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Blind Ball Testing Review Thread

SuperStroke
Nice write up SW, glad you are seeing good results with Ball X as well.
 
SW,

good writeup and glad you are seeing good results like the rest of them.
 
great reviews so far from those that have received their golf balls. I love blind ball testings.
 
It's been an interesting read so far. Keep up the great reviews everyone. It's very different to read a review of an 'unknown product brand and model,' but that is just adding to my excitement, and it definitely takes preconceived brand issues out of the equation.
 
blugold said:
Haven't gotten my package of balls yet. I was hoping to use them over the weekend, but alas, I will have to wait until my Thursday league.
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Looking forward to hearing your thoughts about the ball.

SW said:
Slipped out of the office early yesterday and headed to the course to try these mystery balls out, played a course I haven't played in about 6 months so. The course was in absolute perfect condition, greens were receptive yet not mushy and the rough was, well it was rough.

Putting: Spent about an hour on the practice green before my round, most of that time spent with the mystery ball. I knew I liked it from the first putt. It's not clicky or muted, I would best describe the feel as smooth. The ball doesn't jump off the face yet it doesn't feel like it hangs on the face either. Feel is totally subjective, but I consistently percieved the same feel putt after putt, long and short.

Wedges: Used my PW, 54*, and 58* wedges at this time as well, came away very impressed with the audible tone of the PW on bump and run shots, and more importantly the results. The ball has that nice check on the first bounce, you all know the one I mean, ball hits and seems to kill about half it's speed the releases out. Next came the 54 and 58, I was noticing a tad more release on shots with the 58 than I remember from my normal ball, but then again I do not produce a lot of spin on those shots. I used the 54 from the practice bunker for few shots just to get the feel of how this ball would react out of the sand, it reacted well. Very predictable reaction each and every time, which is exactly what I look for in a ball.

To the course!

Driver and FW woods: Long. From the first tee I knew this ball was a touch longer on average than what I currently play. I loved the feel at impact, felt like I was really getting to the core and maximizing my distance. I didn't have any issues with exaggerated side spin that I could observe. The little extra distance was the downfall of one of the balls yesterday, I laid up with a 3 wood instead of trying to carry a marsh on a par 4, well my distance was 235 yds to the edge of the marsh, an easy 3 wood would leave me short of that. Not yesterday, sailed right into the marsh.

Irons: Little longer, durable, nice spin on approach shots. Consistently found my shots going a tad longer, perhaps the compression of ball is well suited to my swing speed. I hit a ton of iron shots yesterday and had zero issues with the cover shredding or even scuffing, yet it was easy to hold greens without really trying to get down on the ball and apply a ton of spin.

After my first round I know my results are limited but I do like what I've seen so far.
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Great write up SW! Sounds like you have had similar results on with your irons as I have had. What is your regular ball? I am interesting in what kind of ball flight you have seen of your irons. Higher than normal?
 
I really like a blind testing! Takes any and all preconceptions out of the mix, and really makes sure the testing is unbiased. Great start to the reviews guys!
 
war.eagle said:
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts about the ball.



Great write up SW! Sounds like you have had similar results on with your irons as I have had. What is your regular ball? I am interesting in what kind of ball flight you have seen of your irons. Higher than normal?
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I bounce between the RX and Penta, or when I'm feeling cheap the Vapor Speed. Ball flight off the irons isn't higher nor lower, it's just different. Yeah that sounds dumb, but it had me perplexed for a bit. I came to a great spot on the course where there was zero trouble long of the green and dropped all 3 of the X balls and 3 Penta's and alternated hitting 9I into the green. I was trying to focus in on the flight differences. The X ball seemed to get up quicker but then take a more boring trajectory, what causes this I don't know, maybe an inner layer or how the cover reacts with the face. Like I said not sure what causes it, or if it even makes sense to anyone else, but I do like what I have seen so far. Getting some simulator time this week so I'll have hard numbers and better trajectories to report after.

Something others have posted is how this ball is a little shorter of the putter, I for one did not experience that at all. However, the greens I was playing and practicing on yesterday were pretty quick.
 
Great write up SW! This ball has me officially intrigued.
 
Yoccos said:
Great write up SW! This ball has me officially intrigued.
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Me as well Yoccos1981. The cover feels soft like a premium ball yet doesn't gash like some do, it's long and offers great response around the green, and might be one of the best feeling balls I've ever putted with.

Part of me wants it to be a mid-priced 2 piece but the other part of me wants it to be a 3-4 piece "tour" ball.
 
How it reacted on the course and with the short game really had me. Then you mentioned putter and I think that's equally important if not more.

I bolded the last part because I'd love for it to be a ball that is the mid price range. Love hearing the continued feedback. Keep up the good work SW and Co!

SW said:
Me as well Yoccos1981. The cover feels soft like a premium ball yet doesn't gash like some do, it's long and offers great response around the green, and might be one of the best feeling balls I've ever putted with.

Part of me wants it to be a mid-priced 2 piece but the other part of me wants it to be a 3-4 piece "tour" ball.
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My package arrived on Saturday after I had already left for a scramble, so when a buddy and his wife invited me to join them on Sunday I jumped at it. I will say that Saturdays round left me just about done with golf for a few days, it was just brutal out there with 8 people on each tee box waiting at each hole for the 8 people in front of us, lol. But, duty called and I needed to see what these balls were made of.

