Chromax Distance - Forum Testing Review Thread

I played on Friday and Saturday, both in pretty high wind conditions...but different results both days. Friday I played with the Chromax ball for a full 18 holes and on Saturday I played with the Chromax and compared to the Titleist Velocity.

REFERENCE LINKS
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Friday's round with a couple of friends was in a 20-25mph wind. In my last write up I said that I may have found an "AHA" moment with this ball in the wind and part of that continued on Friday. I shot 96 and just couldn't seem to get anything going.

Driver:
Off the tee, the Chromax ball was great! I moved it back in my stance about a half to 3/4 of an inch and the result has been this lower trajectory rope that the wind just doesnt seem to effect as much. I hit 12 of 13 fairways and I probably would have hit the other one if I hadn't hit it through the dogleg. It was just money off the tee. I seemed to be hitting it a little further than the other day as well.
I really think the smaller dimples and the clearcoat type finish makes this a better ball in the wind, I could be wrong and I wish somebody could get some LM numbers on it, but I think this is a very low spinning ball off the driver.

Hybrids/Irons:
This is where I just couldn't seem to get the ball going today, I only hit 2 GIR all day and most of the time it wasnt close, it just didn't seem like I could get a good strike on the ball, everything was being hit "thin" so they came out low and were long most of the time. I am not going to blame this on the ball, because I did drop another ball a couple of times and I thinned them as well, it was just a bad day of ball striking.
I did overcook a 4 hydrid into the water hazard beside the 11th green, it was a thinned shot as well that hit the green but went right off the side and down the bank into the water hazard, it was one of the "Gold" ones.

Wedges:
Nothing really stood out today, everything I hit had a "clicking sound" to it and I hit some really awful thin wedge shots today and again, I will not blame it on the ball. Part of it is the swing change I am working on and the other part is just bad golf.

Putter:
I can honestly say, I don't like putting with this ball. I am a feel putter and one of the things about a feel putter is judging speed and I just cant get the speed down with this ball. I had 36 putts today which is horrible for me...I would come up short on one and the next blow it by 5 feet...I just can't feel the ball on my putter it is very harsh.

Saturday's round was in the same basic weather conditions, 20-25mph winds but overcast and a little cooler. I played the front 9 with the Chromax ball and hit a few "extras with the Titleist Velocity" to compare and then the back 9 I played the Velocity and hit a few "extras" with the Chromax. I shot 44 with the Chromax on the front, and 42 with the Titleist on the back for 86...ten strokes better than yesterday.

Driver:
These 2 balls actually feel remarkably similar off the Driver...both have more of a hard feel to them and when played slightly back in my stance I got almost identical results out of them....in fact on the 5 holes where I hit both these balls off the tee, I bet there wasnt more than a couple of yard difference in the distance on any of them. Now the Velocity is hyped as a distance ball with low spin off the driver and I believe that is what is going on with the Chromax as well. 11/13 fairways.....if its the ball I like it....that's like 95% fairways in 2 rounds witnh 20+mph winds.,...I will take that all day.

Hybrids/Irons:
It was a better ball striking day today, 5 GIR and a couple of others where the ball released and rolled off the side of the green. I still am seeing much more rollout with this ball than my normal ball, but that is to be expected when comparing a Urethane ball to a Surlyn covered ball. When compared to the Velocity, again I found it a very similar feel and result.

Wedges:
I am really struggling with wedges right now....the swing change has really messed with my short game. so it's hard for me to judge...the few good shots I hit the ball just doesn't compress real well off my wedges, maybe I just am not being agressive enough with them because I am struggling so much.

Putter:
I have to say I liked the Velocity off my putter even less than the Chromax...the Velocity acted like a Pinnacle or Topflight when putting...very harsh and just took off the putter face. The Chromax I still don't care for much but I am getting better with it.

Overall:
I think the design of this ball makes it great to play in the wind and I really seem to be able to control it off my driver and I think that is the lack of side spin that is being produced by the Chromax ball. I still find it to be comparable to a pure distance ball and the price tag is the one really bad think going for it in that category.
 
