Pros: Good spin on solid shots
Cons: Driver distance
I was motivated to try the Q-Star because of the wedge spin ratings it got from the 2012 Golf Digest Hot List. It was the first Srixon ball I tried.
It definitely did spin, but spin had to be earned. I think that it stopped as quickly as the most spinny mid-priced balls I've used, but only when it was hit solidly. It stopped much less impressively when struck less well. On the one end I had a couple of great full wedge approaches onto very soft greens that rolled out barely an inch. On the other end I had many somewhat decent approach shots onto harder greens that ran 12 feet past the pin. I stopped a 7-iron in 12 feet on a medium-hard green, but had several full wedge shots run out 15 feet on shots that I'm pretty sure would have stopped faster with other balls. (Maybe two-piece balls are harder to spin without solid contact.) I split the difference between these two conditions for my spin rating associated with this review.
I was a little disappointed with distance off the driver. I'm not sure why, but I wasn't getting the same height in the ball's trajectory and I lost some distance off my average driving distance while using this ball. Maybe I wasn't getting sufficient spin or launch angle with it. The rest of my clubs seemed unaffected. (Disclaimer: I know wasn't driving very well around the time I used this ball, so it's possible that my loss of distance was just a swing fault. Didn't seem like it, but it's kind of hard to imagine a two-piece ball not providing suitable distance.)
It definitely feels like a two-piece ball. Not quite as soft as the Bridgestone e5 (another mid-priced two-piece ball), but nothing like a range rock either.
Overall it was a decent ball, but I wasn't thrilled with the performance I experienced with it.
It definitely did spin, but spin had to be earned. I think that it stopped as quickly as the most spinny mid-priced balls I've used, but only when it was hit solidly. It stopped much less impressively when struck less well. On the one end I had a couple of great full wedge approaches onto very soft greens that rolled out barely an inch. On the other end I had many somewhat decent approach shots onto harder greens that ran 12 feet past the pin. I stopped a 7-iron in 12 feet on a medium-hard green, but had several full wedge shots run out 15 feet on shots that I'm pretty sure would have stopped faster with other balls. (Maybe two-piece balls are harder to spin without solid contact.) I split the difference between these two conditions for my spin rating associated with this review.
I was a little disappointed with distance off the driver. I'm not sure why, but I wasn't getting the same height in the ball's trajectory and I lost some distance off my average driving distance while using this ball. Maybe I wasn't getting sufficient spin or launch angle with it. The rest of my clubs seemed unaffected. (Disclaimer: I know wasn't driving very well around the time I used this ball, so it's possible that my loss of distance was just a swing fault. Didn't seem like it, but it's kind of hard to imagine a two-piece ball not providing suitable distance.)
It definitely feels like a two-piece ball. Not quite as soft as the Bridgestone e5 (another mid-priced two-piece ball), but nothing like a range rock either.
Overall it was a decent ball, but I wasn't thrilled with the performance I experienced with it.
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