Experience with Taylormade Project A golf balls

[MattM]

I have a higher swing speed around 105-110 or so.  I had been playing pentas and loved them, but looks like they stopped selling them.  

I started playing this project A ball and while i do like it there are some wierd traites with it that makes me wonder if others are seeing it.

Anyway..according to game golf my driver distance has dropped wich I thought might happen due to the compression.  The one thing I didnt see happening was that I was seeing HUGE distance gaines from my 52 degree and short irons.  Where I was usually hitting my 52 degree from 110 to 115 im hitting this from 120 to 140!  Thats crazy!

Has anyone else noticed this?

 

 

[pganapathy]

I am guessing that the compression of this ball is best suited to your "short iron" swing speed.  Would figure if you tested your swing speed with irons from say 8i to LW most would be within 10 mph of each other and probably in the ideal Project A range for compression.

[tristanhilton85]

I played the Project a when they first came out and I thought it was a great ball. One reason that I was attracted to them in the first place was that it was a really good ball at a good price ($30ish/dozen).

Now, I've found a better ball at the same price, the Snell My Tour Ball. I suggest you try them.

(Also, the Snell balls are made by Dean Snell. I'm pretty sure that he created the Project a before he left Taylormade to start his own company).

[MattM]

Im just wondering if anyone else has seen there wedges go up in distance by like 20 yardsas a result of this ball.  While Ill admit that the ability to hit my 52 degree 140 plus lead to my best tournament round score of 78 and most birdirs in a round with 4...its still wierd to have that much of a jump with short irons and non with driver etc...

[dennyjones]

I currently have a dozen of those and a dozen of the Srixon Q-Star Tour.   I personally can't tell the difference between the two.  I like both but for some reason I'm leaning toward the Srixon.  

[MattM]

Man!  This is really wierd!  I mean I tested this out on Sunday too just to make sure it wasnt a fluke.  Sure enough after putting a 52 degree on at 142 yards with the project A.  It turn around nd hit a penta and a pro v and like usual they go around 115 to 120....

[dennyjones]

7 hours ago, MattM said:

Man!  This is really wierd!  I mean I tested this out on Sunday too just to make sure it wasnt a fluke.  Sure enough after putting a 52 degree on at 142 yards with the project A.  It turn around nd hit a penta and a pro v and like usual they go around 115 to 120....

You best buy a boat load of the Project A...

[MattM]

I also want to point out that from my experiences these balls tend to really accentuate side spin...which obviously is not a good thing...

[Hooter]

So being new to golf (3 years) I have played a mix bagged of balls. Mainly what is on the shelf and I don't mind losing.  However, that being said, I have varied in a Callaway assortment. Mainly Supersoft or Chromesoft.  

 

Yesterday I made the commitment to try out one ball and only one and play a few boxes before making a determination. Enter Project (a). I loved the ball. 

Distance off the T was around 10 yards consistently. From 240 off the tee to around 250-255.  Irons seemed to react comparatively to what I am used to.  

It is a soft ball, but not squishy like the Callaway Supersoft.  I lost two balls yesterday (1 bad shot, 1 lost in the rough right in front of me somehow). The project (a) is an affordable ball I don't mind walking away from and not spending too much time looking for either.

[Lihu]

On 8/15/2017 at 9:45 AM, MattM said:

I have a higher swing speed around 105-110 or so.  I had been playing pentas and loved them, but looks like they stopped selling them.  

I started playing this project A ball and while i do like it there are some wierd traites with it that makes me wonder if others are seeing it.

Anyway..according to game golf my driver distance has dropped wich I thought might happen due to the compression.  The one thing I didnt see happening was that I was seeing HUGE distance gaines from my 52 degree and short irons.  Where I was usually hitting my 52 degree from 110 to 115 im hitting this from 120 to 140!  Thats crazy!

Has anyone else noticed this?

According to GG we're similar in distances although my SS is not nearly as fast according to Foresight GC2, and I use a wide assortment of balls. Most of my distances were recorded during our wet season, because I don't play well in hot weather. My primary balls are Pro-V1 or E6, but I found many project (a) balls and they perform pretty nicely too. I like the way they feel in the fingers when I'm setting up a tee shot and off the face for flop type shots.

However, even though an E6 might feel "clunkier" it actually seems to perform roughly the same.

The B330 feels about the same as the project (a) to me. My son has a 110mph SS and hits consistently 20-40 yards farther than me, and really likes the Pro-V1x and B330. He doesn't hate any particular ball and claims there's no difference what ball he uses. He also plays the hardest to hit blades, but that's another story.

My take is that the ball doesn't really make a huge difference in scoring, because the new balls are all pretty good.

It likely just boils down to how they feel to you.

[RickPro]

I've seen this in the hx hot. I have a fast swing speed and used this ball for long drive competitions in scrambles and tournaments. I didn't feel i was hitting it further, just about average 300+.  but when i hit it off a long or mid iron, I would overshoot the green. i thought i just hit it really good and dead centre in the sweet spot, but it happened everytime. I hit it an easy 20-30 yards further. 

