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Callaway ERC Soft Golf Ball

SuperStroke
These are definitely growing on me for the short game. I did some chipping/pitching practice with just the ERCs and Q-Star Tours, and I couldn't tell the difference performance wise at all. I do still prefer the Chrome Softs though.
 
I will say the 3 lines really grew on me, and I have never liked putting with a single line. I have played 5 rounds with these, 2 in brutal wind, they feel like my current ball (Wilson Duo) and with *my swing perform about the same.

Will I grab another box? If on sale, yes, but I think I am going to stay with the Wilson's and draw the blue and red lines myself.
 
Hitting some more putts on the backyard putting green. These are helping me align longer putts (10 feet). Just practicing with them I think helps me enforce my aiming with balls that don’t have the lines. I’m getting used to what looks right, and what is actually right when lining up a putt.
 
I am really looking the ERC for the most part. I only use the lines occasionally on the green, but I almost always line them up down the fairway from the tee. I've had a mixed bag of results in regards to performance around the green as far as checking goes. I do see a little bit more roll out then I really would like especially compared to the Chrome Soft.

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I am late to the party on this but I finally got to mess around with the ERC today. I had a limited amount of time because I had to pick the girls up from Preschool but hit the range anyways. Using the Triple Track Technology was really cool. I can’t say for sure it made a difference over lining up my putt with a black line or not but I can say I was much faster and more sure of the line i was on when I was using the triple track. The only think more satisfying then watching the triple track roll end over end is watching it disappear in the bottom of the cup.

I also hit some some various chip shots from around the green and compared it side by side with CS. There was noticeably less spin between the two but still hit some very good shots with the ERC. I should note Greens were pretty slow today so that could have an effect on the roll out I was seeing. I know at ECPC the difference between CS and ERC was more noticeable with the few shots I hit with it.

Going on what I saw today the ERC is going into play very soon. I will be sure to try out the hop and stop shot that I started playing at the end of last year to see how the ERC Performs with that shot.
 
Found one of these on the 10th on Monday, and so I played it for the rest of the back 9.

I'd been playing a Srixon AD333 (Q-Star) on the front 10, and my impressions/comparisons were:-

Distance - not much in it, the ERC may have gone a little higher, but that is tricky to gauge by eye, and could just be strike influenced. Neither one particularly span up and ballooned when hitting into the chuff (pretty gentle but constant). My distances were consistent to what I expect, didn't get any surprising ones flying through the back, for instance.
Feel - again, pretty similar. Both were soft but not mushy, you knew when you'd hit a good one, and when you strayed out of the middle of the club. A good shot was a crisp thud with both.
Around the green - Biggest difference here, although sound and feel were again similar. The ERC has more check to it than the 333, not startling, but still readily discernible. If anything it allows you to play the same shot, but more aggressively if that makes sense.
Putting - I had a go with the TTT, but I found it annoying more than anything - that's probably because I use a 2-Ball putter, and the lines were kind of the "other way" of lining up. ERC gave a very satisfying "pock" sound off the face, and you could see the roll better with the TTT, but distance control was similar. My brother had a go with his putter (uses a line up line) and he liked it a lot. Horses for courses, but that's one of their major selling points that didn't do it for me.

Did I like it? Yes, definitely. Good sound/feel. Good flight/distance. Nice amount of check for you to play around the greens with - a good middle ground between a grabby Tour ball and a general 2-piece ball.

Would I play it? ...Not sure. It didn't blow me away in a "where have you been?" way. If I'm shelling out my hard earned, I feel like I'm probably putting this box down, and picking up something, a known quantity with me, for closer to £20/doz.

I mean - they aren't bad balls in any way, and possibly I might need to play it a bit more to recognise the differences, but I'm not sure they are different enough for me to consider.
 
I am three rounds into my early season experimenting with the ERC Soft and while I am not giving it up entirely, I think I'll be putting a few other contenders into play this weekend.

I remain a HUGE fan of the Triple Track Technology for putting and for lining up tee shots, but I do think I am sacrificing a little too much greenside spin in my shorter shots and chips. Now, it's very early in the season, but I'm definitely seeing more rollout then I am used to with chipping to the point that (I think) it's negatively impacting my scores.

Weather dependent here in the Boston area, I'll either be playing Saturday or Sunday morning and will probably dabble in a few ERC shots for testing, but am going to primarily use the Chrome Soft and Snell MTB and MTB-X to see if they're in line for a full time slot in the bag.
 
