How much concern should this cause..?

[GenErr]

I think there are a lot of frustrated surgeons out there cutting open golf balls. I agree with many of the posters, that there are probably a few out of round balls that get through QC, but I have yet to hit a ball, or stroked a putt that acted weird and thought to myself "it must be the core."

 

[Et Tu Brute?]

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.

A driver head that has 0.3 degrees more loft than marked will have zero effect on your game. None.

And if it did, you could just crank it down one notch on the loft adjustments.

 

[kevin81002]

My big take out of this whole thing is it's given me a new fun way to dispose of golf balls. No longer will I chuck em in the woods.

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[SirShives]

My wife just now: “whatcha doin?”
Me: “I just read a bunch of stuff on the Internet that led me cut open several golf balls.”
Wife: <Quizzical look on her face> “...oooooook.....”

 

[JB]

80 year old father visiting.

Dad cut this.
Why.
Because I asked you to.
He cuts it, it’s perfect.

Why did I do that? Because rumor has it there is an issue.

“Only social media would make golfers paranoid enough to believe this is an issue. Prey on the uninformed, we played wound balls with rubber bands previously”

He is wise...

 

[Knockdown]

This thread is nuts


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[erock9174]

80 year old father visiting.

Dad cut this.
Why.
Because I asked you to.
He cuts it, it’s perfect.

Why did I do that? Because rumor has it there is an issue.

“Only social media would make golfers paranoid enough to believe this is an issue. Prey on the uninformed, we played wound balls with rubber bands previously”

He is wise...

I was in my local shop today. Gentleman asks the sales guy if they sold “that Kurtland ball?” Salesman had no clue. He said. Yeah you know that Kurtland Signature ball? I said you mean Kirkland. He says yeah that’s it’s. He says his buddy gave him a sleeve and told him he swears it’s the best ball out there. I proceeded to tell him he would need to go to Costco and while he was at it could also buy some Kirkland wine and cheese.

Laid out the whole back story for him. Yeesh I felt informed for a ball I’ve never tried. I even went as far as telling them about Foremost and how they make a lot of the DTC balls he’s never heard of we well. Felt like it was a scene out of 2016.

He then asks as I walk out the door.... so you heading off the course ? I said oh gosh no, got more important things to do than play....I’m off to Lowe’s to buy a PVC cutter.

As Yoda once said. The internet is strong in this one ?

 

[tequila4kapp]

Seeing the issues across multiple OEMs convinces me it’s a complete non issue.

 

[dacatalyst41]

Seeing the issues across multiple OEMs convinces me it’s a complete non issue.

My thoughts exactly. I think the stroke pattern on our clubs is more telling. Haha.

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[echico]

A driver head that has 0.3 degrees more loft than marked will have zero effect on your game. None.

And if it did, you could just crank it down one notch on the loft adjustments.

I wouldn't say zero effect (it is low but not zero) but I never said anything about hindering the game more of not getting what I paid for. If I got a bad ball and lost it then it is done. If I bought a new driver and the loft isn't quite the same as the demo I was fitted with I am stuck with it for longer than a ball. The shafts are an even bigger concern. I personally won't pay the premium for get everything frequency matched at Club Champion, Cool Clubs, etc. because I don't think it really impacts my game but I also haven't seen the data to prove it one way or the other.

I think I have seen enough cut open golf balls to know that if I have an odd looking flight on the ball then I would still blame myself, wind, barometric pressure, solar flares, or humidity before I got to the equipment or their tolerances.

 

[93civiccpe]

Seeing the issues across multiple OEMs convinces me it’s a complete non issue.

I have a similar but different take. I've been watching on here and social media and the worst examples of cores being way off-center have been the chromesoft balls (and an older Callaway ball but I can't remember the model pictured). I've seen other brands with varying degrees of off-center cores but none as bad as the CS. I just wish we had more information as to how much impact there is with the further off-center the core is. I've seen less reported issues with 3-piece balls with larger cores and I currently am playing one of those. I'm tempted to perform a saltwater spin test but haven't made the time yet. I'm surprised that there aren't worse examples of the TP5 /TP5x balls as the extra layers should be more difficult to center in theory. The off-center cores that I've seen for those balls have been minor compared to the CS and others. I'm not going to over-react or let it change anything for me until we have more information.

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[93civiccpe]

OK.. I think I've gone far enough down this rabbit hole but I'm surprised that we haven't seen more conversation on this sooner. Apparently back in early 2015 on other sites they were discussing this same issue with the Callaway hex black (pictured below)

Then in 2017 the Instagram member golf_ball_gutz posted the below picture and a video of the chromesoft ball being cut with a core that is quite off.

The crazy thing is that looking at that Instagram page there are tons of balls being cut and the worst offenders for the badly off-center cores appears to be Callaway. I have a friend who plays the truvis chromesoft ball and plays it well so I still want to see the effect it has on performance or if this is being blown out of proportion. There is a story running about Titleist seeing consistency issues in performance with the early ProV1 and using an x-ray and seeing the cores were all over the place and putting in steps to get them consistent. I was expecting some of the direct to consumer balls to be horrible offenders but from seeing many pictures of the Kirkland ball, Vice balls, and Snell balls I've yet to see any terrible ones. I do wonder if the MTB-Red could have had this problem as it was Snells first 4 piece ball and they retired it quite quick. I am trying to see if I can find any to float test purely out of curiosity. At this point I'm hoping we can get some concrete information regarding what performance degradation occurs with off-center cores. Dean Snell seems like a straight shooter who doesn't pull any punches and I would love to hear his take / input!!

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[Et Tu Brute?]

