Titleist Blind Ball Test Thread

[Shankster]

Put the two in play today on a safe hole against the ProV1.  Snap hooked the V1, and the #4 the to exact same spot.  Couldn’t have done that again if I tried.

 

the 3 is really low launching for me, too low off the driver.  Here is a full 48° wedge from 148 yards, little helping wind, still came back quite a bit.  Launched amazingly low of the club too.  I welcome the low launch from this type of club, but driver not so much.

 

The V1 and the 4 are very very similar.  They ended up .5” from each other from this same spot… just out of frame top left in this picture. Landed on green and spun back to the fringe.

 

[ZMendle10]

Going to do some launch monitor testing on trackman later today. I will be doing a 7iron and driver testing. The reason I am opting out of the wedge is that I feel the best way to gauge spin around the greens is how the ball reacts outside rather than in a simulator. More to follow and stay tuned.

[Kaplack]

Round balls tend to work fine for me

[ZMendle10]

Work was busy last night so I didn't get the ability to do the kind of testing that I wanted to. However I did take them out to the indoor putting green to verify the difference in feel I felt my first time during testing. Initial testing made me think that the 3 ball was softer than the 4 but after further testing both on a putting green and at a practice facility I am leaning towards there is not much discernable difference between the two.

They feel the same off the putter face, 100 yard wedge shots ripping back nicely with both balls, around the green they were rolling out the same, and on a 150 yard par 3 they both had the same stopping power and flight. I haven't hit the driver yet but I will have another chance today to some simulator testing on trackman so maybe there is where the differences will show up. So far though either I can't tell the difference between the two golf balls or they are the same golf ball and Titleist is pulling a fast one. 

[twyatt700]

So I was able to go and play 9 holes at an executive course yesterday after work. Between the two balls I like number three better.  Both were longer than the Vice Pro, TP5x, and CSx LS I had in my bag.  They felt great on iron shot and responded well to around the green, I was able to get both to check up on wedge shots from 40-85 yards out. And they held up on 10 consecutive bunker shots. Bad new was on one hole I lost one of each with driver. Basically hooked them around some trees and couldn't locate them and I had a group behind me so I didn't spent much time looking.  I the next 300 yeard plus hole I was able to pull driver and both the 3 and 4 ball were super straight and farther than to previous montioned balls.  Made a smooth swing a got about 285-295 out of them (the other three were 265-275).  One ball was on the fringe and the othe was a few paces off the front on a 315 to the center of the green.  Overall I liked them both, I'm very curious to see what each ball is, either way, I'm going to be switching to Titelist.

I'll do more chipping and putting next week to rellay get a sense of the around the green spin. 

[twyatt700]

7 hours ago, ZMendle10 said:

Work was busy last night so I didn't get the ability to do the kind of testing that I wanted to. However I did take them out to the indoor putting green to verify the difference in feel I felt my first time during testing. Initial testing made me think that the 3 ball was softer than the 4 but after further testing both on a putting green and at a practice facility I am leaning towards there is not much discernable difference between the two.

They feel the same off the putter face, 100 yard wedge shots ripping back nicely with both balls, around the green they were rolling out the same, and on a 150 yard par 3 they both had the same stopping power and flight. I haven't hit the driver yet but I will have another chance today to some simulator testing on trackman so maybe there is where the differences will show up. So far though either I can't tell the difference between the two golf balls or they are the same golf ball and Titleist is pulling a fast one. 

I feel the same way. I liked three more though. Felt more responsive. 

[ZMendle10]

18 minutes ago, twyatt700 said:

I feel the same way. I liked three more though. Felt more responsive. 

At times I thought the same but it's just so dependent on where you strike the ball to get the true "feel" of it. I very rarely hit the same exact spot on the face so I never really cared all to much for feel in general. I used to play the softer golf balls chasing feel but after seeing how much ball speed I could be losing by playing a softer golf ball I moved away from that.

[TBGumby12]

I can test which ones are easier to loose and wich ones bounce best off of cart paths and trees.

[Beakbryce]

I received a 3 ball sleeve from Titleist to test about ten years ago. Took them out for play on a known course, IE, my regular course where I know distances for drivers, irons, and green side shots from most positions. My problem is you never get any feedback after the testing from the manufacturer. In my case, since balls usually last me 10 rounds or more, I gave plenty of feedback which was, they didn't seem to perform any different than the current Pro V1.  Now that I have seen the video testing the 2020 Pro V1 against the original, without much difference in flight characteristics, I feel that was probably a pretty good assessment. No feedback from Titleist to the testing info I sent. Maybe it wasn't what they wanted to hear. My point is this forum should provide some really good feedback but I doubt that there will be a whole lot of difference in distance or spin, hoping for feedback that the ball goes straighter.

