changing golf balls

[Bill926]

About 6 months ago I decided to start playing the Srixon Q-Star and have used them for every round and chipping/putting practice since then.  My scores haven't got any better or worse overall since then, mainly because of tee shot accuracy, but my Iron approach distances and shots around the green have become more consistent than I can ever remember.

I've been thinking about trying a different ball, but I'm afraid I'll lose whatever feel or consistency I've gained.  So would it be better to try something different to gain a few yards, or keep practicing and playing with what I have been, or doesn't it make a difference at all for a 16 hcp with a driver distance of 220?  

[No Mulligans]

On most of the courses I play, I don't think it makes a difference which ball I play.  Because of that I play something like a Callaway Hex Hot which is like a Callaway Supersoft but is a ball I can get cheap at Costco.

I seldom run across hard and unreceptive greens, but when I do I shift to a higher spin ball like a Titleist ProV1x.

[Typhoon92]

Guy I play with hits his driver around 230 and loves the Chromesoft.  Distance is good and he gets it to stop on the green.

[onthehunt526]

Quote

10 hours ago, Bill926 said:

About 6 months ago I decided to start playing the Srixon Q-Star and have used them for every round and chipping/putting practice since then.  My scores haven't got any better or worse overall since then, mainly because of tee shot accuracy, but my Iron approach distances and shots around the green have become more consistent than I can ever remember.

I've been thinking about trying a different ball, but I'm afraid I'll lose whatever feel or consistency I've gained.  So would it be better to try something different to gain a few yards, or keep practicing and playing with what I have been, or doesn't it make a difference at all for a 16 hcp with a driver distance of 220?  

 

Try the Q-Star Tour.... It has a Urethane cover good for more spin and maximizing distance with your~90 mph clubhead speed. 

Best thing going, it's under $30.

[dennyjones]

20 hours ago, onthehunt526 said:

Try the Q-Star Tour.... It has a Urethane cover good for more spin and maximizing distance with your~90 mph clubhead speed. 

Best thing going, it's under $30.

I got a dozen of these and love them.   

[Buckeyebowman]

Lately I've been stuck on the Pinnacle Soft. Went to a local golf shop's "End of Summer" tent sale, and could get 2 dozen for under 30 bucks. I figured they're made by Titleist, how bad could they be? So far I'm loving the Soft, which is the "control" ball, versus the Rush, which is the distance ball. The Soft flies plenty long enough, for me, and will hold a firm green. And it feels great coming off the club face.

I can't comment on the current iteration of the Chrome Soft. I tried the first one, and did not like it at all! It felt hard as a rock and went nowhere.

[inthecup]

You should buy a ball based on its performance around the green.  Unless you are scratch or better you won't notice a distance gain or loss with any decent ball off the tee.  I like a ball with a urethane cover, I want to be able to more easily spin the ball around the green.  For my money I found the Srixon Z star to be the best value.  I can get them all year for $29 a dozen.  Not cheap but I believe it to be as good as any ball out there.

[RickPro]

if you like q star, you should try callaway supersoft and bridgestone e6. q star is a good ball, but it do anything great for me, it was just a mediocre ball. I was able to get callaway supersoft on sale so i gave it a go. I like it better then the q star and its cheaper. if you are playing on hard/dry greens, i would switch to a premium ball so it can hold the green a little better, but if the greens are soft or medium I would go with a midrange ball. I am able to go after it a little more with the supersoft because it doesn't have as much spin as the q star, so hooks/slices aren't as bad if it does happen. For me its the difference of being in the rough or being out of bounds.

[Bill926]

18 hours ago, inthecup said:

You should buy a ball based on its performance around the green.  Unless you are scratch or better you won't notice a distance gain or loss with any decent ball off the tee.  I like a ball with a urethane cover, I want to be able to more easily spin the ball around the green.  For my money I found the Srixon Z star to be the best value.  I can get them all year for $29 a dozen.  Not cheap but I believe it to be as good as any ball out there.

So switching from the Q-Star Tour (forgot to add "tour" in my op) to the Z-Star the only possible advantage would be performance around the green, and not distance off the tee?  This makes sense because I have tried the premium balls, and the cheaper balls and never noticed a consistent change in distance off the tee.  I did notice though that the q-star will hold its line more when not struck well off the tee which is good, but also will not fade as much on holes where I want it to.  Just something to get used to. 

