Balls..........

[Magic]

I have untill recently always played with Titelist SO/LO`s
that was until i recieved a box of Maxfli powermax balls as a gift. After playing 2 rounds with these balls i have to say i really like them. I am hitting them longer, with a better ball flight and I prefer them on the green they tend to come off the putter face a bit quicker. I think they are less than a quid each.
What balls do you play and why?

 

[Coopsarama]

I have tossed and turned between lots of different balls, recently having to decide between Srixon AD333' which are a very good ball and Nike Power Distance. I plumped for the Nike's in the end as I think that I get a lot more feel from my short irons and putter again. I'm not entirely sure if this is all in my head but I definitley reach for the nike's on the first tee now.

 

[birdieman]

Play a good ball i.e none of the above! Anyone with a single figure handicap knows that stopping a ball on the green is miles more important than ten extra yards off the tee. Play a ProV1 or an HX Tour and you're giving yourself the best chance possible. Expensive but will be worth it with all the vouchers you'll win. High handicappers look at you in amazement when your ball checks up and ask "How did you do that?" as their Pinnacle or dreaded Top Flite races through the green. There's your answer.

 

[John_Findlay]

In total agreement with Birdieman on this one. A good ball like the Pro V1 or the like will let you do things with your wedges (the scoring clubs) which the billiard ball type Pinnacles won't.

The only problem I find with the Pro V1 or Pro V1X is that they graze/scuff quite easily so I can only use it for one round before despatching it to the practice ball bag. Been trying the Taylormade TP Reds lately and find that they are not only longer for me but have great feel around the greens..and the covers last better. 2 or 3 rounds no problem. I'd recommed them to all the Pro V1ers out there

 

[ocha84]

I wouldn't quite agree with Pro V1s are the best and will do things with the wedges. I'm a 12 handicap player who has always been playing using cheap distance balls. I was still able to stop the ball on the green very very quick. It really depends on the skill of the person. However I won't deny that Pro V1s are nice.

At the moment I'm trying to be serious with my golf game. Therefore I also change my ball to using Srixon Soft Feel which are great. They're soft but doesn't scuff easy like the Pro V1.

 

[Up_Point_1]

Does anyone else becomes protective of their ‘competition’ balls (so to speak) during the winter months ?? Or am I just weird ??

Let me explain. During the summer months all i’ll play with is a Pro V1 / Pro V1x. In the weekly competition medals etc it’s important to have a ball that I know will ‘drop and stop’ roughly where I want it to. As the fairways are much firmer, as are the greens there is a much greater need for more ball control.

However during the Winter months when playing in friendly games I begrudge using a decent quality ball which in reality gives me very little advantage over a slightly harder less expensive ball. Whether you’re knocking a Pinnacle Gold or a Pro V1 into a green in Winter it’ll pretty much stop where it lands. I find it’s also a good opportunity for me to use up my collection of lesser quality balls whilst the Pro V1’s are happily hibernating under the bed

Weird or what.

DHM.

 

[Teetotal]

I'm quite superstitious with my balls. If I've managed to get to the 10th it makes me feel lucky (although quiet often that's not the case!).

 

[The_Golfer]

I've always used cheap balls, but in January I went to the southwest and played with Pro V1's ; I was shocked to see my ball land on the green and then spin back, my playing partners were very impressed. Since I have used cheap balls again but I know that I will need both skill and a good ball to stop on the greens in summer. Only this week I noticed a slight change in that my ball was starting to run on a bit, it ran off/over on four greens! So come the summer the Pro V1's will be in my bag and not on the shelf in my shed!!!

 

[USER1999]

At the start of the season I often experiment with balls, to choose a ball for the season. I usually use a premium ball in the summer, and a firmer cheaper ball in the winter when performance is less important due to softer greens and less run on the ball.
I have found little difference between any of the premium balls in terms of performance, some just last longer. my irons tend to shred balls so none last more than a round (srixon ad333 rarely last three holes). My ball for this year is the nike one black, which I have found cheaply on the internet. I can't really see a difference between this and the prov1x apart from cost.
It is easy to rubbish the pinacles and top flites etc, but there is a place for them. They are not designed for the swing speed / game of the better golfer, but will perform more than adequately for most club golfers. Getting hung up on playing spinny golf balls is silly, if you naturally slice the ball, this will just make it worse. With modern inserted putters, hard balls are no longer the drawback on the greens, and most of the time higher handicaps need the ball to run up to the hole, rather than spin back away from it. Not many players with double figure handicaps pitch past the hole.
Spinning the ball back 3 yards or more is flashy, but of no practical use to most of us.

Why not just play what you can afford to loose.

 

[Shooter_McGavin]

I agree with a lot of the above- the Taylormade ball is so similar to the Pro V its difficult to tell the difference.

 

[Magic]

Does anyone else becomes protective of their ‘competition’ balls (so to speak) during the winter months ?? Or am I just weird ??


Not about my balls but I do have a pair of lucky trousers that I only wear for competitions.

 

[birdieman]

Watched Mickelson pitch a shot to the 10th at St Andrews in 05. It landed about 15 yards past the pin, there was light applause, then what seemed like ages later the ball zipped back to about 2 feet - fantastic. That's what people should aspire to, not always spinning it back, but having control of spin and the ability to use it. Any decent course will not allow you to roll the ball up to the green, you need to fly it and stop it. You will never do this with the suryln covered cheapo balls, use a urethane covered ball. I can't agree with murphthemog, high handicappers can shoot past the flag, just take more club and hit down on he ball, dont scoop it. ProV1's and the like do not spin more with a slice, the HX tour is built to fly straighter in the wind -that's why former also-ran pros in their 40's like Kenny Perry started winning lots a couple of years ago.

