New range balls - Wow!

[Siamese Moose]

I practice almost exclusively at one range (Mile of Golf, Cincinnati), and I'm usually there on Monday mornings, including yesterday. It has TopTracer, and I've commented here before about the yardages not matching my on-course numbers. Yesterday my fitter walked by, and I mentioned I was having a putting issue, so he offered to have me come back today to take a look. (We tweaked loft up 0.5°, flattened lie by 2°.) Since I was there anyway, I hit some balls again. Overnight they replaced all of the range balls, so everything I hit today was with a brand new ball. Every shot was at least 10 yards longer, and up to 25 yards with the driver! Unlike my previous complaint that TopTracer underestimated my yardages, today I think it seemed a little long. (I can hope last week's lesson is responsible, and that increase is real.) While playing a virtual game, I lost a number of strokes going long. I realize a worn range ball to a new one is a big change, but it reinforces what the ball testing on MGS has shown about used balls.

[nofives]

Same here. For those who use the range to practice v/s warm up, it's a completely different experience. The track I frequent (Cross Creek in SoCal) got new range balls and I'd imagine it's quite an investment for a public course. However from here out I will go completely out of my way to get to this range. Win, win for both parties. 

[russtopherb]

Yep. My local 2 decker range got all new Wilson range balls last season and the difference was noticeable when they rolled them out. Definitely more distance at the start and slightly better flight too since they weren't worn down or scuffed up yet.

[fixyurdivot]

I hate hitting old, worn, and dirty range balls.  Not only do they accelerate wear of our club faces, they make gathering reliable ball flight data challenging.  A ball that both draws and fades seems suspect to me... just saying . One of the courses in Yuma's green fee includes use of the practice area/range and they have a mix of not so good and near new balls in the small pyramids at each hitting station.  I was the guy cherry-picking which balls I was going to hit .