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Polara Golf Ball Testing Review Thread

SuperStroke
Interesting idea for a new ball,but I would most likely not use it.I think it's ok for a non-serious weekend golfer.On another note I did use a ERC Callaway driver when they came out.They were banned by USGA not by R&A rules.I did not use it in any tournaments.It was a great driver,but only slightly longer than my standard driver.
 
Thanks buddy. I was really surprised it works as advertised for my first round. It will be fun watching all of us continue to test these and hopefully the people we meet with on the course will want to give some of their thoughts.

highscoreinky said:
Great review yoccos. Look forward to your update. Sounds like your experience with the Polara's was pretty close to mine.
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I think my dad would definitely hit these as well. He may not play them but he is really starting to get into just trying new things. Amazing this site allows us the opportunity to test as regular everyday consumers! Maybe its the putter I'm using but this ball wasn't all too bad. Ill keep closer attention to it though next round.

War_Mongering said:
Exactly! My dad was super intrigued when I talked to him about these. I've set a sleeve of the two piece balls aside for the season - just to see how they work on his massive slice.

Also, I just putted around my spare bedroom and these balls felt harsh and hot off the face - much more so than the bridgestone's I'm used to. The feel wasn't terrible, just different. I'm definitely going to exclusively play these this weekend on the sim.

Tap before talk.
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I understand what you're saying. Believe me, and if I came off trying to put down your opinion that was definitely not my intent.

While it may not be a new concept, the one you referred to as your basis obviously didnt work, this one seems to be working. The other point I'd like to make is to say you arent testing your golfing skill is not what I feel is an accurate statement. You still have to put a good swing on the ball, it is possible to hosel the thing into the water and the approach shots you still have to hit well. Chipping around the green and putting still requires concentration and proper technique. I look at this ball as a perfect option for those that play every once in a while or just want to hit the ball. I also see this as a training aid of sorts if someone wants it to be that. Looking at a ball or new bit of technology from just one viewpoint makes it hard to see a bigger picture. I think if the testing keeps showing pretty consistant results with the slice/hook reduction this could definitely be a viable option for some players.

Guia said:
It is not a legal ball and as such cannot be used to post a score for handicap. Also, if it works and you use it you are not testing you golf ability. Further, this is not a new concept there was a ball introduced in 1970 that advertised it would eliminate slices and hooks. My father bought some and immediately sliced them into the woods. I certainly did not condone his use of the ball..

For my 2 cents, I don't think a golfers site should be testing USGA banned products. To me it is like addressing products that help people cheat.
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I can't wait to grab my non handicap round tomorrow with these. I am very interested to see if they work as billed. I find the dimple pattern very interesting and think it may be a genius idea for those who just want to enjoy some quality outdoor time and limit their frustration. It is amazing what a little study of aerodynamics can do eh?

I am going to play my ball down and take note of how it is sitting on the ground. I need to get a little notebook to jot down notes.
 
Yoccos1981 said:
Thank you to THP and Polara for this opportunity. To say I was excited would be an understatement. Based on some areas of opportunity in my game I thought this would be a lot of fun. Tried to not go in with any expectations and avoid some of the early reviews but man were they just awesome. My first 11 holes was a pretty good starting point.

Feel/Sound:
The ball has a smooth sound off the irons but not very loud. The Machspeeds produce a nice crisp sound that was somewhat quiter with these two balls. The sound and feel didn't match what I was seeing on the course. My first drive felt like a hook, looked like a hook type swing and the ball sounded like a miss. A 242 yard miss. All across the board I found these to be somewhat muted but that's not a bad thing. Some balls have a loud cracking sound and others a whimper. These fall somewhere between. The feel isnt explosive off the driver and the results are almost hard to believe. Even on iron shots I felt like I was hitting a real heavy soft ball but when I gps'd the shots I was shocked. The feel did not match the distance for me. Not a bad thing at all. Its a pleasant surprise to hit what should be a hook 242 yards in the fairway.

