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MGS Golf Ball Test


Golf Ball Test Results...Pre-Reveal  

56 members have voted

  1. 1. Which brand do you think performs the best in MGS Golf Ball Test to be revealed Monday? (I have no idea what balls are being tested but this is my best bet)

    • Bridgestone (e6, e12, Tour B X, Tour B XS, Tour B RX)
      11
    • Callaway (Chrome Soft, Chrome Soft X, ERC Soft)
      1
    • Cut (Red, Green, Blue, Black, Brown, Mauve, Burgundy, Candy Apple, Cyan, Golden Rod)
      0
    • Maxfli (Tour, Tour x)
      0
    • Mizuno (RB Tour, RB Tour X)
      0
    • Snell (MTB Red, MTB Black, MTB X)
      11
    • Srixon (Q Star, Z Star, Z Star XV, LGBTQ Star)
      4
    • TaylorMade (TP5, TP5x, Project (a), Project (s))
      8
    • Titleist (Pro V1, Pro V1x, AVX, Tour Soft, Velocity, DT TruSoft)
      15
    • Vice (Drive, Pro, Pro Plus, Pro Soft)
      5
    • Volvik (I don't even know if they're in the test)
      0
    • Wilson (DUO Soft, DUO U, FG Tour)
      0
    • Other
      1

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  • Poll closed on 04/29/2019 at 10:00 PM

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2 hours ago, txgolfjunkie said:

If anyone wants a copy of my live spreadsheet for the 115mph swing speed, here's a screen shot of what it looks like. You just input your own weighting between the driver, 7 iron and wedge and then select your priorities in golf ball characteristics:

196754009_BallData.PNG.ec9a70b2653a58b38b56608772db6bc4.PNG

Once you update your desires in a golf ball, it automatically pulls the new rating and you can sort by the total column to get your new top choice. Just DM me your email address and I'll send you a copy. 

Here's an example of the backup data which goes off pure ranking. There are a few categories where there's not much difference between the best and worst, and you can just adjust your ball characteristics accordingly, like on wedge ball speed where there was maybe a 1.5 mph difference between the fastest and slowest. 

340744796_balldata2.PNG.97e0f0c73a0418df879619570cd8655c.PNG

Yeah, throw it in a google doc please?

Driver: :callaway-small: Rogue ST Max LS Tensei AV Blue S

3w/5w: :titelist-small: TSi2 Tensei AV Raw Blue S

4h: :mizuno-small: CLK 22* Hybrid Tensei CK Pro Blue 80HY S

Irons 5-PW: :mizuno-small: 223 Steelfiber PR 95 S

Wedges: :cleveland-small: RTX Zipcore Tour Rack 50, 54, 58 Steelfiber PR 105

Putter: LAB Link.1

Ball: :srixon-small: Z-Star Diamond

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15 hours ago, sixcat said:

I will report back with what I find but it wont be until I have confidently made a decision.  As I stated earlier, if I can't distinguish between the MTB-X and a higher priced ball, why pay the higher price?  But if the MTB-X flies all over the place, I wont hesitate to say so.

For the record, check out Dennis Paulson's Twitter feed from the past couple days referring to the MTB-X.  He posted a number of times in recent days referring to the MGS test results and giving his unconditional support for the MTB-X.  If a former Tour player can't find fault with the MTB-X, I'm not expecting to myself.

In regards to @yungkory Driver swing speed is ~113 with an average carry distance of 270.  Current gamer has been the Staff Duo Spin for a couple of years.  Will be testing against MTB-X, Tour B X and Pro V1x.  I need more spin and control from 150 yards and in, especially 50 yards and in.  The data suggests I need to play a low spin ball with the driver with higher spin off the wedges, hence the choices I have made.  Also, the GM at my club (who I trust implicitly) helped me come to my decision. He has been begging me to ditch the Staff Duo Spin for two years.  We played yesterday afternoon together where I used the Tour B X.  I also buy into what the MGS guys suggested yesterday during the live chat.  Softer balls actually benefit players with higher swing speeds rather than the players they are marketed toward.  I guess that's why I didn't see a massive loss in distance with the Staff Duo Spin.  But it is still junk around the greens.

My kids are teenagers and self-sufficient.  I have the time to play more golf, therefore my game is rounding back into a familiar form to the mid 00's.  Especially now that my daughter plays on the middle school golf team.  I literally play every day it isn't storming.    

 

A few early observations after playing 18 yesterday afternoon with the MTB-X.  Conditions were 75 degrees, clear with a >2 mile per hour wind.  It was as calm as it gets in Appalachia!  My home club for anyone interested.  http://www.blueridgegolf.net/course-tour.htm  Don't let the distance fool you.  There is at least a 200 foot change in elevation from east to west on the golf course with every green but a few elevated at least 8 feet.  It plays longer than 6,164.  

All three balls are ridiculously similar.  The MTB-X is 3-5 yards longer with the driver (a solid 10+ yards longer than the Staff Duo Spin I have been playing).  The Tour B X and Pro V1x are a yard or two longer with irons.  All three "hop and stop" quite nicely on our slick, bent-grass greens.  I haven't found an instance yet where the ball was more than a couple feet from the pitch mark and none have spun backward, which is something I do not want given where I play most of my golf.  From around the green, they are indistinguishable with the exception of the MTB-X being ever so slightly more firm.  From 50 yards and in, I would venture a guess, I could cover every ball I've played this week with a bath towel if the holes had all been cut in the same location. 

