Practical applications of the MGS Golf ball test

[revkev]

I do all my short game practice with my gamer. Ex gamers are the n the shag bag.

 

Unfortunately I have to use what they have at the range for full shots.

 

 

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In regards to the ball test it’s really simple buy one of the excellent balls - there are 4 choices, one fits your swing type, but it and use it only. Do your experimenting after the season.

 

If you lose a lot of balls and/or are on a budget buy Snell or KSig.

 

This isn’t rocket science

 

[DriverBreaker]

I do all my short game practice with my gamer. Ex gamers are the n the shag bag.
 
Unfortunately I have to use what they have at the range for full shots.
 
 
Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy
 
 
In regards to the ball test it’s really simple buy one of the excellent balls - there are 4 choices, one fits your swing type, but it and use it only. Do your experimenting after the season.
 
If you lose a lot of balls and/or are on a budget buy Snell or KSig.
 
This isn’t rocket science
 

Thanks for chiming in. What do you think about the quality of the range balls you get to use? Do you trust the ball flight?

The original post didn’t have to do with the balls we play, mainly to do with the quality of range balls, but short game practice definitely benefits from using gamers.

I just bought 2-dozen of the Kirkland Signatures to try out. They seem to be the best bang for the buck on the market.


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[joen]

On 5/2/2019 at 9:19 PM, ChasingScratch said:

Hey everyone!

This is my first thread so I why not jump in on the biggest topic in the golf industry right now?

So I originally read the MGS golf ball test report and liked it.  Very interesting results (wish I could see the raw data files to do some number crunching).  I watched the live video from start to finish and loved it.

I'm a college professor so all the research they do really intrigues me.  I thought using the robot was an absolute must for this type of test.

Here's what really got me thinking......  If balls that are produced for the public to buy have that much variance in their manufacturing tolerances, what does that say about range balls and the actual quality of our practice time and $$$ on the range?????  Think about it, if Bryson DeChambeau says that he tests the balance of his golf balls and still finds balls that do not meet his specs (I read somewhere or heard that he says it is 3 or 4 per dozen), and MGS found some balls to be very inconsistent, what can we truly expect from range balls? Surely they are not up to the same tolerances as golf balls produced for actual play are they?  What about how many times they are hit, run over by the range picker, washed and soaked (or not, depending on the quality of the range you practice at), etc.  Are 4 to 5 out of 10 range balls useless for us to get any real feedback from?

It got me thinking about some recent range sessions. I know my swing pretty well.  I can immediately tell if the ball is going to go left (for instance), if I hit it slightly off the toe, etc..  There have been sessions where I am hitting lasers and all of a sudden the ball just goes crazy short, or way off line.  Now I do not hit balls that  are clearly visibly damaged, cut, dimples worn down, etc., but sometimes seemingly good balls that I know are hit well go crazy offline.  Then you start wondering if it is your swing.

Long story short, I asked my club fitter about range practice and using range balls to work on trajectory, ball flight curve, etc.  He told me that the best you can do on the range is work on contact.  Spray some foot spray on the club face, baby powder, magic marker, you name it, and that is the best you can really hope for.  I mean we see the Tour pros get their specific ball for use on the range in tournaments.  They aren't hitting the rocks we practice with on the range.

I guess if you are a teaching pro you could find the worst balanced balls possible and just use those for lessons, you'd have guaranteed lessons for life! LOL

Is it time for me to put the tinfoil cap on or is anyone else starting to have major questions about the quality of our practice sessions? 

Maybe the next MGS test should be on the quality of range balls.  Take a random sample of 70 balls (or a typical large bucket size) and see how consistent they are with a robot.  I think that could be very insightful as well.

