The Golf Ball

[CassinoNorth]

Honestly the golf ball doesn't matter that much.

Disagree 100%.

Ball does matter. Best way to lower scores? sink more putts. Best way to sink more putts? Putt from within 5 feet. Best way to land within 5 feet from the cup? Have more control with your irons. For most recreational golfers, that's coming from the ball. I can go straight at a pin with a high end ball and typically will find the ball mark a few feet behind the ball. When I play a Warbird or DT Solo, I never do.

[Neco]

Disagree 100%.

Right you can get more spin and a tad more distance but switching golf balls isn't going to be the difference between a 72-85.

[Danattherock]

Of course not. As I said earlier, one of the main reasons I use a premium ball is because of the way I putt with it. Everyone talks about performance off the tee, spin, etc.. and all these are important. Wonder why more folks don't talk about how they putt with a ball. My thought, they don't give it enough attention to even know the difference. Which is a shame considering how many strokes are on the green. Take 3 rock hard cheap azz balls and 3 Srixon Z-stars or ProV1's to the practice putting green sometime. Spend about 40 minutes rolling them around and see if you can't tell a difference.


-Dan

[Fourputt]

Of course not. As I said earlier, one of the main reasons I use a premium ball is because of the way I putt with it. Everyone talks about performance off the tee, spin, etc.. and all these are important. Wonder why more folks don't talk about how they putt with a ball. My thought, they don't give it enough attention to even know the difference. Which is a shame considering how many strokes are on the green. Take 3 rock hard cheap azz balls and 3 Srixon Z-stars or ProV1's to the practice putting green sometime. Spend about 40 minutes rolling them around and see if you can't tell a difference.

As long as you play the same type of ball all the time it makes no difference because you learn what you have to do make the ball work for you. I can putt as well with a Top-Flite as I can with a Pro V1. But I can't putt worth a damn if I switch between them every other hole. I played premium balls (from Titleist Tour Balata to Pro V1) for 20 years. I recently started to lose some clubhead speed and had to switch to a more compressible ball. Now I play Bridgestone E6 and my scoring hasn't changed one iota. On full shots I get great stopping power with my approach shots, and for short pitches and chips, I just play for a healthy roll out and it works just fine.

Power on greenside shots is about feel, regardless of whether you are spinning and checking the ball or bumping it up with runout. In fact the ball that's rolling actually has a better chance of dropping in the hole because it's rolling. The hop and stop chip requires absolute precision to hit the hole... the running chip does not. You can be a little bit strong and still have a chance to kill it against the flagstick.

[wrx_junki]

Disagree 100%.

Sinking more putts is only one way to lower the score and not the best way. For the "reacreational golfer", I would imagine keeping the ball in play to be a bigger factor. Believe it or not its rare for the "recreational golfer" to land within 5 feet of the cup with an approach shot unless its a greenside chip. I would post the data research if I could find it but they did a research and most amateurs golfers missed on the short side. I would agree with that research and a few feet of extra roll out will actually help the amateur golfer more often than not.

The DT Solo and Warbird are not the balls he's asking about but the DT Solo is a much softer ball than the Warbird. DT Solo is fairly similar to the Laddie-x in how they react on the greens. If you hit the ball solid both the Laddie-x and the DT Solo will hold the greens and if you don't hit it solid a premium ball won't save you anyways. Good 2 piece balls such as Laddie-x, DT Solo, and AD333 will not HINDER your score in any way.

[tristanhilton85]

To the OP, if you want to try out a premium ball just to compare, Golfsmith (at least the one in my area) has the Nike One Tour balls cheap ($22/dz). Also, consider the Gamer V2... a really great ball at a great price point.

[Ignorant]

The Laddie-x isn't a rock, it's quite soft.

I played with Laddie one or two years and I liked it. Then I accidentally bought 4 dozens of Laddie X-tremes (believing they were Laddies) and was very disappointed. I found them harder to hit and less sticky to chip/putt. Also back spin on the green was clearly less than with Laddie.

Maybe I just cannot strike the ball properly....

[Jaywun]

I played Laddies then Laddie-x. I guess I never noticed a difference. I tested different balls for a few hrs. yesterday and I actually had better results with my Laddies. I hit prov's, b330's, nxt, etc.(all dug out of my shag bag)All different shots. I was happy to find that with my game, my balls were fine. Thanks for the input guys. I went to the store and confidently bought 2 dozen more for 19.99. I did spend too much time lusting after the Vokey wedges. Thats gonna cost me later!

[wrx_junki]

I played with Laddie one or two years and I liked it. Then I accidentally bought 4 dozens of Laddie X-tremes (believing they were Laddies) and was very disappointed. I found them harder to hit and less sticky to chip/putt. Also back spin on the green was clearly less than with Laddie.