With that said, I'm going to try to explain this without having it go off the rails!  The MTB-X is firmer with every club in the bag and more pronounced the closer you get to the putting surface.  It's noticeable but not in a bad way.  Please let that be clear.  It has a "full" feeling that I am struggling to articulate.  Most balls (at least to me) feel like they interact with the club-face in an area the size of my thumbnail.  The MTB-X feels like it engulfs the club-face at impact and I kinda like it!  It's the only ball I have played that felt this way other than the Hogan Apex from the early 2000's, which is quite possibly my favorite ball of all time. 

I only played one MTB-X ball and have absolutely nothing negative to report about it.  Especially from a dispersion or irregularity standpoint.  I hit every fairway with the exception of #5.  I'm still adjusting to the distances the ball was traveling. I'm simply not used to having wedges into some of these greens.  A few notable shots from today.  The 15 yard bunker shot on #3 skidded once, bit and stopped two feet from the cup.  The drive on #14 reached the top of the slope almost exactly where the photographer was standing in image #1 on the "Course Tour" section of the above link.  I had a 7-iron second shot into a 500 yard par 5 with the first 250 yards playing significantly uphill.

Choices, choices!

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Just played a round with Bridgestone Tour B X.  Prior, I played Snell Red last season (lots of spin, suspect in wind or off driver at times) and was testing MTB-x and Black.  Prior to that, Chrome Soft. 

During 'off' season time, I admit that I play a wide variety of found balls, but usually all in the premium category.

I am a 6-9 handicapper, 95mph driver SS, solid all around game.  I don't care so much about ball costs.  

First, I would echo the previous posters comment about the firm feeling of the Snell MTB-X, not as noticeable on woods, irons, but yes on the putter.  After a round or two with it - I actually preferred that feel (had preferred a softer ball in the past) off the putter...it felt 'brighter', found that I had less 'dead' putts.  I was ready to make MTB-X my ball for this season.

Anyhow - the Bridgestone Tour B X.  Wow.  It did everything very well, found no weaknesses.  The most noticeable thing for me was how incredibly well the ball held its line.  Slight push/pull is on me, but the ball still (noticeably better than past balls I have played) held its line very well.  I hit more dead straight ropes than I had in a long time, more frequent 'as long as I hit drives' in a long time.  Overall distance off driver or other clubs was what I would expect (not getting everyone's +10 yards).  VS my past balls, I felt that I got slightly more height off of good drivers and longer iron shots.  Balls checked up predictably as my good approaches normally hit and go forward 3"-12".  Felt fine off the putter.  When I putted the MTB-X vs the Tour BX back to back - I did prefer the MTB-X feel, the Bridgestone felt heavier.  But playing a normal round, not doing a back to back test - the Tour BX felt fine.

Your mileage may vary, but the straightness of the Tour BX really impressed me and it does everything else very very well.  May try the Tour BXS for kicks - but I am converting to Bridgestone.  Would have never tried them if not for the MGS test results.  And I am done playing found balls (except in the winter)

 

 

 

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There are some really clever and smart members out here!  Exciting to see what everyone has been able to do with the data.

One thing to keep in mind though -

just like all of the tests that the fine folks at MGS do in the lab -- most wanted driver, putter, etc. -- it's only a starting point. One person may do better with the TP5x and one may find the MTB-X to be the best; just like one person may have success with the g410 and one may have better luck with the f9.  

It's awesome to have a starting point where we can all go explore and try it for ourselves rather than just grabbing something out of the bag.

Hopefully everyone can use the incredible amount of data and info to find the best ball for their game and shoot better scores!

If you're like me the golf ball is the last thing I would have thought of when determining why things "weren't going so well".... 

Fairways and greens!! 🍻

DriverCobra  Aerojet LS
Woods-
Cobra  LTD 3w 15*, 5W 19*,  F9 24* 
Irons- XXIO X (6-A)

Wedges- Callaway Jaws Raw (54/58)

Putter- Bettinardi BB56
Ball- Maxfli Tour X/Wilson Triad
Buggy- Clicgear 4.0
Bag- Callaway Org 14/Fairway C

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2 minutes ago, GolfSpy Stroker said:

it's only a starting point. One person may do better with the TP5x and one may find the MTB-X to be the best;

exactly- good point.

I tried the TP5x and found it to be a rock, now I find prov1 short but the prov1x longer, spins well off irons and still looks new after a round. I still like Bridgestone apart from the look of the dimples, but I might persevere testing against the prov1x to get the ball I should stick with, as recommended by the MGS testing. No more grabbing whatever was the cleanest in the bag on the first tee lol

Driver     Awaiting NEW Driver (after 10 yrs)  
4 Wood   Callaway Big Bertha Steelhead plus 4+  :callaway-small: Callaway shaft in 'Firm' flex

Hybrid     Titleist 910H 19*    :titelist-small:   Diamana ahina 'flower' shaft in 'S'

Irons         Mizuno MP18SC 4-PW   :mizuno-small:  N.S Pro Modus3 Tour 105 in 'S'

Wedges    Callaway Mack Daddy forged in black 50* and 54*  :callaway-small:   KBS Tour in 'R'

Putter        'YES' Tracy 11 C groove 34.5"

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9 hours ago, yungkory said:

Yeah, throw it in a google doc please?

