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Polara Golf Ball Testing Review Thread

SuperStroke
Awesome Osahar! just keep them away form water.....
Osahar said:
Just got home from work, and found a little package from THP waiting on my desk for me. Here are some pictures - can't wait to see if these live up to the marketing on the course!

**edit** No idea why I'm seeing this first picture upside down - it's uploaded right-side up!
001-2.jpg

002-3.jpg

003-3.jpg

004-1.jpg
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I will be playing these Friday and Saturday if they get here in time.
 
These are definitley interesting looking balls, Im really looking forward to hearing how they fly.
 
They definitely look different. I see that these could be great for a segment of golfers that just want to play and have no interest in HCP, etc. Nothing wrong with that at all, imo. I have a buddy who would probably LOVE these (if they work as advertised), and I'd love to turn him on to them. He plays rarely and just likes to get out, but gets frustrated at his inability to keep the ball in play. I'd rather he used these than hit 3 balls off of the tee.
 
I will be trying to go out this Sunday and play if I can get the painting done. I do plan on going Saturday morning and doing some chipping and putting. Do we know if these balls are okay to play with in a Tourney? I am playing on the 19th with my father in law in member guest.
 
doublex said:
nice!!
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It is nice isn't it doublex! Anyways, osahar, can you putt with them or chip a little bit and let us know how they feel. I know that they are meant to go straight but how about feel to start?
 
pellynch14 said:
I will be trying to go out this Sunday and play if I can get the painting done. I do plan on going Saturday morning and doing some chipping and putting. Do we know if these balls are okay to play with in a Tourney? I am playing on the 19th with my father in law in member guest.
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They aren't tourney legal.
 
Wow a self correcting ball. That is great.
 
Hawk said:
They definitely look different. I see that these could be great for a segment of golfers that just want to play and have no interest in HCP, etc. Nothing wrong with that at all, imo. I have a buddy who would probably LOVE these (if they work as advertised), and I'd love to turn him on to them. He plays rarely and just likes to get out, but gets frustrated at his inability to keep the ball in play. I'd rather he used these than hit 3 balls off of the tee.
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No doubt, there are plenty of players out there that have no interest in hndcp's or tournament play and I agree this would be a great product for those people to just be able to enjoy the game a little more.
 
Got the package today and will be taking these out for a spin on Saturday. Hopefully it won't rain on Thursday and I can do some chipping and putting with these so I can see what these guys can do greenside.
 
Hole~Out~1983 said:
No doubt, there are plenty of players out there that have no interest in hndcp's or tournament play and I agree this would be a great product for those people to just be able to enjoy the game a little more.
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i agree 100%
 
Was able to play 9 holes this afternoon with the Polara Ultimate Straight XS. Wish I had more time this evening to post all of my notes but I will give you a quick bit of my evaluation. I was highly disappointed after using the Polara Ultimate Straight XS for the back 9 at my home course. Why the disappointment? Because I was making the turn to play the front 9 and decided before my round to play the Ultimate Straight XS on the back side and the Ultimate Straight on the front. Shot even par on the back so I was a little hesitant to change balls for the front but did so anyway.

Wanted to play the back 9 with the XS because it is the 3 piece ball that Polara makes. Our back 9 is shorter than the front, has smaller greens, and is like being on a roller coaster. Nothing flat until you get 17. So, I thought I would use the 3 piece ball since I thought it might have more spin around and on the greens.

While I went into my first testing phase with this ball with an open mind, that changed quickly. Others testers may have experienced something similar. Put the ball into play on #10 as I thought my Dad might do. No chipping practice. No stopping at one of our putting greens. No range time. Walk to the tee, open the sleeve of balls and tee it up. Couple of practice swings and off we go. Shortest par 5 we have, 517 yards. Elevated tee box to a fairway that slopes hard right to left. Water down the left side, bunker and trees down the right side. Second shot is all uphill and is a blind shot. Good tee shot, you can get on in two or least be very close.

Make sure I have the side stamp arrow pointed right down the middle of the fairway and align myself with the side stamp. Nice smooth swing with the driver which is a Cally Diablo 10* S Flex and the ball takes off as straight as I've ever hit one. Bad news is there is no way I'm getting on or close in two and the ball felt heavy. Ball was probably 30 yards short of where I normally play from. Same story every time I hit the driver. The XS does not like my launch angle. On the instruction sheet that came with the balls it states "use a driver with 10.5* of loft or greater. A 3 wood is often a better choice than a low loft driver". So even being open minded the first thought I have is that this ball is not going to make it for 9 holes if I lose 20-30 yards on tee shots and approaches. Great, already biased and on to the next shot.

Played the ball down the entire round so I didn't line up the side stamp for the second shot. Decided to lay up, hit a nice high shot with a 7 iron that left a little wedge in. Lay up shot is critical. Fairway goes uphill but still slopes severely right to left. Trees on the left side border the rough to catch balls hit toward the center of the fairway. Was able to keep the ball on the right side of the fairway, wedge it on and 2 putted from 14 feet for par. The XS performed as advertised without aligning the side stamp. Pretty much like a lot of 3 piece balls on the market.

Don't have time to give you all my thoughts on even just the first 9 holes. I will say that the XS loved my 3 wood. I think the low loft of my driver and my shallow lauch angle caused the loss of distance. I did not experience any distance loss on any other club I hit and I hit them all today.