 

[Magic]

I guess I will get a sleeve of ProV1`s and wait until my cheap balls are skidding across the green, the sun is shining the greens are cut daily and I can get in 18 holes after 5.00pm .....Oh I cant wait for the summer.

 

[Mitch]

I can definitely relate to the premium balls during the summer, and the first ball that comes to hand during the winter. In my humble opinion, the quality of ball has very little impact during the winter when I am wearing six layers of clothes, hitting off matts, in a howling gale onto a hole in the middle of the fairway!!

Has anybody tried the new Pro V1 / Pro V1X yet? Is it significantly better than the previous?

 

[MikeH]

Re: new ProV1

We have some in for testing and as ever they perform well.

for me the best thing about them is the new alignment line and here's what what equipment editor Jezz Ellwood has written about them for our May issue...

"The Pro V1x’s cover felt genuinely softer on full iron shots, and was very controllable round the green. The arrow marks aren’t for me as I prefer to look down on an empty part of the ball at address – but for many they will prove a handy, ready-made visual aid"

 

[USER1999]

Re: new ProV1

Re: birdieman above:

It appears that you only ever play american style courses, as this kind of one dimensional 'drop and stop' game is only really applicable to modern sand based greens. There is clearly no place in your game for links style pitch and run (links golf not being played on a 'proper' golf course.

Most older english (not to mention scottish and irish) golf courses were never designed to have soft receptive greens. For me, changing to this style green is changing the essential character of many courses. Hard greens in summer is what protects these older courses from being swamped by modern equipment. Witness the variety of shots played by Tiger at the open. Not much use of the high spinning wedge shot when the wind blows, and the greens are firm. whereas on the US tour, most golf courses play the same.

Yes, a good golfer should be able to spin the ball (where appropriate), but it is not the be all and end all that too many golfers think it is. I can spin pinnacles, Srixon AD333s, Callaway warbirds, etc almost as well as more expensive balls (the gap between the two narrows every year). The premium balls tend to slice or hook more on a bad shot, and hence just don't help as much as people might think. Many golfers benefit from a distance ball, not because of the distance, but because they go straighter.

Many of the golfers I play with, and I do play with a wide assortment of handicaps do not pitch past the hole. I think if you looked at the average golfer, they nearly always play short due to an over estimation of how far they can hit a particular club. For these players, learning how to spin an approach shot is pointless.

Once you get to a standard where playing with an expensive ball is appropriate, then they are worth the money, but most club players would actually be better off with a mid price ball, designed for their swing speed and spin rates.

 

[birdieman]

Re: new ProV1

re murphthemog
I play mainly Scottish inland courses but also links like Cruden Bay, Murcar, Royal Aberdeen etc too. I wouldn't call many courses in NE Scotland American style except perhaps Newmachar Hawkshill, Most of the courses are around 100 years old. Of course we play the ball low a lot of the time too with a knock down shot but not the kind of 'old mannie, daisy-cutting trundler' you're referrng to. We have fairly slick greens up here too. Where you refer to Tiger, I agree he did hid the ball low in the wind but still with plenty check on it to stop on very hard fast greens at Hoylake. His great skill at Hoylake was off the tee with the long irons. 99% of the shots the pros play at any of our Open courses are still flying to the green, often knock down shots, but not being trundled along the ground! They need a decent soft covered ball to do that or they too would be over the back or in sand all the time. My father in law plays cheapo balls he finds in the rough, mainly pinnacles etc. He is a half decent player with a tidy swing playing to 15 handicap but he can't stop the ball at all until I make him use a better ball and it increases his enjoyment and betters his score far more when the ball stops within a couple of yeards of where it landed for a change. We're talking about the ball stopping, not zipping it back 15 yards, I agree that shot is generally unnescessary, all I mean is the ball stopping reasonably close to where it landed, on the green preferably, not necessarily past the hole. I think the hype about courses being redundant is over-cooked, most courses have moved tees back a little or introduced some new hazards to make players lay up. Average scores haven't greatly changed over the years. Whatever they do with club and ball regulations it will probably play into Tigers hands. I think most of us enjoy hitting a 7 iron for a 2nd rather than a 3 iron, so for me the technology is a good thing.

 

[USER1999]

Re: new ProV1

Nicely put, although I am not entirely sure about the 'daisy cutting trundler'. Must go down the range and practise this, it sounds useful.

I just think for the average player, an NXT (for instance) is just as good a golf ball as a prov1, and quite a bit cheaper. These should give adequate control for most players. for a mid 20s handicapper, shelling out £40 for provs is a waste of money, if they all get sliced out of bounds before the green is reached, and they can get the benefit.

According to the R&A, average driving distances have only increased at 1 yard per year since 2000. this is also on the Titleist web site (US version, I think under 'technology'). So a lot of the complaints about equipment is hype. However, a lot of golf courses are trying to keep the greens receptive in a way that they were never designed to be, and adding length gets expensive, and changes the character of the course. I would rather see firmer faster greens than the sort of sanitised american version of bomb it long, and then pitch in with loads of spin.

 

[Coopsarama]

Re: new ProV1

Callaway HX Hot any good?