Here's the link:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mY7707rVVaGCxLUSlYsiLOKXsO3FX7ka8LWkSUDHCXE/edit?usp=sharing

Just adjust your club weighting to equal 100% and then rate the ball characteristics for each club (0-4, 0 being least important, 4 being most important) and it will recalculate the rating. Sort by the total column to get new ranking.

Cobra Connect 5 Competitor - Team Chad

  • :cobra-small: King Radspeed 10.5* w/ Hzrdus RDX Blue 60 6.5 tipped 1/2" - Peacoat/Red
  • :cobra-small: King Radspeed Big Tour 3 Wood w/ Hzrdus RDX Blue 70 6.5 Tipped 1/2"
  • :cobra-small: King Radspeed Tour 5 Wood w/ Motore X F1 70 X Flex 
  • :cobra-small: King Utility 4 21* w/ Tensei Pro White 100 X Flex
  • :cobra-small: King Tour MIM Copper Irons 5-G w/ AMT White X100 Onyx
  • :cobra-small: King MIM Black Wedges 55* & 60* w/ AMT White X100 Onyx
  • :taylormade-small: Spider SR
  • :titelist-small: Pro V1x Left Dash
  • Lefty
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So basically I can manipulate this data to make what ever Ball I prefer to be #1. How else are you going to show the Cut Blue as the number 1 in your example. He only way this works is if you run the test blind. Give a value to each ball name. Then move the ball name to a different sheet. Out in the numbers you want, and let the spreadsheet find your ball, which will a value, then go check the sheet to see which ball was chosen. If you can see the ball name, you can manipulate any of the numbers to show whatever you want. 


I see what you're saying. If you access the Google docs spreadsheet, hide the column with the ball names, update your golf ball characteristics based on the 0-4 level of importance (0 being the last important, 4 being the most), apply your club weighting importance between the driver, 7 iron, and wedge (must equal 100%), and then resort the total column. Unhide the column with the golf ball name to reveal which is the top pick.


Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

Cobra Connect 5 Competitor - Team Chad

  • :cobra-small: King Radspeed 10.5* w/ Hzrdus RDX Blue 60 6.5 tipped 1/2" - Peacoat/Red
  • :cobra-small: King Radspeed Big Tour 3 Wood w/ Hzrdus RDX Blue 70 6.5 Tipped 1/2"
  • :cobra-small: King Radspeed Tour 5 Wood w/ Motore X F1 70 X Flex 
  • :cobra-small: King Utility 4 21* w/ Tensei Pro White 100 X Flex
  • :cobra-small: King Tour MIM Copper Irons 5-G w/ AMT White X100 Onyx
  • :cobra-small: King MIM Black Wedges 55* & 60* w/ AMT White X100 Onyx
  • :taylormade-small: Spider SR
  • :titelist-small: Pro V1x Left Dash
  • Lefty
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9 minutes ago, txgolfjunkie said:

Here's the link:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mY7707rVVaGCxLUSlYsiLOKXsO3FX7ka8LWkSUDHCXE/edit?usp=sharing

Just adjust your club weighting to equal 100% and then rate the ball characteristics for each club (0-4, 0 being least important, 4 being most important) and it will recalculate the rating. Sort by the total column to get new ranking.

Love the work you did. My only input would be instead of letting people rank these player inputs 0-4, each category such as "wedge" gets 10 points and I can assign as many points to any subcat as I want. Maybe in this case because you have 8 sub cats, 32 points is fine but being limited to 4 points each is going to smooth out the important of each one too much. For example, I pretty much don't care at all about wedge ball speed or carry distance, but I care much much more about spin consistency and carry consistency. I'd want to assign the first two things 1 point but the latter two maybe 8 or 10 points each because I think they are more than 4x important.

 

I think that if you just let people assign 0-4 for all things, some people may just say "well everything is important!" and then it diminished the value of this section of your formula.

 

Just my humble .02.

Tsr2 Ventus TR Blue

Tsi3 Ventus TR Blue

Tsr2 Ventus TR Blue

0211 ST 4-GW Axiom 125

Mizuno T22

Flat stick - who knows

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31 minutes ago, txgolfjunkie said:

Here's the link:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mY7707rVVaGCxLUSlYsiLOKXsO3FX7ka8LWkSUDHCXE/edit?usp=sharing

Just adjust your club weighting to equal 100% and then rate the ball characteristics for each club (0-4, 0 being least important, 4 being most important) and it will recalculate the rating. Sort by the total column to get new ranking.

uh-oh.... since you made it publicly available looks like some folks made some edits to it and it's no longer working...

 

DriverCobra  Aerojet LS
Woods-
Cobra  LTD 3w 15*, 5W 19*,  F9 24* 
Irons- XXIO X (6-A)

Wedges- Callaway Jaws Raw (54/58)

Putter- Bettinardi BB56
Ball- Maxfli Tour X/Wilson Triad
Buggy- Clicgear 4.0
Bag- Callaway Org 14/Fairway C

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Looks like the table on the right got messed up.