[Midpack]

I am looking for control over distance and I've always played various "model" Titleists, lately Pro V1 or NXT Tour S. But I'm on my second dozen Snell's now and they seem every bit as good as a Pro V1 at $32/doz (free shipping) for Snell's vs $48/doz for Pro V1's.

Edited September 6, 2017 by Midpack

[inthecup]

4 hours ago, Bill926 said:

So switching from the Q-Star Tour (forgot to add "tour" in my op) to the Z-Star the only possible advantage would be performance around the green, and not distance off the tee?  This makes sense because I have tried the premium balls, and the cheaper balls and never noticed a consistent change in distance off the tee.  I did notice though that the q-star will hold its line more when not struck well off the tee which is good, but also will not fade as much on holes where I want it to.  Just something to get used to. 

No the Q Star tour has a urethane cover as does the Z star.  In a blind test I doubt you could tell any difference.  I tried both and found no difference.  The difference between the Q star and Z star should be noticeable on a well struck short shot spin wise.

I have access to a Foresight GC2 with HMT (a good launch monitor).  I wanted to fit myself to a ball so I bought lots of sleeves of quality balls.  From Pro V1's to $30 balls from lots of different manufacturers.  What I found is that there is no appreciable difference in distance.  My ability to strike the ball consistently overrides the ball by a lot.

You can change feel (hard or soft) and spin around the green.

The thing people don't seem to get is that it is not that hard to make a ball hit the limit set up by the USGA.  No quality ball is consistently longer than another.  They can change the spin characteristics by a few hundred RPM but strike can change it by several hundred.  If you are a pro and hit it the same every time that few hundred RPM can mean something.  But to average joe not so much.  My conclusion with ball testing was that I like the spin afforded by a urethane cover around the green and I don't like a really hard ball.  I tried different brands of less expensive urethane cover balls and fell on the Z Star.  Like I said $29 a dozen all year.  I can afford whatever I wanted but there is no value in spending more. 

I am no expert but my opinion has a little science to it.

 

Good luck!

[Bill926]

8 minutes ago, inthecup said:

The thing people don't seem to get is that it is not that hard to make a ball hit the limit set up by the USGA.  No quality ball is consistently longer than another.  They can change the spin characteristics by a few hundred RPM but strike can change it by several hundred.  If you are a pro and hit it the same every time that few hundred RPM can mean something.  But to average joe not so much

Well said, Thanks!

[Hacker James]

Don't know how good they are, but recently found one of the Kick X Tour Premium balls and really liked the looks, and it felt pretty good also. I know there is another thread on these back in 2014, but the TST site will not let me post a reply there for some reason (maybe thread is locked?).  Probably just some quirk on my computer. In any event, I went ahead and ordered a dozen through Amazon. At one time there was this "free" trial offer that was a bit dubious in that if you did not read closely, you end up with a monthly subscription for a dozen balls charged to your credit card.  I should not have that problem ordering one time through Amazon. fwiw...$39.95.  I especially like the built in alignment markings (careful, they look almost like a range ball if you spot that side first and toss it back)

[BallMarker]

I'm a believer in Maxfli U4 and U6.

[Vinsk]

On 8/31/2017 at 9:20 PM, No Mulligans said:

 

I seldom run across hard and unreceptive greens, but when I do I shift to a higher spin ball like a Titleist ProV1x.

I don't always drink beer...but when I do..

[JonMA1]

I'll buy any ball that has the words "longer" and "straighter" printed on the package.

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It's so hard for me to get any kind of objective assessment of a ball. I'm more of the opinion that it really doesn't matter with my swing, but so many players seem to have a favorite.

Earlier in the year I was playing Wilson Staff Duo's and had some of my longest hitting rounds. I stopped using them because I was losing them (obviously. the ball's fault ). Last week, I bought another package and again recorded an increase in distance.... as well as lost balls.

For those of you who struggle as I do with consistency, how can you possibly blame or credit the ball with poor or good results? (Serious question.)

[Buckeyebowman]

I found what looked like a brand new Srixon Z-Star in a bucket of ball at the local range, and I pocketed it! It performed very well till I lost it!

Even Titleist has said that there is no more than 5 yards of difference between any of their ball brands! The difference lies in control!

If you're playing to diamond hard greens, like most Tour greens, you'd better have a ball that spins plenty! Most of us don't encounter those conditions, so we can get away with a slightly "harder" ball.

And a lot of it is about the "feel". There are some balls that I just don't like to hit. They feel too hard or harsh for my taste.

[1badbadger]

On 9/27/2017 at 6:52 PM, JonMA1 said:

I'll buy any ball that has the words "longer" and "straighter" printed on the package.

