Bridgestone B330 vs. Titleist Pro V1x vs. Taylormade TP Red

[jmurdock]

I need everyone's help. I have been playing the Pro V1x as long as its been out, but recently I have experimented with the B330 and the TP Red. I dont see a lot of differences between the three, but wanted your opinions on which ball you like and why. Distance, feel, spin (around the green and off the driver) should all be addressed. Thanks

[geezer]

I may be mistaken, but doesn't the V1x 'correspond' to the TP Black (as opposed to TP Red)?

I would have thought you might have noticed a softer ball in the TP Red than in the B330 of the V1x.

I can't speak from experience, as I haven't tried any of the above in earnest (I've hit them but not played them per say).

[NM Golf]

Be careful asking too much advice as picking a ball is an individual decision. You have to see which one works best for you. When selling balls at the golf shop I always tell people to try several and use the cheapest ball that you like.

In my personal experience there is no other ball besides Titleist. I have tried them all, at least all the premium balls, and the Prov1x is the only ball that gives me a complete package of what I want a ball to do. A close second would be the Taylormade black. The TM ball plays very close to the ProV but doesn't have the durability. At the prices I pay for them I need to get more than 9 holes out of a golf ball. I have heard that the new version of the TM ball is more durable but have not tried it for myself.

As far as the other premium balls I will list my dislikes vs. the ProV1x

Bridgestone- too hard
Nike- both versions way too hard and the platinum spins too much
Callaway- Both versions spin too much and are shorter off the tee.
srixon- both versions too hard
TayloMade- Not durable enough (they may have addressed this issue in the new version) red spins too much

Again these are my personal findings and could very easily differ from what you or anyone else feels.

[jmurdock]

I have tried all of these. I was just wanting other people's opinions

[MrSandman]

Big fan of the TP. But I think TP Black is the one more similar to the V1x.

Haven't played the Bridgestone yet. The b330 is like the V1x and the TP Black, the b330S is like the TP Red and the Pro V1.

Srixon makes a Urethane cover ball too. Haven't heard much about them.

[jmurdock]

TP Red is more like the Pro V1x. It spins less than the Black.

From the website: TP Black » Advanced cast Thermoset Urethane cover promotes higher spin off the short-irons and around the green while also delivering supreme shear-resistance

[justinp]

I've only played the B330-S and the Pro V1 in terms of this discussion. I actually thought I hit the B330-S longer than I did the Pro V. I'm not a high spin player (ie. you won't see me throw one 5 or 6 feet past the stick and suck it back) so I can't really speak to that. I can get both balls to stick pretty well, but I don't spin the cover off of any ball.

I thought they both felt great off the putter. Nice and soft. My only issue with the B330-S over the Pro V was durability. The cover of the B330-S seemed to cut far easier than the Pro V.

[justinp]

  NM Golf said:

Be careful asking too much advice as picking a ball is an individual decision. You have to see which one works best for you. When selling balls at the golf shop I always tell people to try several and use the cheapest ball that you like.

Just out of curiosity, what have you hard about the Top-Flite Gamer? I saw it received a gold medal on GD's hotlist. I like to play the balls like the Pro V and B330, but I can't afford to spend $45 a dozen all season long. I usually get a couple boxes of those and when they are gone or scuffed too bad to use I end up switching to something a little less expensive (usually something like the NXT Tour or the Bridgestone e6+).

I know this is a bit off the topic of the thread...

[iacas]

  geezer said:

I may be mistaken, but doesn't the V1x 'correspond' to the TP Black (as opposed to TP Red)?

Correct.

V1x - B330 - TP Black V1 - B330S - TP Red

  jmurdock said:

TP Red is more like the Pro V1x. It spins less than the Black.

Wrong.

  jmurdock said:

From the website: TP Black » Advanced cast Thermoset Urethane cover promotes

It doesn't say "higher spin than the TP Red." It means both "higher spin than off the mid-irons and driver" and also "higher spin than last year's model."

