What Ball Is Everybody Playing?

[Double Mocha Man]

47 minutes ago, chop said:

They were surprised because it was the longest for the biggest hitters. It was 236.45 yards   

I bought a dozen which cost 50 bucks and they were correct. I played 3 rounds with that ball and it is a beast.

Did you average 236 yards?  More?  Less?  What was your average before?

[WillieT]

20 minutes ago, ChetlovesMer said:

Your talking about MyGolfSpy I assume.

They published an article about which ball goes the farthest and which spins the most with their testing. It's all well and good, but I'm inclined to agree more with @arturo28mx. When you really dive into what MGS is saying it's pretty insignificant.

The difference between what they measured with a robot hitting 12 shots with the Titleist PRO1X left dash and your ball, the Bridgeston RXS, is just under 3 yards. 

Can you really see 3 yards on the course? 

I like the MGS articles - but have to agree the minutia of the details is severe hair splitting.  I still remember when they ripped into any ball that is “soft” saying simply “soft is slow”.   So what ball do I play - right now it’s Srixon’s Z-Star XV (second hand) in high vis.  Plays good for me, but then again I can pick up a cheap distance ball and have the same/similar score or a high end TItleist or Bridgestone, etc. as I cannot see three yards of carry distance difference and say it was because I used an inferior or superior ball. 

Edited September 4, 2022 by WillieT
Grammar

[ChetlovesMer]

4 minutes ago, iacas said:

I mean… given a certain set of launch conditions. If you change them, something else would be the top ball.

This is exactly correct. Not only that but I'll bet dollars to donuts that even if they tried to use the same set of launch conditions, they will get different results. 

I've been lucky enough to be able to go to the Taylormade Testing Center and The Titleist Testing Center, both of them stated flatly that they have a very difficult time getting results to repeat even using a robot. Ping has come out on more than one occasion and stated that they put more stock in human testing than in robot testing.

Here's a fun test for you to do next time you get a chance to be on a launch monitor. 

1. Hit at least 15 shots with the same club. 30 is better, but 15 will do. 
2. Then group those shots in the following way. 
3. shots 1,4,7,10,13,16,19,22,25, and 28 are one group. Let's call them Group A.
4. shots 2,5,8,11,14,17,20,23,26,and 29 are another group. Let's call them Group B. 
5. shots 3,6,9,12,15,18,21,24,27,and 30 are another group. Let's call them Group C. 
6. Look at the data for each group. 

I'll tell you what's going to happen. One of the groups will have a significantly longer average. One of the groups will have a significantly tighter dispersion. It might be the same group, but it might not be. At any rate the difference will not be because of the ball you used, or the club you use or even the person swinging the club. 

Here's the best part. If you perform the same test with a robot hitting all the shots you still have one group which will appear better than the rest. The robot's groups will be closer together than yours, but it will still have a better group a middle group and a worst group. 

2 things. 
1 - I'm not saying testing shouldn't be done or that it's invalid. Not so, it's interesting and its a data point. But in real life on real golf courses the differences get much more difficult to manage. 

2 - If you've found a better ball and like it. That's great! Really, play the ball you like. 

[ChetlovesMer]

7 hours ago, WillieT said:

I like the MGS articles 

I like them too. And I agree about the minutia. 

7 hours ago, WillieT said:

I still remember when they ripped into any ball that is “soft” saying simply “soft is slow”.   \

They also went into a huge diatribe about how "Nobody should ever play a matte finish golf ball". Their issue was that while all golf balls loose spin when wet, for some reason the matte finish balls loose a bit more spin when wet. The percentage was small, but it was detectable. They turned it into the difference between making the PGA tour and breaking 100. 

[clarky75]

Normally a Pro V1, but my swing is off, and playing a tough course with lots of water, so right now its Srixon Soft Feel

[Clemsonfan]

I have played the Snell MTB X for years and it is a great ball! I was given a gift card to Golf Galaxy and purchased the Maxfli Tour X golf ball which I have wanted to test. 

[chop]

Maybe so but I've been doing my own test between the ball I've played for 2 years(Bridgestone RXS) and the ProV1X left dash and the left dash is longer, higher flying, and stops better on greens with my irons. The thing is, I hate the hard feel compared to the RXS. Most importantly I am chipping and putting better with the left dash. Distance control is much better.

 

Edited September 20, 2022 by chop

[iacas]

8 minutes ago, chop said:

Swing speed with the same driver used in every test would be a good test.

I disagree. One ball might be longest at a certain launch angle and spin even with the same ball speed over another ball that could be longer if you alter the launch angle and spin.

Etc.

And at the end of the day, all of the golf balls are almost within inches of one another.

[chop]

On 9/3/2022 at 9:31 PM, ChetlovesMer said:

Your talking about MyGolfSpy I assume.

They published an article about which ball goes the farthest and which spins the most with their testing. It's all well and good, but I'm inclined to agree more with @arturo28mx. When you really dive into what MGS is saying it's pretty insignificant.

The difference between what they measured with a robot hitting 12 shots with the Titleist PRO1X left dash and your ball, the Bridgeston RXS, is just under 3 yards. 

Can you really see 3 yards on the course? 

