The Poor-Man's Pro V1

[MrShowbiz999]

Greetings, fellow Spyers . . . 

So my game is improving (hit my first 230yd drive on Father's Day!) however my ability to lose a ridiculous amount of golf balls in any given round remains the same!

I play red and yellow golf balls so it's easier for me to find and ID mine on the course, and have been playing the Srixon Soft Feel, Bridgestone e6 Soft, and the Taylor Made Soft Response (I am a 59yo "beginner") Played my first Pro V1's this weekend (courtesy of my son-in-law) and was wondering if there was such a thing as the "Poor-Man's" Pro V1 so I can play those and am not throwing away $50-$100 per round (yes, I lost 2dz golf balls in the high weeds this weekend.)

Thanks All . . .

[null]

2 minutes ago, MrShowbiz999 said:

Greetings, fellow Spyers . . . 

So my game is improving (hit my first 230yd drive on Father's Day!) however my ability to lose a ridiculous amount of golf balls in any given round remains the same!

I play red and yellow golf balls so it's easier for me to find and ID mine on the course, and have been playing the Srixon Soft Feel, Bridgestone e6 Soft, and the Taylor Made Soft Response (I am a 59yo "beginner") Played my first Pro V1's this weekend (courtesy of my son-in-law) and was wondering if there was such a thing as the "Poor-Man's" Pro V1 so I can play those and am not throwing away $50-$100 per round (yes, I lost 2dz golf balls in the high weeds this weekend.)

Thanks All . . .

Snell MTB Black is your best bet for the price.

[MrShowbiz999]

Thanks, jlukes, but it looks like Snell is still out of product and not shipping anytime soon.

[cnosil]

I’d look here and compare balls of a similar firmness and cover to the prov1.  Maxfli tour might be a good option. 
 

https://mygolfspy.com/ball-lab-golf-ball-quality-comparison-tool/

 

that said, if you are losing 2 dozen balls a round, you might want to consider lessons and/or just playing bargain balls until you can control the ball direction a little better.  Or was the course that tough and you don’t normally loose that many?  

[Curtis Atkinson]

I would suggest going to lostgolfballs.com and getting mint graded balls. I've been playing the titlieist tour soft and they come in a BRIGHT neon and seem pretty solid for the price used. 

[Keeper905]

Snell is a good bet, but you could also try VICE golf balls.  Pro Soft and Pro Plus if you are really looking for something comparable.  But the the TOUR plays really good too.

[DaveP043]

51 minutes ago, MrShowbiz999 said:

Thanks, jlukes, but it looks like Snell is still out of product and not shipping anytime soon.

The MTB-x is available in white, but limited to 2 dozen per order right now.  I got my order within a week, just a week ago.  I see all of their yellow balls are temporarily unavailable.

[MrShowbiz999]

1 hour ago, cnosil said:

I’d look here and compare balls of a similar firmness and cover to the prov1.  Maxfli tour might be a good option. 
 

https://mygolfspy.com/ball-lab-golf-ball-quality-comparison-tool/

 

that said, if you are losing 2 dozen balls a round, you might want to consider lessons and/or just playing bargain balls until you can control the ball direction a little better.  Or was the course that tough and you don’t normally loose that many?  

So . . . I AM taking lessons, and I am losing less and less balls by the round, but when I play a really challenging private course like this weekend vs. some of the more forgiving public courses, I've yet to figure out how NOT to put my ball in the high grass/weeds and find those damn things!!! LOL (this was an anomaly)

[CRW]

I'd play the cheapest ball I could get at your point in the game.  If you just want to spend more money then LostGolfBalls.com is your next best bet.  I'm not even sure I'd opt for mint at this point in your development.

[MrShowbiz999]

Any thoughts on the Volvik Vimax? They are on sale right now, thought to try them but don't know much about them?

[cnosil]

28 minutes ago, MrShowbiz999 said:

Any thoughts on the Volvik Vimax? They are on sale right now, thought to try them but don't know much about them?

Not at all like a prov1.   You are looking for a tour level ball;  from volvik that would be the S3 or S4.  Kirkland balls might be an option worth looking into; not as good as when they originally came out but not horrible.  

