Question about golf balls.

Hey Andy, hope you have had a great holiday.

I have been looking at several higher end golf balls to give me the spin I want around the greens, that are affordable. When I was being fitted, I had an average 6 iron speed of about 85. I am not sure what this translates to in driver speed, but can you give me some examples of ball that I would be able to compress? High greenside and iron spin is my main thing, I honestly don't have any additional problems with side spin off the tee with nice balls, for some reason.

Thanks,

Jacob

Something I think everyone can benefit from is most of todays "tour" type of balls are fairly easy to compress. They are made up of 3-5 layers and you don't need as much club head speed as you think to get them moving. What you need to look for in a "tour" ball is what type of spin are you looking for.

For the straight hitter that is looking for more spin, or the player who is at the point where they need performance around the greens most "tour" balls have 2 versions with one offering more spin than the other.

Here is what you need to look at and weigh out. The higher spinning ball (titleist Pro V1, Nike One Tour, Srixon Z Star, etc) are going to have more spin with every club in the bag. This means slightly shorter off of the tee and more side spin will be generated if that is an issue for anyone. It also means more stopping power on the green and softer feel on the touch shots as well.

The less spinning versions (titleist Pro V1x, Nike One Tour D, Srixon Z Star X, etc) are going to have a little less spin on the longer clubs and that translates into a slightly longer shot with the driver. It also has less spin which (in theory) means less cut or draw spin on the ball. It also means a little less spin around the greens.

A player needs to look at there game and really figure out which is more beneficial for your game. I play a less spinning ball (Nike One Tour D) for a number of reasons. I can always use a couple of extra yards, but the main reasons is I spin the ball plenty with the driver and more spin would cost me hang time and distance. Second I spin the wedges a lot as it is and I have had issues with the higher spin ball moving too much on approach shots.

I hope this helps. Let me know if there is more I can do to help you in selecting a ball.

So, in your opinion, I would have no problems compressing the spinnier tour balls, like the Nike ONE tour (which I am looking very hard at, since they are so inexpensive.)

I really do not put a whole lot of spin on my wedges and short irons. That was one of the things we tried to address at my fitting, and I still come in below optimal, so I have trouble making it stop, except on REALLY hard gap wedge shots (which I play about twice a round), which I can pull it back about 4 feet on.

So at this point, to me, it sounds like the softer tour balls may work well for me. Is this what you think?

That is the way I am leaning. With you having lower spin numbers go with the higher spin tour balls. The Nike One Tour is a GREAT ball!

amollerud said:

That is the way I am leaning. With you having lower spin numbers go with the higher spin tour balls. The Nike One Tour is a GREAT ball!

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+1 I game the Nike One Tour and love it! Great ball and for the price it is a steal.

I had played the Nike One Platinum, an I loved it to death. I also seem to lose tour balls less. I guess knowing how much they cost motivates me to put a better swing on it, hehe.

While I have you here, can you give me a few tips on increasing greenside spin. I am guessing it is moastly about maintaining a sharp downward angle of attack? I wanna know how to get it to check fast with only a little green to work with.

amollerud said:

That is the way I am leaning. With you having lower spin numbers go with the higher spin tour balls. The Nike One Tour is a GREAT ball!

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