MyGolfSpy 2023 Golf Ball Test!!!

[JohnnyO3478]

5 minutes ago, Shakeyfly said:

I honestly wish the same. This is really the first year of golf for me in many different respects, especially around game improvement. When I went in for a club fitting, I was sort of shocked that they asked a bunch of, what am I looking for questions. I just wanted to say, I have no idea what even to look for. I was hoping someone would watch me hack a way a little bit, and just hand me a club and say these are yours, go and get better. Same concept with a Golf Ball.  

On the podcast, I really took to the idea of just finding one ball, and using that one ball to establish a baseline. Is this ball too hard, too soft, does it sound funny? Do I hate the way it clicks off the putter or squish into the driver? and then go from there.  I've been using a Vice Pro, and I switched to a Callaway Chromesoft recently and so far have enjoyed it. So I'm going to stick with Chromesoft for a while, and hopefully work it in from there. But I agree that it would be nice to have someone look and say, "you know you'd get more distance and control, with similar feel if you switch to XXXXX"

I'm probably roughly in the same boat as you are.  Been playing around a year.  Fitted for clubs.  Taking lessons. H.I. hovering around 19. 

 

To date - nearly every ball I've tried that I liked the feel of had a compression rating in the mid 80s.  So that's where I set my starting point.  Next - i much prefer to play a yellow ball - so that narrowed the field down to 7 options. Out of those 7, i axed any that didn't score well in the ball lab.  That knocked off 2 of them. Then I put the remaining 5 in the cross tab table and started interpolating performance of the more affordable options against the Pro V1 yellow ball - going back and forth between the slow and mid speed data sets.  That got me down to 2 choices - one of which happened to be the ball I've been playing the most over the past year.  I ordered a dozen of the other option so I can do my own head to head testing on my launch monitor and out on the course.  There's about a $7/dz difference in the cost of the two models so that's not likely to sway me much - but will be the tie breaker if I can't discern anything between the two on the course.

 

Seems a little daunting - but it's giving me something to do .....

I like the process. 

[tdc1]

@PMookie Do you know offhand the minimum data Ballnamic needs?  Thanks.

[tdc1]

@JohnnyO3478 Just being nosy here (and understand if you don’t want to say yet) but which balls are down to in your process?  I admit to not having the discipline to be too methodical in my choice — I just keep defaulting to good condition Pro Vs that I find.

[BallsLeon]

I am a low swing speed player with lower spin, I’d love to try one of the recommended higher spin balls but Maxfli Tour X is more in my wheelhouse price wise. Already seen a few promising things on wedge shots, need to see if they’ve made a change on Trackman.

[PMookie]

21 minutes ago, tdc1 said:

@PMookie Do you know offhand the minimum data Ballnamic needs?  Thanks.

It’s been a year since I did it, but I think they are ball speed, launch, spin, basic numbers. If I remember correctly I entered those for both driver and irons. 

[JohnnyO3478]

20 minutes ago, tdc1 said:

@JohnnyO3478 Just being nosy here (and understand if you don’t want to say yet) but which balls are down to in your process?  I admit to not having the discipline to be too methodical in my choice — I just keep defaulting to good condition Pro Vs that I find.

I don't mind.  I should have included in the original post.  Here's how it went down for me:

 

Yellow balls in the mid 80s:

Titelist Pro V1

Maxfli Tour  (my current ball)

Bridgestone Tour B XS

Titleist Tour Speed

Srixon Z Star

Maxfli Tour S

Wilson Triad

 

Eliminated based on Ball Lab performance:

Tour B XS

Z Star

Tour Speed

 

Final 2:

Wilson Triad ($38/dz by subscription) and Maxfli Tour ($30/dz in bulk)

 

Both made in the Foremost factory - same dimple pattern - both solid performers in the ball lab.  Triad seems to out perform Tour in the slow speed category - but i think they essentially cross over and meet up as the swing speed increases.  I swing an 8 iron around 73 mph and my driver around 88 on average.  I plan on spending a lot of time hitting 30, 40, 50 yd shots and chipping around the greens in the upcomming weeks. 

[SRI1982]

So, can someone please explain this  to me? What happened with ProV1's. Mid swing speed player and haven't dug into the data too deep. 

Playing 2023 ProV1's currently. 

Have played Prov1X in the past, is it enough of a concern to go back to them? 

I got away from the ProV1X's because I thought they were way to spinny around the greens. 

 

Thanks for the help. 

