Testing a new ball; what's your process?

[MiniBlueDragon]

What type of testing process do you go through when evaluating a new ball and whether it's better suited to your game?

I assume the replies will vary from "Buy balls. Use them. If they don't work, buy others" to "Do online research for suitable shortlist of balls, buy several types of ball and do a side-by-side comparison on a Trackman and/or course" but I'm curious as to what people do.

[carpediem4300]

i used the ball fitting app on the titliest website,.....they reckoned i was better suited to the nxt tour

which i found i didnt like,

so i chose soemthing similir in the srixon ad333 and love it

i think to be honest at our handicaps any of the top range/mid range balls will be fine,......its the crappy little ones i guess you should avoid

[MiniBlueDragon]

Yeah I play the AD333 in the winter and NXT Tour in the summer at the moment but I'm always open to trying new balls, especially now that I lose them far less. ;)

I've tried various ball fitting apps but they co-incidentally always tell me I need the most expensive ball they sell. lol

I've been practicing chipping and putting with other balls lately but haven't taken them out onto the course yet as I'm still undecided whether just "yeah that feels good" is a good enough perspective to take over something more solid like on-course driving distance, dispersion, checking on pitch shots etc or even taking several balls into a trackman/flight scope and seeing what the actual data is.

[Gioguy21]

for fun last year i had my gf help me out. i bought a box of 6 different dozen balls, and had her (without me knowing) mark all the balls up the same way, permanent marking over lines, numbers, logos, etc...in the spring i always played the same course after work...she'd give me two sleeves (she knew which ones they were based on putting a 1 and a 2 on the sleeve) and i'd use each one for each 9. i'd write down at the turn at the 19th hole what i felt about each one and she marked what balls they were, and kept the reviews till i was done testing. did this till i got through the 6 different balls (she mixed up sleeves every now and then about balls i previous played to see if my reactions were different).  at the end of 10 rounds, she gave me the reviews back with the revealed brands/types...surprised me to say the least. ended up loving the bridgestone b330, hating the prov1 (mostly durability). /whew.

[DocPangloss]

Originally Posted by Gioguy21

for fun last year i had my gf help me out. i bought a box of 6 different dozen balls, and had her (without me knowing) mark all the balls up the same way, permanent marking over lines, numbers, logos, etc...in the spring i always played the same course after work...she'd give me two sleeves (she knew which ones they were based on putting a 1 and a 2 on the sleeve) and i'd use each one for each 9. i'd write down at the turn at the 19th hole what i felt about each one and she marked what balls they were, and kept the reviews till i was done testing. did this till i got through the 6 different balls (she mixed up sleeves every now and then about balls i previous played to see if my reactions were different).  at the end of 10 rounds, she gave me the reviews back with the revealed brands/types...surprised me to say the least. ended up loving the bridgestone b330, hating the prov1 (mostly durability). /whew.

This is an excellent approach. If only you could make the test that much more blind by making the dimples appear identical as well.......

[Mr3Wiggle]

Originally Posted by DocPangloss

This is an excellent approach. If only you could make the test that much more blind by making the dimples appear identical as well.......

If I had my wife help me conduct a similiar test, I guarantee the cheapest ball would end up mysteriously being the best ball.

[B-Con]

I have a few holes on my local course that I like to pause at and hit an extra approach shot or two into, to get a feel for the ball's spin. I also have a couple holes that are relatively shielded from wind and easy to track the ball on and get a height/distance feel for the ball's flight. I also take it to the chipping green to see how it feels/performance any different on long chips and I take it to the putting green to see how it sounds and feels off the putter. Other than that, I just play with it. I try to play at least two full rounds with a ball before passing judgment, as any given round could have particularly good or poor ball striking.

[mdl]

Originally Posted by Gioguy21

for fun last year i had my gf help me out. i bought a box of 6 different dozen balls, and had her (without me knowing) mark all the balls up the same way, permanent marking over lines, numbers, logos, etc...in the spring i always played the same course after work...she'd give me two sleeves (she knew which ones they were based on putting a 1 and a 2 on the sleeve) and i'd use each one for each 9. i'd write down at the turn at the 19th hole what i felt about each one and she marked what balls they were, and kept the reviews till i was done testing. did this till i got through the 6 different balls (she mixed up sleeves every now and then about balls i previous played to see if my reactions were different).  at the end of 10 rounds, she gave me the reviews back with the revealed brands/types...surprised me to say the least. ended up loving the bridgestone b330, hating the prov1 (mostly durability). /whew.

Awesome.  I might get my wife to help me do this!  Love the full blinding and attempt to control for bias that might come from the logo on the sleeve itself!  Great experimental design.  Maybe instead of a sleeve at all I would just use a little net bag or something so there's no logos anywhere!

As of now, I just buy a dozen and play with them for a while and see how I like them.  I went through the Zstar, then the Pentas, now ProV1s.  All solid, but my preference order so far is Penta, Pro V1, Zstar (though the Zstar is solid and I love the tour yellow, so I'm sure I'll buy a dozen of this year's to see if I like them more).

[Zeph]

I just put it into play and see how it works. The ball must fit every part of the game, so it's the only logical way to do it in my opinion. It's the total performance that matters, but the approaches from 100 yards in, short game and putting matters most.