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Ball Advice for high handicapper

HomerJSimpson said:
Very tempted to do an unscientific experiment

As I can only hit off a mat into a net and so ball flight/distance etc won't be a factor I'm thinking of taking a section of balls

Titleist
Pro V
Tour Speed
Tour Soft

Srixon
Z Star
Q Star
AD333

Random
Pinnacle Gold
TP5
TM Soft Response

Plan is to cover markings with small slice of gorilla tape and get HID to give them to me in a random order and hit it two/three times and see if I can guess the and then the model. I don't think I'll be able to tell the difference on many if any. Sound might be a bigger clue than it coming off the clubface. Bottom line is I doubt I'll be able to tell the difference between many
Click to expand...
Record it and stick it on your channel ?
 
hovis said:
First of all nike balls especially early on where dreadful and almost all people hated them. However, does this effect score? The feeling might not be to your liking but enough to change what you put on a score card? I still have a few nike 20xi balls in my bag. When ever I hit one with my driver my pp hold his ears and says "f#@k me mate. That a nike ball again" ?. It still does what I want.

How much experience you have is irrelevant if you have always been closed minded about ball choice. Do what Traminator said "put on some headphones and hit some balls you think you don't like.
I'm not saying that you should play with ball that you don't like the sound or feel of (if that's your thing). I'm saying that the op is a high handicap golfer. All balls feel crap out the toe, heel and blade.
Click to expand...
For a few years in the mid-late 80s I swore by (the original) Wilson Ultras. They were like stones - but not granite. Truth is that at the time I liked them; they were inexpensive, and I got down to 6 using them. I wouldn't choose to use one today - but I wouldn't be bothered if I was forced to. Now HI 8.4 - if they were good enough back then they'd be good enough now.
 
SwingsitlikeHogan said:
For a few years in the mid-late 80s I swore by (the original) Wilson Ultras. They were like stones - but not granite. Truth is that at the time I liked them; they were inexpensive, and I got down to 6 using them. I wouldn't choose to use one today - but I wouldn't be bothered if I was forced to. Now HI 8.4 - if they were good enough back then they'd be good enough now.
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A few years ago I won some in a comp!! I was just going to chuck them in the charity box but though I might as well give one a go. They were so different to the original it was unbelievable. Covers so soft I only got the ball to last about 10 holes because it was so chewed up and the spin was a good as any spin ball I have tried.
 
NearHull said:
I have posted this before. When a local Titleist salesman visited our club for a sales day he laid out twenty or so of each type of Titleist ball on the putting green to try. He also gave out samples to members to try out on the course. After a good talk on the different qualities of each ball he answered questions. Inevitably the feel discussion came up. He suggested, in the nicest possible way, that whilst we can all hear the differences from types of balls on the putting green, there is not a club golfer who can feel any difference when striking the ball. I have to agree with him.
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I do wonder what his bosses think of him

This is what his bosses say about the new Provs

According to Titleist, the three-layer Pro V1 golf ball is made to fly lower than the Pro V1x, and it provides a softer feel. The four-layer Pro V1x, on the other hand, is designed for a higher flight and more spin, and provides a slightly firmer feel compared to the Pro V1.
 
HomerJSimpson said:
I've said for ages if you put a handicap golfer in a blind test they wouldn't be able to tell if it was a premium, mid-range or cheap ball or pick one brand for another. I've always though it would make a good article or online video
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Whilst in the main I do agree with you on this, I am intrigued as to why you keep buying different golf balls to try, some of which you review, to the extend that you have boxes lying around unused.
 
HomerJSimpson said:
I've said for ages if you put a handicap golfer in a blind test they wouldn't be able to tell if it was a premium, mid-range or cheap ball or pick one brand for another. I've always though it would make a good article or online video
Click to expand...

I agree to an extent with regards to 'feel'. Even to thr point that some people couldn't tell between forged and cast clubs.

With balls though, its as much about performance. Put a good golfer 100 yards out (in Summer) firing wedges into a green and watch them land. You'd be able to tell the premium balls from the rocks then as the rocks won't stop as well.
 
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