 

Also, I have another question about the table - in regards to say, "spin" for wedge (or dr or 7i) how is that being used in the data set? What if I value really low spin on driver and high spin on wedges, how is that captured? How does 'importance' translate to an actual ranking of a definitive number? If I put 0 in for driver spin, does that favor less spin or more? I'm still digging into the backend sheets but I'm assuming a 0 for wedge spin and driver spin are actually reversed?

 

I've ranked everything and my results are odd. Telling me the tour soft is what I want, even though that's pretty much on the opposite spectrum.

 

Edit: So just looking at the backend of the sheet as far as the calcs go...

I notice the wedge "rank" is simply an addition of 'launch' + 'land' where land equals the addition of the relative rankings of carry, stdDev of carry, offline, etc,  and launch the addition of speed, spin and spin dev, with the lower of this total number, the better. I'm not exactly sure why you chose this, can you explain? I'm not totally sure because there's no comments or notes but it would seem to favor balls that are fast, spin a lot, & carry far but don't actually account for things like actual launch angle, peak height and descent? To me personally, ball speed and carry are almost negligible when it comes to an 85 yard wedge shot.

 

It seems this calc is used to directly compute the total wedge score on the 'Final' page. This is probably why balls like Tour Soft and AVX are showing up high on my list when I favor wedge importance, because they are longer and faster than something like ProV, even though ProV is clearly a superior choice due to lower launch, high spin, etc.

 

If I get enough free time, I may modify this sheet and make my own. If anybody is interested, I'll release it...Otherwise it will just be for my own studies.

 

Not picking on the creator or anything, again this is really great work.

 

E2: Wait a second... am I interpreting this wrong? On the Final tab... is a lower score better? I made it such that Wedge was 100% weight, and the S4 which is the #1 ranked wedge ball according to the Wedge tab after my 'User Inputs', has the lowest total points.

 

E3: Looking at each backend tab... Seems that as far as ranking things goes... Spin for example is considered "best" when it's low off driver and 7i but worst when it's low off the wedge. Just something for you guys who see this to keep in mind; All else equal, If you value high spin in your 7i, then you'd actually want to rank it as a 0 or 1, as far as importance goes.

Edited by z1ggy16

Tsr2 Ventus TR Blue

Tsi3 Ventus TR Blue

Tsr2 Ventus TR Blue

0211 ST 4-GW Axiom 125

Mizuno T22

Flat stick - who knows

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I'd like to echo something others have said. If you feel this test was of value and will add extra yardage/performance to your game, why not become a donor. All you have to contribute is the price of a doz balls  - that you bought which didn't make it to the top of the list.  

Left Hand orientation

:taylormade-small:SIM 2 D Max with Fujikura Air Speeder Shaft 

Cobra  Radspeed 3W/RIptide Shaft
:ping-small:  410  Hybrids 22*, 26*

Cobra Speed Zone 6-GP/Recoil ESX 460 F3 Shafts 

:titelist-small: SM7 54* Wedge

:ping-small: Glide 3.0  60* Wedge

:odyssey-small: O Works putter

:ShotScope: V3
:918457628_PrecisionPro:NX9-HD

:CaddyTek: - 4 Wheel 

EZGO TXT 48v cart
:footjoy-small: - too many shoes to list and so many to buy

:1590477705_SunMountain: And  BAG Boy

Golf Balls: Vice Pro Plus 

2020 Official Teste:SuperSpeed: Beginning Driver Speed  - 78

2019 Official Tester :ping-small:  410 Driver

2018 Official Tester :wilson-small: C300

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15 hours ago, Thin2win said:

All,

Who doesn't love numbers and  theory crafting which ball might be amazing?! I think I have already dropped 3 strokes off my score just reading this article. 

 So, I took a not so random collection of the balls from this test, 18 of them in total. And played with Excel today to calculate, weight and score them based on my preferences. Since I'm just over 100mph ss I averaged out all data for that speed. I'll attached a Google Docs link for anyone who really wants to dig through what I did, and how I weighted categories, and which categories I decided mattered to me.

 Wow, some huge surprises and some expected results. If you want more particulars, checkout the doc or let me know, but as to not bore the rest of you.

Top 5 balls with no significant difference between them: V1x, Vice Pro, Bridgestone B XS, Mizuno RB Tour X(!), TaylorMade TP5

Worst 5: Bridgestone B RX, ChromeSoft, Maxfli Tour, TaylorMade TP5X, and I added the Tour Soft as a throw in, it was the worst. 

 All said and done, I'll probably switch to the Vice Pro after my current ball pool is diminished. I do have a few dozen 4 Piece KSigs still, and a collection of MTB X. Those will all be fine, but when I get through all them. The Vice Pro and the B XS have me the most intrigued. And the price of the Vice Pro is a significant plus. 

 I was surprised that the TP5 was one of the best, and the TP5x was only better than the only Surlyn ball in the test group. 

 MGS Ball Test 100 MPH swing speed Google Doc

 Side note, Blue cells are 1 Std Dev better than average, green is better than average, Yellow is worse than average, Red is 1 Std Dev worse than average. 

 Cheers all. 