I game the new, 2019, Callaway Supersoft ball since they came out. Played a sleeve of the ERC balls the last 3 rounds. I found the ERC ball to be as good as the Supersoft in all respects, even chipping hit, hop & stop. The only reason I won't play the ERC ball is the price difference. Supersoft is $23.00 and the ERC is $39.00.
 
Finally bought some and will put to use tomorrow.

Initial thoughts are these feel soft and I like the lines.

I also felt like they launched higher than I was expecting.
 
M2Giles said:
Finally bought some and will put to use tomorrow.

Initial thoughts are these feel soft and I like the lines.

I also felt like they launched higher than I was expecting.
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Just wrapped up 18 holes with @Paladin where I played this ball.

Unfortunately dunked it on 16 so no 18 hole picture of durability (toe hook and water left). The lines do get scratched up, but hold up much better than sharpie.

I'm more impressed with it than I would expect. The alignment was pretty nice when putting. I tried it on a few tees, but I need to still wrap my mind through swinging through the ball instead of hitting it. When not on the tee or green I didnt really find it distracting at all.

For the flight and playability of the ball I'll start by saying I'm a higher spin player who can generate a lot of backspin through most of my bag. Besides one flyer from the fairway with a wedge I felt like the spin profile of the ball was well suited to anyone who had some excess spin. Flight wise I felt like it flew a little higher than a z star, but not really anything to write home about. Going into the greens I noticed the ball was usually around the pitch mark from mid irons down through wedges.

Around the green besides hitting one wedge a bit too firm I felt like the ball behaved as I would expect. I do play rollout with my wedges due to my tendency to catch them higher in the face. My favorite greenside shot during the round was a high flop over a bunker and short sided. The ball flew high hopped and stopped. For chips and pitches I felt like I could judge how much the ball would release and it played fairly well.

Overall I enjoyed my round with the ERC Soft. My only complaint is the price point. $40 for a non tour ball feels high, but I was reminded that after a discount at the Callaway Golf website it brings the price to a more agreeable $33. At $30-$35 I would play this ball if I stop getting z stars and XVs at the price I can get them.
 
M2Giles said:
Just wrapped up 18 holes with @Paladin where I played this ball.

Unfortunately dunked it on 16 so no 18 hole picture of durability (toe hook and water left). The lines do get scratched up, but hold up much better than sharpie.

I'm more impressed with it than I would expect. The alignment was pretty nice when putting. I tried it on a few tees, but I need to still wrap my mind through swinging through the ball instead of hitting it. When not on the tee or green I didnt really find it distracting at all.

For the flight and playability of the ball I'll start by saying I'm a higher spin player who can generate a lot of backspin through most of my bag. Besides one flyer from the fairway with a wedge I felt like the spin profile of the ball was well suited to anyone who had some excess spin. Flight wise I felt like it flew a little higher than a z star, but not really anything to write home about. Going into the greens I noticed the ball was usually around the pitch mark from mid irons down through wedges.

Around the green besides hitting one wedge a bit too firm I felt like the ball behaved as I would expect. I do play rollout with my wedges due to my tendency to catch them higher in the face. My favorite greenside shot during the round was a high flop over a bunker and short sided. The ball flew high hopped and stopped. For chips and pitches I felt like I could judge how much the ball would release and it played fairly well.

Overall I enjoyed my round with the ERC Soft. My only complaint is the price point. $40 for a non tour ball feels high, but I was reminded that after a discount at the Callaway Golf website it brings the price to a more agreeable $33. At $30-$35 I would play this ball if I stop getting z stars and XVs at the price I can get them.
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I am curious, what is this discount you speak of? Sounds pretty good.
 
Played this for nine again today after playing nine with a chrome soft. Could be my swing got a little better as the day went on but distance and dispersion were much better for me with the ERC than the CS. Greens were punched and sanded so short game comparison would be pointless but I definitely played a better 9 with the ERC.
 
Still trying to debate to play these or the CS during my tournaments in a couple weeks. The TT is leading me towards these in play that weekend.

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I really enjoyed this ball but wound up just not using the triple track. Was never much for lining a ball up before and gave the triple track a good try but was just happy enough hitting the ball as it lay. Great all around ball though.

