Anyone notice a seam appearing on ZStar?

Supersport

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I have played yellow ZStars for many years now and been very happy with their performance as well as durability.
I Bought about 10 dozen on the last buy 2 get 1 deal and have noticed multiple times lately, that a seam starts to show up and look like a very fine crack around the circumstance of the ball. I don’t see it impacting performance mic if at all but at some point I worry that it might.
curious if anyone else has seen this. I may reach out to Srixon and see what they say.
I will put a new one in play today and see how long it takes to show up.image.jpg
 
From your picture, I don't see a seam or a crack.

But to answer your question, no I have not experienced that.
 
I have played yellow ZStars for many years now and been very happy with their performance as well as durability.
I Bought about 10 dozen on the last buy 2 get 1 deal and have noticed multiple times lately, that a seam starts to show up and look like a very fine crack around the circumstance of the ball. I don’t see it impacting performance mic if at all but at some point I worry that it might.
curious if anyone else has seen this. I may reach out to Srixon and see what they say.
I will put a new one in play today and see how long it takes to show up.View attachment 9004257
Yes, specifically with the XV. I played some regular Z Stars and never saw that. It happened on almost every one that I put in play (assuming I kept it in play for a couple holes, lol). It never seemed to impact performance at all. I didn't buy anymore after that and won't buy the new one until I am sure I won't see the same issue. I want to say they had a similar issue a few versions back.

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I don't play that ball often, but I have seen it happen on occasion. Never impacted performance.
 
Does a seam affect the performance? If not why does it matter? Genuinely curious.
 
I have seen these on the 2015, 2017 and 2019 models. For me it was way more prevalent in the 2017 model. I have not really noticed a performance issue just the looks
 
Does a seam affect the performance? If not why does it matter? Genuinely curious.
It points to a lack of quality control for one. I looked through Davidhibler's thread and in one of the pics it appears the cover is starting to shred in that spot. If the cover is starting to split does that point to other inconsistencies that may not be visible? I don't know. I love that ball. But, there are other options that perform just as well that don't have cover issues like that. And, in my experience it isn't once in a while. Out of 4 dozen that I used, every single one that was in play for a few holes ended up doing the same thing.
 
Does a seam affect the performance? If not why does it matter? Genuinely curious.
Any issue with the cover could effect performance. Do you play a ball that has a scuff on it?, because that will effect performance. A dirty ball will effect performance, that's why they put ball washers on the course.
 
I played ZStars in yellow for a couple of years. During that time I cracked 3 of them and another one completely split in half off the driver face.
I sent pictures via Twitter to them and they sent me a sleeve of white ones to replace the one that split. Nada on the other cracked ones.
I have played Chrome Softs ever since.
 
Any issue with the cover could effect performance. Do you play a ball that has a scuff on it?, because that will effect performance. A dirty ball will effect performance, that's why they put ball washers on the course.
So you're telling me all this time I don't wipe dirt off my ball was the reason I didn't birdie or par? Thats insanity! :ROFLMAO:
 
So you're telling me all this time I don't wipe dirt off my ball was the reason I didn't birdie or par? Thats insanity! :ROFLMAO:
That's going to be my go to excuse now because it's @Snickerdog approved!! 😛
 
So you're telling me all this time I don't wipe dirt off my ball was the reason I didn't birdie or par? Thats insanity! :ROFLMAO:
You don't think dirt on the ball can effect a putt? I hear you're a good stick, so maybe cleaning those balls and you'll be ever better. ;)
 
On a serious note though, I believe Srixon addressed this with the newer ball? Can't be for certain but I remember a discussion on this somewhere on the forum.
 
You don't think dirt on the ball can effect a putt? I hear you're a good stick, so maybe cleaning those balls and you'll be ever better. ;)
Just having some fun of course, though I will admit at times I will hit a ball that isn't perfectly clean or that has some scuff marks on it on normal shots. Putting no way haha
 
I guess the Srixon ball in question uses "compression molding"

Forming the cover and dimples
Injection molding or compression molding is used to form the cover and dimples on a two-piece ball using a two-piece mold. In injection molding, the core is centered within a mold cavity by pins, and molten thermoplastic is injected into the dimpled cavity surrounding the core. Heat and pressure cause the cover material to flow to join with the center forming the dimpled shape and size of the finished ball. As the plastic cools and hardens, the pins are retracted and the finished balls are removed.

With compression molding, the cover is first injection molded into two hollow hemispheres. These are positioned around the core, heated and then pressed together, using a mold which fuses the cover to the core and also forms the dimples. Three-piece balls are all compression molded since the hot plastic flowing through would distort and probably cause breaks in the rubber threads.
 
I have seen this with Srixon's, but it really doesn't bother me. I've yet to feel like it affected performance. My take is that the seam is related to the molding of the very thin SeRM layer, which is a micro-coating on the urethane cover which itself is thin at just 0.020" to start with. I could be wrong, might be the parting line on the urethane cover itself.

I played one XV that had a pretty good seam wear for a ridiculous number of holes. It was a yellow one, I posted about it in here a couple years ago. The cover never did crack all the way through, more surface appearance than anything.
 
Intersting... I've always thought the Srixon premium balls were some of the most durable on the market.
 
If it doesn't have an effect off of the driver or irons, I would think on the putting green where it would roll and hit the hit spot and maybe deviate off-line.
 
If it doesn't have an effect off of the driver or irons, I would think on the putting green where it would roll and hit the hit spot and maybe deviate off-line.

Really? If you were putting an a slate pool table that would be one thing. The golf ball is rolling on a collection of 1/8" (3mm) tall grass blades. The surface roughness of the green is orders of magnitude greater than a tiny seam irregularity. And, the grass is conformable?

I'd argue aero effects show up way before anything putting related.
 
Most likely a seam where the tooling mates up before the cover is molded on..... could have something to do with aging molds or something in the molding process itself.
 
Interesting. I was gifted a box of Z-Star balls but haven't played them at all yet. They're the white version, but I'll keep an eye on them when I do eventually get them on course.
 
Really? If you were putting an a slate pool table that would be one thing. The golf ball is rolling on a collection of 1/8" (3mm) tall grass blades. The surface roughness of the green is orders of magnitude greater than a tiny seam irregularity. And, the grass is conformable?

I'd argue aero effects show up way before anything putting related.
May be so, but looking at the yellow ball above, I still contend that it would cause the ball not to roll straight. What kind of aero effects do you think would show up?
 
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