Awesome chart thin, thanks for all your hard work. I currently have a plethora of chrome soft x and tour b rx balls in my basement. Looks like I'm going to have an excuse for poor rounds of golf this year!!!!

Shoutout to @yungkoryfor his awesome spreadsheet as well!

WITB

 

Driver- PING G400 LST w/ Project X Evenflow Black

Fwy- TM Aeroburner 16.5HL

Irons- Callaway Steelhead XR (3-PW)

Wedges- Callaway MD3 (50,54,58)

Putter- Cleveland TFI Satin Cero

Ball-  Snell MTB-X

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1 hour ago, z1ggy16 said:

Looks like the table on the right got messed up.

 

Also, I have another question about the table - in regards to say, "spin" for wedge (or dr or 7i) how is that being used in the data set? What if I value really low spin on driver and high spin on wedges, how is that captured? How does 'importance' translate to an actual ranking of a definitive number? If I put 0 in for driver spin, does that favor less spin or more? I'm still digging into the backend sheets but I'm assuming a 0 for wedge spin and driver spin are actually reversed?

For the ranking of spin, lowest is best for driver and 7 iron and highest for wedge. If you put a 0 on driver spin, then it won't bring into account that particular ranking for driver spin, meanwhile if you think driver spin is super important, rank it a 4 and it will give that particular ranking a heavier weight.  

I've ranked everything and my results are odd. Telling me the tour soft is what I want, even though that's pretty much on the opposite spectrum.

The spreadsheet seems to be really messed up. I'll reload the original once I find a way for folks to view, but if they want to edit, they need to download it. 

Edit: So just looking at the backend of the sheet as far as the calcs go...

I notice the wedge "rank" is simply an addition of 'launch' + 'land' where land equals the addition of the relative rankings of carry, stdDev of carry, offline, etc,  and launch the addition of speed, spin and spin dev, with the lower of this total number, the better. I'm not exactly sure why you chose this, can you explain? I'm not totally sure because there's no comments or notes but it would seem to favor balls that are fast, spin a lot, & carry far but don't actually account for things like actual launch angle, peak height and descent? To me personally, ball speed and carry are almost negligible when it comes to an 85 yard wedge shot.

I broke up the ranking into two separate categories, launch and land. These are just the subtotals of each metric that are determined based on your personal preference. You, yourself can adjust the weight on the 'Final' tab but neither are defaulted to carry more weight than the other. I broke them out in case you wanted to see how the ball ranked at the moment of impact (launch) and then where the ball ended up (land). Some balls performed really well at the moment of impact (ball speed, spin, spin standard deviation) but then flew wildly offline, thus the category of land. I didn't include launch angle, since they were very minimal, or descent angle because for me personally, it's not nearly as important as how far the ball carries, how far it flies offline, etc. Once again, that's just personal taste. 

It seems this calc is used to directly compute the total wedge score on the 'Final' page. This is probably why balls like Tour Soft and AVX are showing up high on my list when I favor wedge importance, because they are longer and faster than something like ProV, even though ProV is clearly a superior choice due to lower launch, high spin, etc.

 

If I get enough free time, I may modify this sheet and make my own. If anybody is interested, I'll release it...Otherwise it will just be for my own studies.

 

Not picking on the creator or anything, again this is really great work.

 

E2: Wait a second... am I interpreting this wrong? On the Final tab... is a lower score better? I made it such that Wedge was 100% weight, and the S4 which is the #1 ranked wedge ball according to the Wedge tab after my 'User Inputs', has the lowest total points.

Yes, lowest score is best. And no, you aren't seeing things wrong, the S4 did in fact have the highest wedge spin and one of the most consistent ball flights and smallest shot areas among the wedges. If you favor more wedge spin and a small shot area, then you will see the S4 is the best ball. 

E3: Looking at each backend tab... Seems that as far as ranking things goes... Spin for example is considered "best" when it's low off driver and 7i but worst when it's low off the wedge. Just something for you guys who see this to keep in mind; All else equal, If you value high spin in your 7i, then you'd actually want to rank it as a 0 or 1, as far as importance goes.

That's correct. And some categories had very little discrepancy from top to bottom, like driver launch angle or 7 iron ball speed or wedge carry distance. For those categories, a lower rank of 0 would probably be best. 

Ah geez, that spreadsheet got messed up in a hurry. I'll try to find another way to share it without everyone messing with it. Anyone have any suggestions or can you just download the spreadsheet off google docs? 

So here's the basis of the ratings system...

The backup tables, 'Dr', '7 iron' and 'Wedge', are really just for viewing. You don't need to mess with those tables. They just reflect the ranking for each ball characteristic from the MGS test. I gave the ranking for each category and then your input on the 'Final' tab is what adjusts the weight of each category. If you rank Driver-Ball speed as a 4, it gives more weight to that ranking. Sure, you could rank everything as a 4 if you want. 

The only editing needed is on the main page. You can just view the back up tables to see where each ball was ranked in a particular category. 

This isn't a perfect rating system, but this works for me. I think I'm just going to play the following:

Off the tee: Pro V1x

Approach shots: Srixon Z Star

Wedge shots: Volvik S4 to tucked pins, Bridgestone Tour B XS to everything else. 

I'm sure my playing partners won't mind the switching out of golf balls on each shot! 

