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Does the ball impact the game?


dru_

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Without question, the only way to find the right tool for the job is experience. The guessing game that is ball fitting as things stand can be nothing more than finding a selection to start with. From there, it becomes an expensive game of trial and error, until you find what fits you. Once you find it, stick with until it no longer works (and no longer works is not a bad round, but a trend of a couple of months of bad rounds traceable to ball performance).

 

This requires discipline, and bluntly spoken, that is exactly what the golf marketing companies don't want. They want you all hyped to keep buying the latest and greatest product every year.

 

It's very telling to me that seemingly every time a Nike Player won last year he was using the old Nike One Tour D and that Tiger is still using it. That doesn't mean the newer offerings are no good it just means that they don't offer tour level players any reason to switch. It's also interesting to me that Tiger switched away from his ball which spun like a banshee but was shorter to the Tour D which spins significantly less but is longer - I suspect that with his swing change producing a slightly down path with the driver the spin was too much and that it's a benefit to him to have less spin off of full shots into the green - way easier to hit a one hop stop shot that those guys love on approaches - as for the long shots he stops those by having the ball fall out of the sky from the moon anyway.

 

I went into a store to pick up some E5's before leaving for my weekend trip (busman's holiday of my niece's wedding followed by golf with some friends) talked to the store owner (a former European tour player) about this topic for half an hour. For him the longest ball is the plain old bridgestone B330 but guess what his swing speed is. He said I'm actually not likely to see a huge difference in spin around the green between the E5 and the B330 x - a little difference but not enough and that I should pick up 6 or 7 yards - should be interesting to try.

 

Actually too he said that the biggest changes in balls are to that type and that bridgestone is way ahead of the curve - RP would like him - he's a Mizuno staff guy. He typically plays the Penta 5.

Taylor Made Stealth 2 10.5 Diamana S plus 60  Aldila  R flex   - 42.25 inches 

SMT 4 wood bassara R flex, four wood head, 3 wood shaft

Ping G410 7, 9 wood  Alta 65 R flex

Srixon ZX5 MK II  5-GW - UST recoil Dart 65 R flex

India 52,56 (60 pending)  UST recoil 75's R flex  

Evon roll ER 5 32 inches

It's our offseason so auditioning candidates - looking for that right mix of low spin long, more spin around the greens - TBD   

 

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Okay I played 45 holes the past few days and during the course of play used a Penta 3, Penta 5, B330 RX, B330, Nike 20ix and an e5 -

 

I never hit multiple shots from the same spot so I could only gauge my distance off of a comparison with my playing partners. We had two 10's, myself and a 19 - I'm longer than the 19, shorter than one of the 10's and the other 10 and I will frick and frack who's longer - he plays a fade, I play a draw so wind enters into it. I played 9 holes with the e5 and was at least 10 yards, sometimes more behind the guy whom I'm normally neck and neck with. (He was hitting the ball exceptionally far today - not exceptionally well but exceptionally far.) When I switched back to the Penta 5 for the balance of the round he was hitting a bit farther than I was and I got myself up to within shouting distance of the other 10 - I shot 78,78,37, one of the tens went 84, 82, 40 the other 80, 88, 42 - I don't know what the 19 shot but he's a great guy and we were playing matches against each other switching nines - I was on the winning team 3 of the 5 nines and pushed the other 2 but my partner came through for me more than once.

 

Back to the balls I was best with either Penta - I hit the Penta 3 higher and spin the 5 better around the green but I hit them the same distance - Ironically I hit the regular B330 farther than the RX which I hit the same distance as the Nike which I spin the crap out of.

 

No doubt one of the Pentas was the best choice for me out of this group. I'm getting a sleeve of e6's from BK so I'll try them and the e7's as well. Again I'm struggling with how compression helps distance because if that were the case I should be much longer with the e5 than the other balls - unless of course Taylor Made is right and the Penta 5 does what they say it does - regardless it's a great ball. I think I'm going to bargain hunt and make it my ball of choice for this season.

Taylor Made Stealth 2 10.5 Diamana S plus 60  Aldila  R flex   - 42.25 inches 

SMT 4 wood bassara R flex, four wood head, 3 wood shaft

Ping G410 7, 9 wood  Alta 65 R flex

Srixon ZX5 MK II  5-GW - UST recoil Dart 65 R flex

India 52,56 (60 pending)  UST recoil 75's R flex  

Evon roll ER 5 32 inches

It's our offseason so auditioning candidates - looking for that right mix of low spin long, more spin around the greens - TBD   

 

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No doubt one of the Pentas was the best choice for me out of this group. I'm getting a sleeve of e6's from BK so I'll try them and the e7's as well. Again I'm struggling with how compression helps distance because if that were the case I should be much longer with the e5 than the other balls - unless of course Taylor Made is right and the Penta 5 does what they say it does - regardless it's a great ball. I think I'm going to bargain hunt and make it my ball of choice for this season.