Highlights from the first 9 with the XS. Shot even par on the back. Ties my best score on those 9 holes. Hit 7 of 7 fairways and never had a ball move more than probably 10 yards offline and that was playing an intentional cut that turned into more of a baby fade. Yes, you can work the ball both ways. Didn't try to overexaggerate a draw or cut today, will save that for another time. The XS loves hybrids and I hit it farther off the tee with my 3 wood than my driver. Unusual, but at least I understand why. Only had one birdie which was a putt from the fringe on #17 that rolled in from 29 feet. Only had 12 putts and missed 2 potential birdie putts of 15 feet on #10 and 14 feet on #14. Had 5 one putts, none from more than 5 feet. Means that my chipping was pretty good with a "clicky" ball. My tip for any testers reading this is to chip like you're playing your ball or you're liable to have some longer putts than you would like.

Gotta go for now, will post again as early as I can tomorrow. I will leave you with this......hit a lob wedge with the 2 piece Ultimate Straight on #1 from 86 yards over the bunker and stuck it to 8 feet. Hit a 56* for my second to #2 and spun the ball back from it's ball mark 8 feet. To say I was shocked by the performance of the Ultimate Straight XS and Ultimate Straight balls is too strong a statement. To say I was pleasantly surprised by the performance of the Ultimate Straight XS and Ultimate Straight balls is just about an understatement! More to come tomorrow.
 
Incredible write up.
 
Great review man. So it does feel and react well off the wedges? I think that is what you were getting at.
 
Now that is a write up! I'm even more excited than I was before to get his ball into play. You covered everything I wanted to ask the first couple testers lol. Fantastic insight.

highscoreinky said:
Was able to play 9 holes this afternoon with the Polara Ultimate Straight XS. Wish I had more time this evening to post all of my notes but I will give you a quick bit of my evaluation. I was highly disappointed after using the Polara Ultimate Straight XS for the back 9 at my home course. Why the disappointment? Because I was making the turn to play the front 9 and decided before my round to play the Ultimate Straight XS on the back side and the Ultimate Straight on the front. Shot even par on the back so I was a little hesitant to change balls for the front but did so anyway.

Wanted to play the back 9 with the XS because it is the 3 piece ball that Polara makes. Our back 9 is shorter than the front, has smaller greens, and is like being on a roller coaster. Nothing flat until you get 17. So, I thought I would use the 3 piece ball since I thought it might have more spin around and on the greens.

While I went into my first testing phase with this ball with an open mind, that changed quickly. Others testers may have experienced something similar. Put the ball into play on #10 as I thought my Dad might do. No chipping practice. No stopping at one of our putting greens. No range time. Walk to the tee, open the sleeve of balls and tee it up. Couple of practice swings and off we go. Shortest par 5 we have, 517 yards. Elevated tee box to a fairway that slopes hard right to left. Water down the left side, bunker and trees down the right side. Second shot is all uphill and is a blind shot. Good tee shot, you can get on in two or least be very close.

Make sure I have the side stamp arrow pointed right down the middle of the fairway and align myself with the side stamp. Nice smooth swing with the driver which is a Cally Diablo 10* S Flex and the ball takes off as straight as I've ever hit one. Bad news is there is no way I'm getting on or close in two and the ball felt heavy. Ball was probably 30 yards short of where I normally play from. Same story every time I hit the driver. The XS does not like my launch angle. On the instruction sheet that came with the balls it states "use a driver with 10.5* of loft or greater. A 3 wood is often a better choice than a low loft driver". So even being open minded the first thought I have is that this ball is not going to make it for 9 holes if I lose 20-30 yards on tee shots and approaches. Great, already biased and on to the next shot.

Played the ball down the entire round so I didn't line up the side stamp for the second shot. Decided to lay up, hit a nice high shot with a 7 iron that left a little wedge in. Lay up shot is critical. Fairway goes uphill but still slopes severely right to left. Trees on the left side border the rough to catch balls hit toward the center of the fairway. Was able to keep the ball on the right side of the fairway, wedge it on and 2 putted from 14 feet for par. The XS performed as advertised without aligning the side stamp. Pretty much like a lot of 3 piece balls on the market.

Don't have time to give you all my thoughts on even just the first 9 holes. I will say that the XS loved my 3 wood. I think the low loft of my driver and my shallow lauch angle caused the loss of distance. I did not experience any distance loss on any other club I hit and I hit them all today.

Highlights from the first 9 with the XS. Shot even par on the back. Ties my best score on those 9 holes. Hit 7 of 7 fairways and never had a ball move more than probably 10 yards offline and that was playing an intentional cut that turned into more of a baby fade. Yes, you can work the ball both ways. Didn't try to overexaggerate a draw or cut today, will save that for another time. The XS loves hybrids and I hit it farther off the tee with my 3 wood than my driver. Unusual, but at least I understand why. Only had one birdie which was a putt from the fringe on #17 that rolled in from 29 feet. Only had 12 putts and missed 2 potential birdie putts of 15 feet on #10 and 14 feet on #14. Had 5 one putts, none from more than 5 feet. Means that my chipping was pretty good with a "clicky" ball. My tip for any testers reading this is to chip like you're playing your ball or you're liable to have some longer putts than you would like.

Gotta go for now, will post again as early as I can tomorrow. I will leave you with this......hit a lob wedge with the 2 piece Ultimate Straight on #1 from 86 yards over the bunker and stuck it to 8 feet. Hit a 56* for my second to #2 and spun the ball back from it's ball mark 8 feet. To say I was shocked by the performance of the Ultimate Straight XS and Ultimate Straight balls is too strong a statement. To say I was pleasantly surprised by the performance of the Ultimate Straight XS and Ultimate Straight balls is just about an understatement! More to come tomorrow.
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Jeez man, now you've got me all excited to try these things. They must have some fairway finding heat seeking device in them. Great write up.
 
gbigoose1 said:
Great review man. So it does feel and react well off the wedges? I think that is what you were getting at.
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That already makes me feel much better about these.
 
Now that's good reading! Great info in that writeup.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
A well done in depth write up inky. Brought up a lot of good points. Thanks for the insight.
 
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