 

Cobra Connect 5 Competitor - Team Chad

  • :cobra-small: King Radspeed 10.5* w/ Hzrdus RDX Blue 60 6.5 tipped 1/2" - Peacoat/Red
  • :cobra-small: King Radspeed Big Tour 3 Wood w/ Hzrdus RDX Blue 70 6.5 Tipped 1/2"
  • :cobra-small: King Radspeed Tour 5 Wood w/ Motore X F1 70 X Flex 
  • :cobra-small: King Utility 4 21* w/ Tensei Pro White 100 X Flex
  • :cobra-small: King Tour MIM Copper Irons 5-G w/ AMT White X100 Onyx
  • :cobra-small: King MIM Black Wedges 55* & 60* w/ AMT White X100 Onyx
  • :taylormade-small: Spider SR
  • :titelist-small: Pro V1x Left Dash
  • Lefty
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I have a 7 handicap, SS 104-107, I have been playing chrome softs, any see the extra yardage gain from the Bridgestone B X? I love the feel of the chrome soft, but I would love some extra yardage and the ball go straighter.... any info would be great thanks 

Jonathan Lender

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29 minutes ago, txgolfjunkie said:

Ah geez, that spreadsheet got messed up in a hurry. I'll try to find another way to share it without everyone messing with it. Anyone have any suggestions or can you just download the spreadsheet off google docs? 

So here's the basis of the ratings system...

The backup tables, 'Dr', '7 iron' and 'Wedge', are really just for viewing. You don't need to mess with those tables. They just reflect the ranking for each ball characteristic from the MGS test. I gave the ranking for each category and then your input on the 'Final' tab is what adjusts the weight of each category. If you rank Driver-Ball speed as a 4, it gives more weight to that ranking. Sure, you could rank everything as a 4 if you want. 

The only editing needed is on the main page. You can just view the back up tables to see where each ball was ranked in a particular category. 

This isn't a perfect rating system, but this works for me. I think I'm just going to play the following:

Off the tee: Pro V1x

Approach shots: Srixon Z Star

Wedge shots: Volvik S4 to tucked pins, Bridgestone Tour B XS to everything else. 

I'm sure my playing partners won't mind the switching out of golf balls on each shot! 

 

You can make the sheet view-only and then folks will have to download to make any changes.

DriverCobra  Aerojet LS
Woods-
Cobra  LTD 3w 15*, 5W 19*,  F9 24* 
Irons- XXIO X (6-A)

Wedges- Callaway Jaws Raw (54/58)

Putter- Bettinardi BB56
Ball- Maxfli Tour X/Wilson Triad
Buggy- Clicgear 4.0
Bag- Callaway Org 14/Fairway C

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40 minutes ago, txgolfjunkie said:

Ah geez, that spreadsheet got messed up in a hurry. I'll try to find another way to share it without everyone messing with it. Anyone have any suggestions or can you just download the spreadsheet off google docs? 

So here's the basis of the ratings system...

The backup tables, 'Dr', '7 iron' and 'Wedge', are really just for viewing. You don't need to mess with those tables. They just reflect the ranking for each ball characteristic from the MGS test. I gave the ranking for each category and then your input on the 'Final' tab is what adjusts the weight of each category. If you rank Driver-Ball speed as a 4, it gives more weight to that ranking. Sure, you could rank everything as a 4 if you want. 

The only editing needed is on the main page. You can just view the back up tables to see where each ball was ranked in a particular category. 

This isn't a perfect rating system, but this works for me. I think I'm just going to play the following:

Off the tee: Pro V1x

Approach shots: Srixon Z Star

Wedge shots: Volvik S4 to tucked pins, Bridgestone Tour B XS to everything else. 

I'm sure my playing partners won't mind the switching out of golf balls on each shot! 

 

Yes, I do understand the back tabs aren't needed to be messed with but as an engineer , I like to see what's going on on the back end and how it affects the front end (your 'Final' page).

You can save the google doc file to your PC as an excel file, which is what I did and how I started manipulating some of the data and looking at the calcs. I think it would be helpful to folks who use this to explain a bit on the Final page that a value of 0 for example on spin for Driver, will favor things differently than Wedge and 7i due to how you've ranked them on the individual tabs.

 

I like how you did this and think it's great for people to mess around with. However, since it's really just a relative comparison, certain things get a bit muddied up and some balls that are really much closer in performance in certain areas to one another, are shown as vastly different because the entire calculation is dependent on a value of 1-35 for rank as its core.

Something that is #1 rank will score vastly better depending on how a user weighs an input compared to something ranked #15, even if in reality their actual difference is small. Making this up, but for example, "offline" for wedges. IIR, the largest difference for shots being offline on average was only like 1.5-2 yards. If a person placed heavy value on "offline" for wedges, the #1 rank would get scored much better than #15, even though in actuality, it would on average only be 1 yard or so closer to center than the very worst performer. So if a user placed a high percentage weight on wedge and also on offline... that will skew the numbers quite heavily.

 

For my game, it was quite obvious that ProV1x is probably going to be the best ball for me leveraging this MGS data. About as long as the longest ball but much more consistent overall. Slightly better distance off the irons while having similar speeds. Great short game control.

