Does brand of ball affect putting distance?

[sean_miller]

How long is 2 feet 17 inches?

Let me check.

Yes, that's almost as long as that youtube long driver guys is tall - 3' 5".

[David K]

If you know what the ball is before you've hit it, it's not objective.

Well I'm leaving to try it now. Besides the callaway ball with the hex dimples I can cover the name on the golf ball and I wont know which ones they are. A thin piece of scotch tape and a black sharpie would take care of it. On this green my distance control has been excellent so I should be able to tell the difference if there is one at all. I'm curious to see if there is a difference.

[Fourputt]

How long is 2 feet 17 inches?

ROFL...

I'm just guessing, but isn't it about 1 foot 29 inches?

[David K]

Well I didn't notice any difference what so ever no matter what ball I used besides the fact some felt harder than others at impact. This green is 13 on the stimpmeter and I measured out 30ft for the putt. For the first putts I hit all three of each manufacture first and then went to the next manufacture. They all ended up within two feet of each other. I used 3 of each of these golf balls: Tour I(s), ProV1, TF XL, TF Gamer, and the TF Super Range balls.

For the last putts I just put them in a large pile, picked at random, and took one swing after another without stopping. I didn't look at where they ended up until after I hit all of them and made sure my swing as perfectly consistent every time. They all ended up in basically the exact same spot 1ft short of the hole. Some of them ran into each other but not enough of them to think any specific ball was stopped short by hitting another.

On a fast green the difference should have been exaggerated especially with a 30ft putt but they all ended up at just about the exact same distance. So if your putting longer with a specific golf ball its most likely all in your head.

[Paradox]

Well I didn't notice any difference what so ever no matter what ball I used besides the fact some felt harder than others at impact. This green is 13 on the stimpmeter and I measured out 30ft for the putt. For the first putts I hit all three of each manufacture first and then went to the next manufacture. They all ended up within two feet of each other. I used 3 of each of these golf balls: Tour I(s), ProV1, TF XL, TF Gamer, and the TF Super Range balls.

or your test of having them all end up the same was all in your head :)

The only way to make the test objective is to have a robot hitting the balls.

[very handicap]

ROFL...

I was just referring to the post from David K before about his observation of two feet difference in distance between the balls in the opposite spectrum. What i was trying to say is that 17inch pass the hole is a sure way to get into the hole on next putt, but not if it is 17 inches plus another two feet. Hope i clarified myself.

Re: Does brand of ball affect putting distance?

[Stretch]

In response to the original question, I don't know but my guess is not by very much.

Do think it generally makes sense to practice with the same ball you play with, though. I see people rolling range rocks around the putting green all the time at my course and always wonder why they don't just grab a few of their own balls -- whatever those are -- from their bag.

[golf nut]

I have a simulator that we use over the winter, quite often we would find balls starting to deteriorate, typically we would hold two balls side by side and drop them on the concrete floor, you could see the difference in rebound easily, maybe you could try that trick.

[Fourputt]

I was just referring to the post from David K before about his observation of two feet difference in distance between the balls in the opposite spectrum. What i was trying to say is that 17inch pass the hole is a sure way to get into the hole on next putt, but not if it is 17 inches plus another two feet. Hope i clarified myself.

I was aware of that... just following on shade's joke...

[David K]

or your test of having them all end up the same was all in your head :)

Than either I'm much better at adjusting to green/ball speeds than I thought or there was just no difference between the golf balls

. Most of them were within 6in of each other distance wise and from the longest ball to the shortest was about 1ft over the span of a 30ft putt. To me thats exactly the same distance between the different golf balls. The slight difference in distance was more than likely my putting stroke. So I was wrong with my first post by saying there probably is a difference. I agree a robot is the only way to get truly accurate results but if its only going to be a few inches than what does it matter? The OP wanted to know if putting with a different ball is going to effect the speed of his putt. It seems to me there isn't a big enough difference to be concerned about.

[bigoak]

In the lab not only did different surfaces react differently, where you impacted the ball effected response using the same force mechanism. another variable is temperature. premium balls performed most consistently in the 70-80 degree range. the engineer who design golf balls know a bit about what they are doing. With the skill level of most golfers for putting, no one is ever going to know the difference.

[Laurynas]

Hello everyone.

I was looking today for information, if different balls go different distance. And could not find any evidence, even after reading these pages. So i decided to make a test and shoot a video about it. So here i share it with you:

 

 

[uitar9]

I believe 2 feet, 17 inches is "further". (I wonder if Kesey was a golfer).

I'm thinking that for somebody at my hcp, I don't have the ability to stroke the ball consistently enough to tell one ball from another on a green. and I think I'm a decent hacker putter.

I'm discovering I miss more putts because of misreading the break between the ball and the hole. I gotta remember to take more.