MGS Sourced Ball Fitting - you decide

[Thin2win]

I've decided to put to GC3 to some ball fitting. I used the MGS 2021 ball test as a starting point, then went to the local golf shop and bought sleeves of a number of the ones I was interested in. And since this is a slow time of year for golf, I decided to drag out this process as long as I can. 

So, my plan for this is to hit ~ 20 shots with each ball for each: 100y wedge, 7i, and Driver. 

I'm going to only do 3 balls at time so that the information is easier to parse. I'll do the wedge shots for the first 3 balls, then post the data, followed by the 7i and driver. I'll likely only do 1 set per day. After 3(or so days) and you all can see the data sets for 3 clubs for the 3 balls, I'll let you all pick "the winner". 

"the winner" will stay in and I'll redo the whole test with 2 other contenders. 

And to remove biases, I'm not going to tell you all which ball is which. I'll just give you the list of balls I'm testing right now. That way, if you want to guess at which is which you can. 

Bridgestone BX, Bridgestone BXS, Callaway Chrome Soft X, Callaway Chrome soft X LS, Vice Pro, Taylormade TP5X, Maxfli Tour, Srixon Z-Star and maybe a ProV1. 

So, that is the plan. 

[Thin2win]

Rd 1: 100y wedge shots

[sirchunksalot]

I am not a qualified ball fitter, and I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. Looking at the consistency of all three, I would go with ball 2 was the most consistent in ball speed, spin, and launch. But that's splitting hairs as I think they're so close. 

[Thin2win]

8 minutes ago, sirchunksalot said:

I am not a qualified ball fitter, and I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. Looking at the consistency of all three, I would go with ball 2 was the most consistent in ball speed, spin, and launch. But that's splitting hairs as I think they're so close. 

Honestly, not sure there will be much in the 100y wedge differences, expecting more divergence in the 7i/Driver rounds. 

[fixyurdivot]

Pffft... pa-leeze... we've played with this guy, this data is clearly fudged .

Looks like a fun project Chris and will be following along to see which, if any, is a standout.  I'm a little surprised the MTB isn't in the mix?

[Thin2win]

3 hours ago, fixyurdivot said:

I'm a little surprised the MTB isn't in the mix?

They havent been in stock the last few times I've gone looking for them, so purely on supply issues, I eliminated them from trying. 

[Headhammer]

If you are long on most of your approach shots I'd go #1, if you a short on most approach shots I'd go #3.

[DiscipleofPenick]

Ball #2 had the best deviation so that's the most consistent. Ball #1 spun the best, which I think is the most important number on wedge shots.

[PMookie]

11 hours ago, Thin2win said:

Honestly, not sure there will be much in the 100y wedge differences, expecting more divergence in the 7i/Driver rounds. 

Spin and height should show the separation at this distance, and you have 600 rpms of spin difference. Launch is one thing, but what is the peak height? Is the lowest spinning one achieving the highest height, and what’s the descent angle? 600 rpms at lower height and flatter descent isn’t going to “grab” as much. 
 

Is spin performance something that makes a difference to you? Do you want more or less grab? If so, I’d probably even write-out the ranges of spin for each ball to see to get a broader idea of max-out spin you’re seeing.

[Lefty19]

My question is- WHAT are you looking in a ball?

 

Spin numbers are great and all, but does the ball perform for what YOU want to it do in a round?

Do you think you need more spin due to the courses you play are harder than normal? Maybe the course has firmer fairways than the greens. 

Need more data to provide a better input than "just" looking purely at numbers.

 

Fit the ball to yourself by knowing by what you are trying to accomplish? I say this as I changed by whole bag set up due to getting back into golf after a 5 yr. layoff due to bad back, family and job career. I changed the top of the bag to fit the courses, yardage and what I thought would be advantageous to score better. I don't play 7,300 yd.+ courses from the tips anymore as I'm not competing in local tourneys or "gearing" up to try and make the US AM- Mid Am but maybe the Senior (gotta dream for the future- haha). I play under 7k courses and chunked the 13* FW for basically a 4 WD. Got rid of the 3 iron and went for a 5 WD (lofted at 20*) and still thinking of changing to gap more properly with a hybrid instead of the 5 WD...or even going to a 7 WD. Whatever it takes to get me in a better position on the courses I play. Hell- I went to a little more spin in my iron shafts to offset the lower spin ball I wanted for the driver, different stokes.

