Polara 2012 Golf Ball Forum Reviews
d_in_la
Not so in LA.
Really? Ok, I'm looking forward to playing in the dry, all my wet/semi-wet testing hasn't led me to believe that was possible.
sangoram
Architectonically tuned
Nothing but wet conditions lately in the Bay area and daddy duty has prevented me from following up with downhill chipping to tease out stopping ability relative to the other balls I was looking at.
However just to make a point based on other testers comments earlier... It definitely takes something away from my desire to play these balls if they are not in keeping with a regulation ball for tournament play... Even though I have rarely played in anything remotely competitive... Still bothers me that someone might refer to it as a cheater ball and I doubt I'd make it my ball because of this...
Along these lines I play blades even though I am a pretty high handicapper because I'd rather have the feedback of not having hit a perfect shot than be rescued by my clubs... This of course is just me and I'd never recommend that practice to anyone else.
I will get out to test more short game traits of the balls by early next week... The Intercollegiate is in town @ Stanford Golf Course starting Friday (most of the Pac12 will be here and practice rounds are running Thursday) and the Stanford Golf team is running an internal qualifier to see who makes the final cut for that tournament over the next couple of days so likely will be able to get back out there Monday and Tuesday next week and test under tournament course conditions which will be fun.
More soon.
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I am here: http://tapatalk.com/map.php?2ab3yl
However just to make a point based on other testers comments earlier... It definitely takes something away from my desire to play these balls if they are not in keeping with a regulation ball for tournament play... Even though I have rarely played in anything remotely competitive... Still bothers me that someone might refer to it as a cheater ball and I doubt I'd make it my ball because of this...
Along these lines I play blades even though I am a pretty high handicapper because I'd rather have the feedback of not having hit a perfect shot than be rescued by my clubs... This of course is just me and I'd never recommend that practice to anyone else.
I will get out to test more short game traits of the balls by early next week... The Intercollegiate is in town @ Stanford Golf Course starting Friday (most of the Pac12 will be here and practice rounds are running Thursday) and the Stanford Golf team is running an internal qualifier to see who makes the final cut for that tournament over the next couple of days so likely will be able to get back out there Monday and Tuesday next week and test under tournament course conditions which will be fun.
More soon.
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I am here: http://tapatalk.com/map.php?2ab3yl
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VA. Vince
SC bound...
It actually shocked me, I played the XD the front 9 and the XDS the back. I did have more wedge shots on the front which could have helped but what really stood out was a par3. Hit 8iron to a front pin and saw the ball hit and back up. If I remember right it was 5 or so feet behind my pitch mark. Now they do not come close to the spin on my everyday ball but I did get some green side spin. Now on #18 a long par3, pin was 179 and I hit a 5 iron to 190. Ball hit and stopped around 8 feet pass the pitch mark, this was with the XDS.
Got out for a round and used the XDS exclusively. My one word summary is: AWESOME!!!
I played pretty well today and the XDS was the star of the show, I teed off on the back nine and tried to show the tee shot and putt alignment:
Tee shot
Putt
For me the biggest difference in this round was off the tee and the tremendous amount of added distance. I was way longer than I normally am, whether that's because this ball is actually longer or now that it's flying straighter it's actually helping me more. I don't care how it's being done, but I do care it's amazing what it's doing!!!
Let me start by saying with every club the XDS was straighter, which is what it claims to be, but for my it pronounced a pull/draw that I didn't know I even had!!
Driver
I was easily 20 to 30 yards longer with the XDS off the tee. I was hitting from places I hadn't before, which was nice!
FW/Hybrids
I was probably around 20 yards longer than normal and felt like I got a really good ball flight and contact with the XDS.
Irons
This is where I didn't notice a huge amount of distance gain, maybe like 5-10 yards, but the spin on approaches was nice it wasn't a one hope and stop but it didn't roll out like crazy, which I prefer less roll out.
Wedges
This is still the weirdest part for me with these, I just don't know if I don't like the feel and that leads to my discomfort with them, but I was surprised as the lack of feel I guess.