 

 

 

Edited by z1ggy16

Tsr2 Ventus TR Blue

Tsi3 Ventus TR Blue

Tsr2 Ventus TR Blue

0211 ST 4-GW Axiom 125

Mizuno T22

Flat stick - who knows

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8 minutes ago, Jlender21 said:

I have a 7 handicap, SS 104-107, I have been playing chrome softs, any see the extra yardage gain from the Bridgestone B X? I love the feel of the chrome soft, but I would love some extra yardage and the ball go straighter.... any info would be great thanks 

The Tour B X is a great ball.  I'm testing it now against the Pro V1x and the Snell MTB-X.  It's going to be difficult to choose between them given what I have already experienced this week.  At your swing speed, I think you will find a distance gain over the Chrome Soft but the amount of spin you generate with the driver will also impact the end result.

Buy a sleeve of the Tour B X and test it against what you already know about the Chrome Soft.  Good luck!

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https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_dJtEC5vWMuZ2QzMy0tdER0Q3BDemdaRzhFRS1rNTQzOC13/edit?usp=docslist_api&filetype=msexcel

 

Here's the link to view the spreadsheet. If you want to edit with your personal preference, then you'll need to download a copy. Let me know if you have any questions.

Cobra Connect 5 Competitor - Team Chad

  • :cobra-small: King Radspeed 10.5* w/ Hzrdus RDX Blue 60 6.5 tipped 1/2" - Peacoat/Red
  • :cobra-small: King Radspeed Big Tour 3 Wood w/ Hzrdus RDX Blue 70 6.5 Tipped 1/2"
  • :cobra-small: King Radspeed Tour 5 Wood w/ Motore X F1 70 X Flex 
  • :cobra-small: King Utility 4 21* w/ Tensei Pro White 100 X Flex
  • :cobra-small: King Tour MIM Copper Irons 5-G w/ AMT White X100 Onyx
  • :cobra-small: King MIM Black Wedges 55* & 60* w/ AMT White X100 Onyx
  • :taylormade-small: Spider SR
  • :titelist-small: Pro V1x Left Dash
  • Lefty
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4 minutes ago, dupaloop3611 said:

damn so my Q star Tours are pretty crappy for $35 a dozen?

Yes, I'd say they are crappy for $35 a dozen because in the US they are $29.99 a dozen.  But I do think this is a pretty good ball depending on your swing speed.  I don't think it tested well at 115 MPH but as speeds get slower the performance seems to get better.  

Wedgie

 

Driver - XXIO X Driver 9.5

:cleveland-small: - Launcher Turbo 2 hybrid

:cobra-small: - F9 One Length 3-L

:EVNROLL: - ER 1.2

Top Flite Gamer

Play Right

 

 

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1 minute ago, Wedgie said:

Yes, I'd say they are crappy for $35 a dozen because in the US they are $29.99 a dozen.  But I do think this is a pretty good ball depending on your swing speed.  I don't think it tested well at 115 MPH but as speeds get slower the performance seems to get better.  

Well yes then let me fix that. $30 a dozen and buy 3 get one free. So 4 dozen for $90 and $1.87 per ball. 

These for me perform very well on the green is why I am gaming them. 

 

 

 

 

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On 5/2/2019 at 8:02 AM, chershey said:

I'm going play 9 tonight and do some ball testing for myself. I'm going to compare the ProV1, ProV1X, Brigestone Tour BX, and both types of Callaway Chromesofts to first see if the Chromesofts are that much shorter, and then to see which of the other 3 balls performs the best for me off the driver, mid irons, and wedges. For reference, I swing my driver around 110 and just based on my short game practice with each ball I actually prefered the clicky feel of the Bridgestone balls off the wedges and putter. If it performs well off the longer clubs, it might be my new ball.

So, I ended up playing 13 holes last night and the one thing I can confirm as that I hit both Chromesofts the shortest of the bunch with my driver. I was significantly longer with the Bridgestone BX and both Titleist Pro V balls. I'm torn right now between the 3 but I"m leaning towards the Bridgestone. I really liked how it performed off my irons.

Titleist TS3 9.5* w/Accra TZ5 65 X-Stiff
Titleist TS3 15* w/Fujikura Ventus 7X
Callaway Apex19 Hybrid 20* w/Accra TZ5 95X
Callaway Apex19 Hybrid 23* w/Accra TZ5 95X
Titleist 718 CB 5 iron w/KBS $Taper X-Stiff
Titleist 718 MB 6-PW w/KBS $Taper X-Stiff
Titleist SM7 Wedges 50*, 54*, 58* w/KBS $Taper X-Stiff
Bettinardi Queen B 10 34.5"
Titleist Pro V1 or Snell MTB-X

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On 5/1/2019 at 8:15 AM, mooremikea said:

This is exactly why I chose the TP5x for my gamer this year.  Low spin off the driver, mid spinning of most of the irons and high spin off wedges and around the greens.  Would love to see the "black" longer off the tee, and spin a little more on full wedges and around the greens.  

I wish the TP5x had some better aerodynamics like the Bridge Tour B X. I find the TP5x balloons a little too much with my driver (125+ mph) compared to the B X even though the launch conditions and spin are identical. TP5x does go lower in spin with the irons and wedes, but with the driver, i feel like the B X would be better suited in windy conditions as well.

