GregGarner

Unless you're playing in USGA-sanctioned events (or events utilizing USGA rules), it doesn't really matter, but you could use a conforming driver and get about the same numbers. 110 swing speed is great at any age!

spot on. IIRC, when Cobra tried to do that, it was nonconforming on center strikes and they had to aggressively thicken the face to slow down ball speeds (leading to his "this driver is terrible" comment...) Cue new thread on "what's the point of hitting it so far if you're just going to hit it offline"? Also, I suppose, points to his use of bulge and roll in his new iron set.

Haven't played the e6's, but what you're describing isn't dissimilar from what used to happen with Srixon balls. At least in the case of the Srixons, the covers are so thin (literally the thinnest in golf) that at the seams, you could just wear them down until the cover was gone. Still playable, but definitely off-putting. They've improved the "spin skin" coating now and they don't really have this issue as much, but I'm wondering if either a) you just got a bad batch or b) the Bridgestones are just wearing at the seams but it's still playable/wouldn't affect your game. Out of curiosity, have you tried the e12s? My boss played those for a couple seasons and really liked them. He'd likely still play them except that he's from upstate NY and has switched to OnCore Avant 55's with the Josh Allen logo

while watching the Masters this weekend, it was hard not to notice how the announcers were just drooling over BD's "bombs" yet he wasn't the longest in the field on any day or for the tournament as whole. Watching him on any given hole, his ball speeds weren't eye-popping, especially compared to the way the commentators were talking about how "he really crushed that one." He was pretty routinely getting mid to high 180's and a couple popped 190. Meanwhile, JDay was cruising in the mid-180s while wearing enough fabric to single-handedly keep the textiles industry solvent and Aberg routinely found spots on the course beyond BD's drives. Couldn't help but wonder what Bryson could do with Ping or Titleist in his hands...

Last season I did a lot of swapping between CSXLS and Left Dash but both fly very high for me. CT is noticeably lower flight. There have been some other guys on here that have had durability issues with the new CT, but I'm routinely getting 2-3 rounds per ball before I need to swap it out. The very first-gen of the XLS was BAD for durability. One crisp wedge and that ball was done. Very, very impressed with the improvements Callaway is making.

I think you might be pleasantly surprised by the new Chrome Tour. I was a white box tester of the Left Dots and loved it compared to ProV1. Allegedly the 2023 ProV1s chased a bit of the lower-flight/lower-spin properties of the Left Dot to get some of their Tour guys to switch, but notably Finau swapped back to Left Dot. Compared to the 2023 ProV1, I've found the new Chrome Tour to have a bit more speed, very comparable long game spin, higher short game spin, and a very similar, flat flight. Overall, the Chrome Tour gave me right around a half club more carry through the bag.

Cut Number: +2 Low amateur: Christo Lamprecht

I'm a tinkerer. So I am constantly taking balls out to the course and comparing. I can usually get a pretty good idea of whether or not I like a ball within a single round, but sometimes I need 2-3 before I can make a decision. I've used a simulator to capture the numbers, but I haven't really needed that to actually decide. For example, I really like the Bridgestone Tour BX, but it's way too much spin for me on short irons and full wedges. I was constantly taking more club and swinging less to try and keep the ball from ripping off the green. If I was more skilled in controlling my spin and/or played on firmer greens, the BX would definitely be a contender. Other balls it was a much quicker decision, like the Z-Star Diamond. The Diamond tested very well in the MGS ball test last year, but after about 3 holes I could tell it wasn't for me. It's too 'floaty' for me, which is indicative of too much spin and also tends to rip too much. I'm sure if I went and tested it on a launch monitor or in a sim I'd get numbers to back that up and/or quantify why it doesn't fit for me, but on-course is where it matters. FWIW, Ballnamic is half price this week with code: FIT2024 (expires April 14)

I've done both. It's hard to say if one is 'better' than the other if you're religiously using both. The biomechanics of overspeed/underspeed training and swinging with maximum intent will work for either, but The Stack has a few more bells and whistles. I think the key differentiator (and why I sold my SuperSpeed sticks to keep The Stack) is the app. I've had some issues with the new version of the app, as posted earlier in this thread, but overall, the app is a strong product offering that improves your training experience. The Grit Score (a measure of how well you're sticking to the program) is very motivating for me and helps me to prioritize my training in a way that I often didn't stick with as well when I was doing SuperSpeed. For those with high levels of self-discipline and/or self-motivation, I don't think you can go wrong either way. If you need a little more support in sticking with your training, you might get more benefit from The Stack. But it does come at a pretty significant price difference.

Oh yeah, those sessions make you TIRED. But they make you really focus on bringing max effort to every swing

TL;DR - matte balls are terrible at spin consistency across conditions. As soon as they're wet in particular their spin profiles are completely different, notably significantly lower-spin. If you are playing in completely dry conditions, you really shouldn't see much difference, but if there is any moisture (morning dew, for example), you're likely to get a flyer from the middle of the fairway.

Dang, that's no bueno! I've been gaming the Chrome Tour and haven't had durability issues. Current ball is about 3 rounds in, but I'll probably be taking it out of play because the dimples are wearing down enough to cause the ball to fly higher. But no scuffs or anything like that. I had bad durability issues on the first Chrome Soft XLS version (white box). A clean wedge strike would take a literal chunk off the cover. Thankfully they fixed that pretty quickly and I've been impressed by the new Tour.

For me, it depends. I kind of have a mental hierarchy/flow-chart for my decision-making, always starting on #1 tee. 1. How many holes am I playing? (I'm much more likely to use an old ball for 9 holes vs 18) 2. Will I be posting my score? (I play a lot of solo 9's and sometimes solo 18's if I don't get paired up. If I'm not posting the score, I'm pretty unlikely to put a new ball in play.) 3. Does this round 'matter'? (Am I prepping for an upcoming tournament? Am I working on something specific like wedges inside of 100 yards? Am I playing in the men's game or just practicing? If the round matters to me, it's a fresh ball from a new sleeve, otherwise I just start with whatever ball is in the best shape from a previous round.) Once I'm out playing, I'm looking at two things: can I physically feel anything different on the cover? and am I seeing any performance differences as I play? I have a tendency to hit the ball very high, so I'm pretty sensitive to my flight windows. As the ball gets older and the dimples wear down, the flight will get progressively higher. If I start noticing that my driver (my biggest 'tell') starts getting stratospheric, I'll switch to a new (or newer) ball with deeper dimples to bring the flight back down. I typically need to swap out a ball after 2-3 rounds because I'm starting to wear the cover down enough to see noticeable changes in performance.

Too early to tell, tbh. What I'm hoping to do, longer-term, is a) get some insights about types of putts that I need to work on and b) get putter-specific data that compares strokes gained from one putter to another. I'll likely be solely in data capture mode for a while, particularly because you can't get the insights for putt type until you do a couple of the combines.

I've only done one instance of the putting combine but I've done the 'quick entry' after playing a few times. Haven't had an issue with it yet, but it sounds like there's still hope