Went out and played a full 18 today with the glowballz, will have write up sometime tomorrow
 
Nice writeup TBT. I appreciate the positive and negative information. Several people have mentioned feel off the putter...is anyone playing a putter with an insert? Any difference based on insert vs. non insert?
 
Nice writeup TBT. I appreciate the positive and negative information. Several people have mentioned feel off the putter...is anyone playing a putter with an insert? Any difference based on insert vs. non insert?


First that was some great stuff on Tim's review above and it is making me look forward to the next time I get out on a windy day.

In answer to your question Tequila, I touched on this issue in my first testing post, here is a link to it.
 
Nice review Ryan, I think I will be trying the Chromax out again either Tuesday or Wednesday next, it is supposed to rain here tomorrow. I haven't hit a cartpath as yet and was wondering how bad the scuff would look on one of these balls, all I can say is ouch. :beat-up:

lol - yea that wasn't a pretty result at all. I felt bad for the ball.

Nice write up Hawk. While looking at your pics I saw something that looked familar:

There was something I noticed after a pretty good wedge shot today. A tear of some sort in the metallic layer. Oddly, the cover didn't look damaged. No clue what it is, or if it's even an issue.

20121216_120926-L.jpg


One of my chromax green has the exact same cut look under the outer layer. I was thinking it was something from the manufacturing process. Maybe when you compress this ball it can tear the inner foil or whatever that layer is. What is funny though, I have only chipped and putted with these balls so far. I have not put a full swing on these yet. I am hoping to get them on the course tomorrow for a few holes and some comparison to some other balls.

Glad you chimed in on that. I wasn't sure if it was just an anomaly or not. I'd never seen it before and it was after the wedge shot that I posted at the beginning of the review. Probably one of the better strikes I put on the ball with a wedge yesterday.

Overall:
I think the design of this ball makes it great to play in the wind and I really seem to be able to control it off my driver and I think that is the lack of side spin that is being produced by the Chromax ball. I still find it to be comparable to a pure distance ball and the price tag is the one really bad think going for it in that category.

I think you nailed the two biggest strengths of the ball (aside from visibility) right there for me as well, Tim. Good in the wind and pretty straight off the tee. I could really see myself playing these in the spring and fall when it's windy up here, but the price makes that a tough sell for me.

Nice writeup TBT. I appreciate the positive and negative information. Several people have mentioned feel off the putter...is anyone playing a putter with an insert? Any difference based on insert vs. non insert?

I tested it with an insert early on and it still was the firmest of the balls I compared it to. The insert did dampen the sound a bit, but it was still noticeable. I'll say that it doesn't bother me, but I've never paid much attention to that in the past either. It's easy to notice the difference, but it hasn't been something that I looked at negatively while playing.
 
Nice info Hawk and TBT!
 
Thanks for reading, Centre. Glad you are enjoying it.
 
I am going out today and try to get in 18 while using my Odessy with an insert and a older Ray Cook (Austin 1) blade putter. It is the only putter that I can come up with that does not have an insert.
Nice writeup TBT. I appreciate the positive and negative information. Several people have mentioned feel off the putter...is anyone playing a putter with an insert? Any difference based on insert vs. non insert?
 
Thanks for the info. You guys are really doing a great job in here. Keep up the good work.
 
The weather here calls for rain all day so I will get out tomorrow to test again. I think I will head over to Ole Gray and KellyBo's old course as there are lots of leaves and hopefully I will find all of my Chromaxs. I played over there a couple of weeks ago and the leaves got two of my yellow balls I was playing that day.
 
Testing date: 12/17/2012
Location: Walt Disney World Magnolia Course

I took the Chromax ball around for 18 holes yesterday around the Magnolia course, about a month and a week since the CMNC concluded. I was hoping to catch some of the end of tournament conditions and wasn't all that disappointed with such. With the greens being quite firm and rolling out quite nicely, I thought it would be pretty fun to see how the Chromax handled it. For comparison, I used a Titleist Velocity and really focused on PW-7i since the prior had been with wedges.

