Technasonic Check-Go

[MJonGolf]

I was leafing through a golf catalog and I came across the Technasonic Check-Go Sweet Spot Finder (http://check-go.com/). Their site describes it as follows:

"While spinning a golf ball at 10,000 revolutions per minute, the Check-Go automatically realigns the golf ball's heaviest areas along its equator, so that a less than perfectly balanced golf ball no longer has a tendency to wobble, but rather roll more accurately on the green. The Check-Go will not make an unbalanced golf ball perfectly balanced. What it will do is show you the optimal balance point of each and every ball you put in play."

Have any of you used this device? Or, is it just another gimmick?

[iacas]

I've yet to see a whole lot of proof that balls are so badly balanced that putts are truly affected.
I grant that a putt will be affected, but how much? If a 20-foot putt is affected by an inch, maximum, then who's to say you weren't an inch off to begin with? In other words, perhaps the unbalanced ball helps you make a putt.
Dave Pelz sells a spinner thing too, and he's the putting/short game master (to some).
I've heard smart people say that they've drawn the line on the ball, put the thing in, and spin it around again and the line goes right back to where it was, so the ball must be slightly unbalanced.

I don't own one of the spinners, but I'm not really one to mark my balls up with a big ugly line all the way around. I think it looks bad.

I don't see a whole lot of PGA Tour pros with big ugly lines around their ball, though I know of a few LPGA pros that do it (and they may just be drawing the line, not balancing).

At 10,000 RPM, I think that even a very, very small imbalance will show up.

Incidentally, you can check the balance of your balls yourself. Get some soap, a bunch of salt, and a cup of water. Salt the water until the balls float, and put a little soap in to reduce surface tension. Dunk a ball and spin it around. Let it settle. Take a Sharpie and touch the top of the ball to make a mark. Let it dry, then dunk and spin it again - the mark should be at the top of the ball again, and when you putt, the mark should be on top again (leaving the heavy spot at the bottom so it rotates end over end when you putt).

[MJonGolf]

I did find a comparative review of spin-balanced golf balls using the Technasonic Check-Go. It can be found at Golf Club Review (http://www.golfclubreview.com/spin_balanced_balls.htm).

[iacas]

I did find a comparative review of spin-balanced golf balls using the Technasonic Check-Go. It can be found at Golf Club Review (http://www.golfclubreview.com/spin_balanced_balls.htm).
Quick quote from that article:

A player with a poor stroke may never realize much benefit from the use of balanced balls on the green, but a good putter should be able to reduce his handicap by close to a stroke with careful and sustained use of balance-oriented balls. If he is also adept at using the alignment lines on the ball to aim his putts, he may save substantially more than a stroke around.
My problem with those things is that they draw a big ugly line around the ball. If I could find a system that'd let me draw only a small line, I'd be much much more willing to go for it.

[MJonGolf]

I hear what you are saying. I'm not a great fan of marking up or adding anything to equipment. I call it the ugly factor. If there was only a more subtle way...

[mizunoman]

I got a ball spinner midway through last season after reading the review on golf club review.com (which seems to have gone dormant?).

After reading the review the idea of a flywheel like effect helping to keep a ball on line seemed to make sense and I decided that even if it didn't work the alignment aid would help. I bought a spinner and I have been using spin balanced balls ever since.

My handicap was in the 12-14 range when I started using them and reached a low of 5.9 in a 2-3 month span. Once it got down there I decided I might never be able to justify a set of forged irons again so I bought a set of Mizuno MP30's near the end of the season. My GHIN has climbed up to 7.3 (but the winter rust is coming off as I just shot a PR 74 at my home course last Friday).

The spinner certainly didn't account for all the strokes I shaved but I've become a much better putter with them. I used to look at anything in the 10-20 foot range as a lag, now I'm looking to make them. I swear the putts roll truer longer - I like to die the ball into the hole and I find the balls tend to still hold the line as they start to slow down.

Think of a putt that has a lot of break - if you hit it too easy it takes a lot of the break - the same applies with the unbalanced ball - its in the last foot when the ball is dieing that the heavy part will pull it off line just a bit - if its rolling with the heavy part rolling down the line it won't tug the ball off as easily.

The review also mentioned the possible benefits off the tee - if nothing else the line helps me with alignment on the tee. However what I've found to be very interesting is that when I reach my ball after a good tee shot 90% of the time the line is right where it was on the tee (i.e. pointing down the fairway).

