Any noticeable difference when putting with different golf balls? Added responses from Manufacturers

[Buffly 487]

20 minutes ago, BIG STU said:

I will throw my hat into the ring so to speak. This subject like golf can be subjective. A lot depends on the type of putter as in insert or non insert. A lot of it depends on a players feel. In my case I putt with older putters mostly designed in the days of Balata. I am also a feel and instinctive putter. For me the best feel off a non insert putter is the Cally Super Soft or the Srixon Soft Feel. Like others have said the Wilson Do Over seems clicky off of any putter. Pro V I can putt with but have to adjust the same with Vice and Snell. Right now because we have either won or placed in Dog Fights I have an abundance of Soft Feels and Super Softs. Now last week I ended up with a dozen Q Star Tours and have yet to try them. I am going to wait until I am  able to swing well again before trying them.  But in a nutshell different balls react differently with different putters and different folks

Thanks @BIG STU because you explained a key component in putting that does make a difference - player feedback. 

I have an old slotted Ping Anser I game from time to time - I will keep your soft ball recommendation in mind for it.

[Buffly 487]

@BIG STU @Chip Strokes @Tsmithjr9

Evnroll responded to my inquiry with a very interesting response:

"'As far as consistency you want a golf ball that is balanced.

Usually softer golf balls are more influenced by the surface contact on the putter face (grooves) and their starting line is less effected by the face angle compared to a harder golf ball."

This fascinates me in respect to picking a ball softness/hardness based on your stroke. If your path is generally good but, the face might not be square at impact then a softer ball will start closer to the target line in relation to club path. Alternatively, a square face at impact with a stroke that is crossing the target line would benefit more from a harder ball. Am I interpreting that right? Additionally, does that mean Evnroll grooves work best with a softer ball?

(Btw: I already knew a balanced ball rolls truest)

[Firebird 302]

17 hours ago, Buffly said:

I did have a similar concern about ball quality with cheaper balls - good thought. It's one main reason I play better balls. I am less concerned about the $30-35 price range as the sub $30 balls. 

In the good old days when I was on a single digit handicap I generally played a tour ball however today as I am slowly getting over my illness and my swing is slowly getting back to how it used to be I find the Costco balls excellent. If I am playing match play or in the club champs I will sometimes switch to Seed 001's - https://seedgolf.com/pages/compare - which feel and have similar performance to a Pro v1 but at 60-65% the price $3.25 AUD . The covers on the Costco ball do mark up but at $1.75 AUD per ball I simply use a new one every round.

[cnosil 14,651]

6 hours ago, BIG STU said:

I will throw my hat into the ring so to speak. This subject like golf can be subjective. A lot depends on the type of putter as in insert or non insert. A lot of it depends on a players feel. In my case I putt with older putters mostly designed in the days of Balata. I am also a feel and instinctive putter. For me the best feel off a non insert putter is the Cally Super Soft or the Srixon Soft Feel. Like others have said the Wilson Do Over seems clicky off of any putter. Pro V I can putt with but have to adjust the same with Vice and Snell. Right now because we have either won or placed in Dog Fights I have an abundance of Soft Feels and Super Softs. Now last week I ended up with a dozen Q Star Tours and have yet to try them. I am going to wait until I am  able to swing well again before trying them.  But in a nutshell different balls react differently with different putters and different folks

I agree with you on inserts, face thickness, and milling patterns will influence ball speed off the face and that a ball will react and feel different when switching putters.  I interpreted the original question being about whether the same putter would cause different balls to go different distances with the same stroke.  You discussion of feel (sound) the ball makes may influence how we as a player stroke the ball which could influence distance.  

Perhaps if I had a robot do the testing,  I might see some slight but insignificant differences.  But as a player those difference probably become meaningless since even the best putters in the world have a fairly larger dispersion pattern for putts.  The image below is the dispersion pattern of a PGA professional hitting 20 foot putts from the same spot.  If this is how the best players in the world miss,  I don't think a different ball will have a significant impact.  

 

[Buffly 487]

Snell golf responded:

"

Hey Tim, thanks for the great question. So this can be a very complicated and in depth topic. I will try to keep it brief and cover a few basics….

 

Putting can have variations based off putter/ball combos. So for example a metal face putter and surlyn ball (both harder) would roll out further than a urethane ball or a putter with a softer face insert. This difference could be as much as a couple feet on  30+ ft putt.

 

Now when it comes to urethane ball vs another brand urethane ball with the same putter, differences would be small (likely only a couple inches at most). Different models would have slightly different urethane thickness, durometer (hardness), and something called “flex modulus” (getting above my pay grade here, lol). 

 

In our case the MTB Black vs MTB-X would have nearly zero differences as they have the same exact cover. The X is a firmer overall model so on a perfect surface with robot putter, ball could roll out fractions more but no way noticeable with a human. Thicker, softer cover models like say the Chrome Soft by Callaway may roll out fractions less on the same 30 ft putt. To be clear we are now talking a couple inches or less on 30+. 

 

Hope that helps!"

 

Thanks to Snell for helping out. 

[cnosil 14,651]

Snell golf responded:
"
Hey Tim, thanks for the great question. So this can be a very complicated and in depth topic. I will try to keep it brief and cover a few basics….   Putting can have variations based off putter/ball combos. So for example a metal face putter and surlyn ball (both harder) would roll out further than a urethane ball or a putter with a softer face insert. This difference could be as much as a couple feet on  30+ ft putt.   Now when it comes to urethane ball vs another brand urethane ball with the same putter, differences would be small (likely only a couple inches at most). Different models would have slightly different urethane thickness, durometer (hardness), and something called “flex modulus” (getting above my pay grade here, lol).    In our case the MTB Black vs MTB-X would have nearly zero differences as they have the same exact cover. The X is a firmer overall model so on a perfect surface with robot putter, ball could roll out fractions more but no way noticeable with a human. Thicker, softer cover models like say the Chrome Soft by Callaway may roll out fractions less on the same 30 ft putt. To be clear we are now talking a couple inches or less on 30+.    Hope that helps!"   Thanks to Snell for helping out. 

