THE golf ball used by many of the world's best professional players and millions of amateurs is on the verge of being banned.

The Titleist Pro V1 ball, used by the likes of Australians Adam Scott and Geoff Ogilvy, will disappear in its current form from next year after Callaway, a fierce rival of Titleist in the top-end golf market, won a lawsuit in the United States.

 The original case went Callaway's way in December 2007; yesterday, the District Court in Wilmington, Delaware, rejected an appeal by Acushnet, manufacturer of Titleist products, and granted a "permanent injunction" stopping the manufacture of the balls.

Callaway claimed that Titleist infringed its patent on the technology used in production of its HX brand balls when it began making Pro V1.