The ball manufacturers need a new paradigm. The original Pro V1 was it, and basically on its own forced all the ball manufacturers to improve the ball AND golf club makers to make clubs that exploited that ball. The last 20 years have been refinements to that shift in golf balls and clubs, not something revolutionary.

[twyatt700]

1 hour ago, Beakbryce said:

I received a 3 ball sleeve from Titleist to test about ten years ago. Took them out for play on a known course, IE, my regular course where I know distances for drivers, irons, and green side shots from most positions. My problem is you never get any feedback after the testing from the manufacturer. In my case, since balls usually last me 10 rounds or more, I gave plenty of feedback which was, they didn't seem to perform any different than the current Pro V1.  Now that I have seen the video testing the 2020 Pro V1 against the original, without much difference in flight characteristics, I feel that was probably a pretty good assessment. No feedback from Titleist to the testing info I sent. Maybe it wasn't what they wanted to hear. My point is this forum should provide some really good feedback but I doubt that there will be a whole lot of difference in distance or spin, hoping for feedback that the ball goes straighter.

The ball manufacturers need a new paradigm. The original Pro V1 was it, and basically on its own forced all the ball manufacturers to improve the ball AND golf club makers to make clubs that exploited that ball. The last 20 years have been refinements to that shift in golf balls and clubs, not something revolutionary.

Well that's disappointing, I really like both these that I'm testing and I want to know what hey are so I can buy them!

[GregGarner]

12 minutes ago, twyatt700 said:

Well that's disappointing, I really like both these that I'm testing and I want to know what hey are so I can buy them!

I've made the same comment about the #3 ball. I want to know what it is so I can game it. (For my game, though, the #4 ball is garbage and I'm not even going to finish the sleeve.)

[GaDawg]

I was able to get out early today alone and played both balls against each other. As  i stated earlier, the #3 ball is softer, longer and has better spin around the greens. The #4 ball is a very good golf ball, but I really like the feel of the #3. I think the #3 is either the latest version of the Pro V1 or perhaps been tweaked some. The #3 even checked up hitting if out of some fairly deep rough around the greens. I love the #3 ball, so let the cat out of the bag and let us know what it is.

[TCUfrog]

4 hours ago, Beakbryce said:

I received a 3 ball sleeve from Titleist to test about ten years ago. Took them out for play on a known course, IE, my regular course where I know distances for drivers, irons, and green side shots from most positions. My problem is you never get any feedback after the testing from the manufacturer. In my case, since balls usually last me 10 rounds or more, I gave plenty of feedback which was, they didn't seem to perform any different than the current Pro V1.  Now that I have seen the video testing the 2020 Pro V1 against the original, without much difference in flight characteristics, I feel that was probably a pretty good assessment. No feedback from Titleist to the testing info I sent. Maybe it wasn't what they wanted to hear. My point is this forum should provide some really good feedback but I doubt that there will be a whole lot of difference in distance or spin, hoping for feedback that the ball goes straighter.

The ball manufacturers need a new paradigm. The original Pro V1 was it, and basically on its own forced all the ball manufacturers to improve the ball AND golf club makers to make clubs that exploited that ball. The last 20 years have been refinements to that shift in golf balls and clubs, not something revolutionary.

You don’t lose a ball for 10 rounds? 

[GregGarner]

1 minute ago, TCUFrog said:

You don’t lose a ball for 10 rounds? 

That's what I was thinking. Even if I didn't lose it, I'd have to take it out of play after ~1-2 rounds...

[myherobobhope]

7 hours ago, greggarner said:

I've made the same comment about the #3 ball. I want to know what it is so I can game it. (For my game, though, the #4 ball is garbage and I'm not even going to finish the sleeve.)

I'll take your remaining #4 balls... My MIL finally took the kids, and I snuck up to the course to hit some shots... 

I didn't really warm up, as it was late and the range was closed... started with an 8 iron into a par 3... #4 flew a little farther but both were decent swings... the #3 seemed to move more on me...

Drive on a par 5, once again the #3 curved more... it did on every drive but the last one... and the last drive it didn't carry a bunker I usually carry... The 4 I was 3/3 on fairways hit and it felt good... Liked then spin into the greens, and both behaved just fine on shorter chip shots... I can tell the diffference between a rock and a marshmallow... but I'm talking the actual objects... most golf balls feel the same, with the old school "distance" balls feeling hard to me... these balls both felt fine off the putter.

