range balls

[kekoa]

How many yards would you say is lost using range balls vs. your normal Pro-V, Nike Platinum etc.

My range has really good balls and i'm finding that I lose about 10 yards on the range...

Anyone else?

[golf_junkie27]

Is that number an average or are you referring to irons?

I don't see a huge disparity, maybe about five to seven yards with irons. (Using an average range ball) New range balls, honestly, I don't see the difference.

I hardly hit my driver at the range because I hardly hit it on the course.

[McGolf-Doggie]

  golf_junkie27 said:

Is that number an average or are you referring to irons?

Right now, I'm calling them range rocks as opposed to range balls, because they are starting to freeze hard, and feel like stones when you hit them.

Anywhere from 5 to 10. Sometimes I get my distances a bit confused when going back to the range, and wondering why I am short, compared with the course, and then I remember it's range rocks. Driver, I am so inconsistent, range rocks make little difference sometimes. But when the ground is dry or frozen -- that makes an awful lot more difference.

[michaeljames92]

Thing is, about half of your bucket at our country club range are actually good balls. In a typical bucket of 50 you'd get wilson's, prov1's, b330s, and of course the srixon range ball.

[Stacey_E]

Range rocks...haha...that sit outside in the cold are definately going to carry 10 yards or more less than a good warm ball in the winter. One thing I've always noticed, winter or summer, is that off the wedge most range balls actually hit FARTHER for me anyways. This makes sense to me. They spin less than a premium ball which keeps the launch down a little. Plus think about the high launch, low spin scenario you want in a driver...I always hit range balls 5-10 yards farther with a wedge.

[microcrayfish]

The pro at the range I go to told me that the range balls go are 10% shorter. I know different ranges have different balls but it seems like a good ballpark figure.

[kfowler]

I go to several different ranges and I find it varies considerably.

[kekoa]

  kfowler said:

I go to several different ranges and I find it varies considerably.

I agree. One local range has balls that can veer right, left, and then right again on an iron shot. Its kind of funny, but embarrasing at the same time. Some of the balls also dive really hard when in flight.

[Henry]

The pro at pur course says that because we have really old range balls they only 80% of the normal distance.

[Uthinkso]

Perhaps the bigger question is, "How can you tell what your losing"? Other than the few yardage markers on the course how can you tell what your losing?

[mirv]

the range near my house is just a bunk range, not really any good upkeep or anything. it's a place where highschool kids go to try to pretend to be happy gilmour. anyway... they've had the same range balls, i think, since they opened about 7 or 8 years ago. all of them look pretty beat up, sometimes two or three of the balls in the bucket will have small cuts. anyway... if i hit a 3 wood just as hard as i possibly can with a ball that looks to be halfway decent, the ball still drops short of the 200 marker, and i KNOW my 3-wood goes at least 230 on the course with a nike or a titleist. basically, i quit trying to determine how far the ball would be going on the course and focus only on whether or not the ball flight is relatively close to what i'm trying for.

however, on one occasion, i had a pretty new looking range ball that i'd found out on the golf course, and i decided to see if there was a difference in distance, so i got the pitching wedge out and gave it about a 3/4 swing with my regular ball, and then the same swing with the range ball. i estimated the difference to be about 7-8 yards.

[M2daRizzle]

some range balls are designed from the manufacturer to be limited flight balls. I went to a range one time that had 2 types of balls and one went normal distances and the other only about 3/4's normal distance.

[McGolf-Doggie]

  Uthinkso said:

Perhaps the bigger question is, "How can you tell what your losing"? Other than the few yardage markers on the course how can you tell what your losing?

Drivers I think are a lot tougher to judge. Most carry I seem to get with range balls is 210-215. Any range ball (someone else's) that carries beyond 220 seems to need to a lot more swing speed than I have.

As for irons, recently during one ultra-rare foray on to a course, I was fortunate enough to plunk a 5-iron dead level with the 182-yd pin (assuming the card was accurate). The NXT ball made a mark and micro-bounced about 9 inches. (My iron flight is typically high with very little roll.) With a range ball I'd probably be looking at 155 to 165 carry, judging by the same yardage markers at the range.