Ball sense

[Dave B]

After reading another thread regarding ball fitting I'm slightly bemused by what some people constitute to be the correct ball for the job and exactly what they expect of the ball they use.

In addition as amateurs do we sometimes choose a ball based on what the pro's can do with a ball, rather than using a ball to suit our abilities.

The way I look at it have three price breaks for balls:

£10 per dozen budget balls

£15 price mark for good functional balls

£20+ premium balls for competition

In the £10 category we have TaylorMade/Maxfly Noodles, Pinnacle Gold Precision and Srixon Distance to name some of the better balls within this category

In the £15 category we have the Srixon AD333 and Green Soft Feel, Titliest DT Solo, Wilson DX2/3 soft Nike Soft etc

In the £20+ category we have the Titliest Pro V's, Srixon Z Star, Callaway IZ Tour, Bridgestone 330 Tour etc

I've tried the majority of the above balls and I tend to stick with Yellow Pinnacle Gold Precisions for winter work and change between the Srixon AD333's, Srixon Green Soft and the Soft Wilson DX2's for most of my summer work with Wilson DX3's for competitions.

I've tried the Titliests and don't particularly get on with them however I did like the Callaway IZ tour and the Bridgestone however I don't think that they offer anything that the Wilson DX3 gives me at half the price. I've also tried a lot of balls twice the price of the Pinnacle Precisions which in my opinion aren't as good.

Am I the only one who thinks that we are led by fashion and marketing rather than using quality products what will actually do a very good job?

Or am I totally missing the point in that if I pay a higher premium for my balls they will knock shots off my score?

 

[AmandaJR]

I only recently committed to a ball - or selection of them. Don't play Titleist as HID does and we have a deal that any I find he gets and vice versa! I do read the manufacturers ball fitting advice about swing speed and distance etc. Having said that I'm not 100% with a ball at the moment and kind of wish I was. Srixon AD333 or Soft Feel probably top of the pile for me but also like some of the Callaways and Taylor Made and Bridgestone (tart!). I also really like the Pinnacle Gold Precision and have to confess to feeling a bit of brand snobbery "pressure" as they get slated and yet I like them and can't tell much between them and the Srixons.

Also won't play Top Flite, Dunlop, Slazenger etc which I find and some of that is brand snobbery but also they can feel like rocks...

 

[sydney greenstreet]

I play the AD333 and it is the best ball i have played i love the feel of every club with it, prior to this i always played from 2002-2006 the Wilson smart core a little bit of a rock but i won 2 medals with it and it did the job for me at the time.

 

[Whee]

I've got into a habit of only using Nikes.

I can pick up a bag of 10 x used ones for about 3 quid, and at my level, that'll do me nicely.

 

[Lump]

IMO all balls are nearly the same off the face of a driver (save for the sound) but where the best ball show there quality is around the greens and off your irons.
A pinnacle will not stop the same way a Bridgestone B330 S does.
Personally I don't like Clicky balls, which is a sound you get from all cheap balls. Only when you start getting towards the more premium balls do you get a nice solid thud.

 

[Achilles]

A lot of us are driven by marketing and fashion - be it balls, clubs or clothing. That's not to say the ball doesn't make a difference. You've said you don't get on with Titleists, and nor do a lot of people I know. In our Wednesday night roll ups which can be upto 20 people, I don't think anyone uses a Pro V. The Srixon Soft Feel or Titleist NXT are my personal balls of choice. You can feel the difference with a Pro V though, especially around the greens, but I don't believe a high handicapper will get the benefits from a premium ball that a Cat 1 golfer would, for example.

 

[Rooter]

I think balls do make a huge difference to a high handicapper like me. I have have been using TM penta balls, some may say for a mug like me, I am wasting my money, but they feel good, I am confident with them, and they do make a difference, they stop on greens, the amount of spin a mug like me can get with them is unreal. I can stop a 170yrd 5 iron within 2 feet (if I can hit the green!) with "cheaper" balls previously, that shot would bounce off the green and go over the back.

For me it boils down to, what feels best for you, regardless of premium or budget ball, I am just unlucky I love the expensive one!

 

[Alex1975]

I got to wondering about this early in the winter this year and Imurg did a couple of interesting posts about ball spin that I latched onto. At the time I was using the Pro V1 as i thought it was all about compression, I have a reasonably fast swing speed, particularly off the tee and I though that if I could compress the Pro V then it was the best ball on the market and that I should use it.

