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My Golf Spy Ball Lab Report-Top Flite Gamer


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A very popular ball among most golfers.  See how it performed according to Ball Lab

https://mygolfspy.com/ball-lab-top-flite-gamer-golf-ball-review/

An image showing Top Flite Gamer Golf Balls

 

:ping-small: G430 Max 10K 

:titelist-small: TSiR1 15.0 Aldlia Ascent 60g

:titelist-small: TSR2 18.0 PX Aldila Ascent 6og

:titelist-small: TSi1 20 Aldila Ascent Shafts R

:titelist-small: T350 5-GW SteelFiber I80 

:titelist-small: SM10 48F/54M and58K

:ping-small: S159 48S/52S/56W/60B

:scotty-cameron-1: Select 5.5 Flowback 35" 

:titelist-small: ProV1  Play number 12

 

 

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Wow, I don't think I'll be buying any Top Flite Gamers 😲.  The Titleist Velocity would be a much better option at this design/price point.

:ping-small: G410 Plus, 9 Degree Driver 

:ping-small: G400 SFT, 16 Degree 3w

:ping-small: G400 SFT, 19 Degree 5w

:srixon-small:  ZX5 Irons 4-AW 

:ping-small: Glide 2.0 56 Degree SW   (removed from double secret probation 😍)

:EVNROLL: ER5v Putter  (Evnroll ER5v Official Review)

:odyssey-small: AI-One Milled Seven T CH (Currently Under Product Test)

 

 

 

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I think they were much better in the previous version 

 

 

:callaway-small: XR Driver Matrix Ozik 8m3 Black Tie Shaft

:cobra-small: King F7 3W UST Mamiya Chrome Elements 7F4 Shaft

:cobra-small: King F7 5W UST Mamiya Chrome Elements 7F4 Shaft

:cobra-small: King F7 4 Hybrid Graphite Designs Tour AD-HY 95 Shaft

PXG 0211 DC 5-PW Mitsubishi MMT 80 Shafts

:cleveland-small: RTX ZIPCORE 50*,54*,58* UST Mamiya Recoil 95 Shafts

:odyssey-small: Metal X Milled #7 with SuperStroke 2.0 grip

:Snell: MTB

 

 



Twitter: @timldotson
Instagram: timldotson
Facebook: TimDotson

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15 hours ago, fixyurdivot said:

Wow, I don't think I'll be buying any Top Flite Gamers 😲.  The Titleist Velocity would be a much better option at this design/price point.

At 2 doz for $35, I'll keep buying these all day long.

In my  :wilson_staff_small:  carry bag:
:mizuno-small: ST-X 10.5* Kai'li Blue R Flex
:mizuno-small: ST-Z 15* Kai/li Blue R Flex
:mizuno-small: ST-Z 4h Linq Blue R Flex
:cleveland-small: Launcher 5h
:cleveland-small: Launcher CBX 6i-PW
:cleveland-small: CBX 54* & 58*
:cleveland-small: Huntington Beach #10
:bridgestone-small: e12 Contact
CURRENTLY TESTING - Mizuno Long Game

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I love this ball! Although the ball lab score isn't great until there is a correlation between how the inconsistencies impact actual performance I'm sticking with it.

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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9 hours ago, Wedgie said:

I love this ball! Although the ball lab score isn't great until there is a correlation between how the inconsistencies impact actual performance I'm sticking with it.

 

12 hours ago, russtopherb said:

At 2 doz for $35, I'll keep buying these all day long.

So do your replies suggest that the ball lab report data, and these levels of variance, fall squarely into "picking the fly-dung out of the pepper"? 🤔  Can't say for certain, but I suspect most of us wouldn't know, from play performance, whether a ball had 25% core out of concentricity... though that does seem like quite a bit and I'd guess something the folks at Top Flite (DSG) would prefer not be representative of quality level.  Don't get me wrong, I really like what Tony and crew are doing in evaluating balls, but what it really means on the course needs to be kept in perspective.  

In any case, I was in the Bozeman Costco today and picked up a 2 dozen box of the Kirkland Signature+ for $24.99.  I've played a couple of found ones in recent rounds and today one yielded a birdie, birdie finish 🥳.  Had I bogied, bogied, I would have passed on them 🙂.