Sorry can't relate because I never played the older Laddies. Only have experience with the Laddie-x.

I played Laddies then Laddie-x. I guess I never noticed a difference. I tested different balls for a few hrs. yesterday and I actually had better results with my Laddies. I hit prov's, b330's, nxt, etc.(all dug out of my shag bag)All different shots. I was happy to find that with my game, my balls were fine. Thanks for the input guys. I went to the store and confidently bought 2 dozen more for 19.99. I did spend too much time lusting after the Vokey wedges. Thats gonna cost me later!

Good for you. Just be prepared to stock up if they do get discontinued.

[enis750]

im gonna be that guy........and dont take this the wrong way

I will guarantee anyone over a 9 index, doesnt have a consistent enough swing to even care about spin around the greens
want to know why? because you more than likely do not hit down on the ball to create spin anyways
i think as a higher index, one should be focusing on getting off the tee w a straighter shot (hense, a ball w LESS spin)

and i dont buy the whole, "oh im a 15 or 20 cause i cant putt" - BS
your still losing strokes cause your losing balls, hitting fatties, skulling wedges and slicing or hooking drives off the tee into trouble
why kill yourself spending $50 on a dozen balls that is hurting your game

sorry is this offends you, but its the truth, you know it and fail to admit it

now...if you have the coin, wanna look the part and enjoy dumping premium balls in the drink every round ...all the power to you

for the record - i dont play a premium ball
sure i have treated myself to a box of pro v's every now and then, but i played 98% of the year w a Srixon Trispeed ball (distance ball) and the last few weeks w a TM LDP Black

[TaylorMadeTaylor]

I guess I don't care about greenside spin because I am not a single digit index. Thanks for showing me the light, off to buy some top flite XLs.

[CassinoNorth]

im gonna be that guy........and dont take this the wrong way

Anyone that loses more than a sleeve a round and pays full price for a dozen needs their head examined. I either buy them barely used off ebay or go in the woods searching. $30 for 50 balls that look like they were hit twice? I'll take it.

And if I'm not playing used Penta's, I'm using Nike One Vapors which are $15/dozen now that they're getting rid of the cube boxes.

[Neco]

im gonna be that guy........and dont take this the wrong way

Used to use those frequently. I love the Srixon Soft Feel as well, even though it is a 2 piece ball.

[Valleygolfer]

im gonna be that guy........and dont take this the wrong way

Wrong again. I do not buy premium balls, there are enough bone heads losing them to go out and buy them myself. Secondly with hinge and hold I notice quite a bit of difference with check and run out with chipping and pitching.

[enis750]

Wrong again. I do not buy premium balls, there are enough bone heads losing them to go out and buy them myself. Secondly with hinge and hold I notice quite a bit of difference with check and run out with chipping and pitching.

how am i wrong?????

your a 12 index, because every tee shot is dead in the middle of the fwy?? because you hit the ball with enough lag to create spin on EVERY iron shot and cant control your spin? you never lose a ball in 18 holes, weather in the bush, water or just plain lost or you must be the guy that is a 12 because he can;t putt....as mentioned above, I call BS sorry man, but it's the truth and you know it, and again fail to admitt it not trying to start a pi$$ing match, but i played w a 14 index all summer........who also can't "putt"

[motteler621]

im gonna be that guy........and dont take this the wrong way

i agree with you mostly but I normally dont loose balls. I probably loose 1 for every full 18 round, if that. I usually have them untill they need to be thrown away. Plus I dont mind the higher caps playing with premium balls, how do you think I found 20 premium balls when I searched the course a few months back. Im still playing those balls,lol its great

[Valleygolfer]

how am i wrong?????

I am not sure what you are talking about, but even high handicappers can have good technique and utilize spin on a ball. As I stated, the simple hinge and hold method is easy to learn and utilizes spin. If you are looking to have the ball check up, the softer tour balls work well. If you use a cheaper ball, they tend to run out more. You continue to implicate that anyone outside your handicap doesn't know their ass from a hole in the ground. I would say maybe 25 handicap or higher may not not utilize spin at all around greens but not from 10 up. Finally, there are a million ways to add strokes to your score, so putting is just one of them. Stop being so narrow minded.

[CassinoNorth]

how am i wrong?????

As much as it's true most high handicappers (myself included) lose a ton of strokes in the woods. Who's to say that I don't benefit from a premium ball? I don't pay $45 for a dozen pentas, not even close.

Most rounds I'm playing those used saves from eBay that are $30 for 3 dozen. They're almost perfect anyway so why should I play rocks because I lose a couple a round? I'm actually solid with my irons. My scorecard yesterday? 89, 41 putts and 48 shots, 2 lost balls. So yeah...if you want me to forward you that scorecard, I gladly will.