 

For what it's worth, Edwin Watts has the TP5's for 24.99 right now. I bought a *few* boxes for the summer :).

Dru - Owner, President & Janitor, Druware Software Designs

RH 13.1 Handicap in soggy Georgia 

WITB
* 1W 10.5* @ PXG 0211 ( HZRDUS Smoke Black X-Stiff )
* 3W PXG 0211 ( HZRDUS Smoke Black X-Stiff ) 
* 5W 18* Tailor-made AeroBurner ( Stock Stiff )
* 7W  Sub70 949x ( HZRDUS Smoke Black X-Stiff )
* 5i-PW @ PXG 0211 ( Gen 1 )
* 52 @ Hogan Equalizer
* 56 @ Sub70 
* 60 @ Hogan Equalizer
* Carbon Ringo 1/4
* Vice Pro Plus

 

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Thanks for the heads up - I have to head up to where there's an Edwin Watts tomorrow.

Taylor Made Stealth 2 10.5 Diamana S plus 60  Aldila  R flex   - 42.25 inches 

SMT 4 wood bassara R flex, four wood head, 3 wood shaft

Ping G410 7, 9 wood  Alta 65 R flex

Srixon ZX5 MK II  5-GW - UST recoil Dart 65 R flex

India 52,56 (60 pending)  UST recoil 75's R flex  

Evon roll ER 5 32 inches

It's our offseason so auditioning candidates - looking for that right mix of low spin long, more spin around the greens - TBD   

 

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For what it's worth, Edwin Watts has the TP5's for 24.99 right now. I bought a *few* boxes for the summer :).

Rock Bottom has them for that now too:

http://www.rockbottomgolf.com/taylor-made-golf-penta-tp5-golf-balls.html

MENTOR, L4 COACH & TRAINER  FIRST TEE GREATER HOUSTON
HDCP: 8.3  (GHIN: 3143312)
In my bag, April 2023
:titelist-small: TS3 Driver & 4 Wood Hzrdous Smoke Shaft (Stiff Flex)
:titelist-small: TS2 Hybrids  Mitsubishi Tensei Shaft (Stiff Flex)
:mizuno-small:  MP-59 5-PW; KBS Tour (Regular Flex)
:titelist-small: SM8 Wedges

EVNROLL ER2  Putter
SRIXON Z-STAR DIAMOND BALL
Sun Mountain Cart Bag
:Clicgear: 4.0 Push Cart (I'm walking 9 outta 10 rounds!!)

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My Edwin Watts did not have them that low - they were doing the standard buy two get one - it was cheaper to go to Golfsmith at 29.95 - that's the best price I've found around here but we're in season - everything is jacked - you should see what the courses are getting and they're packed.

Taylor Made Stealth 2 10.5 Diamana S plus 60  Aldila  R flex   - 42.25 inches 

SMT 4 wood bassara R flex, four wood head, 3 wood shaft

Ping G410 7, 9 wood  Alta 65 R flex

Srixon ZX5 MK II  5-GW - UST recoil Dart 65 R flex

India 52,56 (60 pending)  UST recoil 75's R flex  

Evon roll ER 5 32 inches

It's our offseason so auditioning candidates - looking for that right mix of low spin long, more spin around the greens - TBD   

 

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My Edwin Watts did not have them that low - they were doing the standard buy two get one - it was cheaper to go to Golfsmith at 29.95 - that's the best price I've found around here but we're in season - everything is jacked - you should see what the courses are getting and they're packed.

I ordered 3 dozen TP5s yesterday from Amazon at $25.74 per. With the 3 dozen, I got free shipping.

Nonchalant putts count the same as chalant putts.

In my Ogio Ozone XX Cart Stand Bag:

Ping G400 10.5 Deg Driver, stock Stiff shaft
TM Rocketballz 19 Deg 5 Wood, stock Matrix Osik Stiff shaft
TM Rocketballz Stage 2 21 Deg Tour 4 Hybrid, Rocketfuel 80h Stiff shaft 

Callaway Apex CF 16 Irons, 4-P, Stiff Shafts
 
Scor 48 and 55 degree wedges.  
Renegar 60 Deg Steel Shaft Lob Wedge

TM Ghost Spider Si 38" Counterbalanced Putter

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Well I used the e6 on the front nine today or rather the front 7 - I couldn't take watching another ball bounce over the rock hard greens or feel like a rock coming off my club and then not going anywhere so I switched to the Penta 5 - We got to our balls and I was a good 15 yards longer than I had been all day - "Wow you really got that one" was what I heard and my 9 iron stopped even on the baked out greens.