 

 

[tdc1]

5 hours ago, JohnnyO3478 said:

I don't mind.  I should have included in the original post.  Here's how it went down for me:

 

Yellow balls in the mid 80s:

Titelist Pro V1

Maxfli Tour  (my current ball)

Bridgestone Tour B XS

Titleist Tour Speed

Srixon Z Star

Maxfli Tour S

Wilson Triad

 

Eliminated based on Ball Lab performance:

Tour B XS

Z Star

Tour Speed

 

Final 2:

Wilson Triad ($38/dz by subscription) and Maxfli Tour ($30/dz in bulk)

 

Both made in the Foremost factory - same dimple pattern - both solid performers in the ball lab.  Triad seems to out perform Tour in the slow speed category - but i think they essentially cross over and meet up as the swing speed increases.  I swing an 8 iron around 73 mph and my driver around 88 on average.  I plan on spending a lot of time hitting 30, 40, 50 yd shots and chipping around the greens in the upcomming weeks. 

Thanks for the detail!  I’m about the same driver SS and also prefer yellow balls.  I’ve played MaxFli Tour and Tour X — both prior model — with some success. Have been wondering about the Triad myself.

[JohnnyO3478]

4 hours ago, tdc1 said:

Thanks for the detail!  I’m about the same driver SS and also prefer yellow balls.  I’ve played MaxFli Tour and Tour X — both prior model — with some success. Have been wondering about the Triad myself.

Last phase of in house testing (I hope).  They feel just like the Maxfli Tour and are the exact same shade of yellow.  No surprise there.  I am sure the cover material and the paint are the same materials.  The ball lab reported that the Triad is on the lighter side of weight spectrum - and I confirmed this, myself.  2/3 of the balls in my box weighed 45.4 grams while the other third weighed in at 45.5 g.  Worthy of note that the ping against the 2023 Maxfli was an inconsistency in the weights amount the samples tested - with one box being noticably heavier than the other two. If there had not been that variation, Tony said he would have scored the ball in the 90s.  I can control for that inconsistency. I weighed my last dz and they were all 45.7g with the exception of one that weighed 45.6 g - that can't possibly be perceptible.  I also weighed a box of yellow pro V1 at the same time - and there was a little more variance with the Titleist box - but still most at 45.7g.

 

I had a lesson this afternoon - and hit the Triad a bit when I got home.  It felt fine and performed on the launch monitor in about the same manner as the Maxfli and Pro V.  I have 3 rounds scheduled this weekend.  Let's see how many I can lose .....

[skraeling]

Ordered a dozen of the chrome soft x ls they seem to compare pretty favorably to my current gamer the Tour B RXS.  Will it knock it off for distance off the tee?  Ill find out monday.  Figured I would go as far away from my softer RXS to really try and suss out any actual difference on course with a human hitting it.  Will be playing my regular league course so I know where I typically tend to end up with hits.  Should make for a good head to head comparison.

TLDR: had 10.00 of scorerewards sitting in my account so decided to yolo on some new balls to whack.

Edited September 1 by skraeling

[Dooby]

On 8/30/2023 at 1:11 PM, Dooby said:

I think after digging through the data - I am between the MaxFli Tour X and the Mizuno RB TourX. 

I'm actually backtracking on this. While I am going to continue to take note of where these land in my eval - I am going to restart from scratch in looking at the testing data and see where I land. I also was working from driver down the bag rather than the other way which I have now learned is a less optimal way of going about it.

[Londo]

I am between mid & high SS but closer to mid and am a low spin player across all the clubs in my bag. Between winning a Ballnamic fitting, the results here, and some of my own experimenting- I have my top 4 going forward for continued tinkering:

1. Chromesoft X

2. Pro V1x

3. Srixon Z Star Diamond (current gamer)

4. Maxfli Tour X

Between price and not having truly superior performance elsewhere, the Bridgestone B X barely missed the cut. Really look forward to finding my ball from these over the next months

[JohnnyO3478]

First 9 holes with Triad:

 

It is light. Noticeably light. Freakishly Noticeably, light. Seems like a Princess and the Pea kinda situation, but there's no denying. The ball is light.

That said. It performed well off the T. It performed well AROUND the greens. ON the green. I was blasting it past holes. And it feels light.

 

Comparing to Maxfli Tour and Pro V1.

 

Playing 18 tomorrow .....

 

 

 

[JohnnyO3478]

27 holes with one ball. Unusual for me. Damage was from tree strikes. Same durability as a yellow Maxfli Tour, I'd say.

