Beakbryce

Sure, it could just be R&D. R&D now is about modifying the current ball within given parameters. This ball will be a whole new ball. But still just R&D. The new ball could also require major retooling. Ball centers and layers may be different sizes. The chemical composition of the layers may change. Dimples will probably change. I mean, something has to change. As you say, we won't know for years. The other consideration is how many are going to buy the ball between 2028 and 2030 if they don't have to. The companies are going to have to fund those 2 years. They could just offer the new ball and hope for the best in 2028. Best guess is they will produce both balls. That will have to be more expensive. Will the companies absorb the cost or pass it on? Yes, it's a jump to assume they will be more expensive, but kind of a logical one.

I agree totally as well. However, can I send you my address for the pristine premium Urethane-covered ones you throw away...

In order: 1. Rats 2. Maybe me and I could be totally wrong, but in general the readership of MGS seems to be a lot of really dedicated golfers who are totally immersed in the game. Serious golfers. I agree that most forum members don't use a ball for a number of rounds. I have read that forum. However, I have extolled the virtues and outright fun of the site to most of my friends and they are kind of "meh" because the tests, forums, etc. really don't impact them like most of us with intense desire for knowledge here on the forum. I don't know anyone who only plays a ball for 22 holes unless they lost it. Just think that's the difference in who we play with and what we are hoping to accomplish. In general, we aren't that serious. We are just happy to be upright and out of the house. There is one exception. I have one friend that plays in the city and state tournaments, I will ask him and probably get at least one new ball a round. I'll let you know. The rest of us are playing for fun and 5 rounds are probably normal. My golf budget per year is pretty large as I play with my wife. To play a new ball a round at a minimum 156 rounds a year for each of us would cost an additional $1400 plus. Would that result in even one gained shot a round? I have other things that I need that money can buy. I'm sure you have heard the Lee Trevino story about his first tournament in the PGA. It might have been at his first US Open, not sure. I don't know how that pertains but it's funny. Maybe play 4-5 rounds with the same ball and unless, after being honest about the swing and playing conditions, if the ball goes basically where you intended you keep playing. See what your scoring average is. Look on it as just another test. You might be surprised... Not to mention playing with one ball might be like betting with no money in your pocket. Increased attention. Tin Cup moment. 3. If pro's are using stats that show longer is better, even if the ball goes offline, is offline really the most important thing? The ball deviated 10 yards. At my swing speed, would that be 4-6 yards? I'll take it and gladly hit in one less club.

If you believe you won't pay more for the conforming ball to make up for the companies research into producing the ball... then you are right, there won't be a "tax". If, you believe you won't pay more for the conforming driver you will have to play because that's coming next... then you are right, there won't be a "tax". It may not be paying the USGA, but they are going to influence, with this rule change, your pocketbook and not in a good way. I respect your decision to support the USGA and all they do for golf. I am not saying that funding golf initiatives and turf research isn't a good thing. If you believe in their mission you should fund them. What I am saying is this will be more expensive for all of us whether we chose to support them or not, whether they choose to listen to us or not.

Ok, I read this test when it came out. This test was for "scuffed" balls and not undamaged found balls. The test indicated as a conclusion "If you’re trying to figure out if it’s time to replace your ball, a good rule of thumb is that if there’s enough damage that you can feel it when rubbing your finger over the ball, it’s probably best to toss it in the shag bag before it impacts your score". Maybe one of the tests after the ball test this year could be testing a new ball, would it survive a couple of 100 hits without marked degradation. Couple of hundred hits would be all the clubs through the bag including chips and pitches, not just the driver. If it remains un-scuffed, would it perform? A couple of hundred hits would be about 5 rounds. My friends and I have more than 5 rounds on lots of found balls. @fixyurdivot reported 14 rounds on an AVX. Look, I know we play for fun and not competition, but if a ball is being a squirrel, we don't continue to play it. Also would like to see the tests accomplished with both the 150ish and 125 MPH driver ball speeds with corresponding speeds for the other clubs, i.e. if the driver is 125 the 8 iron would be whatever, chips and pitches a lot less. A lot of MGS tests are high ball speed which isn't where a lot of us are. The light scuffed ball actual went farther. So the test could still continue with a lightly scuffed ball. I would be in the camp of little statistical difference, particularly at the lower ball speed. However, if the ball loses 15 yards and goes a little further offline at 150mph, the ball manufacturers could choose some mass method of whacking thousands of balls at a time 100 times and convince the USGA that is how they would give them to elite players to meet the new rule. Not like elite players buy their balls. Then sell the unhit balls to the rest of us. We would all be using the same ball. Problem solved. I know, sometimes I even shock myself with these ideas.