To start off this course is a small 9 hole country setting course that is in extremely nice shape. I'm a member there again this year and the same course I played in the scramble the day before, but being 20 miles away I don't generally play there very much. The greens are immaculate, though a tad on the soft side with great speed. The rough is very thick making for a great test of skill from a tough position. The tee's and pins were still in the extremely tough spots from the day before making this small course that's generally 6100 yards stretch out to almost 6800 which is very tough for those tight fairways. I myself was tired and sore from the day before and knew my ball striking would be a bit off on the front, so I used my standard ball of late, a Noodle Longest ball. It was simply a horrible front nine with only 2 fwir, (last 2 holes), and one gir for a 45, haha.

Pulling out the mystery balls for the second nine I found a much better ball striking round, but not much better scoring wise. I contribute the better swing to being warmed up and more in control of my swing. However, these balls are simply longer than my other ball, no doubt in my mind. I hit several drives off the tee that found places I've never reached before and actually had to back off a club on my iron shots or face going over the green. I hit 5 fwir and 4 gir. Overall the ball performed very well for this first test and at this point I certainly will consider using this ball.

The most striking thing I can say about this ball is the feel off the driver/irons. It's very difficult to describe, but there was very little sound and I felt like I was easily compressing the ball. No mushy feel what so ever, yet no rock feeling, the ball jumps off the face with very little side spin to fly nice and straight. The ball was well suited for this course as tight as it is and on the greens as well because back spin was not much of an option for me. I traditionally stick on these greens with the ball often staying in it's own divot on moving a few inches either way, but this ball rolled forward anywhere from 2 to 6 ft depending on the club. This may end up being a real problem on my home town course that features much harder green surfaces, that require a lot of spin to hold.

Durability was no issue. After nine holes the ball had one slight scuff from a cart path I hit on the 4th hole, but I expected it to be really ugly. The ball pulled a tad left out of the rough with a 6 iron from 160 and bounced a mile in the air off that path. No other markings where on the ball after play and I want to post some picture of its shape if I can get through a full eighteen with it. I will say again that I see this ball as very long, straight, quiet with no click off the club's including the putter. I had 16 putts on the round, but that was more do to the very tricky pin placements. Using a marker I wrote "Thehackersparadice" "Test Ball" my phone number and last name as small as possible on each ball, so they were a bit busy, haha, so that if someone did contact me I could get them to tell me what they thought of the ball.

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Great feedback Due!!! Was it a higher ballflight for you ?
 
Ha I like that you marked the ball so someone could contact you about the ball if you lost one, lol.
 
Great reviews guys...this ball has me intrigued !
 
Glad people like the ball.
 
Yoccos said:
Great feedback Due!!! Was it a higher ballflight for you ?
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Actually I would call it a mid flight for me, about like a standard two piece ball generally gives me. I hit two really high shots on the round, one was from the deep rough where the ball just pushed up the face of the club and another that I got a bit too steep with my sw.
 
Oh sweet. I hit a high ball as is so I'm wondering if this might keep it down like I need. Mine is purely a swing flaw haha. You've played the Penta right? Is it higher than that still?

thedue said:
Actually I would call it a mid flight for me, about like a standard two piece ball generally gives me. I hit two really high shots on the round, one was from the deep rough where the ball just pushed up the face of the club and another that I got a bit too steep with my sw.
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INgolfer said:
Ha I like that you marked the ball so someone could contact you about the ball if you lost one, lol.
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Lol, I know so many who play this course so chances are pretty good. I forgot to mention that I gave one to my buddy, forum member D_Dub and asked him to try it out a report back to me. He played it a couple holes and mentioned how long and straight he thought it was.
 
Yoccos said:
Oh sweet. I hit a high ball as is so I'm wondering if this might keep it down like I need. Mine is purely a swing flaw haha. You've played the Penta right? Is it higher than that still?
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Oh no, not at all for me. The Penta is a high flier for me that some how keeps from ballooning. This one stayed under that with plenty of roll out.
 
Good write-up duey! I'm guessing the consensus is that this ball is a little longer for everyone?

BTW, it's ballsy to put your tele# on the balls!
 
I would love to hear some comparisons on this ball.

What ball is it similar to?
 
Now thats exciting to me!!! I have a steep swing.. You? Sorry dude with all the questions lol, I'm really just curious. Anyone else that has a steep swing and are testing these please feel free too!

thedue said:
Oh no, not at all for me. The Penta is a high flier for me that some how keeps from ballooning. This one stayed under that with plenty of roll out.
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Yoccos said:
Now thats exciting to me!!! I have a steep swing.. You? Sorry dude with all the questions lol, I'm really just curious. Anyone else that has a steep swing and are testing these please feel free too!
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I hit a high ball too but I tend to be a sweeper. Maybe on my wedges I tend to dig more.
 
SW said:
Good write-up duey! I'm guessing the consensus is that this ball is a little longer for everyone?

BTW, it's ballsy to put your tele# on the balls!
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Thanks buddy, I've got to go back and read everyone else's yet. If I were in a big city region I would never do that, but I feel pretty safe with it here in podunk city, lol.
 
SW said:
Good write-up duey! I'm guessing the consensus is that this ball is a little longer for everyone?

BTW, it's ballsy to put your tele# on the balls!
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That seems to be what we are reading. That many are finding more distance off the tee and irons and that is without sacrificing anything around the greens. Very interesting.
 
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