The Mysterious Floating ProV1

[blackxpress]

I have been playing reclaimed ProV1s for some time now. I get them from my local Play It Again Sports and they're in like new condition for about $12 a dozen. After what happened yesterday I may have to rethink that policy. I was on my 3rd 18 hole round with the same ball. The first couple of rounds it seemed to perform like any other ProV. Yesterday my distances seemed short and I just chalked it up to poor ball striking although I felt like I was striking the ball well. I figured maybe my tempo was a little off or something. Then, on the 15th hole I hit a 5i that felt like I really pured it. It was a blind shot into the green but I expected it to be on. When I got there the ball had come up short and was in the bunker, which was full of standing water. The weird thing was that my ball was floating on top of the standing water. I have hit ProVs into water hazards enough to know they're not supposed to do that. In fact, that was the first time I've ever seen a ProV float. I put that ball in my shag ball compartment and replaced it with a fresh one and, lo and behold, my distances instantly went back up to where I thought they should be.

So, here is my question. What causes a golf ball to float anyway? Could it have been a defective ball, maybe a counterfeit ProV or could something have happened to the ball over the course of 50+ holes that caused it do that?

[Clambake]

According to our good friend Archimedes, an object will only float if it displaces an amount of water that weighs less than weight of the object itself.     Since golf balls are all the same volume when new, the only way your ball could float is if it either gained size or lost mass.    It's pretty safe to assume that it certainly didn't grow in size, and it's also safe to assume that the insides didn't come out of the core and it lost mass.

This leaves it with two possibilities - it was either a escape from Titleist's quality assurance process, or it is counterfeit.       It's theoretically possible that it escaped Titleist's factory, but I'd find that highly doubtful - it would mean that the core didn't get filled in a mold somewhere in their process, and I don't know how that could happen and still produce a round ball.

Which brings us to the final explanation - it was a fake Titleist, and the manufacturer made the core out of some material that weighs less than the normal ball.      I was just in China a couple weeks ago and once again was astounded at the number of fakes being turned out these days and how close to the originals they look.      And yes, I saw plenty of counterfeit balls there as well.     Looks like one made it into your bag.

[rustyredcab]

If you can play the same ball for 50 holes, suck it up and buy new balls from someone you can trust. The way you go through balls, it might cost you an extra $30 a year -- about the same as one discounted golf shirt.

[blackxpress]

Originally Posted by rustyredcab

If you can play the same ball for 50 holes, suck it up and buy new balls from someone you can trust. The way you go through balls, it might cost you an extra $30 a year -- about the same as one discounted golf shirt.

Yep. I fully intend to take your advice. No more used balls for me. And, yes, there are lots of fake ProVs out there. I found one on the course last year and played a few holes with it before I realized it was fake. My wedges were literally tearing the cover off it which is not normal for a ProV. When I looked at the ball closely I could see a seam all the way around the ball where the dimples didn't line up. Not only was it a fake, it wasn't even close to the real thing.

[xxsoultonesxx]

I've seen a couple used tour balls with urethane covers get bubbles under the cover. Not that a bubble would keep the ball floating....but it did come as a surprise to me.

[twilliams16]

I've never seen a golf ball float so my guess is that it was a ball that fell off the 'line' at the titleist warehouse.