:ping-small: G410 Plus, 9 Degree Driver 

:ping-small: G400 SFT, 16 Degree 3w

:ping-small: G400 SFT, 19 Degree 5w

:srixon-small:  ZX5 Irons 4-AW 

:ping-small: Glide 2.0 56 Degree SW   (removed from double secret probation 😍)

:EVNROLL: ER5v Putter  (Evnroll ER5v Official Review)

:odyssey-small: AI-One Milled Seven T CH (Currently Under Product Test)

 

 

 

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10 hours ago, fixyurdivot said:

 

So do your replies suggest that the ball lab report data, and these levels of variance, fall squarely into "picking the fly-dung out of the pepper"? 🤔  Can't say for certain, but I suspect most of us wouldn't know, from play performance, whether a ball had 25% core out of concentricity... though that does seem like quite a bit and I'd guess something the folks at Top Flite (DSG) would prefer not be representative of quality level.  Don't get me wrong, I really like what Tony and crew are doing in evaluating balls, but what it really means on the course needs to be kept in perspective.  

In any case, I was in the Bozeman Costco today and picked up a 2 dozen box of the Kirkland Signature+ for $24.99.  I've played a couple of found ones in recent rounds and today one yielded a birdie, birdie finish 🥳.  Had I bogied, bogied, I would have passed on them 🙂.

For me it's a cost/value ratio. Is an out of center core on a ball that costs less than $0.70 going to be the difference between me shooting 90 or 93? Nope. It's going to be a poor swing or poor decision.

If I was scoring in the low 80's consistently and not losing 3-4 balls per round, it's most likely a different discussion. But for someone like me, I'm going with the decent feel/response and value vs. whatever MGS says is the "better" but far more expensive ball. 

In my  :wilson_staff_small:  carry bag:
:mizuno-small: ST-X 10.5* Kai'li Blue R Flex
:mizuno-small: ST-Z 15* Kai/li Blue R Flex
:mizuno-small: ST-Z 4h Linq Blue R Flex
:cleveland-small: Launcher 5h
:cleveland-small: Launcher CBX 6i-PW
:cleveland-small: CBX 54* & 58*
:cleveland-small: Huntington Beach #10
:bridgestone-small: e12 Contact
CURRENTLY TESTING - Mizuno Long Game

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Having tested this ball I found the ball to perform very well. Maybe I was lucky with my box of balls or maybe the concentricity issues are not significant enough to reveal itself during play.

 So there are a few questions that really never are addressed during a ball review. If the ball is deemed to be 100% round and 100% within weight limits but found to have concentricity issues what does that really do to the ball flight. How bad is bad, how much off does it have to be to be one yard off line or off an inch on a putt?  If it's just a concentricity issue and assuming the material density and weight is the same between layers, does it really make that much of a difference? The center of gravity would be the same in this case. Obviously there are density changes in the material layers but just how much makes the ball perform poorly where you would say to toss it out. Doing a salt water test you can find the light side of the ball. How fast that same spot comes to the top should tell you if the ball is bad or not, but how fast is just a judgment call. Obviously you want a different spot to come to the top, then you know the balls center of gravity is perfect. In reality how many of us put their golf balls through a salt water test? Probably way less than 1%.  So how much off really makes a ball unplayable for the average golfer to notice the abnormality during play? 

:titleist-small: Driver, TSi 1 S Flex

:cobra-small: 3 wood, Aerojet Max UST Helium Nanocore R Flex

:cobra-small: 5 wood, Aerojet Max UST Helium Nanocore R Flex 

:cobra-small: 7 Wood, Aerojet Max UST Helium Nanocore R Flex 

:cobra-small: 5 Hybrid King Tec MMT R Flex

:cobra-small: Irons, Tour UST Recoil 95 R Flex (6 - Gap)

:cobra-small: Wedges, Snakebite KBS Hi- Rev2.0 54* & 60*

:cobra-small: Agera 35"

image.png Ultralight 14-way Cart Bag

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49 minutes ago, Tom the Golf Nut said:

So there are a few questions that really never are addressed during a ball review. If the ball is deemed to be 100% round and 100% within weight limits but found to have concentricity issues what does that really do to the ball flight. How bad is bad, how much off does it have to be to be one yard off line or off an inch on a putt?  If it's just a concentricity issue and assuming the material density and weight is the same between layers, does it really make that much of a difference?

I think this is the rub - we don't really know. Yes, in controlled situations, we could measure, but since we don't know if/how much a ball has quality issues when we put it in play, we're left not really knowing if that banana ball would've been just a little straighter if the cover/core were closer to spec. Perhaps it's the difference between in-bounds and re-teeing? Perhaps not. Perhaps we make the 30-footer and perhaps it stops short. I'd argue it's all about tolerances. Sure, companies and factories have their tolerances, but players do too. Would you pay $100/dz for a ball that guaranteed no defects ever? Or go the other way - why not play water balls/refurbished balls/recycled balls? Why don't you play $10/dz balls?