 

WHAT DO YO NEED? 

 

David

Edited November 21, 2021 by Lefty19

[Thin2win]

1 hour ago, PMookie said:

Spin and height should show the separation at this distance, and you have 600 rpms of spin difference. Launch is one thing, but what is the peak height? Is the lowest spinning one achieving the highest height, and what’s the descent angle? 600 rpms at lower height and flatter descent isn’t going to “grab” as much. 
 

Is spin performance something that makes a difference to you? Do you want more or less grab? If so, I’d probably even write-out the ranges of spin for each ball to see to get a broader idea of max-out spin you’re seeing.

I had a side pool on who was going to ask for the more detailed data, fine, I'll include all the Ball data for you from now on

[Thin2win]

1 hour ago, Lefty19 said:

WHAT DO YO NEED? 

 

David

#1) hit Fairways, preferably further from the tee box

#2) hit greens, preferably closer to the pin.

that's all 

Really, I wanted something fun to do for the next few weeks to keep me engaged during this slow time. And something kind of fun for the MGS community to play along with. You can vote for the ball you would play, the ball I should play, or the ball your neighbor should play. If there is an obvious loser we can laugh at how badly I hit it. Or just how bad I am. 

I'm guessing the wedge numbers will all be sufficient. Driver will be what separates the gold from the spoils. I'm a low spin driver guy. Even at just over 100 MPH club speed I play a 12° club head and still average < 2k back spin numbers. So really for me I would likely choose the one that gets me around a 15° driver launch with about 2200rpm of back spin. That said, if one of these magically goes 15y further then the rest, it might just win. Also, if any one of them gets me a hole-in-one the test will immediately end and it will be the victor.

[Thin2win]

I've decided to include prizes, because who doesn't like a prize?! since 2 kinds of balls will be eliminated every week(ish). I figured I'd send those to the first one to guess which ones they were. So if you want a sleeve of balls that are obviously bad and that have only seen about a dozen shots or so off a mat and into a screen, then guess away. If not, well, don't guess. can't make everyone happy.

[Thin2win]

here is the 7i data to look at, Thought I was adding more data points... but turns out I didn't select the right screen and saved the same basic ones twice... so no peak height, etc until driver and I get it right, sorry @PMookie

 

[PMookie]

1 hour ago, Thin2win said:

here is the 7i data to look at, Thought I was adding more data points... but turns out I didn't select the right screen and saved the same basic ones twice... so no peak height, etc until driver and I get it right, sorry @PMookie

 

Don’t worry about me… I was just trying to help based on the comments about not being able to tell much from wedge numbers. Makes no difference to me what you post, it’s your test. 

[Thin2win]

35 minutes ago, PMookie said:

Don’t worry about me… I was just trying to help based on the comments about not being able to tell much from wedge numbers. Makes no difference to me what you post, it’s your test. 

You can try telling yourself that. But I know you will lose sleep over this. I'm failing you.

[Vegan_Golfer_PNW]

I’ll wait to guess in balls based on driver data

[PMookie]

11 hours ago, Thin2win said:

here is the 7i data to look at, Thought I was adding more data points... but turns out I didn't select the right screen and saved the same basic ones twice... so no peak height, etc until driver and I get it right, sorry @PMookie

 

Chrome Soft LS is blue

[fixyurdivot]

21 hours ago, Thin2win said:

#1) hit Fairways, preferably further from the tee box

#2) hit greens, preferably closer to the pin.

that's all 

Really, I wanted something fun to do for the next few weeks to keep me engaged during this slow time. And something kind of fun for the MGS community to play along with. You can vote for the ball you would play, the ball I should play, or the ball your neighbor should play. If there is an obvious loser we can laugh at how badly I hit it. Or just how bad I am. 