As for putting ugly lines on your ball it is pretty easy to feather a line that just skims the top of the dimples when it's spinning. I fill in the line by hand (kind of like connecting the dots) so that its very visible but you wouldn't have to do that. Even the dark lines I make tend to lighten up during play. One benefit I didn't anticipate is that often times you can see where your strinking the ball off the tee as the line on the ball often leaves a mark on the clubface. You can see where on the clubface your making contact and you can see if your coming through with the toe down, up or flat depending on the angle of the line on the face.

I've re-spun balls and the lines almost always show up at the same spot and even after playing several rounds with them the line often doesn't change. Sometimes though the new line will be off by a significant amount which makes me think the cover layer might be slipping a little each time the ball is hit... just a thought I had..

I guess the ultimate validation came when not 1 but 2 of my playing partners bought spinners. Let me know if you have any questions...

[sevenfourate]

No-one here obviously remembers the "hype" over the Wilson "True" golf balls then.......and the counter displays in Pro-shops with a Wilson "balanced" ball and two or three other balls from different manufactures in a salt-solution, which you could shake-up like a christmas snow-globe and watch the Wilson return to the same postion time and time again,whilst the others came to rest randomly in different positions showing there unbalance ?

Never took off anyway !

Be interesting if Titleist did the same thing,to see if the idea really took-off ....................... ????????

[sevenfourate]

QUOTE MIZUNOMAN:

"what I've found to be very interesting is that when I reach my ball after a good tee shot 90% of the time the line is right where it was on the tee (i.e. pointing down the fairway)"

Are you being serious ????? !!!!!! After travelling upto 350 yards,carrying through the air,landing,bouncing and running through a relatively uneven surface the ball finishes at rest 90% of the time still balanced.......

With all due respect i find that seriously hard to believe.Is your post a sales pitch by any chance ?

[mizunoman]

I might be guilty of a slight exageration but I have no affiliation with the Ball spinner maker in any way shape or form! I work at a govt R&D lab and I research the crap out of stuff I buy so you can take it or leave it as far as I'm concerned!

The thing worked for me simple as that! I thought I'd share my experience but I guess I'll have to be more careful next time. I can tell your an extreme skeptic and your right its probably purely a placebo effect at work. I'm sure it had absolutely nothing to do with me suddenly dropping my handicap by 6-7 strokes in a relatively short time after having played at the same level for a number of years. My one hope is that some day you encounter a golfer with a line all the way around his ball and goofy smile on his face and when you do I hope you decide to play for a little change :-)

Even though my integrity has been challenged I'd say yes on 9 out of 10 good tee shots (those I don't pull left) I'll find the ball still oriented the way it was on the tee. If I hit it off line then no, but when I hit it down the targe line then yes. Maybe its 8 out of 10 but its what I've observed. Now maybe a good test would be for you to mark a ball without a spinner (just for the sake of alignment) and see if you find it in the same orientation after you've hit it straight down the fairway - maybe even unbalanced balls exhibit this behavior?

When I put a nice stroke on a putt the line remains a nice tight black line as the ball rolls towards the hole (I've even had guys in tourney's comment on it). When I jerk the putter face the ball starts to look like a beach ball as it rolls away from me ... and away from the cup!

BTW thanks for the vote of confidence in my length off the tee but I seldom hit a drive more than about 250. If I really catch it pure and the placebo effect is in full force I might get it out to 280 or 290 (with a tailwind).

If your a trusting soul send me a sleeve of balls and I'll spin them for you and send them back and you can decide for yourself.

As for the Wilson True golf ball they're pretty difficult to balance in the spinner because they are made not to have any heavy spots. As a result its difficult to find the same "equalibrium" point so you might end up with lines all over your ball. Other balls tend to reach equalibrium quickly and once you mark the ball on its equator (i.e. when the heaviest point works it way to the side via centrifical force) you can put the ball back in the spinner with the line pointed perpendicular to its balanced position and within seconds it will orient itself.

[Rafcin]

[list=1]
...I don't see a whole lot of PGA Tour pros with big ugly lines around their ball...

Remember the close-up of Tiger's chip-in on #16 @ the Masters ? :-D
I don't think he's spinning it (except with his wedges!) , I think he uses it as an alignment tool. Bottom like - he's just trying to copy me and bought himself the $8 LineMeUp (http://www.golfaroundtheworld.com/linem2.htm) " thingy ;-)