Like some have said, on course testing with a good swing is a different kind of test which I have done and yes I can see that 3 yards. Actually, I am seeing more because with my swing speed and angle of strike the left dash is going higher and straighter than the RXS.

I'm like all players. One day I'm hitting my driver straight, next with a little fade, then with a little draw. I have found the left dash, as advertised, spins less with the driver. In the test on YouTube there was a difference of 31 or 32 yards with the longest ball and the shortest ball out of the 37 balls tested. Unfortunately, they did not show all of the distances of every ball in all 3 swing speeds they used.

I would like to read the test from Mygolfspy because the RXS ball in 2018 was different than the RSX the next year. I saw where the newest RXS was about a yard longer according to Bridgestone I think, but for me the first RXS was firmer and straighter which made it go longer for me. To add to my test, my driver has one of if not the highest MOI number. I use a G400max with a Diamana Blue stiff shaft. 

[ChetlovesMer]

36 minutes ago, chop said:

Unfortunately, they did not show all of the distances of every ball in all 3 swing speeds they used.

They show them all on their webpage. That's where I got the 3 yard number. 👍

[Big Lex]

I like the TM Tour Response this year. I also like the Titleist AVX. The top tier balls are great too, but they cost a little more and I can't see where they help me any. 

I was a GD Hot List panelist for their first few years, and I did ball testing a couple of different ways. For me, it didn't really make any difference. Either premium/top tier ball or the next one down were always fine. In the "better player" and pro testing categories, at least the years I was involved, there were also zero repeatable difference.

[mcanadiens]

Neighbor's dog went nuts the other day. This rolled out of the garage. 

[chop]

On 9/3/2022 at 9:44 PM, Double Mocha Man said:

Did you average 236 yards?  More?  Less?  What was your average before?

I have not measured the yardage really but I'm noticing that I'm hitting it in places that are leaving me closer to greens. I shot a 72 on Wednesday and my best drive of the day was 20 yards from being pin high on a 315 yard par 4. Yes the fairway was dry but there was no wind so yea I was excited. 
I'm also noticing that I am outdriving and staying up with guys that mostly outdrive me which is cool. It's like I have a low spin driver and I don't. The other thing I like is this ball spins nicely on shots to the green (irons and pitching), just not as well as the RXS I've been playing mostly because it is a yellow ball, and it feels super soft on full shots. The only downside to this ball is it feels hard and at this point with all that I love about this ball I'm kind of embracing that hard feeling. Ha   
A long hitting buddy of mine is using the longest ball from the test in the 90-105 mph swing speed which is the Maxfli Tour CG and after a couple of rounds he went out and bought 6 dozen of them lol.  What I'm surprised about is that the Titleist ProV1X Left dash was the longest ball in the 90 and below and the 105 and above but not in the 90-105 category. My swing speed has always been on the border between 90 and 95 mph with my driver.  My iron speed is 70-75 mph.  I swing much more controlled and only go half to three quarters on my iron swing. 

[pganapathy]

Vitamin M is keeping me from playing a tour ball.  Given that constraint I am currently playing the Inesis Soft 500.  Not all that great around the greens, but being a soft cover 2 piece ball, it does afford me some control.  Ideally any good tour ball will do and I am not fussy whether it is the established brands or DTC like Snell etc.

[bkuehn1952]

I play the Titliest AVX. When I say "play", I mean that is the ball mainly used in tournaments and rounds where I am particularly interested in scoring well (which of course does not always happen). Otherwise I play balls I find.

That ball was chosen for two reasons. First, a fine player I play with was playing them and seemed to get extrordinary distance, often from the roll out. Second, I have been fortunate to be in the money the past 3 years in the Livonia City Championship. The muni's clubhouse has a limited number of items that do not have the logo of the club. So I buy balls, gloves and socks. I might spring for some shoes this year as I noticed they had started their fall clearance.

 

[chop]

On 9/3/2022 at 9:31 PM, ChetlovesMer said:

Your talking about MyGolfSpy I assume.

They published an article about which ball goes the farthest and which spins the most with their testing. It's all well and good, but I'm inclined to agree more with @arturo28mx. When you really dive into what MGS is saying it's pretty insignificant.

The difference between what they measured with a robot hitting 12 shots with the Titleist PRO1X left dash and your ball, the Bridgeston RXS, is just under 3 yards. 

Can you really see 3 yards on the course? 

I don't know but I am hitting it noticeably further. Maybe it's because of my Ping G400max driver or it could be the left dash compression is 112 and the RXS is 66. I can't explain why the left dash was the longest ball in the 90 and under swing speed and it was the longest ball in the 105 and higher swing speed. Get this, the softer RXS spins less with my irons than the left dash. The left dash spins less than the RXS with my driver. I chip better with the left dash. I'm getting better scores with the left dash. so far.  lol

[Big Lex]

Curious how many have tried the "off" brads like Vice, Volvik, Piper, etc. 

[pganapathy]

30 minutes ago, Big Lex said:

Curious how many have tried the "off" brads like Vice, Volvik, Piper, etc. 

Would love to given they cost less but availability is the hard part outside America and some parts of Europe.  I have played some Volvik balls when I find them