Summary: For a distance ball, I'm not being blown out of the water on its numbers. I'm saving the 3w and driver testing for later in my reviews but without any hard data to back it up, I'm still seeing the other balls outdrive it anywhere from 5-10 yards. Noticeably lower in flight. When used in the PW-7i range, again, a noticeable lower launch that to the eye looks like it should keep rising but instead it just flat lines and descends. 1 on 1 from the same yardage with a 7i distance, the Velocity landed 2yds short of target in carry and released up a yard past. The Chromax ball was hit more solidly than the Velocity and came up 7yds short of target in carry and released about 10ft from its pitch mark. With no wind at the time, this had me confused.

Once the wind picked up, the ball started to get a little better in terms of its results. Into the wind, I was able to hit pw-7i with no distance loss after factoring in about a 5yd loss in distance (if that makes sense) with little/no accuracy loss or manipulation required. If the shot called for 160yds for example, I could swing my 160 club and know it was going to go 153-155yds with its normal flight. The Velocity on the other hand, was getting beat up in the wind and resulted in having to manipulate ball flight/position/club choice in order to get the results required. Because of the manipulating required, accuracy suffered because of all the variables. The Chromax really shined (literally) in the wind. It takes a really bad swing to make it curve a lot.

Wear: I'll update this post later this afternoon with a photo, but the wear on the ball is starting to become noticeable. For someone who is a low spin player with wedges, it's starting to develop a few little scuff marks here and there that are showing up as a white mark on the ball. I did get some really interesting results though out of a bunker where I caught ball and sand at the same time and it came out with a lot of spin. The ball checked hard and stopped dead on landing. This lead to the little scuff mark as noted. I've also noticed a little mark of sorts on the ball similar to a crack that I'm not sure was there upon receiving them or if it's happened during the course of play. I'll compare it to the other two balls and see if it's there as well or not.

Spin: As in the previous review with wedges, I'm seeing anywhere from a couple feet to as much as 10ft of release on a normal shot. Unless I'm hitting a moon ball type shot for me, it's going to release. The few times I did launch them as high as I could (pitching wedge near off the front foot), I was getting it to settle within about a foot of its pitch mark.

That'll be it for now. The next part in review is going to be the mid/long iron/long iron replacement portion. After that will be the driver and 3 wood section, and then hopefully some simulator action in order to back up these results I'm seeing with some hard numbers for comparison. The only thing that'll keep that from happening is going to be if the simulator just can't pick up the ball.
 
I was unable to get on THP this weekend to report my Saturday test results, but here they are. I went out Saturday and played a round with these balls again. I played 9 holes with the orange ball compared with a Bridgestone B330 and the back nine with the green ball compared with a Penta TP3. It was a little breezy, but not too bad.

Driver: The B330 was pretty significantly farther than the Chromax (10 - 15 yards consistently). The Penta TP3 was about the same as the Chromax. There were several drives that the TP3 was farther, and several the Chromax was farther, so it was about even with those balls. I noticed some other people say the ball flight was a little different with the Chromax, but I'm not seeing that. All of my drives all day were about the same trajectory. I've been consistently unimpressed with the driver distance with these things. I'm going to get a harder ball (maybe a Top Flite or something like that) to compare it to next time out to see how it reacts compared to that.

Long & Mid irons: I don't see a whole lot of difference in this ball compared to the premium balls I use on these shots. I get about the same distance with these compared to the premium balls (Chromax may be a little bit longer on these shots, but the difference is marginal at best). I am also able to get these balls to bite pretty good on the greens off these shots. The Chromax, B330 and TP3 all got about the same amount of release on the greens. This is a big positive for the Chromax in my opinion.

Short Irons: Out of the 3 different balls, I was able to get the TP3 to spin the most, sometimes spinning back a couple of feet off these shots. The B330 and Chromax both hit and stopped about a foot or two from where the ball mark was. Again another positive for the Chromax.

Wedges/Chipping: The Chromax was the ball that ran out the most on these shots, but I was still able to get some spin on the ball. The TP3 and B330 stopped shorter than the Chromax, but it wasn't too significant of a difference. I know some others aren't able to get this ball to check up, but I'm getting it to bite a little, but just not as much as I would like.