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I have played the ERC now for 4 rounds and have opened 3 dozen boxes - ALL (and I mean ALL) of the balls had the lines printed across the seam - there is no way this is how they should be - I love the triple trac but did find inconsistency in the ball performance over the rounds - with what to me (10 handicap) were pretty identical driver swings sometimes the ball just came off dead and flew less that 200 yards when I felt and heard good contact from me driver - other times I would get 250-260 (my average drive is about 225 carry) - long or short the feel off the driver felt the same
Shots into the green did not stop quickly even though the flight was high and descent sharp - pitch shots did not stop quickly either - I am not a high spinner of the ball but still...
The highlight of the ERC ball for me is that they putt very well...
for all of that there is just not enough quality in these balls to give me confidence for every shot

PS - I did a ball fitting with ERC, Mizuno, BS RX, BS RXS, Titleist AVX, Chromesoft, TP5, TP5X - the ERC was the lowest performing ball out of the bunch
 
weaverman said:
I have played the ERC now for 4 rounds and have opened 3 dozen boxes - ALL (and I mean ALL) of the balls had the lines printed across the seam - there is no way this is how they should be - I love the triple trac but did find inconsistency in the ball performance over the rounds - with what to me (10 handicap) were pretty identical driver swings sometimes the ball just came off dead and flew less that 200 yards when I felt and heard good contact from me driver - other times I would get 250-260 (my average drive is about 225 carry) - long or short the feel off the driver felt the same
Shots into the green did not stop quickly even though the flight was high and descent sharp - pitch shots did not stop quickly either - I am not a high spinner of the ball but still...
The highlight of the ERC ball for me is that they putt very well...
for all of that there is just not enough quality in these balls to give me confidence for every shot

PS - I did a ball fitting with ERC, Mizuno, BS RX, BS RXS, Titleist AVX, Chromesoft, TP5, TP5X - the ERC was the lowest performing ball out of the bunch
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Lowest spin off which clubs and how much lower spin?
 
So I have played this ball for a couple of rounds and I'm really on the fence about it.
First, I love the TTT and I've been playing the Yellow version which I really like.

It feels great off the driver however I'm having issues where I'm not seeing the distance that I hoped to achieve and tends to "Bend" to the right, which is what I get with the Duo type of lower compression golf balls.
The main thing that I'm seeing and not liking is that I don't get "Rewarded" on the good shots I make 50 yards and in. I'm getting more roll out that I expect on those type of shots, which admittedly I knew might be a draw back on the ball based on the review post in this thread.
Being a High Teen HDCP that has to scramble up and down on most holes to make par, I have to get it close to hole on that chip shot in to the green. I need a ball to perform a little better than what I'm seeing.

Now with that all being said, it's early in the season and I know that the greens aren't in the best of shape, so that is why I said that I'm on the fence. I have a 6 sleeves left and might switch out of this ball and try it again in a month or so when my swing the courses are in better shape.
 
Since my last post I have now dunked 3 in the water, gave 1 to a friend, and still trying to figure out how I couldn't find 1 I hit dead center of the fairway 5 yards before the 150 marker. So I have only 7 left.

I notice I am not using the Triple Track for easy or short puts as much anymore, but I have come to rely on it for long or breaking puts. Played nine holes hitting two balls with the ERC and my current Wilson and find that my iron shots flight lower with the ERC, which *if i am hitting the green it will roll out because of the lower flight. Now I will say my normal miss is a fade and the ERC does fade less than my current ball I am finding.

So like the last post, I am still having a hard time justifying the $39.99 price tag for these.
 
I'm still really enjoying this ball. Theres nothing non-premium about it. Add in the lines, and its a winner.
 
Going to test them out, check the buzz for myself

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This ball is kind of a Jekyll and Hyde for me. There are times I'm able to gain a little extra distance but there are also times where I'm baffled at how short it goes. Yesterday I hit two balls off the tee with driver, the first was the Chrome Soft X which I hit pretty good right down the middle. The second was with the ERC which admittedly I pushed a little bit also felt like I absolutely hammered it. I fully expected it to be a few yards ahead of the CSX but it was actually about 10 yards short.

On the flip side I've also hit drives where the ERC ended up 5 yards ahead on similar strikes. I wonder if maybe I'm bordering on being to low spin on some drives which is resulting in this inconsistency.
 
I have some mixed results with it as well. It runs out on the green more for me than I would like, but I do like it off the tee. I really don't use the triple track on putts, but I do like using it on the tee box to set up my aim. Overall I like it, but between the ERC and the Chrome Soft the Chrome Soft wins.
 
Tried these again last night and they just feel dead to me. Very little feedback off the irons and especially the putter face. I compared it to a Bridgestone Tour B RX and a Snell MTB Black. I have to admit that I really, really like the sound of the MTB Black, but I've been playing the RX. Might switch it up and see how the MTB Black performs.
 
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