The TP Black is the equivalent of the V1x - a lower spinning, higher launching ball. Added reading: TM Introduces 2008 Ball Lineup , TP Ball Review (the 2007 models)

[mikelaw]

tp red kicks major butt.

[jmurdock]

Thanks Eric. I was confused on the TP Red and Black. I have heard different things from many different people.

[Sandwedge74]

I love the TP black but my only gripe is that they seem to cut up pretty easily which is annoying for what you pay for them. Would the proV1X but a more durable ball?? where is does bridgestone sit as far the durability factor is concerned??

[J.P.]

jmurdock,

I too have wondered about this.

I tried the Pro V1 a while back, and found that for me, it simply curved too much off of my long clubs. Be it an intentional draw that hooked too much or a loose swing/open face slicing into trouble.

The Pro V1x curves left and right LESS than the Pro V1; could rephrase this to say it is less workable, but also less penal on poor shots. Problem is, it takes a high amount of club head speed to maximize V1x potential. I always thought at my 100mph swing speed, this ball was not getting compressed well, but since i use it when its hot out here, it worked ok.

SO, I took the Bridgestone Challenge! Of course they set me up with a Bridgestone ball, in particular, the B330s. They said for me, I was getting more ball speed with it than with the e5's. Still, I was concerned because as has been stated, B330s competes directly with Pro V1 - I was worried about that excess side spin taking my draw into a hook and getting me in trouble.

My concerns were unfounded. I could not be happier with the B330s. I am hitting it farther than I did the V1x, but probably due to getting it to compress more. (it may not be the case for those swinging at 110 etc) It does not curve as much on bad swings as the Pro V1 did to me. It is awesome in the wind, and is sensational around the greens. It will easily spin back on the greens similarly to Pro V1 - (not always a good thing) and its durablity is fine. (just played 18 yesterday with one ball)

Lastly, the reason I went to Bridgestone was on the recommendation of Hot Stix golf. They wanted to get my driver spin down, and said the B330s would take off a couple hundred rpm's and so improve driver launch dynamics.

Hot Stix also suggested the Tyalormade Black to accomplish the same, though I have not tried it.

This is only my personal experience and not intended to be a commercial.

Good luck!

[gumpy]

  iacas said:

Correct.

I disagree based on the website and personal experiance...

Red is for players who spin it too much. Ie high spin players. Yes it's softer but still spins less. Revisit the site or the interview with the TM ball designer. The tour players wanted this cause they found it difficult to attack back pins with the high spin balls. Therefore, red = pro v1x Black is for the lower spin player that needs more spin. V1 = black

[RX Phoenix]

I play both TP Red and Black and have new boxes of both in front of me.

The Black is for players who don't spin the ball as much, and therefore could benefit from a HIGHER spinning ball.

The Red is for players who already generate a lot of spin and don't need as much spin in their ball.

The Black will give you a higher launch trajectory because of more spin.


TP BLACK = HIGHER SPIN similar to the ProV1

TP RED = LESS SPIN similar to the ProV1x

Both balls give superior performance in the wind, both mark up quite a bit.

Great golf balls priced $5 less than the ProV's.

[iacas]

  gumpy said:

Red is for players who spin it too much.

No, and...

  gumpy said:

Therefore, red = pro v1x

... no.

  RX Phoenix said:

The Black is for players who don't spin the ball as much, and therefore could benefit from a HIGHER spinning ball.

Wrong.

  RX Phoenix said:

The Black will give you a higher launch trajectory because of more spin.

That's not why, no. The black launches higher because it's a bit firmer. Ever hit a range ball? They go higher too. Why? Because they're firmer. The balls which get more spin and are softer tend to launch lower.

  RX Phoenix said:

TP BLACK = HIGHER SPIN similar to the ProV1 TP RED = LESS SPIN similar to the ProV1x

Still wrong.