 

With all due respect to differing opinions I continue to buy into Titleist's claim that the Pro VI or Pro VIx are their longest balls - It is absolutely the case for me that I hit whatever a companies Pro VIx type ball is the longest of their line (other than the real cheapo 2 piece rocks like the warbird - that's my longest drive scramble ball like unto the one that JBones mentioned - I'm 10 yards longer with it - I also hit fliers from the fairway and couldn't stop it if I had too.)

 

A special shout out to BK for the sleeve of e6's - I'm going to make the Penta 5 my ball for this season - you may wonder about the Bridgestone's that I won - I still have about a dozen and a half left - I gave 4 dozen away as presents to friends and my boys.

Taylor Made Stealth 2 10.5 Diamana S plus 60  Aldila  R flex   - 42.25 inches 

SMT 4 wood bassara R flex, four wood head, 3 wood shaft

Ping G410 7, 9 wood  Alta 65 R flex

Srixon ZX5 MK II  5-GW - UST recoil Dart 65 R flex

India 52,56 (60 pending)  UST recoil 75's R flex  

Evon roll ER 5 32 inches

It's our offseason so auditioning candidates - looking for that right mix of low spin long, more spin around the greens - TBD   

 

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I can't blame my weekend woes on the ball. When the ball crosses the tree line and jumps 10 feet up, and 30 feet left, that is not the ball :-)

Dru - Owner, President & Janitor, Druware Software Designs

RH 13.1 Handicap in soggy Georgia 

WITB
* 1W 10.5* @ PXG 0211 ( HZRDUS Smoke Black X-Stiff )
* 3W PXG 0211 ( HZRDUS Smoke Black X-Stiff ) 
* 5W 18* Tailor-made AeroBurner ( Stock Stiff )
* 7W  Sub70 949x ( HZRDUS Smoke Black X-Stiff )
* 5i-PW @ PXG 0211 ( Gen 1 )
* 52 @ Hogan Equalizer
* 56 @ Sub70 
* 60 @ Hogan Equalizer
* Carbon Ringo 1/4
* Vice Pro Plus

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Great thread!

 

Just like you have written, I found it is well worth the money for softer balls.

I tried from TP to TP5 to ZSTAR to V1 to V1X to B330 to Hex Black.

Then again, TP and B330 were the choice of mine.

 

This literally saved me 2 strokes in average per round. That is where I brought my

handicap from 14.8 to 12. Well I can say 2.8 less HC is great!

 

Thanks for the great thread!

Driver: Callaway RAZR FIT 9.5 with Fujikura Motore Speeder VC 6.1 Stiff

Wood: Titleist 910FD 13.5 with Aldila RIP Reg

Hybrids: Ping G10 15 with TFC stiff; Titleist 910H 24 with MR Ahina Stiff

Iron: Nike VR II Pro Combo 5-PW

Wedges: Ping G15 54 degree, Scratch 8620 56 degree, Cleveland Tour Action 900 60 degree low bounce

Putter: Odyssey ProType PT10

Ball: Bridgestone B330 or/and Titleist V1

Glove: Callaway Diablo

Shoes: Adidas Powerband 3.0

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Great thread and research.

 

I've played Titleist NXT Tour and Bridgestone e6 for the past 3 years. My brother (3 hc) gave me a sleeve of Pro V1's to try. He said my short game was paying the price for the balls I was using. I ended up finishing last season playing Pro V1's and knocking off around 3 strokes a round.

 

I'm going to give the Penta TP5 a fair shake as soon as this fickle Ohio weather will allow.

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I hit the callaway tour balls farther than anything that I ave tried, they also spin very well for me. During the spring and fall I use the older models that I can get pretty cheap,( tour is) and during the season I am going to play the tour black. Pro v1, and penta's are also good, if you don't mind the price or can find some gently used, I have said for a while now, everyone benefits from the high end golf balls. If I am looking for a distance ball ,without worrying about any other part of the game I would play the callaway hx hot, I can hit that ball really far, up into the 330-340 range. The problem that It is too difficult to stop on rock hard greens or any green for that matter from anything outside of 130 yards. I tried the Bridgestone high end balls (B330 all) before, and lost 20 yards from the tee consistently, I just didn't find them on the same level as the others mentioned above.

Lefties are always in their Right Mind

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Lefty three things.

 

1. When are you outside of 130 if you hit it 330? :)

 

2. I found the same thing that you did with the earlier generation of Bridgestone balls but that hasn't been the case of late - I pretty much find the same results with all the tour level balls Bridgestone included.