At the start of winter I had a pretty extreme fade on my shots, again particularly off the tee, maybe 20 yards or so and when I started to do some personal testing with different balls I found that I could reduce this dramatically. The fade was not a huge problem as I know what it was going to do but it was not desirable.

I settled on the Titleist NXT Tour and I find it an absolutely stunning ball, I believe I get more forgiveness from it than any of my clubs.

As it happens I am now hitting a straight or straight draw and I feel that if I was still using the Pro V that I would be too far over to the left side of the fairway. Bottom line, for right now I am totally happy with the NXT Tour and I have total faith in it. For me its all about the spin and not about the compression. Interestingly Titleist have produced some photos in the last few months showing that anyone can use the Pro V... but they would...

My buddy has also started using the NXT Tour and a few weeks ago I saw him hit a tee shot, his feet were pointing left, his club head was open and he left his weight on his back foot. The ball shot off straight, tried to move right in the air but didnt and it was not until the ball hit the hard ground that it actually released the ball right. It was quite amassing to watch.


IMO the ball is as important as any other bit of kit we have and is highly under rated, that said another of my buddys told me it was all in my head and that I was just playing better shots. I know what I think...


PS Amanda.... are you really allowed to use the phrase "HID"????

 

[StrangelyBrown]

Also won't play Top Flite, Dunlop, Slazenger etc which I find and some of that is brand snobbery but also they can feel like rocks...

In the winter that's the sort of rubbish I'll play. I don't see any point in losing expensive balls when they plug in the fairway, never to be seen again.

In the summer, I'm a Wilson DX3 user.

 

[Aztecs27]

I cannot abide balls that click off the putter face and feel like you're hitting a stone (especially when putting) - exaggerated when you have a mill faced putter too.

I'll use AD333's in the winter (or whatever guff I find on my travels) and this year I'm giving the Bridgestone 330RXS jobbies a good go.

 

[MadAdey]

When choosing a ball to use I think it all comes down to 2 things. Budget and Ability. Choose how much you are preppared to spend then look at what you can get to suit your game. I have seen a lot of high handicappers out there with premium golf balls thinking that they will help their game, but the more a ball spins the more it is going to slice on a miss-hit. I think that there are 2 great balls on the market....Titleist NXT Tour and Srixon AD333. They both offer a great comprimise between distance, feel, spin and price.

 

[swanny32]

I play AD333's throughout the year although tend to play whatever I find in the winter, but I like being consistent in the ball I use especially during the summer as I find it helps with my putting. There is a lot to be said for playing consistently with a type of ball. Someone at my club plays with Callaway Warbirds and likes losing them as I keep finding the bloody things....they're like putting with rocks! Can't stand them.

 

[swanny32]

I had a great bit of advice given to me by an AG employee a year or so ago, that I'm sure you'll all love. I didn't have an official handicap but was roughly 24 at the time, asked the chap what I should be playing with which won't cost me a fortune....his response...."You should only be playing with Pro V1's".....I walked out.

 

[sona]

I think it is important to use the same manf. and model ball to get a predictable response from it, picking the ball that you have full confidence with is more important than whether it is a premium or budget ball.

 

[jgozza]

I use Callaway CXR from sports direct for £9.99 - I hit them quite far but the other week i hit a 315 yard drive using them so think its how you use them.
Premium balls also go into the trees and out of bounds too.....

 

[DaveM]

I use Callaway CXR from sports direct for £9.99 - I hit them quite far but the other week i hit a 315 yard drive using them so think its how you use them.
Premium balls also go into the trees and out of bounds too.....

315yrd drive??????

 

[Alex1975]

I use Callaway CXR from sports direct for £9.99 - I hit them quite far but the other week i hit a 315 yard drive using them so think its how you use them.
Premium balls also go into the trees and out of bounds too.....

Is that all?.... get a better ball buddy :whoo:

 

[Rooter]

Is that all?.... get a better ball buddy :whoo:

Imagine how far a pro v1 would go!

 

[beggsy]

I only play with pro v1 even in winter I like the feel and distance I get off all clubs an cant see me changing unless they drop the price on Pentas to 25 then I might change to them

 

[Oddsocks]

I use Callaway CXR from sports direct for £9.99 - I hit them quite far but the other week i hit a 315 yard drive using them so think its how you use them.
Premium balls also go into the trees and out of bounds too.....

Frozen?
Downhill?
Windbehind?
Bounced on Concrete?