I'm sorry, but your "experience" likely isn't going to match up the designer of the golf balls telling us things, and us hearing the same things from other company representatives. The TP Red launches lower than the TP Black and with a bit more spin. The TP Black launches higher than the TP Red and with a bit less spin. The Pro V1 launches lower than the V1x and with a bit more spin. The Pro V1x launches higher than the V1 and with a bit less spin. TP Black = Pro V1x TP Red = Pro V1 TaylorMade has not suddenly FLIPPED which corresponds to what. Red has always been the higher-spinning ball (just like in the old days when 90 compression balls were red, but 100 compression were black). Titleist is the one that flipped that around eight years ago when the Pro V1 was given black numbers and the V1x red numbers. What's written on the boxes - "for higher spin players" and "for lower spin players" was something we made a point of asking TaylorMade about earlier this year. The line does not speak to what players WANT to get to, but what they ARE. I play the lower spinning ball (V1x), so I'm a "low-spin" player. In fact, I addressed this very concern already . We specifically asked questions about these because one piece of PR that they sent us was very confusing and contradicted everything else they'd written. The way they've continued to word things makes it very confusing, and they're doing themselves a dis-service by not listing the ball performance relative to each other. But the above, it's not based on my "experience" (though my experience backs it up) - it's straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak. I'm merely relaying the information, though again, "in my experience" the information is correct.

[wtd]

  iacas said:

That's not why, no. The black launches higher because it's a bit firmer. Ever hit a range ball? They go higher too. Why? Because they're firmer. The balls which get more spin and are softer tend to launch lower.

At the risk of further stirring up a hornets nest...that's a bit of a broad generalization that isn't completely accurate (at least not in one specific case that I'm aware of).

I'll stay well clear of the TM Black vs. Red debate since I only know what I've read from TaylorMade (and been told by the "pro" at my local golf galaxy), all of which is, shall I say, inconclusive. All that said, if you look at the characteristics of Nike's premium One series; The Platinum is the softer, higher spinning, higher launching of the two. The Black, despite it's firmer feel is lower spinning, and provides for lower initial launch conditions. I've gathered this information not only from the Nike site, but also from fairly extensive discussions with my local Nike Rep, during a demo day event where I was hitting Nike balls into a launch monitor. This was all precipitated by the reps observation that I needed to bring my launch angle down. My point, for what it's worth; harder doesn't always mean higher.

[iacas]

  wtd said:

that's a bit of a broad generalization that isn't completely accurate (at least not in one specific case that I'm aware of).

It's not a broad generalization. Because of the way you hit the golf ball (downward motion), a ball that spins more and is softer will generally launch lower. It remains on the clubface a bit longer and is thus affected more by the way the clubhead moves (since drivers have a loft of 9.5 degrees or up, usually, this also applies to shots hit with a bit of an upswing. Nobody catches the ball on a 10 degree upswing).

  wtd said:

All that said, if you look at the characteristics of Nike's premium One series; The Platinum is the softer, higher spinning, higher launching of the two. The Black, despite it's firmer feel is lower spinning, and provides for lower initial launch conditions.

According to the Nike reps I've talked with, you're wrong. It's fairly sad, then, that their reps don't get that right, but I've seen reps get all sorts of things wrong, so it's not entirely surprising.

Think about it this way: why would anyone want a high-launch, high spin ball? Balloon city. Also, why would anyone want a low-launch, low-spin ball? It makes no sense. There's a reason "higher launch, lower spin" and "lower launch, higher spin" go together, regardless of whether the ball is from Nike, Titleist, TaylorMade, Callaway, Bridgestone, etc. P.S. The "Nike site" doesn't talk much, if at all, about launch angles. If you found information on that, you spent a lot more time there than I just did. And most golfers aren't going to notice the differences between the two balls in terms of launch angle. If you're truly a 20 handicap, quite frankly, I'm not sure why you'd be getting fit with these balls anyway.