Putter: This is still the one thing that I can't seem to get over. I do not like the feel of this ball off the putter face at all. I haven't tried an insert putter, but with my SeeMore, it feels terrible. As far as the line or speed of this ball on the greens, I didn't notice a difference in the 3 balls, but the feel is definitely something I can't seem to get used to.

I'm still trying to work out getting some numbers with this on Trackman, and hopefully I can in the next week or two. I would love to see the numbers compared to other balls. Next weekend, I'm going to spend a lot of time doing short game testing as well as hopefully getting in at least 9 holes to compare it with a Top Flite or other harder golf ball.
 
mward and bhilton - excellent job on the reviews. The lack of distance off the driver for you guys is certainly interesting to me. I am so curious whether it's ball speed, launch, spin, etc. One thing that does seem to be said quite a bit is the wind performance. Is that enough to warrant a purchase though? I'm not so sure about that one. I will say that this is the first time I've associated an aspect of performance with this brand though. In the past, they were strictly a novelty ball in my eyes.
 
mward and bhilton - excellent job on the reviews. The lack of distance off the driver for you guys is certainly interesting to me. I am so curious whether it's ball speed, launch, spin, etc. One thing that does seem to be said quite a bit is the wind performance. Is that enough to warrant a purchase though? I'm not so sure about that one. I will say that this is the first time I've associated an aspect of performance with this brand though. In the past, they were strictly a novelty ball in my eyes.

I think it's the launch angle to be honest. Low spin is nice off the tee but not if I can't get the ball in the air enough to take advantage of it, especially down here in FL where our fairways aren't always super firm. There have been some shots off the tee where the Chromax is significantly shorter than the other ball being used.
 
That makes sense to me. I'm curious how different the other versions were for TexasHacker.
 
Putter:
I can honestly say, I don't like putting with this ball. I am a feel putter and one of the things about a feel putter is judging speed and I just cant get the speed down with this ball. I had 36 putts today which is horrible for me...I would come up short on one and the next blow it by 5 feet...I just can't feel the ball on my putter it is very harsh.

Tim. This is exactly how I felt last weekend with this ball. I don't know what it was, but I just could not dial in that consistent feel.
 
Just got back in town. My son and I are going to play 9 with these tomorrow or Wed, before heading back out of town. He is excited and will be playing the gold/orange while I play the green.
 
That makes sense to me. I'm curious how different the other versions were for TexasHacker.

Funny you should ask. I have a huge project at work that required some work last night but did get 27 holes in yesterday and I have some good feedback that should be going up tonight good sir


TapaTalk from the iPhone
 
Excellent! I should do that myself. I have a half-dozen of the old ones just sitting around.
 
Enjoyed the reviews mward and bhilton, I am stuck inside today so I am wishing I could be out testing but reading your reviews helped take off the edge. Thanks guys for posting such solid thoughts.
 
Nice writeup TBT. I appreciate the positive and negative information. Several people have mentioned feel off the putter...is anyone playing a putter with an insert? Any difference based on insert vs. non insert?

Good question man, I played the odyssey with white ice insert as well as my yes putter without one, it seems
A bit harsh for me with the yes putter- which is expected like any 2 piece ball,
And the insert putter really helps it out and makes it feel better. A bit softer but not by much lol


Tapatalk on iPhone 5
 
I've got a putter with a really soft insert in it, I'll give it a go and see what I notice
 
Nice write ups mward2002 and bhilton. Enjoyed seeing your results from these. I got out on the course myself today and planned on only playing 9, but was enjoying myself so much, I went on and finished all 18. Probably the wrong decision with the elbow issue, but I was getting some good results from the chromax ball. I was letting a lot of players through so that I could get in some comparison shots, but the results will show it was the right call. Will post a full write up tonight. Just as a heads up, I had the best scoring round ever. Go figure that one out.
 
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I will throw my White Hot #7 in the bag for a round or two and compare the results with it...that should be pretty fair....2 almost identical putters with different inserts.
 
Great stuff Mward and B! Looks like similar reactions across the board with just a few subtle differences.

Great Idea Tim, sounds like a perfect comparison for putting!

LtEvO TaPpEd In
 
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