There is a range near my office that I used to hit balls at during lunch for the first couple of years after they opened.  They never bought new balls and after a while I was hitting golf balls with dimples that were almost completely worn off....got sick of it one day after seeing every possible ball flight imaginable with the same swing...and have never been back. So yes.....your study proposal would provide some fascinating results. Lol

[DriverBreaker]

50 minutes ago, joen said:

There is a range near my office that I used to hit balls at during lunch for the first couple of years after they opened.  They never bought new balls and after a while I was hitting golf balls with dimples that were almost completely worn off....got sick of it one day after seeing every possible ball flight imaginable with the same swing...and have never been back. So yes.....your study proposal would provide some fascinating results. Lol

Thanks for your thoughts!  I know right! Some ranges just either cannot afford new range balls or do not get enough complaints to do so (or they just don't care).  Hard earned money should be spent on quality practice right?  If you just want to have a good time whacking balls with no purpose to get better, by all means have fun.  But if you want to improve, it would be helpful to know if you are getting quality feedback on your shots.

[RickyBobby_PR]

7 hours ago, ChasingScratch said:

Thanks for your thoughts!  I know right! Some ranges just either cannot afford new range balls or do not get enough complaints to do so (or they just don't care).  Hard earned money should be spent on quality practice right?  If you just want to have a good time whacking balls with no purpose to get better, by all means have fun.  But if you want to improve, it would be helpful to know if you are getting quality feedback on your shots.

The best range ball is going to be about a 10% difference from a retail ball. As the number of times the range ball get hits that will drop off.

look at the golf ball and see how beat up it looks and you will know if the results will be quality. Trackman, foresight and iirc gcquad can be set to normalize which will give the results of a Prov1. The personal use monitors can’t account for that 

[revkev]

15 hours ago, ChasingScratch said:

 

 

Thanks for chiming in. What do you think about the quality of the range balls you get to use? Do you trust the ball flight?

The original post didn’t have to do with the balls we play, mainly to do with the quality of range balls, but short game practice definitely benefits from using gamers.

I just bought 2-dozen of the Kirkland Signatures to try out. They seem to be the best bang for the buck on the market.


Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

 

The problem that I see with the Kirklands is that this is what they are - today - they will be something different after this supply runs out and then where are you at?  I really think the Snell ball is the better play if you are after value - yes that ball costs more but it's going to be there.  Think about it - you can eliminate a variable by just playing one ball - any ball. 

 

Good luck

[tony@CIC]

41 minutes ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

The best range ball is going to be about a 10% difference from a retail ball. As the number of times the range ball get hits that will drop off.

look at the golf ball and see how beat up it looks and you will know if the results will be quality. Trackman, foresight and iirc gcquad can be set to normalize which will give the results of a Prov1. The personal use monitors can’t account for that 

Yup - that's one of the first things my fitter said. Even thought he was using new Bridgestone "practice" balls - the Trackman was set to normalize the data. 

[revkev]

Can track man really “normalize” dat so that it figures out how a shot that I hit with a range ball would have flown with one of my Pro VIxs.

Man I feel so vindicated that I’ve been playing those the last four seasons.


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[cnosil]

Can track man really “normalize” dat so that it figures out how a shot that I hit with a range ball would have flown with one of my Pro VIxs.

Based on reading information trackman can look at the spin characteristics of the ball and make adjustments. Basically the software is comparing the captured data to a library of data to make the adjustments.

It can normalize for range balls and weather conditions.

[RickyBobby_PR]

33 minutes ago, revkev said:

Can track man really “normalize” dat so that it figures out how a shot that I hit with a range ball would have flown with one of my Pro VIxs.

Man I feel so vindicated that I’ve been playing those the last four seasons.


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I don’t think it’s going to be 100% accurate. As @cnosil mentioned the algorithm changes based on that setting just as it would if the operator set it up for fast firm fairways or the opposite of slow fairways. 

 

[cnosil]

I don’t think it’s going to be 100% accurate. As [mention=15174]cnosil[/mention] mentioned the algorithm changes based on that setting just as it would if the operator set it up for fast firm fairways or the opposite of slow fairways. 
 

Yep. And since it is a calculation done with software it probably isn’t perfect. Reliable yes, but not exact.

[RickyBobby_PR]

2 minutes ago, cnosil said:

Yep. And since it is a calculation done with software it probably isn’t perfect. Reliable yes, but not exact.

Exactly. Trackman has the holy grail of launch monitor but many don’t know or realize it’s as much algorithm based as it is radar

[TwoCoatsOfWax]

On ‎5‎/‎4‎/‎2019 at 10:24 PM, ChasingScratch said:

Hard earned money should be spent on quality practice right? 