Putter
My FGP seems to feel and sound great with these off the face and I like them together.
As a side note on one hole I tried an XD for fun and off it went OB, I made the mistake of trying an XDS and OB again. Found out I was way open on contact, club was slipping. So now I'm out of XDs and down to one XDS as I lost another in the woods. I'm disappointed as I've really turned the corner with the performance of these. Really wish they'd be USGA approved.
I had my best two drives of my life, GPS was acting up so didn't get the distances, and on a hole I've never been on in 2 before I was a few yards away in 2 on a super long par 5 thanks to an amazing drive and awesome second.
I played pretty well today and the XDS was the star of the show, I teed off on the back nine and tried to show the tee shot and putt alignment:
Tee shot
Putt
For me the biggest difference in this round was off the tee and the tremendous amount of added distance. I was way longer than I normally am, whether that's because this ball is actually longer or now that it's flying straighter it's actually helping me more. I don't care how it's being done, but I do care it's amazing what it's doing!!!
Let me start by saying with every club the XDS was straighter, which is what it claims to be, but for my it pronounced a pull/draw that I didn't know I even had!!
Driver
I was easily 20 to 30 yards longer with the XDS off the tee. I was hitting from places I hadn't before, which was nice!
FW/Hybrids
I was probably around 20 yards longer than normal and felt like I got a really good ball flight and contact with the XDS.
Irons
This is where I didn't notice a huge amount of distance gain, maybe like 5-10 yards, but the spin on approaches was nice it wasn't a one hope and stop but it didn't roll out like crazy, which I prefer less roll out.
Wedges
This is still the weirdest part for me with these, I just don't know if I don't like the feel and that leads to my discomfort with them, but I was surprised as the lack of feel I guess.
Putter
My FGP seems to feel and sound great with these off the face and I like them together.
As a side note on one hole I tried an XD for fun and off it went OB, I made the mistake of trying an XDS and OB again. Found out I was way open on contact, club was slipping. So now I'm out of XDs and down to one XDS as I lost another in the woods. I'm disappointed as I've really turned the corner with the performance of these. Really wish they'd be USGA approved.
I had my best two drives of my life, GPS was acting up so didn't get the distances, and on a hole I've never been on in 2 before I was a few yards away in 2 on a super long par 5 thanks to an amazing drive and awesome second.
Mardin
New member
Good write-up Icey. Did you notice a lot of roll with the XDS off your driver? I noticed even off a wet fairways the ball "bounced" off the fairways.
drewwood
New member
I finally made it out on the course with these for a while today. I didn't play a ton of holes as I am still getting over an illness, but I plan to get out more on Friday and will have more to write about then.
Chipping
I started out chipping today just to try to get a feel for the balls. I hit several shots from a 15 foot chip up to a 20 yd chip. On the 15 footer I really couldn't tell much of a difference from any other ball. I found that when I moved out to the further distances that the balls did tend to run out further than the balls I am used to playing. I only chipped with the Polara balls today. As my testing goes along I will compare them to other balls, but at this point I wanted to just get a feel for the Polaras.
Par 3 Course
I figured today I would try the par 3 course. Most of the holes are right around 100 yds, so for me I never hit about a 3/4 PW. The first shot I hit was downhill using a 3/4 56*. The XDS hit and rolled forward about 4 ft. No biggie. The next hole I saw different results, but the hole was over 100 and uphill. I hit the xds and the ball hit, bounced forward and rolled back to about 12" from the original ball mark. I was surprised and generally pleased with this result. I didnt put a good swing on the XD so I really cant comment on its performance on this hole. A few holes later, 90 yds- I hit a 3/4 PW. I first hit the XDS, the shot was low so it bounced forward but nothing too crazy and had a good amount of spin after the bounce. Next I hit the XD, the shot was a bit higher and got a good amount of spin coming to rest about 3 ft from its mark. I was impressed with the XD on this hole.