Titleist did a Q&A on their Instagram stories a couple days ago where folks submitted questions and Tour players answered. Most of the questions selected were along the lines of "why do you play that ball" and every response was, "I know how the ball is going to react" or "the performance is just so consistent." At their level, yes, they should know exactly what the ball is going to do because they have that much control over their game. But at the mere-mortal level, I'm willing to pay a little bit more (not ProV1 more...) for a little assurance that when I make poor swing, I'm not doubly-punished by having a ball exacerbate my mistakes, especially since I can't isolate the source of the mistake.

Driver: :srixon-small: ZX5 LS MkII 9.5* (@ 9.0*) with 46.5" Ventus Blue 6X
3-wood: :taylormade-small: SIM 15* with Diamana Limited 75S
5-wood: :cobra-small: RADspeed 18.5* with Motore X F3 60S
2i: :srixon-small: ZX with SteelFiber i95 Stiff

4hy: :titleist-small: TS3 23* with Tensei AV Blue 70 S
4i-7i :srixon-small: ZX7, 8i-PW Z-Forged, Modus3 Tour 120 S
50*, 55* :cleveland-small: RTX 6 Modus3 Tour 125
60* :cleveland-small: RTX Full Face ZipCore DG Spinner S400
Putter: :callaway-small: Toulon Chicago with a :garsen: Quad Tour

Ball: ProV1x Left Dash, Chromesoft X LS
Bag: :srixon-small: Ltd Edition Tartan, blue/green/yellow

Using :ShotScope: to keep track of my shots

Tested:
:wilson_staff_small: D7 Forged 3i-PW, KBS Tour-V 110S - Official Review
:titelist-small: Blind Ball Test (Ball #3 vs Ball #4) - Unofficial Review
:ShotScope:
 V3 GPS Watch + Tags - Official Review
:OnCore:
 Vero X2 - Official Review

The Stack System - Official Review

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4 minutes ago, greggarner said:

I think this is the rub - we don't really know. Yes, in controlled situations, we could measure, but since we don't know if/how much a ball has quality issues when we put it in play, we're left not really knowing if that banana ball would've been just a little straighter if the cover/core were closer to spec. Perhaps it's the difference between in-bounds and re-teeing? Perhaps not. Perhaps we make the 30-footer and perhaps it stops short. I'd argue it's all about tolerances. Sure, companies and factories have their tolerances, but players do too. Would you pay $100/dz for a ball that guaranteed no defects ever? Or go the other way - why not play water balls/refurbished balls/recycled balls? Why don't you play $10/dz balls?

Titleist did a Q&A on their Instagram stories a couple days ago where folks submitted questions and Tour players answered. Most of the questions selected were along the lines of "why do you play that ball" and every response was, "I know how the ball is going to react" or "the performance is just so consistent." At their level, yes, they should know exactly what the ball is going to do because they have that much control over their game. But at the mere-mortal level, I'm willing to pay a little bit more (not ProV1 more...) for a little assurance that when I make poor swing, I'm not doubly-punished by having a ball exacerbate my mistakes, especially since I can't isolate the source of the mistake.

From the tour player aspect, consistency is the most important thing. To them, this is a game of inches, but to most of us, it usually a game of feet or yards

Obsessed with the game

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On 4/30/2021 at 6:17 AM, Tom the Golf Nut said:

Having tested this ball I found the ball to perform very well. Maybe I was lucky with my box of balls or maybe the concentricity issues are not significant enough to reveal itself during play.

 So there are a few questions that really never are addressed during a ball review. If the ball is deemed to be 100% round and 100% within weight limits but found to have concentricity issues what does that really do to the ball flight. How bad is bad, how much off does it have to be to be one yard off line or off an inch on a putt?  If it's just a concentricity issue and assuming the material density and weight is the same between layers, does it really make that much of a difference? The center of gravity would be the same in this case. Obviously there are density changes in the material layers but just how much makes the ball perform poorly where you would say to toss it out. Doing a salt water test you can find the light side of the ball. How fast that same spot comes to the top should tell you if the ball is bad or not, but how fast is just a judgment call. Obviously you want a different spot to come to the top, then you know the balls center of gravity is perfect. In reality how many of us put their golf balls through a salt water test? Probably way less than 1%.  So how much off really makes a ball unplayable for the average golfer to notice the abnormality during play? 