 

Longest drive was 265 - with a little bit of downhill help. Good drives on flat holes were my normal 220 - 240 yds.

 

Putting is solid, once you get used to how light they are. 

 

They sound and feel great. Still not convinced they at $8 - $10 better than the Maxfli Tour - for me.

[tdc1]

@JohnnyO3478 Are you using MaxFli Tour or Tour X?  Also, DSG shows Tour and Triad at same price.  Are you using bulk price/dozen for Tour vs. single price/dozen for Triad to get the $8-$10 difference.

Very much enjoying your posts as I look for best ball for my game.

[JohnnyO3478]

4 hours ago, tdc1 said:

@JohnnyO3478 Are you using MaxFli Tour or Tour X?  Also, DSG shows Tour and Triad at same price.  Are you using bulk price/dozen for Tour vs. single price/dozen for Triad to get the $8-$10 difference.

Very much enjoying your posts as I look for best ball for my game.

Glad to hear somebody is enjoying!  Best of luck in your search.

I have not tried either the X or the S version.  The S version does not meet my specs - and I would not be all that keen on trying any 4 pc ball from Foremost - as they just can't seem to control the compression.  If I needed a 4 pc ball it would most likely be coming out of Ball Plant 3 ....

 

I buy in bulk - so when doing my comparison on the pricing btw the Tour and the Triad - I am using the $119 for 4 dz for Maxfli vs either the $38 or $40/ dz for the triad.  Basically you 4 Maxflie dozens for the price of 3 Triad dozens.  That's noticable, IMO.

[Dooby]

I wish there was more detail on how the MGS recommendations were chosen and almost a more in-depth ranking, like a top 5, 7 or 10. Maybe one of the testers or Tony can comment. He may have already done so and I missed it - I know the ball test states its based on a mix of performance between the driver and irons but I am curious how they narrowed it down to 3 or what they specifically looked at when trying to make recommendations.  I tried sorting the data to align with their recommendations and failed to see a pattern.

[JohnnyO3478]

53 minutes ago, Dooby said:

I wish there was more detail on how the MGS recommendations were chosen and almost a more in-depth ranking, like a top 5, 7 or 10. Maybe one of the testers or Tony can comment. He may have already done so and I missed it - I know the ball test states its based on a mix of performance between the driver and irons but I am curious how they narrowed it down to 3 or what they specifically looked at when trying to make recommendations.  I tried sorting the data to align with their recommendations and failed to see a pattern.

Ignore their recommendations. Take the data and do your own testing. 

[cnosil]

1 hour ago, Dooby said:

I wish there was more detail on how the MGS recommendations were chosen and almost a more in-depth ranking, like a top 5, 7 or 10. Maybe one of the testers or Tony can comment. He may have already done so and I missed it - I know the ball test states its based on a mix of performance between the driver and irons but I am curious how they narrowed it down to 3 or what they specifically looked at when trying to make recommendations.  I tried sorting the data to align with their recommendations and failed to see a pattern.

It would probably have to be @Tony Covey MGS to answer since he compiled the data.  The "tester" was a robot and probably doesn't have much to say       In my opinion, it doesn't really matter what MGS recommends;  you need to figure out the performance metrics that work for your game.  start with a baseline ball and then adjust from there.   This was also the MGS recommendation based on the No Putts Given episode that discussed the ball test and results. 

[Idahohacker]

I am comfortably in the Mid Speed Swing arena.  My current ball stash is:  V1 from both '21 and '23 - solid all around performer for me, BXS - always liked the feel of the ball, pretty interchangeable with the V1 for the most part for me, Vice Pro - new ball for me this year, higher flight than V1 but similar performance & Q Star Tour for Cold weather play (early and late here in Northern Idaho).

Read thru the test - not a lot to change my mind on what I have been playing but the Mizuno RB Tour caught my eye.  So bought a sleeve today and gave them a run.

Scoring - shot an 81, same as I shot with my BXS last round.  So did not drastically change my game!  But - for me - the RB Tour flew higher off the driver (similar to Vice Pro) and a touch lower off of the irons (similar to V1).  Felt great - as I like a softer feeling ball.  Short game had plenty of check (closer to the BXS vs the V1 or Vice).  Distance was good all of the way around for me (more carry and less roll than the V1).  Durability was good as well.

I will play them again on Monday and report back but I enjoyed them today.  Very surprised!