How much concern should this cause..?

I will save the rest of the cutting to others and to our staff writers when they are here because I just cut a few balls and they were all perfect. Taylormade, Callaway, Wilson, Titleist and Mizuno.

I stand by our comment from a year ago that all companies can get better at quality control, but I’m not going to put much thought into any company as we continue to test and find fantastic products across the board.

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Yup...those all look pretty darn good!


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Nice! Let's cut some sh!t up!
 
My point was that they cut open "less than 2" golf balls to find one with a badly off-center core. Further, it was a golf ball used in testing wherein the Chrome Soft underperformed relative to balls at a similar price point. It seems specious to me that the person who took the photos in the OP led the viewer to understand that he was simply playing a random Chrome Soft and then cutting it open when it was in fact a Chrome Soft that he and his organization had already performed extensive testing on. To me it continued a tendency towards suppressing context that undermines any point they were attempting to make.

Admittedly I watched that portion of their video and my understanding, based on their commentary, was the ball they cut was one of the balls that "flew wildly offline during our test."

If that were the case, and that same ball was kept in the data results (which were entirely based on averages), then they basically just nullified their own test.
 
Admittedly I watched that portion of their video and my understanding, based on their commentary, was the ball they cut was one of the balls that "flew wildly offline during our test."

If that were the case, and that same ball was kept in the data results (which were entirely based on averages), then they basically just nullified their own test.

i started typing it up last night but that was the point of my words to them. They produced content that said they knowingly put a ball in testing that "is known in the industry to have problems with center coreing" and saw no problem with it for their testing yet now that it's done and want to move on to another topic, is a huge problem that must be addressed. Guess those nameless "industry experts" didn't catch that.
 
All I keep seeing are perfectly good balls being cut in half. Use the balls that have hit the cart path or you pulled out of a lake, those were probably the ones with bad cores anyway! :angel:
 
Admittedly I watched that portion of their video and my understanding, based on their commentary, was the ball they cut was one of the balls that "flew wildly offline during our test."

If that were the case, and that same ball was kept in the data results (which were entirely based on averages), then they basically just nullified their own test.

My issue is that all those things are being shared separate from just those images. I didn't watch the video where they disclosed that the image of a wildly off-center core included in the OP was one they already knew to be malformed from previous golf ball testing.

Either way, sharing the images as a #FindItCutIt rather than "This ball produced result X in testing under lab conditions where a centered ball produced result Y" makes the whole situation seem as if they don't really care as much about informing the consumer as much as they want to get tongues wagging. Now instead of having a productive data-driven statement like, "A centered ball can improve accuracy by as much as 12% over something that is even 3 mm off-center!" this has turned into "Chevron bad. Chevron off-center!"
 
I just cut up 6 Chrome Softs, 3 each of the previous generation and present. 1 of each generation was off center but the newer version less so.

Also cut open a couple each of TP5x, ProV1, Tour RB, all good to the eye.

Even went old school cutting open a Hogan Tour Deep (appears to be just a 2-piece ball!), Wilson Staff Zip (cover thickness off slightly), Nike PD Soft and Pinnacle Exception.

In the pic of the previous version (yellow) Chrome Soft, it's hard to tell as the core is the same color as the mantle. But in hand and in the right light, as oriented in the pic, it's very obvious that the core is high right on the right side, high left on the left.
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Here's another major ball maker. The core is a little offcenter. It happens with every production ball I'd imagine. I don't have any chrome softs to cut up as I never really have liked the ball.
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This thread has caused me to jump off the fence and try the 2019 Srixon Z-Star balls.

White or yellow? According to the scientific testers they perform differently, you know.
 
White or yellow? According to the scientific testers they perform differently, you know.

Hahahahaha, this made me smile this morning.

It’s ‘science’.
 
Hahahahaha, this made me smile this morning.

It’s ‘science’.
.
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Here's another major ball maker. The core is a little offcenter. It happens with every production ball I'd imagine. I don't have any chrome softs to cut up as I never really have liked the ball.
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Lowry just won the Open with the Srixon XV. Looks like this issue is not restricted to just one manufacturer.

I did some floating balls in Epsom salt and then cutting some (used balls) that failed my float test. I'm not cutting a new ball that failed and there were a bunch of those. I'll try and post some pics up for the heck of it, means nothing.
 
Lowry just won the Open with the Srixon XV. Looks like this issue is not restricted to just one manufacturer.

I did some floating balls in Epsom salt and then cutting some (used balls) that failed my float test. I'm not cutting a new ball that failed and there were a bunch of those. I'll try and post some pics up for the heck of it, means nothing.
I agree. This was a shag ball that's been sitting in my garage. For some reason I can't get myself to game a yellow ball, so perfect candidate for the snips.