Putting
I havent been out on the course in a couple of weeks and I really could tell with my putting. My stroke was bad and I didnt make anything, and I mean anything. One thing I did notice was that the XD did seem to have a clickier sound than the XDS coming off of the putter, and it rolled out more than the XDS. This could just be my terrible stroke today though.
I did sneak over to one par 5 and hit a couple tee shots. I couldn't help myself. The wind was back into my face from the right. The first shot was the XD, it was straight and a medium ball flight. The distance was fairly comparable to any other ball I generally play on this hole. I hit two XDS, they were both pulls and terrible swings.
I am going to play the big course on Friday and will have a write up on my thoughts after that round.
Chipping
I started out chipping today just to try to get a feel for the balls. I hit several shots from a 15 foot chip up to a 20 yd chip. On the 15 footer I really couldn't tell much of a difference from any other ball. I found that when I moved out to the further distances that the balls did tend to run out further than the balls I am used to playing. I only chipped with the Polara balls today. As my testing goes along I will compare them to other balls, but at this point I wanted to just get a feel for the Polaras.
Par 3 Course
I figured today I would try the par 3 course. Most of the holes are right around 100 yds, so for me I never hit about a 3/4 PW. The first shot I hit was downhill using a 3/4 56*. The XDS hit and rolled forward about 4 ft. No biggie. The next hole I saw different results, but the hole was over 100 and uphill. I hit the xds and the ball hit, bounced forward and rolled back to about 12" from the original ball mark. I was surprised and generally pleased with this result. I didnt put a good swing on the XD so I really cant comment on its performance on this hole. A few holes later, 90 yds- I hit a 3/4 PW. I first hit the XDS, the shot was low so it bounced forward but nothing too crazy and had a good amount of spin after the bounce. Next I hit the XD, the shot was a bit higher and got a good amount of spin coming to rest about 3 ft from its mark. I was impressed with the XD on this hole.
Putting
I havent been out on the course in a couple of weeks and I really could tell with my putting. My stroke was bad and I didnt make anything, and I mean anything. One thing I did notice was that the XD did seem to have a clickier sound than the XDS coming off of the putter, and it rolled out more than the XDS. This could just be my terrible stroke today though.
I did sneak over to one par 5 and hit a couple tee shots. I couldn't help myself. The wind was back into my face from the right. The first shot was the XD, it was straight and a medium ball flight. The distance was fairly comparable to any other ball I generally play on this hole. I hit two XDS, they were both pulls and terrible swings.
I am going to play the big course on Friday and will have a write up on my thoughts after that round.
That's exactly what I saw as well, on one of my longest drives it landed in the fairway towards the middle and kept rolling off to the left and ended up a foot or two into the rough, LOTS of ROLL for sure!
Icey- You were 20 - 30 yards longer with your driver? Thats some serious distance increase. What ball do you normally play?
drewwood
New member
Also Icey- what is your swing speed with driver?
I played 9 holes last night with the XDS and had very different results than I had last week with the XD. The wind really seemed to keep the XDS from performing to its fullest, where my normal Titleist NXT wasnt affected as much. My bad shots that would normally hook were just batted down in the wind. I think the wind was really playing cames with the auto-correction feature and just sucked all the energy out of it. Well struck shots with the XDS were just a few yards shorter than the NXT in the wind, but the big difference was the poor shots. They were easily 15% or so shorter than normal in the wind.
I did see more spin around the greens with the XDS compared to the XD but still not as much as my normal NXT. The winds were 15-20 so I will give them another go later this week or early next week.
I did see more spin around the greens with the XDS compared to the XD but still not as much as my normal NXT. The winds were 15-20 so I will give them another go later this week or early next week.
Lately I've been playing the B330RX and RXS, I play a mixture of balls depending on what I'm given and find on the course!!!
I don't know for sure, I'm actually going for a Callway fitting in a couple hours, so hopefully I'll be able to answer after that!
Wow, 30 yards longer than the Bridgestone is quite amazing.
tdinbr
Water hazards are tough!
I found the same results on the few drives that I put a good swing on with the XDS ball. I usually play the yellow e6.
