Ball article error?

[jburwell]

Hi Guys:

Love the site. Was reading the 'Ball Review"  article....

Isn't this phrase in the article backwards?

"We get that some of you love soft feel, but the reality is that the only golfers likely to see real performance benefits from low compression balls are

high speed, high spin players. That’s probably not you."

Keep it straight.

John

[GolfSpy MPR]

John,

Welcome to MyGolfSpy!

Just a quick disclaimer: as a forum moderator, I didn't have anything to do with the test itself, so what I'm offering here is my opinion, not the "official" answer to your question. My understanding is that the testing found that soft balls have less speed and less spin. If that's the case, they would be best suited for a player who doesn't need any additional distance (high speed) but who spins the ball maybe a bit too much, and wants to keep spin down. In my judgment, that makes good sense of the summary statement as it is written.

[jburwell]

7 minutes ago, GolfSpy MPR said:

John,

Welcome to MyGolfSpy!

Just a quick disclaimer: as a forum moderator, I didn't have anything to do with the test itself, so what I'm offering here is my opinion, not the "official" answer to your question. My understanding is that the testing found that soft balls have less speed and less spin. If that's the case, they would be best suited for a player who doesn't need any additional distance (high speed) but who spins the ball maybe a bit too much, and wants to keep spin down. In my judgment, that makes good sense of the summary statement as it is written.

Thanks for the reply.

So, if the power player should play a softer ball....what type of ball should a Senior player with 80 mph driver speed play?

I may be thinking too hard...

 

John

Edited May 13, 2019 by jburwell

[CarlH]

I think you're over thinking it. The testing isn't an absolute perfect ball for everyone answer, but rather a guide to help you choose a better ball for you. I'm a Senior golfer with slower swing speeds and play Snell black or Tm TP5X. I think you'd be happy with Any of the top performers as a starting point. Try a few and see what you like.


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[sixcat]

3 hours ago, jburwell said:

Thanks for the reply.

So, if the power player should play a softer ball....what type of ball should a Senior player with 80 mph driver speed play?

I may be thinking too hard...

 

John

The best ball-speed for the 85 mph set was the Titleist Pro V1x.  But I can't reiterate enough, the overwhelming consent of those conducting the test was "get fit for your golf ball!" 

[tony@CIC]

The best ball-speed for the 85 mph set was the Titleist Pro V1x.  But I can't reiterate enough, the overwhelming consent of those conducting the test was "get fit for your golf ball!" 

I'm in the category of mid 80's swing speed. When I went through my complete bag fitting at the beginning of the month, the fitter recommended Pro V 1X, primarily because of its high launch characteristics. .


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[Waazzupppp]

As someone that has spent a few years playing "softer" balls, I almost laughed when I read the article. With my 110-115 MPH swing I hit my driver 285 with a good cut off the tee - perfectly controlled, or 325 on a very much less controlled "smash". I spin my wedges to a perfect stop and loved the squishy feels of the "softer" balls around the green. Of course, I grew up on Maxfli HT-100 Balatas and Titleist 384 Professionals, so even today's "soft" balls go quite a ways farther than those old timers. In fact, I saw so little performance gain in ball testing over the winter months that I settled on the Aris Hero (great ball, bad cover) until I found out that it isn't on the conforming list. Back to my beloved Wilson Duo Spin stock that I had left...

So, after reading the article, I went back and grabbed the demo sleeves of the AVX's that I had gotten from the golf show in Seattle. Now, if I understood correctly, I still benefit from "slower balls" in some ways, so this may be skewed a bit, but I picked up between 20 and 25 yards on my driver (right in line with the 115 MPH testing) and I had about 5 yards an iron increase as well. I also had a much stronger ball flight, which made playing in wind and wet conditions a bit more manageable. So, ultimately, I have played/tested about 25 balls over the last 6 months, My experiences were very similar to MGS's test results - which has me no longer laughing. In fact, I'm almost mad at myself of doing it in the first place.

So with all of that said, remember MGS is a great place to start, it's not an end all to providing a solution for anything, but it's an amazing place to start when you don't have any preconceived ideas about your game. I have a feeling that if the average person used the information on MGS to build a bag, they would have a lot more fun playing the game. So, thanks MGS for doing the test and making my game just a bit better. Now, for those that haven't read the results, go check out the article and decide which balls you'd like to try. Even if it's just out on the course, grab a sleeve of the "best" balls for you and give them a hit. There's something there that will help you...