Do Pros use the same balls we do???

[TempoIsKey]

I thought they did. If you go to the last page of the " Steve Stricker swing" thread, there is some info that sort of claims that the pros don't use "off the shelf balls" Anybody, Bueller??

[Shindig]

I thought they did. If you go to the last page of the " Steve Stricker swing" thread, there is some info that sort of claims that the pros don't use "off the shelf balls" Anybody, Bueller??

Well, they don't go into the pro shop, throw down their credit card, and pick up a dozen Nike Ones before each round. And some of them can request a particular year's make and model from the manufacturer, which we can't.

If you hear that such-and-such pro plays the Pro V1, for example, I think it means he probably gets some large number of these from Titleist whenever he requests them. Some guys use a different one each hole, or every other hole, or whatever. Others, like Nick Watney, tend to use only one per round if they can help it. If you play Pro V1s, and all of a sudden your new next-door neighbor is on the PGA Tour and he also plays those, and he gives you a box he gets from Titleist, I'm pretty sure you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. One exception is if a professional plays with prototype balls. Tiger used to do this. J.P. Hayes was testing prototypes when a stray found its way into his bag, and then into play at Q-School last year. He put it into play for one hole by accident, and the resulting disqualification cost him his chance at a 2009 TOUR Card.

[kafka01]

Every piece of equipment has to be approved by R&A; or the USGA - so pro´s just cant use "secret" balls - they would be disqualified.

Here you can search for conforming balls: http://www.usga.org/ConformingGolfBa..._golf_ball.asp
If you search for Pro V1 you might come across markings you never seen before, and i honestly cant say, what these markings mean, but, if you see a Pro V1 on television, that is labeled like the one you play, it is, and it has to be the same ball.

One pro told me once, that during the production process they scan for "prefect" balls (meaning 100%) and give those to the pros, and the other stuff (lets call it 98% perfection) goes out to the public - thats the only rumor i ever heared on this topic, no idea if its true, but its still the same ball. And honestly, it doesnt make any difference to us.

[skates87]

I know Nota begay III uses a custom ball, saw it last year at q-school at my course. he also so played a bunch of rounds with my dad last winter and was telling him about it. the dimples on his callaway ball were much shallower then the standard ball. and he got throught q-school last year using it so take it as you may

[ND Fan]

First of all generally speaking any custom ball for a particular pro is a proto type. No company has a special ball for a handfull of players. Many manufacturers hold back balls for a couple years and players can request the pro v1 2008 ball until the stock is eliminated. The term issued has been grossly over used and misunderstood. Tour issue usually means it was built to that players exacting specifications nothing more more and no magic factory spits out tour issue clubs that are any different than what can be had by the general public. There are a couple exceptions that I know of, Vijay has some ridiculously open faced driver that he uses and I have heard some ping players didn't care for the crescent moon decal on top of ping woods but the heads themselves were the same. Please don't be fooled that tour issue means anything more than it was set up for a better player than you, that's about all it means and I know exactly what i am talking about on this subject.

[Laxplayer201092]

First of all generally speaking any custom ball for a particular pro is a proto type. No company has a special ball for a handfull of players. Many manufacturers hold back balls for a couple years and players can request the pro v1 2008 ball until the stock is eliminated. The term issued has been grossly over used and misunderstood. Tour issue usually means it was built to that players exacting specifications nothing more more and no magic factory spits out tour issue clubs that are any different than what can be had by the general public. There are a couple exceptions that I know of, Vijay has some ridiculously open faced driver that he uses and I have heard some ping players didn't care for the crescent moon decal on top of ping woods but the heads themselves were the same. Please don't be fooled that tour issue means anything more than it was set up for a better player than you, that's about all it means and I know exactly what i am talking about on this subject.

Not completly...

Take my sandwedge and hit it compared to an off the rack wedge and tell me there is not a difference. There is and anyone who has any feel can tell you this. Also there are differences in some of the heads, goosens soft cast and reduced r7tp irons, phils hybrids, and I have. Tour issue r7 that is rediculously low spin. Mostbof the guys I play with can't even get it off the ground beyond a knuckle ball, where as the otr r7 had a good deal of spin. Tour issue can mean alot more customization than just BEng bent open or having decals not pu on

[plugged]

Tour issue usually means it was built to that players exacting specifications

I am assuming that you mean as long as those specifications are within R&A; and USGA guidelines, correct? And if so, how do they test each customized ball to make sure it conforms?

[ND Fan]

Not completly...

Trust me everything you state here is true but those changes are a result of manipulation, sometimes it's weight sometimes its something else but the head and the raw materials are the same. Some custom grind work with wedges but the original base of every club every tour player uses is right off the assembly line just like what you can buy. Is a tour head weighted differently? Most likely as all off the rack clubs are designed to help joe 25 handicap get the ball airborne. I had a sister who was on tour and have known several of these guys personally. I've hit their stuff and played with what many call tour issue equipment. There is some serious tweaking going on but 99% of tour stuff is off the rack specifically tuned per player. There is no magic factory that does this stuff, but the tour van is damned close.

[shankapotamus]

Trust me everything you state here is true but those changes are a result of manipulation, sometimes it's weight sometimes its something else but the head and the raw materials are the same. Some custom grind work with wedges but the original base of every club every tour player uses is right off the assembly line just like what you can buy. Is a tour head weighted differently? Most likely as all off the rack clubs are designed to help joe 25 handicap get the ball airborne. I had a sister who was on tour and have known several of these guys personally.

What pro let you hit his clubs and use his balls??

[kafka01]

There is no magic factory that does this stuff, but the tour van is damned close.

Personally i have no idea what a club making/forging factory looks from the inside, but you can be pretty certain, that the producers will give their top playing professionals maybe one more quality check and an additional forging step than what goes out to the public - according to the news below. But there is no need to worry - if you are willing to spend a fortune on a set of irons (and i´m not talking 2k/set here), you will get the same production process that Tiger got. Of course, if you go out on the course then and shoot 10 over with these clubs, well, you get the idea...

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...refer=amsports

Tiger Woods, the world's top-ranked golfer, who is paid about $20 million a year to endorse Nike equipment, said at a news conference last month that he never has used Miura clubs or met Miura himself. Beth Gast, a spokeswoman for Nike Inc.'s golf division, said in an e-mail that Miura never has made clubs for the Beaverton, Oregon-based company. Miura said in an e-mail that he has made wedges for Nike, and his company's Web site says that in the late 1990s he forged irons for Woods under the Titleist name, then a Woods sponsor. Miura, who won't comment directly about Woods, made 500 sets of limited-edition Tiger Woods Titleist models exclusively for the Japanese market in the late 1990s, Holowaty said.