Off To Bridgestone!

[GolfSpy Barbajo]

Here's the video for my ball fitting. They fit me for the B330, even though my swing speed didn't approach the 105 swing speed guideline for the ball. Bridgestone says it's just that, a guideline. The B330 wound up cutting spin and lowering launch angle considerably...

 

Watch on #Periscope: Untitled https://t.co/NO8ck7TPZj

— John Barba (@golfspybarbajo) March 17, 2016

[GolfSpy Barbajo]

Here's a video of Bridgestone's Jordan Wenck, Adam Rehberg and Josh Kinchen giving the JGR Hybrid irons a workout...

 

Gotta say, those irons surprised me -- was prepared to not like them becauwse of the flange, but the things are stupid easy to hit...

 

 

LIVE on #Periscope https://t.co/SjssSneaTC

— John Barba (@golfspybarbajo) March 17, 2016

[GolfSpy Barbajo]

And here's the first video of the day - a look at MGoBlue100's warm up, and the a discussion of the JGR lineup - irons through driver - with Josh Kinchen, Bridgestone's club guy....lots of good questions answered here, especially about the face grooves...

 

 

 

 

LIVE on #Periscope https://t.co/zLsfvU2hZj

— John Barba (@golfspybarbajo) March 17, 2016

[JudgeSmails]

great stuff guys, love it....very jealous

[Aotearoa_Brad]

I have to say the periscope coverage adds a whole new level to these trips and should be mandatory from now on

 

 

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[GolfSpy Barbajo]

Yeah - they were fun to do. We'll have to include them in future OEM Visits.

 

Some more pix to share:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[GolfSpy Barbajo]

These were taken at their R&D center and test range. The robot is used to test golf balls - they had banks of computers analyzing everything about ball flight. They had a track man behind the robot and another out in the range to get the most accurate data.

 

They also had a video camera set up that could actually trace the ball flight and display it on the screen. They showed us the difference between the flight of the seamless injection molded balls and seamed balls with a thermal weld. It was remarkable.

 

 

 

 

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[GolfSpy Barbajo]

They also had an Iron Byron in the facility, as well as one of these - a chipping robot...





And I can't remember if I posted this earlier - but this is a Bridgestone Golf show with a Boa enclosure...



You won't be seeing these here. Likely ever. Made for the Japanese market, only up to size 10


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[Dieselsdad]

What scared me was the fact they were to lower your ball flight from DUO's to B330's. I have a higher flight with my JGR driver and my guess will be that Duo's will make it worse. Love to see a photo of the card they gave you.

[JBones]

I have come to the conclusion that a lot of my short game inconsistencies come from constantly changing balls. I pretty much game whatever Tour ball is on sale when I need balls, although I prefer Pro V1X. Therefore I'm doing a Bridgestone ball fitting on 4/8, with a Pro V1X

 

 

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[GolfSpy Barbajo]

I have come to the conclusion that a lot of my short game inconsistencies come from constantly changing balls. I pretty much game whatever Tour ball is on sale when I need balls, although I prefer Pro V1X. Therefore I'm doing a Bridgestone ball fitting on 4/8, with a Pro V1X

 

 

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One thing I do like about their fittings is they have most every ball imaginable, and I'm guessing they'll have problem bring whatever you want with you.

 

And if your balls suits you better, they'll tell you. It's one of those marketing hype things you hear and say "yeah, right," but after the driver incident, I tend to think they're not BS'ing.

 

 

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[Dieselsdad]

[MGoBlue100]

I'll see if I can figure out how to post those videos here.

 

I was a pretty cool day. The factory tour was awesome - I'll have a full write up later - but was particularly impressed by the fact that they work very hard not to landfill any waste. The entire process is set to catch anything out of Alex before it goes to the next step in production.

 

The seamless injection molding was cool to watch too, and then see the affect it has on ball flight.

 

The JGR driver didn't work for me, but it did for MGoBlue100 - he was fit for a 10.5* with an X-stiff Graphite Design AD I6 shaft. He was bombing it!

 

For me we found the JGR could not outperform the Cally BBDBD I brought with me. The J715 might have, but the JGR didn't.

 

MGoBlue was fit into the B330Rx ball - the ball and driver combo cut spin from around 3800 to around 2500 - and he gained about 15 yards over his Big Bertha.

 

I was fit into the B330 - got my launch angle down to around 15* (I hit the ball way, way too high) - and picked up some distance with lower soon.

 

We hit the JGR Hybrid irons and say what you want about the look, those things are stupid, stupid, stupid easy to hit. I thought the Ping G was the most forgiving iron I had hit in a long time, but these things make the G look like a 1971 Forged blade with the sweet spot the size of a gnats hind-quarters. Guys - if you want forgiving, these things are as forgiving as a litter of puppies, with a nice forged feel.

 

For me the crazy surprise were the J15 wedges. Ermagawd!!! Great

Forged feel and versatile as hell - flop shots, spinners, full shots - absolutely loved them and I wound up ordering a set - unbelievable.

 

Will share more later tonite - and MGoBlue will have a lot of info as well.

