It was 2024, and my brother and I were battling in a club pair tournament at our home course — Hills Golf & Sports Club, just outside Gothenburg, Sweden. The format was simple: both tee off, pick the best drive, and play alternate shots from there. We came off the front nine at a sizzling -7. Confidence was high. Then we reached hole 10. A beautiful 135-meter downhill par 3, surrounded by water that punishes anything less than perfect. The green is undulating and unforgiving. As we stood on the tee, a Titleist representative was there demoing the latest GT drivers and balls. He mentioned a nice incentive: anyone who made a hole-in-one with a Titleist ball would walk away with a brand new Titleist driver. He went around asking what balls everyone was playing. Nearly the entire group was on Titleist. Me? I was loyal to my balls of another brand, proudly branded with my company logo. “Yeah, those are solid,” the rep said with a smile, “but with the ball flight you just described, you should really try the -ProV1.” He handed me a sleeve of three balls. “Thanks,” I replied, “but I think I’ll stick with my ordinary balls today.” My turn to tee off. I topped it badly — straight into the rough on the left. My brother stepped up, said “Don’t worry bro, I’ve got this”… and promptly shanked it right into the pine trees way right of the water surrounding the green. We were in serious trouble. Time for a provisional. I glanced over at the Titleist guy. He just gave me a knowing nod. I sighed, pulled out one of those -ProV1 balls, and grabbed my 8-iron. The swing felt pure from the start. The ball launched with a beautiful, piercing flight — exactly the trajectory I’d been chasing. It landed softly on the right side of the green, about 5 meters short and right of the pin. Then it started rolling. Slowly. Deliberately. It caught the subtle slope, turned a touch left, then eased back right… and disappeared straight into the cup. Hole-in-one. I completely lost it. My brother went wild. Our playing partners erupted. The Titleist rep just grinned and said: “Nice par! No new driver for you… So, what ball are you playing the rest of the back nine?” I switched to the -ProV1 for the rest of the round. We went on to win the tournament. After that day, I gave away my remaining eight dozen logo balls and stocked up on -ProV1 balls. Sometimes the golf gods (and a friendly rep on the tee) know better than you do. Best ball switch I never planned to make.