Durable Tour Ball

[cipher]

I am looking for a durable tour ball.  Last season I primarily played with the Penta ball.  Love the ball and how it performs, but one full wedge shot and the ball is done for me(see photo).  I have been using non-conforming wedges and and am switching to the Vokey SM4's this season.  That could have been part of the problem I guess. I started buying the practice balls since they were much cheaper for my practice rounds.  Still though, it is very irritating to have a ball the only lasts 2-3 holes.

Being from the Midwest I have not been able to play much golf this winter, except for a trip to the south this past week.  I ended up finding a tour yellow Srixon Z Star and decided to give it a try.  I did not have my regular sand wedge with, but I could not damage that thing.

Has anyone found the same high durability standards of the Srixon balls compared to other tour balls?  Could it just have been the wedges from last season and not the ball that were the problem?  With a fairly good swing speed I need a ball with a nice low trajectory and can handle being compressed.  What are you guys using out there that is durable for higher swing speeds?

[AndyC]

If your looking for a ball with a lower trajectory I would suggest going with the Srixon XV ball.  It's similar to the ProV1x so it'll be longer off the tee with less spin, giving you a lower trajectory.  It's a great ball for someone looking for a tour performing ball that has a good clubhead speed.  I played college golf and all we were able to get were ProV1 or the x's so I have about 10 dozen x's at home sitting there because I switched to the Srixon XV.

As far as scratching the ball, I had that same issue with Callaway Jaws wedges.  I now have Mizunos conforming MPT11's and the scratching has been reduced.  Theres nothing more frustrating than getting out a new ball and having having the cover of the ball in 50% of your wedges grooves!  There goes another $4! :)  I would recommend getting a sleeve of the XV's and trying them out.  Good luck!

[cipher]

Thanks, yeah they seem like a nice durable tour ball.  I will try the XV's.  I have heard those Jaws wedges are nasty on balls as well.

[TourSpoon]

I had the same issues when my wedges were new and thought I was grating cheese...

Someone sent me a few dozen Nike 20XI Xs to try. They are definitely harder for me to compress than a Pro V1X (103-105 ss), they have a lower trajectory, and they are virtually indestructible. These are tour level balls and can spin, but I think they are just outside of my ss range.

[AndyC]

Good point on the s.s... what swing speed do you have?  You mentioned it was pretty good but, in my experience in the golf industry, everyones version of whats pretty good is different. :)  No offense I hope, I just was wondering to make sure my recommendation is accurate.

[cipher]

My swing speed is somewhere between 105-110mph.

[AndyC]

Yea... no worries then.  I'd definitely try the XV.  Honestly, I don't notice much difference in playability or distance than the ProV1x but it's definitely more durable.  Take care!

[cipher]

Have not tested it in a while though.  I will test it again shortly.  I believe the XV's are like a 105+ SS ball or something like that, correct?  The XI's must be similar.

[cipher]

Thanks guys I will try both balls out.  Thanks for the help!

[Domenic]

definitely 20XI-S, or X

[TourSpoon]

Originally Posted by cipher

Have not tested it in a while though.  I will test it again shortly.  I believe the XV's are like a 105+ SS ball or something like that, correct?  The XI's must be similar.

I have not problem with the Pro V1X swinging my 103-105, but I am of the opinion that it is not enough to get the most out of the 20XI X. You should have no problem with any of those balls topping out at 110. I literally only used one of the Nikes for 18 holes today and it could probably do more (and the same for the last 2 rounds). The Pro V1X is good for about 9.

[BuckeyeNut]

I tend to hack up proV's too......

In my experience, the Nike Tour Ones are pretty durable........

[AndyC]

TourSpoon, just curious... how do you like that futura?  I had the original Phantom center-shaft and putted well for about a week then it went to heck.

[TourSpoon]

Well it's a mid (belly) version and my 2 round average is equal to my whole last year's average.  So in 2 weeks I am equal to my 20+ year methods.

[AndyC]

My last putter move was to a belly as well.  It's an Odyssey but it seems to be a lot easier... especially inside 5 feet.  Is this your first belly as well?  I have 2 buddies that are trying to make it on the mini tours and they say that there are alot of players moving that way.  There must be something to it.

[jamo]

I was very impressed with the durability of the Bridgestone Tour B330 balls [URL=http://thesandtrap.com/b/balls/bridgestone_tour_b330_series_ball_review]when I tested them[/URL]. They last much longer than the ProV1 and the Penta, and are about on par with the Nikes (I haven't tried the new Srixons).

[Chief Broom]

I recently bought a sleeve of the Srixon Z Star XV in the tour yellow to test out because having played with a few other people using the new style fluorescent yellow balls I was impressed with how visible they were.  Sure enough the visibility couldn't be beat.  In fact I played that first round with one ball.  Second round, same ball.  At this point I wanted to see how far this could go.  When I finally lost that ball I was 3 holes into it's seventh round!  At that point the ball had several scuffs in it, but I was really surprised at how it was still in pretty good shape.  Very little sign of wedge shredding to speak of at all.  The performance of the ball is good.  I don't get the same kind of check up out of it that I can get from a Pro V1, but it definitely is a one hop and stop on most iron shots and maybe a foot or so of back spin on full wedges.   I've since bought another sleeve and I'm planning on keeping some in my bag all the time.  Obviously I'm not a golfer who changes out a ball once it gets scuffed or some shredding, but I've never seen a ball with a urethane cover withstand anywhere near the kind of abuse this ball seems capable of taking.

[Laws of Woo]

I'd have to agree with the Z-Stars. Either the Z-Star or the XV, they both hold up great. Although, I've noticed the yellow ones seem to last a little longer than the white, maybe the scuffs just aren't as noticeable or the yellow coating adds durability. There was a thread on another forum where the user played a single tour yellow Z-Star (forget the exact model) for 500 holes, and it looked to be in remarkable shape for that feat. I was fairly pleased with the durability of the Bridgestones 330s too, not quite as tough as the Z-Stars but more so than Pro V1s and Pentas IMO.