Maybe it's just being in AZ! Balls don't deteriorate here. I am pretty sure I have had some balls with 10-11 rounds on them but 14 rounds, outstanding! Apparently, MGS has done some tests with noted degradation of the ball. Maybe if we just pretend found balls work, they will!

Shucks! My whole golfing expenditure priority just took a massive hit! Actually, I haven't seen that in real play but maybe an 85 MPH swing doesn't make a Pro V1 go Owwwwwwwwwww! Now I need to go look up the test! Thank you for letting me know. Link?

It took 4 full attempts to read this to my wife I was laughing so hard. Well done!

That is a fundamental difference. It isn't their game. It's our game. Who voted them in? Do you pay dues to the USGA? I don't. Taxation without representation is still tyranny.

That says it all! Thanks for that.

This discussion is not about recycled balls as they are truly not deserving. I have bought one dozen new golf balls in the last 10 years and that only because I was sent a Dick's gift card and there wasn't anything else to buy there. I find on the course and then use several different brands of quality balls and it doesn't seem to affect my score. I have played Titleist balls to where the Titleist almost can't be read. Trust me that if the ball was ruining my score it would get tossed. For most people, the ball is much higher quality than their swing. I think MGS should hit a single ball a couple of hundred times and see exactly what the yardage and offline difference is from beginning to end. That would be a cool test and maybe put to rest this notion that a ball like the Pro V1 can't be hit a couple of hundred times without significant loss. I have found a couple of balls that didn't fly right, but easy to diagnose after a swing or 2 and I just tossed those. 99% still playable. Every found ball is like $2-5 in savings to be put towards other stuff. Like clubs, bags, green fees. It's all about priorities.

Uh, yes!

The reason there are so many grinds in specialty wedges, like Vokeys, is to optimize turf conditions and swing path. In my local area, desert golf, one would think that the turf is always rock hard so maybe buy a grind for that turf. But it isn't true all year round. I have Vokeys, and they play better during the summer than the winter. If you buy irons and they interact with the turf in a pleasant way, then I think set wedges. I am really looking for a replacement for my 50 Vokey and having bought Rogue ST irons this year I am thinking about their gap wedge as I like the turf interaction.

So, the whole bag was safe, right? Pulled the trigger on a Paradym X 5 hybrid to maybe better fill the only kind of gap in my bag. I have a heaven wood and a 4 hybrid at about the same degree lofts but use the 4 for low shots and wood for high shots. Additionally, the longer shaft on the heaven wood results in a 10 yard difference. The problem is the next club down is a 6 hybrid so have been trying, with mixed success, to choke down on the 4 hybrid to cover the yardage gap. Hence the 5 hybrid. Callaway pre-owned has a 24% off sale going and I found one with the shaft in my 6 hybrid that I really like. Time of year means it isn't shipping for a few days. Stand by for a mini review and how the gapping works going forward.