Distance:
Ultra Straight:
- Driver: 242, 268
- M1: 229, 231
- 6i: 171
- PW: 112
Ultra Straight XS:
- Driver: 268, 271, 239
- M1: 226, 229
- 6i: 164
- PW: Water, water lol different holes though.

I gps'd all of these and really could gps when I finally caught up to the 3-some in front of me. The driver lost about 25-30 yards maybe on mishits. Hard to tell over the course of one round but those snap hooks I fight were still going about 240 and I was hitting FIR's. The group I played with were awesome even as I struggled with approach shots. My tee shots were always playable. I missed two fairways out of 7 today. One was because I hit the ball past the fairway dead straight. I just wasnt expecting the bomb I hit. My group reminded me to let the ball do the work and not swing so hard. The ball just really flys. I suffered on distance with PW, GW though. However this is more a swing issue I still wanted to give an accurate report. I didn't experience a distance loss and overall (averaged) I was probably much longer than I would've been.

Forgiveness:
This ball has plenty. I couldn't believe the GPS reading. I knew I hooked a shot or hit it fat and I have a pretty good idea of where to look for those shots. Not today. Today I had to look straight and anywhere from 10-30 yards further than I was used too. Off the tee this is the easiest ball I've ever hit. The ball gets up off the wedges and sticks about as well as you could expect from a 2 and 3 piece ball. I expected more roll out than usual and from what I eyeballed it was just al ittle bit. I want some more shots with the wedges to get a real good feel though.

Ballflight:
I would say a higher ball flight that seems to climb pretty quick. The irons/hybrids/driver ballflight launched tha ball high and it seemed to stay still in the air. But 171 and 164 (fat shot) yards later I found my 6i tee shot. I don't know if it's how the ball is designed to spin but you really don't think its moving. I don't know what it'd read on a launch monitor but it was different. Different isn't bad but what looks like a 120 fat shot, isnt!

Short Game:
Felt like I had some good control around and on the greens. The ball is pretty soft off the putter. There is a little more sticking power with the 3 piece but honestly, if you were to put the two up against each other not many people could tell a difference. I put some long putts pretty close and the greens were just insanely slick today. They did a fine job of holding onto the cement slabs we were hitting at.

Does it keep the ball straighter?
From what I saw today, I have no reason to believe otherwise. 5/7 fairways which could've been easily 6. My seventh was a low M1 that just kicked off a hill and took a bad bounce. You can see it work its magic in the air. The hooks I hit wanted so bad to go left but it looked like a wind gust caught the ball and guided it to the fairway. The good thing is I hit driver more than I usually do on this course because I wanted to test the ball. I'm pretty excited about this and I'd lying if I said I wasnt. I can't wait to get to know this ball some more.

What did my playing partners think?
They did decline to hit but I managed to talk some of the technology to one. It was funny because after I told them about the ball it just seemed different. Real good players and nice guys but definitely go the sense of "dont know about this guy playing that ball". I'm sure it wasn't meant like that and maybe it was me. But after I crushed one of my drives they did mention they wanted to buy lol, however I could sense a little sarcarsm. But I striped that ball and it screamed hibachi! One was asking questions and Iexplained how the ball worked it's magic. I'm sure as I encounter more people the experiences will vary.

This is an ongoing process for sure. There are a couple things to note. You absolutely can slice this ball. But it takes a nasty hosel rocket to do so. However that hosel rocket still goes over 100 yards (115 yard club). It's funny to watch but it really feels like the ball is yanked right haha. I hit one into a driving range but I pushed the ball. I guess the thing about it staying so straight is if you can count on a little draw, hook, slice or fade at the end of a push/pull.. you may not get that here. Which for me, lead to some lost balls. Two to water (other was a fat hook), 1 to the range (push) and one just disappeared. Really, hit it off the tee and couldn't find it. It was dark and I was trying to get in as much time on course as I could. I don't lose that many balls and today was just unlucky. No need to blame the ball even though it sounded like I did. Just bad breaks. I also felt pretty guilty playing this. I'm going to admit that. It's a great confidence booster. I even hit the other balls I was playing and my drives seemed better. I don't know if the pressure is off on drives and that carries over to my other ones but it sure did help even when I hit a different ball. Lots to think about with this bal. Will it help or hurt my game? Is it just a ball to use when you want to have a relaxing round? I dont know right now. I can't wait though to be testing more.
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Great job, Yoc. You've really been bringing it lately with your reviews man.
 