I'm guessing the wedge numbers will all be sufficient. Driver will be what separates the gold from the spoils. I'm a low spin driver guy. Even at just over 100 MPH club speed I play a 12° club head and still average < 2k back spin numbers. So really for me I would likely choose the one that gets me around a 15° driver launch with about 2200rpm of back spin. That said, if one of these magically goes 15y further then the rest, it might just win. Also, if any one of them gets me a hole-in-one the test will immediately end and it will be the victor.

LOL.  We look forward to your continued participation .

Spoiler

 

 

[Lefty19]

Well, hopefully you won the side pool money then? haha

Love the desires of what you need the ball to do, sprinkle some fairy dust on all equipment and yourself- SAVE some for me as well! I'll play for the shipping on it to become better! LOL- I think a lot of us would pay good money for that!!

I go by the old adage of whatever you hit, should be the same on spin.... 7i- close to 7k but somewhere around 6.5k-7k range is fine. I don't know if that applies nowadays with lofts being jacked so hard for most irons? Just got back into the game and research so I don't know if everything has been turned down a notch on spin rates or not. 6 yrs. ago, I played Ping Anser irons- bent .5* weak on 7(34*)-9 to make them 4* gaps and spun it around 7k. 

Since this is all in fun as well, then give it hell and we all will have fun with the numbers... By chance, are you playing with them on the course to get a real feel for them or already have played with all of these previously? Spin numbers off of mats are great and all but off grass should give you different numbers as well.

 

David

[Thin2win]

12 minutes ago, Lefty19 said:

By chance, are you playing with them on the course to get a real feel for them or already have played with all of these previously? Spin numbers off of mats are great and all but off grass should give you different numbers as well.

 

David

I think at this stage in the year I'm stuck in my home hitting mat. There is a chance that the weather could get really nice for a week and one of the courses might open. I am hitting off a country club elite mat, and it does severely punish fat/chunks shots. 

That said, my average AoA with an iron in hand just about 0.0. But the range is down 0.5 to up 1.5. That range keeps my iron spin numbers low. But also means I could play golf off a parking lot without hurting my club. 

It also means I struggle out of the rough. 

[Thin2win]

2 hours ago, PMookie said:

Chrome Soft LS is blue

This is an excellent guess. 

[Lefty19]

8 minutes ago, Thin2win said:

I think at this stage in the year I'm stuck in my home hitting mat. There is a chance that the weather could get really nice for a week and one of the courses might open. I am hitting off a country club elite mat, and it does severely punish fat/chunks shots. 

That said, my average AoA with an iron in hand just about 0.0. But the range is down 0.5 to up 1.5. That range keeps my iron spin numbers low. But also means I could play golf off a parking lot without hurting my club. 

It also means I struggle out of the rough. 

Just saw your location of WA.... yikes- not conducive of year round playing so understandable.

AVG AOA nice though... I hover around -1 to 0 on a driver- irons are -2 to -4 - I am spin happy to say the least. Hard fairways are not my friend as I sway towards high bounce but enough about me.

 

With greens with this type of spin, do they hold? I guess, trying to figure out how much spin do you need and your game?

 

I will learn a lot of spin numbers from this topic, digging thru the ball test 2021 on here though. Interesting stuff and great to see the true numbers and especially the ball testing on overall quality.

 

 

[GregGarner]

23 minutes ago, Thin2win said:

This is an excellent guess. 

Dang. That was going to be my guess too! Since we don't have club data, it's hard to tell

That being said, something tells me Ball 2 is the TP5x. Decent spin on wedge, maybe riding up the face just a bit with the firm cover with a slight loss of ball speed on the mid-iron because you're not compressing the core. (Was about to guess BX, but I think the BX is a little easier to compress on the irons.)

[cnosil]

18 minutes ago, Lefty19 said:

With greens with this type of spin, do they hold? I guess, trying to figure out how much spin do you need and your game?

I will learn a lot of spin numbers from this topic, digging thru the ball test 2021 on here though. Interesting stuff and great to see the true numbers and especially the ball testing on overall quality.

