Mini Ball Test

[cocky_watchman]

Since it's winter I use pretty much any ball. They all tend to get wet and muddy and plug on landing, so Im not too bothered. Plus i lose normally 1-2 per winter round. I play municipal courses often too and they have lots of leaves! Currently I use Srixon distance balls-they go a long way, but are hard and offer little feel or control. In fact even on wet greens they don't always stop too well-the final straw was a perfectly struck 9 iron that pitched by the hole and rolled of the back-gutted. So Im going to compare a few balls to see whats best for me. Im 14 handicap, I hit it quite far for my handicap, 260-270yards is a standard good drive. My big problem is wedges and putting-so I guess something with a bit more control would be good. The launch monitor at the golf show clocked me at 97 mph for the driver.

Anyway, Titleist NXT tour strikes me as my best bet, Ive liked it when I played it and seems to give enough control for me. Big drawback is cost-£23-£25 per dozen, a little too expensive for me (quick question are pearl grade lake balls a good bet if not just for practice?). So I thought Id try the Srixon offering to start with and compare. They are better priced and what little ive used so far does the job.

I have currently got Srixon Distance, Srixon Soft Feel and Srixon AD333 to try but will try the Z Stars too.

The Srixon distance goes miles and is £9.50 for 12, also very durable 2 piece. But very little control or spin-even for an average player like me I think I need more spin. It feels a little to hard to putt with too, you dont get that 'butter' feel. No A.I.M type line on it either.

The Srixon Soft Feel I have only putted with so far. Its a very soft ball (like it'sname says). Anyone know what it is-is it just the same as the distance ball with a soft cover i.e. 2 piece with soft cover??? I think it is designed for very slow swing speeds. Anyway, seems nice for the green. Again its very cheap at £9.50 for 12. Will test durability, control and distance etc. Has an alignment aid mark.

The Srixon AD333 is the other Srixon ball Im trying. Im surprised how soft it is-I was expecting a rock hard didtance ball but Id say its as soft as the soft feel ball. So great to putt and chip with like the soft feel. I think its marketed as a Titleist NXT Tour equivalent. Im looking forward to playing this. Again its cheap, £14.50 for 12. So this may be exactly the spin, distance, price commbo Im looking for. It has a blue Alignment line!

I'll let you know how they all compare I intend to play all the Srixon balls. And all the Titleist balls. Obviously I hope to stay with the cheaper Srixon if comparison is similar. The other consideration is availability-these two brands are in all the golf shops over here. I was interested in the bridgestone balls, but they are trickier to find-the guy in shop had never heard of the B330RX.

In all honesty for my ability i doubt i would use a top premuim ball like prov1 z-star etc. But I will try to compare. Although I hit quite far and would not bother from distance loss, I worry that it might accentuate side spin.

Will report soon on findings!

[Andro26]

Bridgestone e-series (e6+ in particular) have worked well for me this winter. I normally use a Titleist proV1x because you only live once. I got the bridgestone from a garage sale new in the box. While they are supposed to limit side spin to add control. They are not a cure for a bad slice or hook. You will not be able to work the ball like you would with a ProV or other tour type ball, but you can hit a draw or fade with one. They are pleasing off the wedge and you can get them to stop on the green pretty well. I have an Odyssey insert putter and I have a hard time feeling the difference between a $4 ball and any ball softer than a range rock so I can't really say how soft it is off the flat stick.

[walfice]

Try the taylor made burner tp, it is a 3 piece ball with a soft cover. JJB sell them for £20 doz. Another good deal at the moment is at onlinegolf.co.uk, they have the bridgestone B330 for £20 (usually £30ish), and 2 doz nike power distance straight balls for £13.

[cocky_watchman]

Yeah, good deals. My thinking at the moment is a Titleist NXT tour, Srixon AD333 or even a Bridgestone E6+ are gonna be best for me. They are less spinny so wont accentuate any bad side spin (to be honest I hit it pretty straight at mo anyway) and they are 2 piece distance types-so I wont lose much off the tee. All these balls are easily soft enough for me. My first impression of Srixon AD333 is very good and its so cheap.

There are so many balls to chose from its overwhelming. I think the main thing is to find something that you can hit straight and control, without losing too much distance, feels nice to putt with and STICK WITH IT. In the past Ive always chopped and changed and used balls I found-probably one of the many reasons Im so poor at judging iron distance. Well that and a bad swing! One thing is for sure-Im never paying £35-£40 for a dozen balls!