[djake]

I like the Snell MTB followed by the Callaway Truvis Chrome Soft X and then the Taylormade TP5x.  All 3 of those balls give me consistent gapping distance on all clubs with very nice performance.  They all just seam to go further then any other ball I have tried and keep Driver spin under control.

I wish Dean Snell did the Truvis pattern on his golf balls.  It works for me and is a easy golf ball to find.  Yellow and black pattern.

[Lihu]

6 hours ago, RickPro said:

I've seen this in the hx hot. I have a fast swing speed and used this ball for long drive competitions in scrambles and tournaments. I didn't feel i was hitting it further, just about average 300+.  but when i hit it off a long or mid iron, I would overshoot the green. i thought i just hit it really good and dead centre in the sweet spot, but it happened everytime. I hit it an easy 20-30 yards further. 

300+ yards on average is, well, kind of average. Once you get to 350 off the tee and, oh say, 250 yards with your 5i you should be able to drop down to broken golf. . .

Of course, you'd need to make sure you don't overhit those greens, get special permission to use the project(a) only on your tee shots and switch to something that keeps your distances in check with those long irons. . .

 

[Fairway_CY]

I've played the Project (a) almost exclusively for about 3 years now.  In fact, I had won a bunch of Edwin Watts gift cards for some tournaments I'd played in and stocked up... and then my wife bought me a bunch for Christmas.  I've still got 10 dozen in my office.  

My swing speed is pretty average.  I believe I've touched 100 MPH a time or two but I average about 97 MPH with my driver.  

When I first tried these balls, I really liked how they spin off the short clubs.  What made me keep them in my bag, however, was their distance performance with the 7 iron and 8 iron.  I gained about 10 yards with each club by switching to these balls.  I didn't seem to gain it with anything else... but those clubs were a big gap in my bag for awhile and the extra 10 yards 'filled in' the gap I had from between 145 and 160 yards.  

It's kinda crazy to see that you've gained 20+ yards with wedges just from these balls... but also interesting, as well.  I knew being fit for a ball is beneficial, but I've never taken the time to do it.  I'll have to ask the pro at our home course his thoughts when I see him next.

CY

[MattM]

On Saturday, September 02, 2017 at 8:03 AM, Lihu said:

According to GG we're similar in distances although my SS is not nearly as fast according to Foresight GC2, and I use a wide assortment of balls. Most of my distances were recorded during our wet season, because I don't play well in hot weather. My primary balls are Pro-V1 or E6, but I found many project (a) balls and they perform pretty nicely too. I like the way they feel in the fingers when I'm setting up a tee shot and off the face for flop type shots.

However, even though an E6 might feel "clunkier" it actually seems to perform roughly the same.

The B330 feels about the same as the project (a) to me. My son has a 110mph SS and hits consistently 20-40 yards farther than me, and really likes the Pro-V1x and B330. He doesn't hate any particular ball and claims there's no difference what ball he uses. He also plays the hardest to hit blades, but that's another story.

My take is that the ball doesn't really make a huge difference in scoring, because the new balls are all pretty good.

It likely just boils down to how they feel to you.

Whats your link on game golf?  

If you are looking at average distance then I could see that cuz I have a very big variance with my driver, but club performance numbers I believe my driver is still 265-270 on that screen.  

Its not really an issue with scoring its just the oddity of the distance change with a 52 degree that is wierd.

With my irons i am seeing distance increases but not nearly the same amount.

Edited September 7, 2017 by MattM

[MattM]

On Tuesday, September 05, 2017 at 8:42 PM, RickPro said:

I've seen this in the hx hot. I have a fast swing speed and used this ball for long drive competitions in scrambles and tournaments. I didn't feel i was hitting it further, just about average 300+.  but when i hit it off a long or mid iron, I would overshoot the green. i thought i just hit it really good and dead centre in the sweet spot, but it happened everytime. I hit it an easy 20-30 yards further. 

Exactly!  Same here!  Did you also notice usual cuts and draws going way further right or left than usual?

[Lihu]

59 minutes ago, MattM said:

Whats your link on game golf?  

If you are looking at average distance then I could see that cuz I have a very big variance with my driver, but club performance numbers I believe my driver is still 265-270 on that screen.  

Its not really an issue with scoring its just the oddity of the distance change with a 52 degree that is wierd.

With my irons i am seeing distance increases but not nearly the same amount.

It's in the sidebar, just click it under my Avatar. I drive about 258 yards on "median", which includes whatever GG decides to keep or delete. My guesstimate was around 245 yards until I started using GG. The discrepancy is because I included negative drive distances whenever I hit a tree and the ball ended up behind me from the tee.

Yeah, hitting a 52 degree 150 yards is pretty amazing. The ball much have disappeared into the sky before coming back down on the green. Must have been something to watch!

My son's ex-teammate hit his 56 about 125 on average, and that thing took off like a rocket. Of course it helps to have a 120mph SS with a driver.

[MattM]

What was your typical swing speed on the cg2?