Dang, I need to figure out what Im doing wrong. I am seeing about 15ish yards of distance loss compared to the 330RX.
tdinbr
Water hazards are tough!
It was blowing my mind. Dunno if it was extra rollout or what. We would get to where my "normal" drive distance would be and I wouldn't be able to find my ball. Drive the cart around looking and see it way up the fairway from where we were.......not that I was complaining! Was nice to have 9i or PW into the green instead of a 7 iron.
I would note I found the distance gained with the XDS and not the XD, for some reason the XD and I just weren't getting along!
VA. Vince
SC bound...
Nothing wrong War, I was a few yards less with both the XD and XDS than my 330RX. It just seems this ball does different things with 1/2 the testers. I had good spin with the XD, lots of dive bombs and roll out with the XDS. Different strokes I guess?
Polara Golf Ball Testing
March 27, 2012
Day 3 - Driving/Teeshots Polara XDS vs. Callaway Hex Chrome (both 3-piece balls) Today's testing was another "controlled testing", meaning I only used the Polaras oncertain safe holes.
General Observations: Feel -The Chrome had a little better feel off the driver. The XDS felt a little harder, perhaps. Sound - The XDS had a little more of a "crack" sound off the driver, but nothing unpleasant sounding.
Specific Testing: Fairwaysmostly normal. Expect normal roll out on drives.
Hole 1 - 330 yards Par 4
Chrome - Good drive to center of fairway about 235 yards according to SkyCaddie. Ball flight normal for me; high not much roll out.
XDS - Good drive to left center of fairway. About 245 yards. +10 yards for XDS. Ball flight much lower. Very unusual off my driver. Really good roll out which accounted for the yardage difference.
Hole 2 - 175 yards Par 3
Chrome - Hit a 5-iron a little long left into back bunker.
XDS - Totally mis-hit this one with a smothered duck hook. XDS didn't have a chance!
Hole 3 - 370 yards Par 4
Chrome - Hooked this into the left rough at about 225 yards.
XDS - It honestly felt like the same swing that I put on the Chrome, and the ball started left but stopped hooking and ended up in left center of fairway at about 230 yards. +5 for the Polara. Again, much lower ball flight than my normal.
Hole 4 - Didn't use the test balls. The landing area on this hole in like a postage stamp.
Hole 5 - 485 yards Par 5 Uphill
Chrome - Hit to left center at about 220 yards.
XDS - This felt like a total miss off the heel and headed left. The ball ended up in the left rough, but only about 4 feet off the fairway and +5 yards past the Chrome. I really had a hard time understanding how a ball hit that poorly could end up with that result. My playing partner was equally astonished.
Hole 6 - 359 yards Par 4 Didn't play the test balls. Tight fairway with OB on right and the end of the world on the left.
Hole 7 - 415 yards Par 4
Chrome - Hit down left side of fairway (safe side) to about 235 yards
XDS - Came to rest within a few feet of the Chrome.
Hole 8 - 508 yards Par 5
Chrome - Hit poorly to the right rough at about 215 yards
XDS - Hit solidly down the middle. Very odd ball flight! This might be the "nose-dive" some of you have talked about. It didn't nose-dive straight to the ground, but the ball seemed to take off on a normal path, climbing and suddenly drop noticeably and continue carrying. It ran out nicely and was easily 20 yards past the chrome and in dead center. Note: I saw the XD correct left to right and right to left paths, but not up and down. Weird, but effective.
Hole 9 - 165 yard Par 3
Chrome - Hit a seven iron with a draw to the center of the green. Pin was on left side.
XDS - Hit the same club very straight just left of the pin. The ball hit about pin high and rolled nearly to the back of the green (still much closer that the Chrome).
At the turn, another two-some joined us, so I ended the testing.
Other notes:
- I alternated putting with the two balls and did not find much differnce in performance on the green. The XDS has a little more "click" at impact off my milled putter face, but I don't mind that.
- Chipping and putting will be separate test later.
