terms with that hefty price tag on the Pro V1x golf balls (over $50 on Amazon), and I quickly started exploring some other options.

On one hand, I didn’t want to sacrifice playability. I’ve played a lot of golf in my life, and I can certainly tell the difference between a terrible golf ball and a good one. So my question when putting together this review was…

Vice Pro Plus Video Review: Not a fan of reading? Here you go.

Can the Vice Pro Plus golf balls replace the Pro V1xs for me?

For me, score matters. In college, if I didn’t post a score, I sat on the bench. Although I don’t have that kind of pressure anymore, I still walk out on the course looking to shoot great rounds, which means I need a golf ball I can trust.

You might think that I am a huge stickler for which golf ball I play, but the truth is, I’m not all that concerned about the details. What I need is something that is good enough. I need a golf ball that…

1. Spins a decent amount around the greens
2. Travels a consistent distance
3. Feels good off the club face

If a ball can satisfy these conditions and save me up to 50% on price, I’m in.

Vice Golf Balls Review: First Impressions

The first thing that I noticed about the Vice Pro Plus golf balls was how they felt off the clubface. I hit several 3-irons to start, and immediately, compared to the Pro V1x, I noticed that these golf balls felt like a catapult off the clubface when struck solid.

This springy feeling gives you the impression that you’re striking the ball with a ton of compression, and I like that.

When I hit a shot thin, these golf balls felt a little bit less forgiving than the ProV1x golf balls, but nothing too dramatic.

Another thing that I noticed about the Vice Pro Plus golf balls was the playability around the greens. Compared to the Pro V1x, these golf balls didn’t spin quite as much around the greens. The difference was marginal at best, but the Pro V1x golf balls definitely had some more grab on those short shots.

Vice Golf Balls Price: Is Cheaper Better?

The Vice Pro Plus golf balls are cheaper than the Pro V1x golf balls for several reasons, and many have to do with the Vice business model. The Vice company is a German company founded in 2012, and they pride themselves on a three-pillar business model:

1. Direct-to-Consumer Sales – Vice only sells online, which allows them to pass on some of their saved overhead costs to the consumer
2. Small Advertising Budget – Another way Vice passes on savings to the consumer is their lack of advertising. Titleist spends a ton of money on sponsorships, while Vice stays quiet and focuses on the product.
3. Tiered Pricing Structure – Vice, unlike Titleist, provides an incentive to buy more. The more you buy at once, the cheaper the balls get.

So what do these golf balls cost??

Over the last couple years both the Vice Pro Plus as well as the Titleist ProV1x have gotten a little more expensive. But the Vice Balls still represent a pretty insane value.

prices per dozen	Vice – Website	Vice – Amazon	Titleist – Website	Titleist – Amazon
1 Dozen	38.99	37.99	55.00	54.97
2 Dozen	38.99	37.99	55.00	54.97
3 Dozen	34.99	37.99	55.00	54.97
4 Dozen	34.99	37.99	55.00	54.97
5 Dozen	29.99	37.99	55.00	54.97

Looking at the table, you can save roughly 25% if you buy a single dozen, and nearly 50% if you buy 5 or more dozen Vice golf balls. That’s a HUGE discount.

Vice Pro Plus vs ProV1x: Does Premium Price Mean Premium Performance?

I did some pretty extensive testing with the two golf balls, and based on each category that I was looking for, I honestly couldn’t tell much of a difference between the two golf balls and in my opinion, the premium price of the Pro V1x did not show in the performance comparison.

Vice Pro Plus vs ProV1x: Feel Comparison

As I mentioned in the opening remarks, the Vice Pro Plus golf ball felt a bit more “springy” off the clubface on a solid shot and a bit less forgiving on off-center shots.

Overall, the feel of the Vice Pro Plus was not enough for me to distinguish between the two. In a completely blind test (as shown in the video), I was only able to identify 2 out of 6 times which golf ball was which while hitting a 3-iron.

I’ve played a ton of golf and considering I’ve never hit a Vice golf ball before, the results of this test either prove that I have no feel whatsoever, or the golf balls are very similar in feel (I’ll bet the latter…I hope!).

Vice Pro Plus vs ProV1x: Distance Comparison

During my testing, I hit three 3-iron shots, and three 100 yard wedge shots with both the Pro V1x and the Vice Pro Plus golf balls.

11/12 shots that I hit were struck solid, and all eleven of those solidly struck shots were within 5 yards of each other regardless of which ball you looked at.

In other words, there was no difference in how far these golf balls traveled for me. Yes, I do swing faster than many golfers, but I do not think that clubhead speed would affect this dramatically.

Vice Pro Plus vs. ProV1x: Spin Comparison

This is the only area that I felt the Pro V1x golf balls were slightly better in. Although the difference was small, the Pro V1x golf balls had a marginally better spin profile than the Vice Pro Plus golf balls.

That said, I had no trouble controlling the Vice Pro Plus golf balls on the greens, and they spun enough to play competitively with!

Vice Pro Plus Golf Balls: Final Impressions

Let’s face it, there’s a certain prestige to playing a ProV1. You just feel like a better golfer when you’re gaming one (even if it was that one you found in the woods off the 12th tee).

But honestly, for most golfers out there the ProV1 isn’t necessarily the best fit. Whether it’s due to swing speed or price, there are probably better balls out there.

And for many people, the Vice Pro Plus golf ball will be one of those. To have similar performance, at half the price, it truly is a game-changer. It’s also significantly less expensive than the Taylormade TP5 which we also like over here at Breaking Eighty.

Are you going to get the same prestige as playing a ProV1? No.

But in my experience, you will get a lot more comments and attention for playing a Vice Golf Ball.

“Hey, is that a Vice? I’ve heard about those. How do you like them?”

So for me, the choice is clear. After playing the ProV1x for 6 years, and all throughout my college golf career, from here on out I’m going to save some money and switch. I couldn’t find anything materially different between the two golf balls and I certainly couldn’t find a reason to pay up to 50% more for the Pro V1x golf balls!

We even rated the Vice Pro Plus as The Very Best Golf Ball for Most People in our round-up of the best golf balls of 2023.

Why I Still Play Vice Pro Plus Golf Balls

Ok, Sean here.

As mentioned above, this review was done by Zach who was a collegiate golfer. 

But if you’re like me, you’re probably not a scratch golfer.

So should you consider Vice Pro Plus balls?

Absolutely.

As I mentioned above, these are the balls I personally use most often as a 10 handicap. 

I won’t lie, I always like the feel of ProV1s, and there’s no doubt that there is a cache to them.

But I could be losing anywhere from a sleeve to a box of balls on any given round, so spending over $50 a box isn’t exactly the most fiscally responsible thing to do.

I’ve found that the Vice Balls play nearly the same as the ProV1s and as mentioned are a fraction of the price.

So I just wanted to throw in my two cents here and vouch for the Vice Balls. They’ve been my go-to for 5 years now, and if I’m picking up balls online, this is more often than not what I go for.

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This review is in collaboration with Zach from The DIY Golfer blog. The DIY Golfer is a golf blog dedicated to helping golfers learn the physics of the golf swing, advanced practice strategies, swing analysis, and all the other stuff you can’t find on The Golf Channel.

This page contains affiliate links. This means that if you click a link and buy one of the products on this page, I may receive a commission (at no extra cost to you!) This doesn’t affect our opinions or our reviews. Everything we do is to benefit you as the reader, so all of our reviews are as honest and unbiased as possible.