Range Balls and Ball Flight

[TJBam]

Originally Posted by geauxforbroke

Yeah, I'm the same way. I either overthink it, or get bored and lose focus. I would say that from age 5 to 25, I might have hit 20 buckets of balls for practice. Obviously more for warming up, but I found that I could work it out more easily on the course.

I'm going to the range much more often now for time restraint reasons. The range is still better than nothing at all.

I had the privilege of watching an aspiring mini-tour player strike some balls on the range yesterday and he pretty much said the same thing.  He'd get his best practice during a round.  Hit as many balls as time restraints allowed from different spots on the course.  More rewarding for good shots and helps reinforce good habits more than seeing a range ball fly down range to one of 8 flagsticks.

For the sake of the OP, a near flawless swing like his is not affected by range balls like mine is.  He offered some driver pointers and he would proceed to bomb them dead straight to the other end of the range (which was closed thankfully).  About 300 yds carry with 15 yds roll.  Very humbling.

[TheLawFirm]

Originally Posted by TJBam

My drives pull-slice with range balls and I can only laugh it off because they pull-fade with new balls on course.  Other clubs seem consistent.  You'll of course notice DC (distance control) on range balls because they drop quicker.

Didn't know that range balls dropped quicker, that really explains to me why I'm hitting to around the 150 flag on the range with the same club I use for 160-170 on the course.

I've noticed on the range that the longer my clubs go, the distances get a lot closer with the range balls--on the range it feels like a flushed 4 iron goes roughly the same distance as my 2 hybrid and 4 wood--something I never feel on the course. Anyone else get that problem?

[tristanhilton85]

Guys, get the thread back on topic please.

[Lihu]

Dude, let's be civil here. I've read everything that you've posted. Yes, there have been posters that have said a range ball may spin more than a standard range ball. I've also come across several threads and internet discussions that have said the opposite. I'd be curious to do some experimenting with a beat up range ball vs. a new ProV1 or B330 (or whatever else). But my argument is, and will continue to be, that regardless of the amount of side spin on the ball, shallower dimples probably won't allow the spin to affect the flight of the ball as much as with a standard ball.

This has been my experience as well. I hit range balls straighter than actual play balls. I noticed that the harder cores seem to spin more than the soft core balls. So, I started using balls that advertise control over distance ones. This has helped my drives a lot. I also noticed that with long irons I tend to fade more than with shorter irons. This could be because of more back spin on the shorter irons. These are only my observations.

[460CompMark]

only difference i notice is they are harder and sink faster. i might hit 20 balls on the range max though. just need to stretch out the muscles and joints.

[golfingnooob]

Originally Posted by rkim291968

Me, too.   One range I know use balls until balls lose all their dimples.   Luckily, my local range updates their balls regularly.   They also throw out any other balls (different brand range balls, used regular balls) that get mixed in.   The problem with this range is their distance marker.   All their markers are incorrect by 5 - 15 yards.

How do you know?

[ghalfaire]

There likely is a reason that when the PGA pros practice or warm up they are hitting new balls of the brand and type they play with.  At least the few tournaments I have managed to attend that was the case.

[rkim291968]

Originally Posted by golfingnooob

How do you know?

I brought my laser range finder and measured it.   A 50 yard marker was placed at 67yards which is really bad.

[Dave2512]

Originally Posted by rkim291968

I brought my laser range finder and measured it.   A 50 yard marker was placed at 67yards which is really bad.

In my experience always due to moving the hitting area around to regrow grass after it gets chewed up between the ropes or whatever they use to mark it. At my home course there is a plaque and the yardage to the flags from there is accurate. If you must know the distance of the targets as they move the ropes around either pace it off or hit it with a range finder. The closely mown area of our range is somewhere around 30 yds front to back and they use all of it. It's actually split 50/50 as well, they'll use one side then move everything left or right from where they started. I really don't care how accurate the target yardage is. I hit from side to side as much as directly in front of me. Our range has the target greens staggered all over the place.