- Overall the XDS had an advantage in distance perfmance largely due to the lower ball flight and resulting increased roll out. Without question, it has an advantage with regard to direction due to its self-correcting attibutes.
- The Chrome had the edge in feel, sound and I'm going to give it ball flight only because it is much more normal to me, and the XDS ball flight was kind of freaking me out. I could get used to the extra roll out, however.
More next time.
March 27, 2012
Day 3 - Driving/Teeshots Polara XDS vs. Callaway Hex Chrome (both 3-piece balls) Today's testing was another "controlled testing", meaning I only used the Polaras oncertain safe holes.
General Observations: Feel -The Chrome had a little better feel off the driver. The XDS felt a little harder, perhaps. Sound - The XDS had a little more of a "crack" sound off the driver, but nothing unpleasant sounding.
Specific Testing: Fairwaysmostly normal. Expect normal roll out on drives.
Hole 1 - 330 yards Par 4
Chrome - Good drive to center of fairway about 235 yards according to SkyCaddie. Ball flight normal for me; high not much roll out.
XDS - Good drive to left center of fairway. About 245 yards. +10 yards for XDS. Ball flight much lower. Very unusual off my driver. Really good roll out which accounted for the yardage difference.
Hole 2 - 175 yards Par 3
Chrome - Hit a 5-iron a little long left into back bunker.
XDS - Totally mis-hit this one with a smothered duck hook. XDS didn't have a chance!
Hole 3 - 370 yards Par 4
Chrome - Hooked this into the left rough at about 225 yards.
XDS - It honestly felt like the same swing that I put on the Chrome, and the ball started left but stopped hooking and ended up in left center of fairway at about 230 yards. +5 for the Polara. Again, much lower ball flight than my normal.
Hole 4 - Didn't use the test balls. The landing area on this hole in like a postage stamp.
Hole 5 - 485 yards Par 5 Uphill
Chrome - Hit to left center at about 220 yards.
XDS - This felt like a total miss off the heel and headed left. The ball ended up in the left rough, but only about 4 feet off the fairway and +5 yards past the Chrome. I really had a hard time understanding how a ball hit that poorly could end up with that result. My playing partner was equally astonished.
Hole 6 - 359 yards Par 4 Didn't play the test balls. Tight fairway with OB on right and the end of the world on the left.
Hole 7 - 415 yards Par 4
Chrome - Hit down left side of fairway (safe side) to about 235 yards
XDS - Came to rest within a few feet of the Chrome.
Hole 8 - 508 yards Par 5
Chrome - Hit poorly to the right rough at about 215 yards
XDS - Hit solidly down the middle. Very odd ball flight! This might be the "nose-dive" some of you have talked about. It didn't nose-dive straight to the ground, but the ball seemed to take off on a normal path, climbing and suddenly drop noticeably and continue carrying. It ran out nicely and was easily 20 yards past the chrome and in dead center. Note: I saw the XD correct left to right and right to left paths, but not up and down. Weird, but effective.
Hole 9 - 165 yard Par 3
Chrome - Hit a seven iron with a draw to the center of the green. Pin was on left side.
XDS - Hit the same club very straight just left of the pin. The ball hit about pin high and rolled nearly to the back of the green (still much closer that the Chrome).
At the turn, another two-some joined us, so I ended the testing.
Other notes:
- I alternated putting with the two balls and did not find much differnce in performance on the green. The XDS has a little more "click" at impact off my milled putter face, but I don't mind that.
- Chipping and putting will be separate test later.
- Overall the XDS had an advantage in distance perfmance largely due to the lower ball flight and resulting increased roll out. Without question, it has an advantage with regard to direction due to its self-correcting attibutes.
- The Chrome had the edge in feel, sound and I'm going to give it ball flight only because it is much more normal to me, and the XDS ball flight was kind of freaking me out. I could get used to the extra roll out, however.
More next time.
Well I got back out yesterday to take the XD for another spin. I was very interested in how the ball would perform because we had very strong winds, 25+ sustained with even bigger gusts. I was happy to have a Tuesday off work so the course would be fairly empty and I could really pay attention to how the XD reacted.