Great review Yoc! As soon as my rep gets freed up, I am giving you some.
 
I'm sort of surprised to see controversy over testing this ball. All that is being asked of the testers is to try it and see if out works as advertised. Nobody is asking that people start using them in Hcp'd rounds, tourneys, etc. great job so far everybody.

Tapatalk keeps me sane.
 
wow Yoccos, nice review there buddy!!!
 
You certainly are all high and mighty for no reason. As one of the testers of this ball I am trying to go about it in an objective manner. Is this a ball I would buy and play on my own? No, probably not. Especially since this year I am going to be trying to be better about tracking my handicap and improving it.

However, to say that you aren't testing your golf ability is crazy talk. You still have to know how to line up to hit a straight shot where you want it to go, you still have to be able to put a good swing on the ball. If you are slicing a ball, you will still slice this ball. The difference is the amount off line your slice goes will be less. I saw this first hand yesterday in my quick 9hole round I got in before the rain. The last 2 holes where I had my driver out I was starting to slice the ball due to issues in my swing right now. Yes the Polara balls sliced, BUT where they differentiated themselves from the Noodle I was comparing it to at the time (started out the first 5 holes comparing them heads up to an E6) was the amount off line that slice went. As I mentioned the Noodle was slicing noticably further off line than the Polara Balls, and the XS was the straightest of the bunch for me at that time.

All that being said, if I'm out for a round and one of my friends who doesn't play often or some weekend warrior who plays once or twice a month is out on the course with me using this ball I certainly won't look down on them or snub them in any way. They obviously aren't as serious about golf, playing in tournys, keeping a handicap, etc. I have no problem with them using this ball if it helps their game and allows them to have more fun while out golfing.


Guia said:
It is not a legal ball and as such cannot be used to post a score for handicap. Also, if it works and you use it you are not testing you golf ability. Further, this is not a new concept there was a ball introduced in 1970 that advertised it would eliminate slices and hooks. My father bought some and immediately sliced them into the woods. I certainly did not condone his use of the ball..

For my 2 cents, I don't think a golfers site should be testing USGA banned products. To me it is like addressing products that help people cheat.
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Good stuff guys, I hate that it will be Monday before I get to hit these. The dimple pattern on these certainly would lead one to realize somethng is very different about these balls.
 
well said and very nice post marius
mariusvt said:
You certainly are all high and mighty for no reason. As one of the testers of this ball I am trying to go about it in an objective manner. Is this a ball I would buy and play on my own? No, probably not. Especially since this year I am going to be trying to be better about tracking my handicap and improving it.

However, to say that you aren't testing your golf ability is crazy talk. You still have to know how to line up to hit a straight shot where you want it to go, you still have to be able to put a good swing on the ball. If you are slicing a ball, you will still slice this ball. The difference is the amount off line your slice goes will be less. I saw this first hand yesterday in my quick 9hole round I got in before the rain. The last 2 holes where I had my driver out I was starting to slice the ball due to issues in my swing right now. Yes the Polara balls sliced, BUT where they differentiated themselves from the Noodle I was comparing it to at the time (started out the first 5 holes comparing them heads up to an E6) was the amount off line that slice went. As I mentioned the Noodle was slicing noticably further off line than the Polara Balls, and the XS was the straightest of the bunch for me at that time.

All that being said, if I'm out for a round and one of my friends who doesn't play often or some weekend warrior who plays once or twice a month is out on the course with me using this ball I certainly won't look down on them or snub them in any way. They obviously aren't as serious about golf, playing in tournys, keeping a handicap, etc. I have no problem with them using this ball if it helps their game and allows them to have more fun while out golfing.
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Got mine yesterday but won't get to hit them until Saturday due to rain and PT on my knee this afternoon.