 

 

Yes, this is a great topic…leverage the MGS data and see how it applies to an actual swing to adjust what works for a player.  
 

read some of your comments and you older train of thought on spin relation to iron number.  Newer numbers show that spin is generally less than that but is compensated by steeper descent angle.  Multiple ways to stop  a ball on a green and you have to see what works for the player and their course conditions.    

[Thin2win]

24 minutes ago, greggarner said:

Dang. That was going to be my guess too! Since we don't have club data, it's hard to tell

That being said, something tells me Ball 2 is the TP5x. Decent spin on wedge, maybe riding up the face just a bit with the firm cover with a slight loss of ball speed on the mid-iron because you're not compressing the core. (Was about to guess BX, but I think the BX is a little easier to compress on the irons.)

It was excellent, but not correct. As is your pick for ball #2.... 

[cnosil]

10 minutes ago, Thin2win said:

It was excellent, but not correct. As is your pick for ball #2.... 

I am really looking forward to seeing how your numbers compare to the MGS numbers.  I am thinking the difficultly is identifying the first ball. Once that is done, can we take the MGS data and lay it on top of your data and properly identify other  balls based on your differences.  With what you have now it is a random guess because we don’t know if you started with the most spin, least spin, or just somewhere in the middle.  

[Londo]

I am curious about #3 and will wait for the driver data but I can't shake the feeling that #1 is the Chromesoft X, pretty spinny compared to the other two! Really fun idea, can't wait to see more!

Edited November 22, 2021 by Londo
sp

[Thin2win]

7 hours ago, PMookie said:

Chrome Soft LS is blue

 

4 hours ago, greggarner said:

Dang. That was going to be my guess too! Since we don't have club data, it's hard to tell

That being said, something tells me Ball 2 is the TP5x. Decent spin on wedge, maybe riding up the face just a bit with the firm cover with a slight loss of ball speed on the mid-iron because you're not compressing the core. (Was about to guess BX, but I think the BX is a little easier to compress on the irons.)

 

3 hours ago, cnosil said:

I am really looking forward to seeing how your numbers compare to the MGS numbers.  I am thinking the difficultly is identifying the first ball. Once that is done, can we take the MGS data and lay it on top of your data and properly identify other  balls based on your differences.  With what you have now it is a random guess because we don’t know if you started with the most spin, least spin, or just somewhere in the middle.  

 

1 hour ago, Londo said:

I am curious about #3 and will wait for the driver data but I can't shake the feeling that #1 is the Chromesoft X, pretty spinny compared to the other two! Really fun idea, can't wait to see more!

I'll say that there is a Callaway in this first batch. 

[Glfaholic]

On 11/20/2021 at 9:29 PM, Thin2win said:

I've decided to put to GC3 to some ball fitting. I used the MGS 2021 ball test as a starting point, then went to the local golf shop and bought sleeves of a number of the ones I was interested in. And since this is a slow time of year for golf, I decided to drag out this process as long as I can. 

So, my plan for this is to hit ~ 20 shots with each ball for each: 100y wedge, 7i, and Driver. 

I'm going to only do 3 balls at time so that the information is easier to parse. I'll do the wedge shots for the first 3 balls, then post the data, followed by the 7i and driver. I'll likely only do 1 set per day. After 3(or so days) and you all can see the data sets for 3 clubs for the 3 balls, I'll let you all pick "the winner". 

"the winner" will stay in and I'll redo the whole test with 2 other contenders. 

And to remove biases, I'm not going to tell you all which ball is which. I'll just give you the list of balls I'm testing right now. That way, if you want to guess at which is which you can. 

Bridgestone BX, Bridgestone BXS, Callaway Chrome Soft X, Callaway Chrome soft X LS, Vice Pro, Taylormade TP5X, Maxfli Tour, Srixon Z-Star and maybe a ProV1. 

So, that is the plan. 

Blue from what I have experienced.. is going to be the Vice Pro.   Ive never been over the green as many times as when I played the vice ball