I have noticed a lower ball flight with both balls and I was hoping that would show up in the wind. Off the tee I couldn't be happier with the XD, it never fails to go exactly where you aim it. On the second hole I was downwind and the ball took off and stayed on line 262 as measured by Skycaddie, and then I had to turn around and come back into the wind on three. My drive felt very similar to the last one and only measured 196 so I figured it was about a 30 yard wind. The ball was definitely affected by the wind left and right as well, as you would expect but the self correcting action was still strong.
Out of the fourteen drives yesterday 11 were in good position, about 3 or 4 more than normal. The other three were two low hooks which no ball could correct and the third was poor alignment on my part. The one drive that stuck out in my mind was on the eighth hole I could tell it was a slice swing from impact but the ball stayed in the fairway but with considerable distance loss, around 180 and it was slighty with the wind.
I have been struggling with my irons so I don't want to put much stock in the Polara performance. The putter on the other hand has been my saving grace and you just have to get the ball rolling and it stays true to your line. I still get better results while setting the ball so that the band creates an equator instead of pointing the arrow at the hole. That might just be the five inches between my ears messing with me.
The one disappointment of the day was sending a XD to its watery grave on 16. I love having these balls and knowing that you will be in or near the fairway. I still have two of each ball left and can't wait to get to the course to continue the review. One last thought, I have been impressed with the durability of both balls so far, the XD was on it's 34th hole when I lost it and there were no nicks on it yet.
I have noticed a lower ball flight with both balls and I was hoping that would show up in the wind. Off the tee I couldn't be happier with the XD, it never fails to go exactly where you aim it. On the second hole I was downwind and the ball took off and stayed on line 262 as measured by Skycaddie, and then I had to turn around and come back into the wind on three. My drive felt very similar to the last one and only measured 196 so I figured it was about a 30 yard wind. The ball was definitely affected by the wind left and right as well, as you would expect but the self correcting action was still strong.
Out of the fourteen drives yesterday 11 were in good position, about 3 or 4 more than normal. The other three were two low hooks which no ball could correct and the third was poor alignment on my part. The one drive that stuck out in my mind was on the eighth hole I could tell it was a slice swing from impact but the ball stayed in the fairway but with considerable distance loss, around 180 and it was slighty with the wind.
I have been struggling with my irons so I don't want to put much stock in the Polara performance. The putter on the other hand has been my saving grace and you just have to get the ball rolling and it stays true to your line. I still get better results while setting the ball so that the band creates an equator instead of pointing the arrow at the hole. That might just be the five inches between my ears messing with me.
The one disappointment of the day was sending a XD to its watery grave on 16. I love having these balls and knowing that you will be in or near the fairway. I still have two of each ball left and can't wait to get to the course to continue the review. One last thought, I have been impressed with the durability of both balls so far, the XD was on it's 34th hole when I lost it and there were no nicks on it yet.
I was able to take the Polara out for 9 yesterday. I didn't play them on every hole, but I tried to hit every kind of shot with them.
Driver:
I found it a bit annoying to have to line up the arrow, but that is a small thing. I did find something kind of strange. I would hit what I knew would be a draw and you could see the ball starting to move left, but then it would straighten out and start leaning a bit right. This was not a big deal to me as I was just trying to hit the fairway, but it did make me chuckle a little bit. The ball did have a lower flight than my normal ball, but I had plenty of roll and I didn't see any loss of distance. As a matter of fact, most of the shots with the Polara went farther than my drive even if they landed short of my other ball. They definitely did not dive like last years balls, but if you had any side spin, they could kind of duck their head and veer slightly down as well as overcorrect a tiny bit. I saw this much more with the XDS than I did with the XD. It was very evident off the driver that the XDS had a good bit more spin than the XD (I say that merely by observation as I don't have any numbers to back it up). Every drive I hit with these balls was straight. The only time they veered more than a few yards off was if I pulled or pushed the shot (when it was lined up) and the ball still flew almost absolutely straight.