An excellent statement!  I've started going to the driving range less and less.  As a replacement, I play a quick 9 at a local Par 3 course.  I can get around in 1.5hrs or less walking.  Like most of us we only have a certain amount of free time and money.  For me, it ends up being much better practice than banging away at a bucket of balls.  And let's face it, it's way more fun too!  To tie in with the golf ball discussion, this also allows "practice" with my game ball as opposed to range balls.

[tony@CIC]

Based on reading information trackman can look at the spin characteristics of the ball and make adjustments. Basically the software is comparing the captured data to a library of data to make the adjustments.

It can normalize for range balls and weather conditions.

I would agree - at least based on what my fitter did last week. Before we started the fitting session he said he had normalized the Trackman info.


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[DriverBreaker]

Exactly. Trackman has the holy grail of launch monitor but many don’t know or realize it’s as much algorithm based as it is radar

Yup, which is why my fitter prefers camera-based monitors like GC2.


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[DriverBreaker]

So for me, I think that I’ll just focus on impact when I hit range balls (baby powder, foot spray, dry erase marker, etc.) and worry less about ball flight. I can feel if it is open or closed at impact.

 

I’ll be spending the majority of my time on the short game and putting with the balls I plan to play with.

 

 

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[DriverBreaker]

The problem that I see with the Kirklands is that this is what they are - today - they will be something different after this supply runs out and then where are you at?  I really think the Snell ball is the better play if you are after value - yes that ball costs more but it's going to be there.  Think about it - you can eliminate a variable by just playing one ball - any ball. 

 

Good luck

 

I guess what you could do (or I, since I just bought 24 K-Sigs) is play those for a season and then when the new batch comes out just practice with the new ones until you get your new distances and then use them for the season. Might not be too drastic of a difference change.

 

 

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[DriverBreaker]

On 5/7/2019 at 11:08 AM, TwoCoatsOfWax said:

An excellent statement!  I've started going to the driving range less and less.  As a replacement, I play a quick 9 at a local Par 3 course.  I can get around in 1.5hrs or less walking.  Like most of us we only have a certain amount of free time and money.  For me, it ends up being much better practice than banging away at a bucket of balls.  And let's face it, it's way more fun too!  To tie in with the golf ball discussion, this also allows "practice" with my game ball as opposed to range balls.

I have a course that has a 3-hole par 3 course.  Shortest hole maxes at 100yds, mid-range hole at about 160, longest hole can go up to 200yds.  That's where I need to be focusing my time anyway (and on the putting/chipping greens).

[mr.hicksta]

@ChasingScratch - Welcome aboard man, and thanks for the thought provoking post! Personally, I think the most important practical application is to use the data from the MGS Ball Test to play what you feel is the best ball for YOUR game. I love how many excellent options there are to chose from, and I ended up switching to the Pro V1x as a result of the test. Obviously everyone's use of the data is going to be different, and I feel like another important result of the test is that it makes players dig a little deeper through what is honestly a lot of marketing hype in some cases. 

To the part about the range balls, I think a test would only be useful if there were samples used from a variety of ranges. Because out here on one course they have NXT Tour range balls, which are the nicest range balls I've seen on the island, and then they have the mix of restricted flight Pinnacles, Nikes and Srixons that I see at the range I frequent. The quality of the latter is a mixed bag, and I've definitely seen some gouges and cracks on older range balls. With that said, I agree 100% that focusing on contact is the best approach using range balls since the quality is going to vary from bucket to bucket and course to course!

[Juaneco]

Hello,

I haven't read all the messages but I'm replying to the original one in this thread.

Short answer: Yes, range balls are crap! I don't really look at the flight of range balls. I look at the contact on the club face and pay some attention to the flight (whether it goes left or right), but that's about it. I also look at the divot (I practice on grass). 

So yeah don't worry too much about the range balls. There's a reason why pros practice with the same balls they play. I do all of my pitching/chipping/putting practice with my gamer, not with range balls. I use some balls that are a bit scuffed for practice and leave the ones in better condition for the course.

Cheers!

JD