when I started playing I watched to see how I could improve. There was a lot more demo work during the broadcast which increased my understanding of the game. Now we are lucky to see one swing analysis and it's usually the driver. I read a lot of golf magazines as well. I still watch all year long. I watch them all btw, PGA, LPGA, college. I watch in fast forward. I slow down for good shots. To many commercials, too much talk from the talking heads. I really hate it when they are doing the best player to not win a major or best players not playing well. It's a 40 year career for these players. Slumps? I am surprised there aren't more slumps. There is a reason I really like the European announcers. Some light reminiscing and a little yardage work. None of this "it's an impossible shot" that a 10 handicapper could handle. Sure, some of them are really hard, but a lot of them are mere hyperbole. Especially out of traps. Let's face it. They went from Venturi to Miller to Azinger to Immelmann. They all spoke the truth but it's a lot kinder and gentler group now days. VANILLA. Kizner, now that should be fun. Golf magazines are all about selling expensive golf crap. Nothing new there anymore. Or maybe at 71 I have just lost my patience. There are better how to videos on you tube now than any telecast tries to provide. Thank you Quite The Chap. Want to grow the game? Show people how to play it. Sure I want to watch the players going at each other. Love the pressure. It's amazing that out of a 156 player field one person ends up better when they are all good. I had 2 rounds this year where it felt like I couldn't miss. Must be how they feel day in and day out. Would it kill them to show the really difficult shots from the day before, analyze lie etc, what options were available, and then demo the shot from the same location? They could do this before play the next day and intersperse those within the telecast. Say 2 an hour. I would rather see 8-10 of those than watch players wonder around the green looking at a 2 foot putt for what seems like 10 minutes. I mean, who needs the line on the ball lined up for a 2 foot putt? With todays greens, I would like to see a player have to putt out and get it done in less than 90 seconds. By that I mean when it is your turn, you putt until it's in the hole and you have 90 seconds. The greens look hard enough not to really bother if one is on someone's line. If they are soaked, then revert to todays way. Lets go. In fact, shot clock for everyone. Set up behind the green. Like football.

Home simulator equipment. The ongoing Rapsado test is very illuminating as the kinks are worked out. Those testers and other contributors have one of the best test threads going. I am intensely interested in "quiet" nets, turf mats, and launch monitors.

Look at Sun Mountain. Good time of year to buy last years model. Good prices.

Absolutely one of the funniest things I have read this year! and so true.

I haven't but if they have a demo near me I will go try them out. Thank you.

I work with one of their reps when I am buying clubs and he said not on the pre-owned site. That may have changed. Regardless, I always ask. Also AARP membership, best looking guy in my neighborhood, golf nut, MGS tester, and anything else I can think of! and, before you ask, the best looking guy in my neighborhood gets the biggest laugh!

It's all good. But then... At the beginning of this year I wasn't really looking for any new clubs. Lucked into deals for 8-9-PW when the Rogue ST irons went on sale with an additional military discount. Then I was just fooling around and took the Odyssey questionnaire on what putter I would play and ended up buying an Eleven. Thank you to the Gods of my ancestors and the Putting Gods! That putter and the new clam shell grip I found online at the same time has cured my yips. Actually making some good putts. Maybe a GBB 19 5 hybrid?

Thank you for the info. I am not actually looking for a new driver. My Epic is fine. However, if I can feel it in my hands I would try it, so it is on my list. I had just noted that the sound of the newer drivers was muted thud. From the discussion, it looks like a majority of golfers prefer that so probably why the manufacturers are going that way. I like to feel the hit in my hands so sound isn't as big a factor for me. If the driver was 15-20 yards longer, I wouldn't really care how it sounds... Maybe that's the secret the manufacturers have found in their testing. Everyone can live with a muted thud if the driver outperforms significantly what they have, but if it is too loud, they lose a significant portion of buyers who just won't purchase a loud driver. I have always waited several generations between drivers. They all advertise longer, but my perception is they aren't all that much longer over the last few years, but they are definitely getting straighter. Maybe that's a topic for another day.

Mostly Titliest Pro V's and Vice pro plus. MGS has shown that higher compression balls work better for every ball speed and I concur with that as I hit a lot of different balls. We find a lot of balls on our course and I have tried them all. Interestingly, I found a Pinnacle Soft the other day and hit it. I kind of thought it was an oxymoron as Pinnacles are rocks. I hit it because I had just read that it would pass the new ball test proposed by the USGA. It went nowhere. I only hit it once so didn't think about the sound.

I agree. If it can't be felt in the hands, I am not into the club.

I started with wood woods. Maybe the sound is what drew me to the original GBB when it first came out. What a revelation sound wise. I still have that club, maybe I will take it out in the next few weeks. Probably won't be as impressed.