I wanted to compare the Srixon range and find the TYPE of ball that suits. Then I can get that TYPE of each of the top 5 brands and see which is best. Otherwise you could eand up trying 30 balls!

Its hard to find all but the most common balls in lots of the shops-and they seem to just sell them buy the dozen now. Ball companies should sell a box with 4 sleeves of different balls so you can compare! Sure they could market it as a selling point

[walfice]

Try and get hold of the srixon trispeed ball, It is a 3 piece ball, feels slightly better than the ad333. Direct golf have them for £19.99. To be honest you can't go too far wrong with the ad333 though, I have been using it over the winter. You are right in thinking of sticking with the same ball, that way you know you will get consistency.

[cocky_watchman]

Yeah, I was just looking on Srixon.com. I forgot that one and will try it. As you say its 3 piece and they claim THAT is more like the NXT tour (although I think NXT tour is 2 piece). AD333 is more like NXT extreme they say. Seems softer to me. Ive actually played the Trispeed before-I found one. It was a nice ball, definitely shorter than the Srixon Distance, but you would expect that. I only played it a few holes and then lost it (it was a very wet muddy day!) so I'll have to have a proper play.

I think its easy to get a bit over the top about all these balls! As you say Walfice, trispeed or AD333 you cant go wrong. They are all a lot better than the balls 5, 10 and definitely 20 years ago. So find something decent and just stick to it.

I just don't see the point of mid handicappers who insist on prov1x (must be number 4 too!) and they get all touchy when you question it.

Walfice, thanks for the onlinegolf.co.uk web site-didn't know that one. Just had a quick browse, seems to be some good deals. A little cheaper than american golf and 118. Ill use that in future. I try to avoid JJB!!! Although I did have a swing of a Nike SUMO in their net once. The poor sales lad thought I was gonna buy it, but I just wanted a free swing. I did buy a pair of shorts though. JJB is such a naff store IMHO, I only use it for cheap stuff like shorts, socks etc. They sell great value Asics running trainers too.

Oh, yeah and the Slazenger K1 Speed and FAST irons with free Bald Eagle Balls. Tony Jacklin and Sam Torrance swear by them-but dont use em!!!! ha Ha

[walfice]

I don't usually go to jjb but they used to have a good offer on pro v1 lake balls (2 dozen for £20). Onlinegolf is very good, I have bought lots of stuff from them. Good luck with the ball tests and post your results.

[Pat007]

jjb = Jar-Jar Binks??

[cocky_watchman]

Er, similar. Its a general sports store that sells everything to do with sport. They are a jack of all trades master of none. Not specialist or knowledgable. Kind of a big bargain sports shop. They have tons of trainers and clothes. Exercise machines, footballs, all sorts. Of late they seem to be getting into golf. Always advertsing crapy Slazenfer gear. With comedy infomercials-Kenny Dalglish (best soccer player ever) even holes a bunker shot first time with the 'Handy Sandy' what a legend. Wigan Athletic play soccer at the JJB stadium. I dont know, there is just something tacky about the store, plus they always try and get me to sign up for a JJB credit card-NO MEANS NO, no I dont want any socks and NO I DONT WANT WAX FOR MY TRAINERS!

If anyone from JJB happens to be visiting this forum-offer a box of golf balls (decent quality-see start of thread! then I will sign up for a JJB credit card

[cocky_watchman]

So went out on the course and hit a load of each ball today-found the following.

Firstly there is very little difference between Srixon AD333, Srixon Soft Feel and Distance.

For softness it goes best first........soft feel-AD333-Distance

Stoping a 9 iron from 140 yards went best first....soft feel-AD333-distance

All seemed equally straight. I was hitting it pretty straight. All seemed to have relatively similar flight although you could tell difference. The AD333 maybe had a little lower flight. The soft feel a higher flight

Distance went distance-soft feel-AD333. Thye soft feel was noticeably longer for me than the AD333 and seemed to stop a lot quicker. In fact it seemed a nice ball.

To remind you my swing speed was measured at 97mph for a driver. Id guess it was a little lower than that.

Im actually surprised the Srixon Soft Feel proved better than the AD333 for me. Shame as I only have 3 new Soft Feels yet I just bought a dozen AD333-oops.

All in all I got to say you just cant notice that much of a difference in distance, straightness and stop. The main difference is between the distance and soft feel/.AD333. The distance is a horribly hard ball, both the soft feel and AD333 feel more like premium balls.

If you are on a budget for £9.50 per dozen the Srixon Soft Feel is a great choice.