Over the course of 4 holes, where I hit both balls side by side, I consistently had better results with the 4 ball... that might just be blind luck... but I liked it... My drive on a par 5 went farther then I've ever hit a drive, which is weird as the wind is usually behind me, but was still... I hit the #4 farther on every hole, but it was also always in the fairway, so it had an advantage...

I'm traditionally a high spin player, but have been actively working to get my spin down... I'm hoping to get into the simulator at my club and do a durability test / spin test... Ideally, I'll have my new irons next week and can start dialing in their distances and I'll see how they like the Titleist balls.

[ZMendle10]

Was able to some indoor testing on Trackman and get some quantifiable numbers between the two balls. There are 2 things that I want to point out before getting to the numbers. I tested 100 yard wedge shots, a full 7 iron, and driver between the two balls. I hit shots until I had a decently tight grouping of 5 shots with each ball and club and then after the grouping I made sure that the delivery for each shot was as close as I can make it. I checked the impact location club speed and dynamic loft and if all of those parameters were within a reasonable distance from one another I kept the shot. 

 

Overall Dispersion pattern for each club and ball.

 

At initial glance the wedges and 7 irons don't seem to much different from one another and there is a little bit of a difference for the driver in terms of carry. One could argue that the Titleist 3 was a bit tighter off the wedge and 7 iron but was lacking a bit off the driver but lets check the numbers of each ball.

 

100yd shot (Vokey SM8 56° Wedge)

The Titleist 3 ball was carrying bang on the number for the average and all of the shots were fairly consistent. The 4 ball spin was a little finicky and substantially lower spin on this shot. However numbers aside there would be no way to tell the difference between these two balls on the course. In my testing on the course I had no problems spinning either ball back on the green at this distance.

In terms of trajectory there is not much to it here. The 3 does have the potential to reach a higher peak height. 

 

175yd Shot (Srixon ZX7 7 Iron)

There is absolutely zero difference between these balls in any of the above metrics. Both of these balls perform excellently off a 7 iron and exactly what I have been seeing out on the course. 

The trajectory for either ball was the same as the other and there is no difference between the two which was something I noticed out on the course as well and had plenty of stopping power.

Driver Ping G410 LST

Here is where there is the biggest difference between the two balls can be seen. Titleist 4 had more loft being applied which would attribute to the higher launch and higher peak height but it still had lower spin and a much more consistent spin rate at that. This higher launch and lower spin resulted in the ball being 4 yards longer both in terms of carry and total distance than the Titleist 3 ball. 

The same story continues when looking at the trajectory of each ball. The Titleist 4 had much higher peak heights than the Titleist 3 and despite that both balls traveled about the same distance. The Titleist 3 did have the occasional short ball and that is worth noting. 

 

Conclusion

Overall I don't see too much a difference between the two golf balls. I no longer think they are the exact same golf ball like I initially did and I would change my theory to they are very similar off the putter. The low spin of the full wedge for the Titleist 4 might cause me some concern if I just look at the data but I did take them out to the course and there is more than enough spin. I did feel that Titleist 3 was much softer especially off the wedges as well. 

 

Edited August 2, 2021 by ZMendle10

[myherobobhope]

15 minutes ago, ZMendle10 said:

Overall I don't see too much a difference between the two golf balls. I no longer think they are the exact same golf ball like I initially did and I would change my theory to they are very similar off the putter. The low spin of the full wedge for the Titleist 4 might cause me some concern if I just look at the data but I did take them out to the course and there is more than enough spin. I did feel that Titleist 3 was much softer especially off the wedges as well. 

 

Very well researched and written! I agree with all of it from a performance standpoint as well… I really like the launch of the 4 off the driver, even if it isn’t a ton different than the 3… 

the 4 definitely spun less for me, but enough to get the job done.

[ZMendle10]

3 minutes ago, myherobobhope said:

Very well researched and written! I agree with all of it from a performance standpoint as well… I really like the launch of the 4 off the driver, even if it isn’t a ton different than the 3… 

the 4 definitely spun less for me, but enough to get the job done.

Thank you very much for the compliment. 

If I had to choose between the 3 and 4 I think I would go with the 4 since I can always benefit from some lower spin off the driver as I tend to spin the ball around 3,000 RPM's since I tend to add  too much loft off of the tee. 

[Shankster]

Do any of the other testers find them to be super soft?  Like Tour Soft, Soft?

[ZMendle10]

6 minutes ago, Shankster said:

Do any of the other testers find them to be super soft?  Like Tour Soft, Soft?

If anything I would say the Titleist 3 felt soft but it's been a while since I played the tour soft. I have a sleeve so I can compare the Tour Soft to the Titleist 3 today at work and report back.