Hcp: 15

Swing speed: 125-130

2017 M1 440 9.5° (7.5°) -  Aldila Rogue Silver I/O 125 70TX tipped 1"

SLDR 3 wood 13° - Motore Speeder 757 X

RSI UDI 2 iron 18° - Sppeder HB 9.8 X

RSI 2 4-7 IRON DG X100

RSI TP 8-PW DG X100

VOKEY SM7 50, 54, 58

Bridgestone Tour B X

Wilson Staff Infinite Windy City Putter

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So the more I'm messing with the excel sheet here the more I wonder how fitting a golf ball should really work if we take this robot testing at face value. The MGS team mentioned the best way to end up in the right ball is to fit yourself from 150 yards and in, then fit your driver to that ball. I'm finding that when I manipulate the table to focus solely on high spinning, fast but accurate wedge and iron balls, I get a very different result when I focus on fast but accurate driver balls.

 

Eg: 100% driver weighting, score of 4 to Carry, Offline and Shot area (0% on everything else)

Top 5 balls in order are Z Star, ProV1x, Vice Pro, Bstone B x and Cut Blue.

Now switch to 0% driver, 50% 7i and 50% wedge with a score of 4 on Carry, Offline and Shot area (0% all else)

Top 5 in order are Bstone B XS, Maxfli Tour, Vice Pro Soft, TP5 and Oncore.

 

Keeping Weights the same but moving to a slightly modified wedge input, where scores of 4 are placed on Spin, Carry Consistency and Shot Area (0% else)

Top 5 are Bstone Tour B XS, Vice Pro Soft, Cut Grey RB Tour X and S4

 

Notice... none of the very good performing (for my tastes anyway) wedge/iron balls are in the top performing driver weighted lists. This sort of makes sense but I'd assume at least 1 ball could be a top performer in all of the trials. If we're to believe the whole theory of strokes gained, shouldn't we focus a little more on driver performance?

 

If you look at the wedge data table in the article, there's honestly very little difference between the balls except for spin & launch (which would directly impact land angle). However with Driver data, especially with high speed... HUGE differences. Imagine playing a ball that was great off your wedge but cost you 10 yards on average every single tee shot. That's almost 1 full club for many people...Won't that have a larger impact on scores long term than a few hundred RPM on your wedge? Obviously most players won't be in the market for something like ProV1X vs ERC soft... most balls they'll be considering will likely be similar in spin/launch characteristics.

 

So based on this, is fitting from 150 and in really the best if you're a player shopping between 3 or 4 high performance urethane tour caliber balls?

 

I went for a ball fitting at TXG last year and I kind of did confirm my own personal opinion here. Very little difference with 80 yard 54* wedge shots, but a decent difference off performance on irons and longer clubs. Now with robot testing showing that some balls can be on average much more or less consistent than others, I might want to spend more time hitting longer clubs as opposed to 60-100 yard shots.

 

Edited by z1ggy16

Tsr2 Ventus TR Blue

Tsi3 Ventus TR Blue

Tsr2 Ventus TR Blue

0211 ST 4-GW Axiom 125

Mizuno T22

Flat stick - who knows

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I really liked the results of the Oncore Elixir for my particular SS and swing characteristics, so I ordered 3 dozen on April 29th.  I got a ship notice on May 1 with tracking info.  Checked the tracking info and they don't get delivered until May 9th?  I thought that was an unusually long time since their shipping charges (no matter what you order) is $ 8.95.  I figured this would be like 2 or 3 day delivery.

I decided to give them some feedback today regarding adding the shipping information and perhaps an alternative expedited shipping option, so I email them.  I got a reply back within a few minutes and they refunded the shipping cost and said they had some problems with shipping my order out.  I'd call that just adequate customer service, because they didn't really address my concern about using Fedex Smartpost or adding an expedited shipping option, even if it costs more.  

Nevertheless, I'm excited to try the Elixir and will report back when I get them out on the course.  Currently, I started playing the Vice Pro and really like the way it plays and feels, especially, off the putter.  Distance wise and performance wise it's very close to the Bridgestone Tour B RX and Snell MTB Black.  I probably could not tell the difference in a blind test.  The difference to me is putting where it seems to roll just a little further with the same effort than the other two.  

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I had the Bridgestone Tour B XS in play the last few weeks but off the driver it just seemed to be lacking a bit. Every where else it was awesome but i was back almost a club from my normal playing partner who we are always neck and neck. Im am going to give the Tour B X a run and see if i cant pick up those extra few yards.

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I'm working on looking at the standard deviation (z-score) for each of the balls in each of the categories and conditions. Once I have it in some sort of usable format I'll share it here as well. I did drop some of the balls from the list though (the Cut brand / Volvik (based on price, if I'm paying that much I'm buying ProV1 or B-stone) / Vice below Pro). I originally was doing this for myself and knew those balls were all out for me.

The information and discussion here is fantastic!!! Thanks.

Driver - :ping-small: G400 LST

3W & 4H - Orlimar High Energy 2

Irons - :cobra-small:F7 OL (5I - GW)

Wedges -  Top Flight Gamer Tour 52* 56* 60*

Putter - Orlimar HE2

Balls - Vice Pro

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