 

 

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Wedges didn't treat him as well the next day at Cuscowilla, and I am now TEN BarbaBucks richer!!

 

 

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[MGoBlue100]

What scared me was the fact they were to lower your ball flight from DUO's to B330's. I have a higher flight with my JGR driver and my guess will be that Duo's will make it worse. Love to see a photo of the card they gave you.

Based on what we learned about golf ball core design, the DUO would almost certainly make your ball flight higher. I'll wait until barbajo writes up his full report, but I REALLY feel that I know infinitely more about golf balls than ever before.

 

 

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[MGoBlue100]

I have come to the conclusion that a lot of my short game inconsistencies come from constantly changing balls. I pretty much game whatever Tour ball is on sale when I need balls, although I prefer Pro V1X. Therefore I'm doing a Bridgestone ball fitting on 4/8, with a Pro V1X

 

 

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Go and do a Bridgestone ball fitting! Questions about how I prefer to play around the green were the basis for starting the fitting. Very interesting.

 

 

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[Dieselsdad]

Went to PGATSS and hit the JGR Fwy vs. my Exotics XCG7beta

 

Exotics on the left and JGR on right.

 

Look at the all the gains:

[GolfSpy Barbajo]

Mercy!! I really liked the JGR 3 wood - real easy to hit straight.

 

 

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[JudgeSmails]

Love seeing all the videos you guys posted, really cool process

[GolfSpy Barbajo]

Hey - not for nothing, but I've been playing the new and fit-for B330 ball all weekend. After some swing adjustments my ball flight is down, and distance is improving.  I'm officially a fan of this ball.

[JBones]

I just tried the new B330 myself and I'm also a big fan.

 

 

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[Kenny B]

Sounds like the B330RX will still be the ball of choice for MGS testing.

[GolfSpy Barbajo]

Going through the notebook and clearing out some final thoughts from our Bridgestone visit last week...

 

At somewhere around $32Billion in sales, Bridgestone is the largest company in the world with a golf division.  The golf division is a very small part of the company but from a branding standpoint, golf is very valuable.

 

The parent company -- which the guys we spoke with often referred to as "Tire" is very invested in sports in general, and will be a major sponsor of the Rio Olympics. They also have sponsorship deals with the NFL and NHL, as well as the PGA.  

 

Through their ball fitting program (they basically invented ball fitting back in 2007), Bridgestone says "we know m ore a bout the golfer than any other brand in golf."  They've conducted over 300,000 launch monitor in-person ball fittings since '07, and they've compiled millions of individual swings worth of actual data.  Ball fitting is also their primary ball R&D initiative -- they learn what their balls do and what their competitors balls do.  

 

When they do a ball fitting, they compare your current gamer to their balls - and they find that 7 out of 10 times they can deliver better performance with a Bridgestone ball. What interests them mosts is the 3 out of 10 they don't win -- they want to know why.

 

On average, over their 300,000+ ball fittings, they've been able to provide 9.4 yards worth of distance gains.  They've found that golfers who fit into the B330 RX ball the gains are, on average, 10.3 yards.

 

Another interesting point is that their low-priced E6 ball is the #1 most recommended ball in their fittings. When they do a fitting, the entire Bridgestone ball offering is available -- not just the high priced, high margin Tour balls.  

 

The B330 RX and RXS balls -- softer Tour level  balls designed for the amateur player - were created as a direct result of the ball fitting program -- they found holes in the ball market and developed balls to fill those holes.

 

As many as 12 markets worldwide provide ball fitting input.

 

Bridgestone believes it's the combination of the right ball and the right clubs that will deliver what they call Quality Compression Time - which will increase distance and reduce spin with long clubs, and increase spin and performance around the green on approach shots.  

 

Bridgestone's B330 series has a one piece cover that is injection molded onto the core during manufacturing.  Everyone else sells a seamed ball - made in two halves and then thermally welded together.  Bridgestone's covers are 1 piece with no seams -- Bridgestone says it matters when it comes to consistent ball flight.  

 

During the manufacturing process, there are dozens of QA/QC checks along the way, and bad balls - which are rare - can be scrapped and reused.  They can actually scrape the covers off balls that don't meet standards and reuse the core.  And before the balls are actually counted as inventory instead of raw materials, each ball is visually inspected, and an auditor will check the inspectors work.  

 

The process is so refined that 99% of all the material that entires the facility leaves as a finished golf ball.  Waste is minimal. 

 

When they developed a new rubber compound for the new B330 series, they found the raw rubber slugs were too sticky and would often stick together and slow up the machinery.  They solved that by using the shavings from where they sand the cores down to the proper size.  The shavings do for the raw slugs what flour does for pizza dough -- makes it less sticky.

 

They also had a bit of a sticky wicket develop in the boxing process for the new balls. The B330's have what's called a SlipRes cover, which helps keep the ball on the face of the club longer for less spin on driver and long irons, and more spin on short irons and wedges.  Problem was that when the balls were being boxed into sleeves they'd actually get stuck in the machinery.  They solved that problem by actually shaking the pathways in the machinery so that the balls could pass through.