I support everything my fellow tester of the Gamer balls for MyGolf Spy has to say. Check out our reviews here (https://forum.mygolfspy.com/topic/42412-2020-official-member-review-top-flite-gamer-golf-balls/#comments

Seeing these Ball Lab results is not a massive shocker given the price of the ball and brand perception of Top Flite. That being said, I agree with @Tom the Golf Nut that where the cut offs are for a "bad ball" and "average" is very vague. Having played the Gamers extensively, I definitely lost my fair share, but I attributed those to poor swings. I can't recall a ball I struck well and thought "that traveled poorly because of something with the ball." 

As a fairly average to slightly above average golfer, I can say that I did not notice a difference in flights on balls I hit with the Gamer compared to others I played at the time (Snell MTB-X, Callaway ChromeSoft/X, TP5X, ProV1/x, Srixon Z-Star). The balls I hit well all went straight and about the same distance with all clubs with minor deviations attributed to weather. The balls I hit poorly were all equally off target. As someone like myself that's only played just over 50 rounds since starting golfing regularly last April, I am just now discerning differences in golf balls, like how the ProV1X's higher launch and spin causes me to hit high spinners that greatly reduce my distance in the wind.

I'd be interested in buying another sleeve of Gamers and testing them again to see flight differences between ones in the same sleeve and a sleeve of other balls to try and quantify any inconsistencies, but I am not necessarily consistent enough with my swing to repeat the same shot more than once.

 

Driver:titleist-small: TSR3 9° (Fujikura Ventus TR Red 6X)

Woods: (3W:titleist-small: TSi2 15° (Fujikura Ventus Blue TR 7S); (7W:callaway-small: Rogue ST Max 21° (Fujikura Ventus Blue 7S) 

4 Hybrid:taylormade-small: SIM2 Rescue 22° (Fujikura Ventus Blue HY 80S)

5i-6i:taylormade-small: P770 (Nippon Modus3 105 S)

7i-PW:Miura: CB-301 (Nippon Modus3 105 S) 

Wedges: :ping-small: Glide 4.0 50 S & 54 S (Nippon Modus3 105 S); Glide Forged Eye2 59 (Nippon Ping Z-Z115)

Putter:odyssey-small: Toulon Design Las Vegas H7 (BGT Stability Tour 2 Polar)

All Clubs Equipped with :Arccos:

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I was in the testing of this ball at yhe end of last year.

My bad shots weren't from a defective ball.

All of the ones I played ( 6 or 7) performed the same.

I'm going to update my test, soon.

It appears that ( for me) this is a warm weather ball.

The feel and sound ( clicky) in cool weather should disappear in warmer temps.

I'm not a Pro V1 player either, but I definitely can't play one in cool\ cold weather.

Always chasing different clubs

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  • 1 month later...
On 5/4/2021 at 7:03 AM, Imp said:

Is it *really* a 3 piece ball? 

Topflite_Gamer_core-1.jpg

The area you have labelled as 3 and 4 are all the same material.  Golf ball manufacturers have a way of "cooking" the cores during construction, kind of like cooking food in an oven, that will cause the core material to have a gradient like compression as well as  change the look of the core like in your photo.   It is a very common practice to fine tune performance.  While it looks like there are two separate cores, it really is just one.  Still a 3 piece ball.

Gameday
Vessel Sunday 2.0/ Ogio Silencer
Wilsonlogo20Clemson.png.eee77a65568179cdcfb783c9a3e68f4b.png Dynapwr Carbon | Hzrdus Smoke Black
:callaway-small:  Mavrik 3w | Evenflow Riptide
Wilsonlogo20Clemson.png.eee77a65568179cdcfb783c9a3e68f4b.png FG Tour F5 Hybrid(20,23) | MCA Fubuki

Wilsonlogo20Clemson.png.eee77a65568179cdcfb783c9a3e68f4b.png Staff Model CB 5-PW |  DG 120
:titleist-small: Vokey SM7 (50, 54, 58) | DG 120
bettinardilogo2MGS.png.3b311f05930da73872d3b638ef39f51c.png Studio Stock 15
:titleist-small:-ProV1x (left dash)

Romans 10:9


Classic Bag
Jones Collegiate Clemson Stand Bag

pinglogo_clemson_MGS.png.f64aa10b6e73d4f55a61d78f590addca.pngEye 2 Laminate
:wilson_staff_small: 1973 Staff Dynapower 4-PW

pinglogo_clemson_MGS.png.f64aa10b6e73d4f55a61d78f590addca.pngAnser

:wilson_staff_small: DUO

 

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