 

3. Penta's are super cheap right now because TMag is replacing them - you can find them new for $25 a dozen.

Taylor Made Stealth 2 10.5 Diamana S plus 60  Aldila  R flex   - 42.25 inches 

SMT 4 wood bassara R flex, four wood head, 3 wood shaft

Ping G410 7, 9 wood  Alta 65 R flex

Srixon ZX5 MK II  5-GW - UST recoil Dart 65 R flex

India 52,56 (60 pending)  UST recoil 75's R flex  

Evon roll ER 5 32 inches

It's our offseason so auditioning candidates - looking for that right mix of low spin long, more spin around the greens - TBD   

 

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I didn't always hit the hx hot that far, but on occasion I would catch it just right I guess. So there were plenty of times I would be outside 130. I just was not able to stop that ball. Now with the tour type balls, I really did lose some distance, but I still hit it pretty far, but around the greens I can stop the hex black quickly, which allows me to carry the ball to the hole without worrying whether or not it will stop. I think even high handicappers can benefit from that, you just need to make good contact on the ball, and it will stop.

 

Maybe I will try the newer bridgestone balls, but I really like the callaways.

Lefties are always in their Right Mind

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Conventional wisdom is that someone with my swing speed (75-80 mph) needs to use a 2 piece distance ball and tour quality balls are simply not to be considered.

 

Had it not been for the fact I got setup to practice at home with a GC2 a couple of months ago, I'm sure I'd still be planning to game the Precept Laddies, Wison 50s and Bridgestone E6s that I have stocked up.

 

That's not what the numbers tell me, particularly since my "short game" starts with my drive! :blink:

 

I decided to conduct my own ball fitting a few weeks ago, using not only my "gamers" but the shag balls that had accumulated in my bag.

 

I had to keep re-testing the Pro V1's in order to convince myself what I was seeing.

 

Perhaps it's even due to the fact I'm a senior player with a low swing speed that I get the "non-conventionl" result, but I DON'T LOSE DISTANCE with the Pro Vs, if anything I may actually gain a few yards! Spin results for irons and wedges are FAR better for me than any of the distance balls. My comparisons, thus far, are using NEW distance balls vs OLD used ProV1ss I found in the woods last year. I'm pretty sure than when I recover from surgery and can try this again using new ProV1's that my results won't demonstrate that old balls work better than old ones. - lol

 

The only way I can achieve decent scores is to keep my ball in play without penalty and have a good short game. My results indicate to me that the only way I can do this is by using a tour quality ball.

 

As JSHIBONE and Silver & Black point out above, some of us are throwing strokes away by trying to play with "distance balls". Accuracy is FAR more important to me than distance and, as I'm not ever planning on participating in any Long Drive Contests, I just want to get the ball in the hole as close to par (or make birdie) every chance I get! :P

 

I don't see how ANYONE can expect to do that with distance balls, based on what I'm seeing now.

What's In the Bag

Driver - :callaway-small: GBB 

Hybrids  :cleveland-small: Halo XL Halo 18* & :cobra-small: T-Rail 20*

Irons  :cobra-small: T-Rail 2.0

Wedges :ping-small: 60* TS / SCOR 48* 53* 58*

Putter     :scotty-small:

Ball :callaway-logo-1:

Bag Datrek DG Lite  

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  • 2 weeks later...

Has anyone played the Penta TP5 and Calloway Hex Black Tour? If so, what did you think?

 

 

 

edit: I should have worded that better.

 

Has anyone compared the two around the green? If so, do you prefer one over the other, and why?

 

I'm only asking because I can get a killer deal on either ball, but I have never tried either one.

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They are remarkably close in both performance and quality. I found the Calloway to be a little more susceptible to scuffing. Though I personally prefer the TP5, I think the Calloways is close enough that it would boil down to personal preference.

Dru - Owner, President & Janitor, Druware Software Designs

RH 13.1 Handicap in soggy Georgia 

WITB
* 1W 10.5* @ PXG 0211 ( HZRDUS Smoke Black X-Stiff )
* 3W PXG 0211 ( HZRDUS Smoke Black X-Stiff ) 
* 5W 18* Tailor-made AeroBurner ( Stock Stiff )
* 7W  Sub70 949x ( HZRDUS Smoke Black X-Stiff )
* 5i-PW @ PXG 0211 ( Gen 1 )
* 52 @ Hogan Equalizer
* 56 @ Sub70 
* 60 @ Hogan Equalizer
* Carbon Ringo 1/4
* Vice Pro Plus

 

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I actually found what looked to be a brand new TP5, so I tried to play a few holes with it, I did no t like it at all. I just didn't feel right coming off the club face, so around the greens again didn't like it. I play the callaway balls as my everyday ball, I play them because I get really good distance off the tee, and I like the feel I get around the greens. As dru_ stated it really is a personal preference decision. All of the top line balls perform in similar ways to each other, so since you can get them both at a good price, try both, and find out what you like.

Lefties are always in their Right Mind

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