So basically no difference that a player should be concerned with especially when looking at normal dispersion patterns.

[Buffly 487]

9 minutes ago, cnosil said:

So basically no difference that a player should be concerned with especially when looking at normal dispersion patterns.

The comment on putter type was revealing to show that does matter. 

I'm glad the tour ball differences are negligible because I play multiple brands and models through a round. 

[jlukes 12,768]

Part of the reason I switched back to the Tour B X after gaming the X S for 2 rounds was because I was leaving everything short with the putter.  Just couldn't get a good feel for distance control with the X S

[cnosil 14,651]

The comment on putter type was revealing to show that does matter. 

I'm glad the tour ball differences are negligible because I play multiple brands and models through a round. 

I knew putters mattered having hit all the putters during most wanted testing. Some putter have hit faces and some not so hit.

 

Reminded me of a story from Sean Toulon that I read on another forum. He got

Tiger to try one of his putters. Tiger rolled a few putts handed it back to him and said it was a nice putter but it didn’t roll the ball the right distance.

 

Basically tiger had developed a specific feel/stroke to roll the ball a specific distance and since the putter didn’t do that, he wouldn’t consider the putter.

 

We amateurs generally don’t consider that when switching putters; we call it an adjustment period to get used to the new putter. We adapt for a while and the settle back into what we know which causes poor performance and the desire to switch putters.

 

We should fit the putter to our stroke and not our stroke to the putter.

 

 

While there are little difference off the putter, there will be different ball performance as we work through the irons and wedges. Probably less with the driver.

[Buffly 487]

1 hour ago, cnosil said:

Tiger rolled a few putts handed it back to him and said it was a nice putter but it didn’t roll the ball the right distance.

That's fantastically hilarious!

Great insights. The more "fitting" comes up, it becomes evident the clubs are fit to the player and not the other way around. Putting seems to be the most sensitive in that respect. 

Thanks again for the contribution!

[Buffly 487]

2 hours ago, jlukes said:

Part of the reason I switched back to the Tour B X after gaming the X S for 2 rounds was because I was leaving everything short with the putter.  Just couldn't get a good feel for distance control with the X S

That's fascinating!

I'm not a fan of the S Bridgestone balls from my time in the course with them. I prefer the lower spin of the others. 

[cnosil 14,651]

1 hour ago, Buffly said:

The more "fitting" comes up, it becomes evident the clubs are fit to the player and not the other way around. Putting seems to be the most sensitive in that respect. 

Exactly. fitting yourself to the clubs can be done and people do it all the time.  We buy clubs and go to the course or range and then learn how to hit them.  People ask all the time about how long it takes to break in the clubs.   Properly fit clubs work pretty much out of the gate because they fit your swing. 

[Buffly 487]

@cnosil and others, Ping responded as well where fitting comes up again: 

"Thank you for your email.  Different balls will not have a different roll if you have the correct loft on your putter.  The feel of the face will feel different from ball to ball, but if you are fit properly and you have the correct dynamic loft at impact, roll will not change."

[greggarner 550]

On 9/17/2020 at 4:11 PM, Buffly said:

I'm not a fan of the S Bridgestone balls from my time in the course with them. I prefer the lower spin of the others. 

Lower spin on the AVX, sure, but not TP5x or ProV1x.

[Buffly 487]

6 hours ago, greggarner said:

Lower spin on the AVX, sure, but not TP5x or ProV1x.

The TP5X and ProV1X balls spin considerably lower than their counterparts off the driver for me. I'm not/wasn't referring to irons or wedges, my apologies. 

[BIG STU 7,176]

On 9/16/2020 at 3:07 PM, Buffly said:

I have thought about buying balls but it seems so wasteful when I have thousands of free ones other than the cost of batteries for my flashlight. 

If I did buy a ball then it would probably be the AVX, TP5x or ProV1x in that order. But, if I had to pay then I would consider the Snell brand. 

Can tell you from experience that the Snell ball performs as good if not better than any of the major brands. If I was buying new balls Snell would be my choice

[HardcoreLooper 5,110]

1 hour ago, BIG STU said:

Can tell you from experience that the Snell ball performs as good if not better than any of the major brands. If I was buying new balls Snell would be my choice

Seconded.  If I weren't able to get my hands on Srixon Z-Star XVs even cheaper, I'd still be playing Snell MTB-X.

[Buffly 487]

@HardcoreLooper & @BIG STU I will keep the Snell MTB (x) in mind. 

I don't get much chance to game them because I play what I find. I find more ProV1&(x) balls than any other tour ball by at least 3 to 1.

I think I have found 2 or 3 Snell balls in 4000+. 

[RobbyT 48]

I haven't noticed any difference other than feel.

[jb0330 244]

I can't afford to pick one ball. I don't pay for golf balls - I play what I find. I'm lucky that I find dozens of tour balls but, they are a variety of models and years. 

I used to be in the same boat until I found lostgolfballs.com. I found a ball that I like and just buy from them. Every once in a while they have crazy sales on Pro Vs and I jump to those. I currently use NXT Tours but with TXGs recent review of the Maxfli Tours sold at Dick’s I have really been thinking about trying them. 2 dozen for 50$ is a steal! In my opinion


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