---

It's so hard for me to get any kind of objective assessment of a ball. I'm more of the opinion that it really doesn't matter with my swing, but so many players seem to have a favorite.

Earlier in the year I was playing Wilson Staff Duo's and had some of my longest hitting rounds. I stopped using them because I was losing them (obviously. the ball's fault ). Last week, I bought another package and again recorded an increase in distance.... as well as lost balls.

For those of you who struggle as I do with consistency, how can you possibly blame or credit the ball with poor or good results? (Serious question.)

The reason it's hard to get an objective assessment on golf balls is this...most players aren't sure what to look for when testing different models, plus there is a lot of misinformation that is posted online or well-meaning advice that is simply incorrect, which makes it very confusing.

The truth of the matter is what ball works best for me, or the ball that my buddy likes, may not be a good ball for you at all.  There are so many variables, not to mention personal preference, that the ball you chose should be based off of your swing/launch conditions, not someone else.

I have conducted thousands of golf ball fittings for players of all types and skill levels, and I can tell you a few things based on my experience:

• The golf ball will make a bigger difference for a mid to high handicapper than it will for a Tour pro.  I know...this is the opposite of what everybody thinks and what "conventional wisdom" is, but it's true.  How can this be?  The reason is due to our "tendencies".  All players have tendencies...for example, my tendency is to hit the ball a little low and under-spin it, which reduces my carry distance.  Some players have a tendency to hit a slice.  Whatever it might be, we all have them.  The difference between amateurs and Tour pros is their tendencies are much smaller and occur less often.  Because they are more consistent, and have the ability to control their spin and trajectory, the differences in golf balls for them is measured in fractions.  Since their trajectory is very efficient already, the difference between models is like splitting hairs. This is what a pro's numbers might look like:

On the other hand, there can be a significant difference for amateurs.  When a player is using the opposite type of ball they need, it's not unusual to see 20+ yards of difference when they hit a ball that fits them correctly.  Going back to my personal example of having a tendency to hit the ball low with not enough backspin, if I chose a ball that was designed to launch low with low spin (like the Bridgestone e7 for example) it would exaggerate my tendency and cause my shots to fly even lower and spin even less.  A ball that will reduce our tendencies will produce noticeably better results.  Here is a typical amateur's numbers:

• Higher spin doesn't save players as many shots as they think.  In fact, high spin ball cost many amateurs more shots than it saves them.  Spin can be your friend or your enemy.  The trick is to have the correct amount...not too much and not too little.  The more your shots spin, the more everything gets exaggerated.  If you hit a fade, more spin will turn it into a slice.  In windy conditions, a higher spin ball gets pushed around more.  On miss hits, a higher spin ball will curve more, lose more distance, and have an overall larger loss in performance.  One thing I hear a lot is players wanting a high spin ball so they can "throw it at the hole" and make it stop for a short putt.  If you're good enough to wedge it close and make the ball check for an easy up-and-down, then you're good enough to pick another 4 1/4" target on the green about 10' short of the hole and play a lower spinning model.  I'm not saying spin isn't important, because it is, but the majority of players can't control how much spin they put on the ball, and the majority of players spin the ball more than they ideally should.

I'm not going to tell you which ball to play, because I don't know.  Telling you which ball I play won't help because you might not swing like I do.  I know choosing a ball is confusing...there are dozens of models on the market, and they all are at least a little different.  I did this for a living full-time, and it was a challenge for me to keep up with everything, so it's almost impossible for the average consumer to know how all the different models stack up with each other.  I encourage you to do your initial testing with a launch monitor, and ideally with the help of an experienced ball fitting tech who can analyze and explain the data.  A launch monitor will save a lot of time and guesswork.  Two different models that go the same distance doesn't mean there isn't a difference. One ball might have carried 230 yds and rolled out 20 yds, and the other might have carried 180 and rolled out 70.  This is a bit exaggerated of course, but my point is even though they went the same distance, one of them is much more efficient than the other and day-in and day-out perform better. If you have to carry a bunker at the corner of a dogleg 200 yds out, one of those balls does it easily, the other doesn't. 

When you have it narrowed down to one or two choices, follow up with some on-course testing.  Remember...most expensive doesn't necessarily = best, and more spin doesn't necessarily = lower scores.  When you're dialed in, that's your ball...don't switch around and use whatever ball you happen to grab.  Playing the correct ball all the time will create more consistency.  

That is all.  As you were!