I think I have seen enough cut open golf balls to know that if I have an odd looking flight on the ball then I would still blame myself, wind, barometric pressure, solar flares, or humidity before I got to the equipment or their tolerances.

Me too. I haven't seen an off-center core yet that matches my (recently) patented OTT pulled driver hit right in the neck. You wanna see a funky ball flight?

P.S. Of course after about three holes in a row of necked drivers my Pro V1x might be a little wall-eyed, it's true!

 

[mjkladis]

Seeing the issues across multiple OEMs convinces me it’s a complete non issue.

(Playing Devil's Advocate here)
What other OEMs have you seen with this issue recently?
The off-center core pics I have seen were mainly Callaway and some small, unknown brands.

 

[tequila4kapp]

How much concern should this cause..?

(Playing Devil's Advocate here)
What other OEMs have you seen with this issue recently?
The off-center core pics I have seen were mainly Callaway and some small, unknown brands.

Just in this thread there is a ZStar that is way out of center and 9/12 Bridgestones failed the float test


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[BigDill]

I do wonder if the MTB-Red could have had this problem as it was Snells first 4 piece ball and they retired it quite quick. I am trying to see if I can find any to float test purely out of curiosity. At this point I'm hoping we can get some concrete information regarding what performance degradation occurs with off-center cores. Dean Snell seems like a straight shooter who doesn't pull any punches and I would love to hear his take / input!!

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I happen to have a full dozen of the MTB Red in my garage. PM me your address and I'll send them to you. But my guess is that it was retired for other performance reasons. Not that it is a bad ball (I actually liked it a lot) but it could be done better, and thus the MTB-X.

 

[93civiccpe]

I happen to have a full dozen of the MTB Red in my garage. PM me your address and I'll send them to you. But my guess is that it was retired for other performance reasons. Not that it is a bad ball (I actually liked it a lot) but it could be done better, and thus the MTB-X.

Very generous offer but I should have a sleeve somewhere in my garage. (I tested them but didn't like the performance of them as much as the original MTB). I have since found a couple pictures where they (MTB Red) were cut open and none of them look off-center but that could be because the center core in them is large versus the smaller cores in the CS and Zstar-xv with issues noted in this thread. I wonder if the tiny center core is what is causing the issues.

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[JDax]

OK.. I think I've gone far enough down this rabbit hole but I'm surprised that we haven't seen more conversation on this sooner. Apparently back in early 2015 on other sites they were discussing this same issue with the Callaway hex black (pictured below)

Then in 2017 the Instagram member golf_ball_gutz posted the below picture and a video of the chromesoft ball being cut with a core that is quite off.

The crazy thing is that looking at that Instagram page there are tons of balls being cut and the worst offenders for the badly off-center cores appears to be Callaway. I have a friend who plays the truvis chromesoft ball and plays it well so I still want to see the effect it has on performance or if this is being blown out of proportion. There is a story running about Titleist seeing consistency issues in performance with the early ProV1 and using an x-ray and seeing the cores were all over the place and putting in steps to get them consistent. I was expecting some of the direct to consumer balls to be horrible offenders but from seeing many pictures of the Kirkland ball, Vice balls, and Snell balls I've yet to see any terrible ones. I do wonder if the MTB-Red could have had this problem as it was Snells first 4 piece ball and they retired it quite quick. I am trying to see if I can find any to float test purely out of curiosity. At this point I'm hoping we can get some concrete information regarding what performance degradation occurs with off-center cores. Dean Snell seems like a straight shooter who doesn't pull any punches and I would love to hear his take / input!!

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Thanks for pulling me back into this rabbit hole.... lol

I cut open another Chrome Soft ... No off center core issues. I’m leaning to this being a big nothing burger.



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[93civiccpe]

Thanks for pulling me back into this rabbit hole.... lol

I cut open another Chrome Soft ... No off center core issues. I’m leaning to this being a big nothing burger.



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Stop cutting up good chromesoft balls JDax!! Lol! At most I would spin test them in water if I had a concern but the more I think about it the more I just don't care. Until someone shows the effect of an off-center core and the percentage of bad balls that make it to retail then it is noise for me. Then again, I'm not currently gaming the chromesoft or the zstar-xv so that may have something to do with it. I don't need anything else to be in my head about on the course!!

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[OGputtnfool]

Only had time for 2.

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[Tee/Ski]

Only had time for 2.

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Looks like a good example of what a lengthy time in water and/or sun will do to a ball.

 

[OGputtnfool]

Looks like a good example of what a lengthy time in water and/or sun will do to a ball.

Sun and water didn't do that to them. I split them open on purpose.

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[OGputtnfool]

Another...

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[JB]

Are you cutting those with teeth?

 

[JasonFinleyCG]

Hello all, sorry for jumping in late to this conversation. While there is LOTS I would want to say, I will try and keep it brief and too the point.

First of all, we absolutely do not like to see any quality issues with any of our products. But, to most of the conversation here, there can be escapes and that is what we work tremendously hard to avoid. That is what happened in this situation. We are in the midst of a MULTI YEAR capital improvement plan at our plant in Chicopee, MA which will mean we will be able to offer even greater performance and quality. Combined with the incredible R&D resources we have working on bringing new Innovations to market, we are even more excited about our Golf Ball Business.

Do we test several of our competitor products as well and know much about performance and quality of them, yes. Will we talk about them, very rarely. My choice is to focus on what we do and our business and market share - if they would like to spend more time on us, that is their choice.

Bottom line, for what it's worth, we are improving EVERY DAY and striving to have world class products while driving performance differences and innovations in the category. Thank you for your support. Look forward to having a couple THP members to Chicopee in a few months to show off what we have done!