I did manage to baloon the bejeebes out of one driver swing and that is when I lined it up opposite of what you are supposed to. I hit the ball slightly high on the driver face, but it absolutely shot up in the air. I didn't lose a ton of distance, but it was about 15 yards behind my B330RX and it was on the same line.
3 Wood (13º):
The story here is about the same as the driver except there was less inclination to head towards the ground at the apex of its flight. I only played the 3W off the tee yesterday. So I can't really say how it would play off the deck. I hit an absolute beauty off the tee with the XD and it made me smile. So far I am absolutely loving this off the tee with the 3 wood.
Irons:
I played 2 3i shots off the deck unlined up. I pushed/cut one that flew like a regular ball as far as I could tell, but I did play it down and the self correcting nature was not utilized. The shot was bad from the beginning, but it was still playable. The second one was down, but it was mostly lined up. This one took off really low and you could see the spin control taking over. This was my second shot to a par 5 and I landed it just off the fairway 88 yards from the pin. Not bad at all even though the flight was a little strange.
I teed up a 7 iron into a 165 yard Par 3. My first shot with the XD was a bit fat and just landed in front of the green by about a yard. it was a very easy bump and run to the pin with a 9 iron. I started out right of the flag and I could tell it had draw spin on it because it started going left, but then corrected and veered slightly right, but not by more than a yard. The second shot was with the XDS and I caught this perfectly. Once again, it started to draw, but the flight straightened out, but this one did not drift right on me like the previous shots. Perhaps I had less draw spin on it and it didn't self correct as much. The ball landed on the green about pin high and released maybe 6-7 feet. This is a little more release than I typically see with this club, but then again, I am not necessarily Mr. Consistent. I did hit the ball first and I did take a good divot so I was expecting to see a bit more back spin.
Wedges:
I hit some full wedge shots with my 54 and 60º wedges. The balls did not leave any residue on my wedges like the other balls I play and I was not able to spin any back, but they did stop about a foot and a half from the pitch mark with a 110 yard full sand wedge (slightly down hill). Both the XD and XDS stopped at about the same distance. The XD may have taken 3 inches longer to stop on the green. I also tried my new high spin low running shot and I actually put the ball pretty close to the pin, but I don't know how much check I had. I think I would have been short with a tour ball, but I didn't think to compare as this was at the end of my round and I was just hitting a few extra shots. I have managed to spin one of these back, but I think the stars have to line up correctly. The balls did not show much wear from my hard wedge shots like a ProV1 would, but you also didn't get the spin. I found the ball to actually be very predictable on the greens as I was able to put several to tap in range.
Putter:
They feel like a harder cover ball to me, but they don't feel like a cheap hard cover ball if that makes sense. This is highly subjective and I won't get into it much. Our greens were punched and sanded, so I can't really comment on the roll I got.
Driver:
I found it a bit annoying to have to line up the arrow, but that is a small thing. I did find something kind of strange. I would hit what I knew would be a draw and you could see the ball starting to move left, but then it would straighten out and start leaning a bit right. This was not a big deal to me as I was just trying to hit the fairway, but it did make me chuckle a little bit. The ball did have a lower flight than my normal ball, but I had plenty of roll and I didn't see any loss of distance. As a matter of fact, most of the shots with the Polara went farther than my drive even if they landed short of my other ball. They definitely did not dive like last years balls, but if you had any side spin, they could kind of duck their head and veer slightly down as well as overcorrect a tiny bit. I saw this much more with the XDS than I did with the XD. It was very evident off the driver that the XDS had a good bit more spin than the XD (I say that merely by observation as I don't have any numbers to back it up). Every drive I hit with these balls was straight. The only time they veered more than a few yards off was if I pulled or pushed the shot (when it was lined up) and the ball still flew almost absolutely straight.
I did manage to baloon the bejeebes out of one driver swing and that is when I lined it up opposite of what you are supposed to. I hit the ball slightly high on the driver face, but it absolutely shot up in the air. I didn't lose a ton of distance, but it was about 15 yards behind my B330RX and it was on the same line.