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It's an interesting conversation. I'm trying to decide if I care to worry about this or not? Maybe just stick with 3-piece balls since the ones with a dual core seem to have the most trouble.
 
I will save the rest of the cutting to others and to our staff writers when they are here because I just cut a few balls and they were all perfect. Taylormade, Callaway, Wilson, Titleist and Mizuno.

I stand by our comment from a year ago that all companies can get better at quality control, but I’m not going to put much thought into any company as we continue to test and find fantastic products across the board.

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All companies can get better yes, but will they? I don’t think so. In order to get 100% within tolerance they would have to increase the amount they check and that slows down production, driving up costs. Golf balls are a tough market to have good margins in as is, not to mention the increased R&D costs.

It’s interesting to me that with all the money spent in golf, hard goods and soft goods, consumers seem to have an issue with a random $4 piece of equipment being off.
 
Man, reading this entire thread and seeing golf balls cut open with less than centered cores...

...I still don't care or think this is a real problem.

I find more Pro-v1s in the rough and fescue, I bet those all have perfectly centered cores.
 
Three-piece ball. Hardly would be an issue, especially with this fantastic one...

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I'm just posting these pics to add to the thread, making no claims as I've enjoyed playing all these balls in the pics.

Bought a $13 PVC cutter at HD.

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I started out grabbing different versions of Callaway balls from my used bag. Notice that these are used balls with my two green marks. No idea if that affects the balance when I float them. This pic shows 12 used Callaway balls of different types and also shows that I cut 4 balls. The 4 were used balls that failed my Epson Salt float test so I cut them in half. Are the cores off slightly? The ones not cut passed the float test. I later floated a well used CSTTX and that was perfect just to see if being used or with my green markings does anything to the balance. More on this later.

Note: I really really like yellow balls as you will see.


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OK here's the used CSXTT along with three Titleist ProV1X. The CSXTT is a great ball and passed my float test, as did the three PROV1X. I do enjoy the CSXTT better than the regular CS, it's longer for me. If only Callaway made the CSXTT in yellow, maybe next year?

Also the 3 Titleist balls were new but had my green markings on them but all 3 balls passed the float test. Just making a note of that.


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Next I tested (floated) 3 sleeves of brand new Chrome Soft X Triple Track unmarked to see. All 9 CSXTT balls passed my float test and are balanced. Good to know.

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Next I grabbed 6 Snell MTBX in my used bag, floated them, then cut the 3 Snell that failed. Not too happy with that fail rate, but again, these are used balls that I've played and marked up. I don't notice anything out of balance with the cores, but as a 3 piece harder to tell.

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Finally I had bought a brand new dozen of Bridgestone BXS (made in Japan on the box) and tested (floated) all 12 out of the box and my next post will show those pics. 9 out of 12 failed my float test. The balls kept coming up to the same spot.
 
Here are the Bridgestone Tour BXS (made in Japan) with 9 new balls failing my float test. I am not cutting a brand new ball. LOL.

I bought these Friday at my local store and played the sleeve of O's (this sleeve was perfect per my test) Saturday and Sunday. Awesome ball, very happy with them and love the yellow color on them. I'll play the other nine soon and I really doubt I will notice anything but we'll see.



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It's funny that the golf ball is getting so much attention for QC concerns when I think 2 bigger culprits for not getting what you pay for is shaft flexes and driver head loft. You can buy the 10 of the same shaft and none of them will have the same frequency, some won't even be the same "stiffness." You can get a driver head that says 10.5 but it is 10.1 or 10.8. Neither of those is as fun to test as cutting up a golf ball, but when you test shafts and lofts it is not as destructive either.
 
Wow @kenomikes great posts there.
The Tour B XS failing the float test consistently is pretty crazy. Snell didn't fair too well either. Cores do look off in your first pic of cut Callaway balls that failed the float test.
Good to know that CSXTT balls passed.

Uggggh, I may just start float testing golf balls. Which way do I orientate the off-center ball for slice correction off the tee? Asking for a friend....
 
.. Which way do I orientate the off-center ball for slice correction off the tee? Asking for a friend....

Now that would be valuable information.. Lol

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I found a ball at home that I am dying to cut in to, but it's going to wait until this weekend. I already threw it in my suitcase so I don't forget it.
 
All I keep seeing are perfectly good balls being cut in half. Use the balls that have hit the cart path or you pulled out of a lake, those were probably the ones with bad cores anyway! :angel:

I tend to believe if I clang a ball off a tree and cart path enough it will shift the core from being perfectly centered, to being way off. Think that's true?
 
All I keep seeing are perfectly good balls being cut in half. Use the balls that have hit the cart path or you pulled out of a lake, those were probably the ones with bad cores anyway! :angel:

I tend to believe if I clang a ball off a tree and cart path enough it will shift the core from being perfectly centered, to being way off. Think that's true?
 
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