[MrShowbiz999]

5 minutes ago, cnosil said:

Not at all like a prov1.   You are looking for a tour level ball;  from volvik that would be the S3 or S4.  Kirkland balls might be an option worth looking into; not as good as when they originally came out but not horrible.  

Given my current skill level, should I even be entertaining a Pro V1-like ball? Maybe I need to dial-back my enthusiasm and find something else like the ones I am already playing?

[cnosil]

15 minutes ago, MrShowbiz999 said:

Given my current skill level, should I even be entertaining a Pro V1-like ball? Maybe I need to dial-back my enthusiasm and find something else like the ones I am already playing?

you will get the best performance out of a tour level ball; both distance and spin control.   That said based on you game description I personally would look at less expensive balls; maybe even used, since you lose so many.  Distance should be about the same with the biggest downgrade being iron and green side spin.  You can always switch once you get beater control of you shot dispersion. 

[ShaunieBoy652]

3 hours ago, jlukes said:

Snell MTB Black is your best bet for the price.

You'll get your money back in golf balls if you take lessons!

[GregGarner]

50 minutes ago, MrShowbiz999 said:

Given my current skill level, should I even be entertaining a Pro V1-like ball? Maybe I need to dial-back my enthusiasm and find something else like the ones I am already playing?

My take would be that everyone values different things. Some guys spend $50/dozen knowing it's the best ball they could play and if they lose a dozen in a round, at least they maximized performance for the ball while they had it. Other guys go to Dick's (or insert retailer of choice) and find the balls at their preferred price point and just play until they find a ball that generally works for them. (My neighbor is in this category, having settled on the Bridgestone e12 because it gives him soft feel, high launch, and low spin, which equates to more distance. His wedges are 5+ years old and he doesn't think he's hit a shot in his life that has backed up on the green, so a Tour ball that has a urethane cover might actually cause some issues for parts of his game. Plus he doesn't want to spend that much.)

The MyGolfSpy mantra is to pick a ball and play it, for every shot of every round. Some of us don't want the investment that comes with that strategy and so we play within comparable categories. Or you can do what I did up until a couple years ago (including when I played in college) -- buy whatever you want at the store (for me it was typically in the $20-25/dozen range) and then scour the rough/woods when you go play and build up a stash of what you find.

 

(Just don't buy range balls from the shop and then play with those.... that's rude.)

[NRJyzr]

If you want a Poor Man's version of a Tour Ball, you're not going to find anything that fits that description better than the Kirkland Signature 3 piece ball.  I'm not sure there are many new balls you can buy that are $1 per ball, much less one that provides the performance you'll get out of them.
 

[Stuka44]

Wilson Staff Duo Soft are $20.00 a dozen.  I will suggest to you the same thing I have suggested to other similar queries on this forum.  Use whatever ball you can afford to lose.  Play a ball you are comfortable giving a cursory look for, and then dropping another and playing on, for the sake of pace of play.  Whatever value of ball that is for you,  only you can say.   

 

[MrShowbiz999]

1 hour ago, Shaun Smith said:

You'll get your money back in golf balls if you take lessons!

Already responded that I am taking lessons. But Rome wasn't built in a day, and developing a golf game feels like it will take longer than building Rome!

[MrShowbiz999]

1 minute ago, stuka44 said:

Wilson Staff Duo Soft are $20.00 a dozen.  I will suggest to you the same thing I have suggested to other similar queries on this forum.  Use whatever ball you can afford to lose.  Play a ball you are comfortable giving a cursory look for, and then dropping another and playing on, for the sake of pace of play.  Whatever value of ball that is for you,  only you can say.   

 

I have several dozen of those, but the driver manufacturer is telling me that playing those 35 compression balls is like hitting marshmallows and I need harder ones (ergo my Srixon's.)

[DiscipleofPenick]

The Srixon Z-Star is only 2 compression points softer, and has all the same qualities as ProV1 (3pc, mid flight, mid spin) per the MGS ball labs. And regardless of their 0-100 metric, it was only 3% worse in the True Price rating.