3 Wood (13º):
The story here is about the same as the driver except there was less inclination to head towards the ground at the apex of its flight. I only played the 3W off the tee yesterday. So I can't really say how it would play off the deck. I hit an absolute beauty off the tee with the XD and it made me smile. So far I am absolutely loving this off the tee with the 3 wood.
Irons:
I played 2 3i shots off the deck unlined up. I pushed/cut one that flew like a regular ball as far as I could tell, but I did play it down and the self correcting nature was not utilized. The shot was bad from the beginning, but it was still playable. The second one was down, but it was mostly lined up. This one took off really low and you could see the spin control taking over. This was my second shot to a par 5 and I landed it just off the fairway 88 yards from the pin. Not bad at all even though the flight was a little strange.
I teed up a 7 iron into a 165 yard Par 3. My first shot with the XD was a bit fat and just landed in front of the green by about a yard. it was a very easy bump and run to the pin with a 9 iron. I started out right of the flag and I could tell it had draw spin on it because it started going left, but then corrected and veered slightly right, but not by more than a yard. The second shot was with the XDS and I caught this perfectly. Once again, it started to draw, but the flight straightened out, but this one did not drift right on me like the previous shots. Perhaps I had less draw spin on it and it didn't self correct as much. The ball landed on the green about pin high and released maybe 6-7 feet. This is a little more release than I typically see with this club, but then again, I am not necessarily Mr. Consistent. I did hit the ball first and I did take a good divot so I was expecting to see a bit more back spin.
Wedges:
I hit some full wedge shots with my 54 and 60º wedges. The balls did not leave any residue on my wedges like the other balls I play and I was not able to spin any back, but they did stop about a foot and a half from the pitch mark with a 110 yard full sand wedge (slightly down hill). Both the XD and XDS stopped at about the same distance. The XD may have taken 3 inches longer to stop on the green. I also tried my new high spin low running shot and I actually put the ball pretty close to the pin, but I don't know how much check I had. I think I would have been short with a tour ball, but I didn't think to compare as this was at the end of my round and I was just hitting a few extra shots. I have managed to spin one of these back, but I think the stars have to line up correctly. The balls did not show much wear from my hard wedge shots like a ProV1 would, but you also didn't get the spin. I found the ball to actually be very predictable on the greens as I was able to put several to tap in range.
Putter:
They feel like a harder cover ball to me, but they don't feel like a cheap hard cover ball if that makes sense. This is highly subjective and I won't get into it much. Our greens were punched and sanded, so I can't really comment on the roll I got.
Thechosen1
#Thistagwilltravel
JeffReedMO
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I hit the XDS again a few times yesterday (I just picked up the Stone 330-RXS, so I was giving those a run most of the day) and I still really like the way this ball comes off the irons and the way it just sticks the green for me. I didn't hit it off the tee any yesterday, but it comes off the irons like a scalded dog. I was telling my old man about them and I might give him one to try out, as he has been battling a small slice recently. I also dropped one in Kelly's bag, because even for a women, she has quite the slice.
Its amazing how each and every tester is having a different experience with these balls. Either loss of distance vs huge distance gains, low trajectory vs ballooning shots, high spin vs no spin. Its actually kind of cool to see how each ball behaves differently for different players.
Its amazing how each and every tester is having a different experience with these balls. Either loss of distance vs huge distance gains, low trajectory vs ballooning shots, high spin vs no spin. Its actually kind of cool to see how each ball behaves differently for different players.
I got an email from a fellow member at the course I play at and he mentioned the Polaras I was playing last time, I'm going to drop him off an XD and XDS to try, he draws the ball and his miss is a hook so he's looking forward to straightening his ball flight out, he's older and doesn't do a whole lot of computer work so I doubt he'll sign up, but I told him I'd get this thoughts and pass them along. Now I'm down to the sleeve of XDs I picked up and one XDS. Have to be more careful not to loose them!