I would like to point out, just in case others may not think about it much, that the cost to ship these balls just from Orlando to Jacksonville, FL was almost $5. I'd encourage everyone to take a look at that postage stamp and think for a minute. Even if they all cost "only" $5 and 100 of us were given balls that's $500 THP just spent to ship us golf balls to try - for free. I don't think I'd be overstepping any boundaries to say that I think we should all click on that donate button up there and give THP a little something to say thanks and help them out with all that shipping they pay so we can get to try out all these fun balls and equipment, etc. :good:

Thanks again, THP!
 
I will have the BF hit with these as well to hear his thoughts :)


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I want to hear your thoughts on this as well! I know from your thread you mention struggle at times off the tee so this should be a good test for you.

Golf Chick said:
I will have the BF hit with these as well to hear his thoughts :)


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Thanks all for the kind words. The first few reviews really set the tone and THP has just been booming with information on all the reviews out there.
 
Yoccos1981 said:
I want to hear your thoughts on this as well! I know from your thread you mention struggle at times off the tee so this should be a good test for you.



Thanks all for the kind words. The first few reviews really set the tone and THP has just been booming with information on all the reviews out there.
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Of course :)

It mentions to tee it up with a driver that is 10.5 degrees or so, I'm doing strict memory here as I don't have the info on me at the moment, but that's perfect because that's what my driver is!!


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dang setho beat me to the vid reviews hahaha... thats what i wanted to do when i get them
 
I hope mine come in today. I am going to play tomorrow. Might sneak a few in on my Dad. :D
 
The postman dropped these off last night.

Polara.jpg


I will be taking a sleeve with me to The Kingdom and Aviara and give them a try.(if possible)

First impressions out of the box....

1. The dimple pattern is a bit strange looking.
2. The cover feels a little hard
3. I hit a few putts with them and they feel a lot harder than my ProV1's.
4. The clack sound off the putter is a bit disconcerting.


Thanks THP and Polara Golf for the opportunity to test these !!
I will post more later.
 
bogey_russ said:
there are literally tons of gimmicks geared towards golfers... this isnt a tournament players only site
there are plenty of ppl on here that dont even carry handicaps let alone play in tournaments
there are not however too many sites that address all the gimmicks that are available to the ppl these things are marketed towards
heck just out of sheer curiosity id love to test more non comforming tech so that you can see a diff with the regulation stuff
the hammer driver vs my nike... is it really farther?
the chipper vs my 60... does it check or spin back the same?
even practice equipment... is it a scam or can you actually learn something
the vharness/ tour striker/ fat free/ medicus/ etc
the list goes on an on
every post in the thread and even the manufacturer themselves state this is a non conforming ball
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Well said. Count me in for the Hammer vs my Cally driver testing.
 
Rained here all morning, so I can't play them today. Probably tomorrow or definitely Saturday I'll play 18 with them.


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my brothers coming to town on sat and we definitely are going to play after i get off work
 
Heading to the golf course now with my balls in my pocket. Today will be chipping and putting with maybe a nine hole test run.
 
Ole Gray said:
Heading to the golf course now with my balls in my pocket. Today will be chipping and putting with maybe a nine hole test run.
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keep them nice and warm gray, they will self-correct better that way! Look forward to hearing your thoughts on them.
 
Disappointed these are non conforming, but looking forward to giving them a try against my Penta TP's.
 
bogey_russ said:
dang setho beat me to the vid reviews hahaha... thats what i wanted to do when i get them
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Me too! I use a Flip HD camera to monitor my own swing... so I figured I'd use that and follow a few shots on the course. I'll still be trying this, good start SethO!

post edited, I haven't received mine yet, but I do live in a smaller town so shipping is typically a little longer. Hopefully I'll be receiving them today!
 
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