 

Bridgestone's Hybrid irons are pretty legit - yeah they're a funny looking Super Duper Game Improvement iron, but they have a forged feel and it's damn near impossible to hit them anything but straight.  For their intended target player, it's a very good choice.

 

The JGR driver was a beast for MGoBlue100 -- his driver/ball combo wound up netting him 16 more yards after the fitting, etc.  For me it wasn't the best choice -- I already hit the ball high and the head was a little too spinny for my swing that day.  They told me they simply couldn't beat the Cally Big Bertha DBD I brought with me.  Josh Kinchen said "we sell the truth" and he said it again when they could't beat the Callaway. 

 

You'll see a new player's series of clubs introduced - most likely this fall. That keeps with Bridgestone's 2-year product cycle.  The J15 series of irons, drivers, fairways and hybrids was released in late 2014 for the 2015 golf season, so late 2016 for the 2017 season is right on time. 

 

Bridgestone plans to release new product every year, just not in the same category.  For instance, 2016 is the game improvement year, with the JGR hybrid irons, driver, FW and hybrids ( the JGR FW is legit, too!  Was my second favorite club hit during the say - right behind the J15 forged wedges!).  2017 will be player's clubs.  They're not going to keep the J moniker for the new clubs though...the new name will be something Tour related.

[Kenny B]

Nice summary John!  I had a ball fitting several years ago when the RXS first came out.  I was one of the 3 out of 10; they lost to a PV1, but it was really a wash.  They gave me the RXS to play.  It was OK, but I kept playing the PV1.

 

Bridgestone says that no seam matters "when it comes to consistent ball flight."  However, Dean Snell says that all seamed balls must now pass a symmetry test and fly the same distance no matter how the ball is oriented.  So, what exactly does Bridgestone say is the difference between their seamless ball and similar seamed balls if distance deviation is not an issue?  It sounds like a nice marketing statement that may be true in some regard, but not measurably noticeable to any golfer.

[GolfSpy Barbajo]

Good question - they have a camera setup that actually traced ball flight. They showed us their balks flights with seamed ball flights. The seamed balls had up and down variations from shot to shot, and often had slight variations within a single shot.

 

Now what that would mean to your or me is largely up to debate. Their take was that tour pros especially would appreciate the consistency.

 

I don't think it was a distance question, but more of a consistent ball flight and accuracy question.

 

 

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[fozcycle]

I'm not sure that the seamless is an issue for slower swing speeds like myself.  When I reviewed the B330RX & RXS a couple years ago, I found that I liked the RX very much.  I just chose not to pay $38(at that time) per dozen when I could pay $20/dozen or less for others.

 

If Bridgestone is all about the rubber(tires, balls,etc.) when are they going to introduce a line of golf shoes?  I see something in the future that can compete with the Nike Lunarlon?

 

[GolfSpy Barbajo]

You mean like these?

 

 

They told us shoes will probably never make it over here. They're big in Japan - where Bridgestone is one of the top brands - but they only go up to size 10 and they feel the market here is already overcrowded.

 

 

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[revkev]

Three things:

 

1. The B330 lowered your ball flight? That would mean that every drive you hit prior has yet to come down.

 

2. Foz seem less is huge. I remember well how stable the balls were in the wind when we did that test. It's what got me to try bridgestone for real. I either game the 330RX or the MTB.

 

3. Bones I think you're right about the consistent ball thing. I tell my friends this all the time. Switching balls in season is a mistake, they all perform a tad bit differently. That tad can be the difference between a 4 footer (50/50) or 3 footer (80/20). Then there's the difference in ball flight. Pick one and play it.

[GolfSpy Barbajo]

Three things:

 

1. The B330 lowered your ball flight? That would mean that every drive you hit prior has yet to come down.

 

 

It did in fact!  Just not on Saturday...actually, you pointing out the shoulder tilt helped a ton -- was nailing relatively low bullets on Sunday...

[Kenny B]

Three things:

 

1. The B330 lowered your ball flight? That would mean that every drive you hit prior has yet to come down.

 

2. Foz seem less is huge. I remember well how stable the balls were in the wind when we did that test. It's what got me to try bridgestone for real. I either game the 330RX or the MTB.

 

3. Bones I think you're right about the consistent ball thing. I tell my friends this all the time. Switching balls in season is a mistake, they all perform a tad bit differently. That tad can be the difference between a 4 footer (50/50) or 3 footer (80/20). Then there's the difference in ball flight. Pick one and play it.

If seamless is huge, why do you play a seamless ball and a seamed ball?  

 

I agree with Foz that with my slower swing speed, I don't think I would see any difference.  I also agree with you that switching balls in season is a mistake.  I can certainly tell which ball I use around the greens.  They all seem to react just a little differently; not drastically for similar tour quality balls but I have hit a different ball and afterwards thought... "Oh yeah, I forgot I was playing that ball.  I should have..."  I'm sticking with the MTB for the season after it gets up to 70*, which just happens to be next weekend!!  woo hoo!

[Dieselsdad]

Put both of these bad boys in the bag: