Blind Ball Testing Review Thread

[fuffle master]

Bridgestone Ball Testing - Driver

I wanted to continue the testing as I moved up my bag and tested my driver and a hybrid. I mainly looked at ball speed, spin, and carry distance for these two clubs. I am going to review the Driver on this post.

I am using the Tour Edge EXS Driver and the Callaway Mavrik Driver, both set at 10.5 and have the same length shaft of 43" I hit 5 shots with each driver to see if there were any differences. First five with Mavrik and the second with Tour Edge



As I have and others have mentioned the Bridgestone Ball is a lower spinning ball. Looking at my averages the swing speed and ball speed were very similar, however, as you can see the spin numbers for the Bridgestone Test Ball were consistently lower. The average overall spin on the Bridgestone ball tended to be from 340 to almost 500 RPMs lower. Also, looking at my carry numbers and I see the Bridgestone Ball with the same average Ball Speed and Club Head Speed provided a carry distance from 7 to 11 yards longer.

Another interesting data point was the data point showing how often I would have hit the fairway. I generally don't play huge fairways at my public course and being in the fairway for the second shot we all know can be the difference between scoring well or poorly on the hole. Assuming a 40-yard fairway (20 on each side from the middle), I would have hit the fairway on 6 of the 10 drives using the Bridgestone. The Callaway had 2 out of 10 drives, the Titleist had 4 out of 10 drives, and the TaylorMade also had only 2 out of 10 drives hit the fairway. My normal drive to fairway ratio with Arccos is 36.5%. The Bridgestone Test Ball performed exceptionally well in this area.

Looking at the launch angle, spin numbers, carry distance, and the number of times I hit the fairway, I can see that this ball is looking very promising toward my game.

 

[Stryker]

I went to the course to try and get some numbers on the FlightScope earlier. The problem was I needed the net to catch the balls so not to lose them on the range and the wind is so bad the net would not keep from blowing over even with cinderblocks on the legs holding it down. Hopefully, this wind dies off soon as it has been like this all week and I can finish up getting numbers soon.

 

[ljkelly2171]

Mine arrived today as well. Looking forward to putting with them tonight and hopefully getting them out on the course this weekend or next week.

 

[e1iterate]

How did you think the mystery ball sounded off a putter? It had a pleasant ting off of my milled putter.

I agree. Pleasant sound. Nothing that stood out as distracting. Felt so good though.

 

[Annhl8rX]

My testing was done in two parts. I went to a range to do some chipping and putting on real grass. To me that’s the best way to evaluate feel. Feel isn’t something I’m terribly sensitive to. If I consciously pay attention to it I can discern differences, but I almost never have a preference. There was an exception to that, which will be obvious when you read it.

Here are my findings from the short game area:


ERC Soft: This ball was strange in that it had the firmest feel off my wedge, but the softest off my putter. It also seemed to spin the most off my wedge, as I got slightly less rollout with it than any of the others.

Tour Response: This one was middle of the pack for me in all aspects. It felt noticeably softer off the wedge than the ERC, and firmer off the putter. The rollout I got is what I’m accustomed to seeing from the Kirkland 3 piece balls I usually play.

Tour Speed: I could just copy and paste the Tour Response results here. After completing my testing with all four balls I went back and did these two side by side to try to discern some difference and I couldn’t do it. They might as well be the same ball to me (at least for this part of the game).

New Ball: This one felt the softest off my wedge and showed noticeably more rollout than any of the other balls. I get a lot of rollout anyway, so that’s not really a good thing for me. Putting this ball felt very strange. It felt like putting a significantly lighter ball. It was almost like putting one of the hollow plastic toy balls. I had a terrible time controlling distance with the putter.


Next I went to a simulator for some full swings to evaluate distance and forgiveness. I hit however many shots I needed to get five with decent contact for each ball using driver. I didn’t think it would be fair to include my tops and shanks when evaluating a ball. I noted the distances of each shot, but I’ll just give the long, short, and average for each ball.

I tried coming up with empirical ways to evaluate forgiveness, but just ended going with a subjective opinion of how the ball flight compared to what I expected from the feel of the strike. I had intended to get some 7 iron data as well, but the simulator I was using wasn’t reliably picking up shots from the deck and the adjustable tee wouldn’t go low enough to allow me to hit an iron.

Here are my full swing findings:

ERC Soft:
Long-278
Short-252
Average-268
Forgiveness-This ball seemed to hold a line well. The short one was hit toward the toe. It went a bit right, but didn’t lose a lot of distance.

Tour Response:
Long-269
Short-251
Average-258
Forgiveness-This one seemed to spin the most. My peak heights with this one were the highest (I hit the ball WAY too high with driver anyway), and the off center strikes seemed to move more laterally.

Tour Speed:
Long-280
Short-254
Average-264
Forgiveness-This one seemed really similar to the Tour Response as far as lateral spin went, but it didn’t balloon as much.

New Ball:
Long-282
Short-264
Average-271
Forgiveness-This ball seemed to spin less than any of the others. My ball flight was lower, and it had the best lateral dispersion.

I lost my scorecard during all of this, but here is what I ended up with as far as the best in each category:

Best distance: New Ball
Best forgiveness: New Ball
Best feel: ERC Soft

So...I looks like the new ball is the winner here, but it isn’t in my eyes. The feel putting it was really off-putting. When I couple that with the increased rollout I saw from it, I don’t think it’s a ball I would want to play. If I could only choose one of these balls to play the rest of my rounds with it would be the ERC Soft. In fact, that’s just what I did today.

 

[baylrballa]

Hoped to get 9 in but weather not cooperating. A little wet short game work just muddied the picture.
Erc and response seemed to check a little more than the other two.
Mystery ball was not the marshmallow I was expecting after putting. Didn't mind the feel at all, did seem to come up shorter than others despite roll out.
Titleist again hardest with less spin.

Short game spin rankings.
1. Response
2. Mystery
3. Erc
4. Speed

 

[mikeg_74]

Bridgestone Ball Testing - Driver

I wanted to continue the testing as I moved up my bag and tested my driver and a hybrid. I mainly looked at ball speed, spin, and carry distance for these two clubs. I am going to review the Driver on this post.

I am using the Tour Edge EXS Driver and the Callaway Mavrik Driver, both set at 10.5 and have the same length shaft of 43" I hit 5 shots with each driver to see if there were any differences. First five with Mavrik and the second with Tour Edge

View attachment 8989821

As I have and others have mentioned the Bridgestone Ball is a lower spinning ball. Looking at my averages the swing speed and ball speed were very similar, however, as you can see the spin numbers for the Bridgestone Test Ball were consistently lower. The average overall spin on the Bridgestone ball tended to be from 340 to almost 500 RPMs lower. Also, looking at my carry numbers and I see the Bridgestone Ball with the same average Ball Speed and Club Head Speed provided a carry distance from 7 to 11 yards longer.

Another interesting data point was the data point showing how often I would have hit the fairway. I generally don't play huge fairways at my public course and being in the fairway for the second shot we all know can be the difference between scoring well or poorly on the hole. Assuming a 40-yard fairway (20 on each side from the middle), I would have hit the fairway on 6 of the 10 drives using the Bridgestone. The Callaway had 2 out of 10 drives, the Titleist had 4 out of 10 drives, and the TaylorMade also had only 2 out of 10 drives hit the fairway. My normal drive to fairway ratio with Arccos is 36.5%. The Bridgestone Test Ball performed exceptionally well in this area.

Looking at the launch angle, spin numbers, carry distance, and the number of times I hit the fairway, I can see that this ball is looking very promising toward my game.

Looks like this ball suits you really well.

 

[tequila4kapp]

My test packet of balls arrived today so I skipped out of work and went to the short game practice area.

Chipping / Pitching
I hit probably 4 sets of short chips to a pin and another 4 rounds of pitch shots where the ball needed to fly about 15 feet to land on the green (but my target was a flag further away, so really these were longer shots than that). The pitch shots had favorable uphill lies and I almost always adjusted to give myself perfect lies in the grass. It was a cold day, probably low to mid 40s. Honestly, I couldn’t draw any conclusions from this session. Feel, sound and performance between the four balls were reasonably indistinguishable to me.

Sand Shots
The bunker is sunken, maybe 3 or 4 feet below the green. I set up about 6 feet from the face and was hitting to the first pin which was about 12 feet from that same face. The “green” is AstroTurf. I hit multiple rotations with each ball. Each ball reacted similarly in distance and height to the swing I put on it. What I observed here was that 3 of the 4 balls which rolled out the longest were the test ball.

Putting
15 foot putts. 50 foot uphill lag putts. 40 foot downhill lag putts. The mystery ball tended to be the one ball that did not end up past the pin. The ERC had a noticeable to me dense thud type sound. The other three were different from this and more alike to me. They clearly were not exactly the same but I thought they were in the same general neighborhood for sound and feel.


It is only day 1. I’m not ready to draw any conclusions or rank them. Based on what I saw today I couldn’t pick one over the other. Price would be a distinguishing factor, as would the alignment line that ultimately ends up on the mystery ball.

I will do my best to get out this weekend and play. I hope that full swings and on course experience tell me more than I saw today.

Here are the balls - not cleaned - after the practice session

 

[armidwestgolf]

Someone probably said this, but VICE is a good ball. I would put it with the best on the market, though it is different, you'll notice.

 

[rehbirdie]

Bridgestone Ball Testing - Driver

I wanted to continue the testing as I moved up my bag and tested my driver and a hybrid. I mainly looked at ball speed, spin, and carry distance for these two clubs. I am going to review the Driver on this post.

I am using the Tour Edge EXS Driver and the Callaway Mavrik Driver, both set at 10.5 and have the same length shaft of 43" I hit 5 shots with each driver to see if there were any differences. First five with Mavrik and the second with Tour Edge

View attachment 8989821

As I have and others have mentioned the Bridgestone Ball is a lower spinning ball. Looking at my averages the swing speed and ball speed were very similar, however, as you can see the spin numbers for the Bridgestone Test Ball were consistently lower. The average overall spin on the Bridgestone ball tended to be from 340 to almost 500 RPMs lower. Also, looking at my carry numbers and I see the Bridgestone Ball with the same average Ball Speed and Club Head Speed provided a carry distance from 7 to 11 yards longer.

Another interesting data point was the data point showing how often I would have hit the fairway. I generally don't play huge fairways at my public course and being in the fairway for the second shot we all know can be the difference between scoring well or poorly on the hole. Assuming a 40-yard fairway (20 on each side from the middle), I would have hit the fairway on 6 of the 10 drives using the Bridgestone. The Callaway had 2 out of 10 drives, the Titleist had 4 out of 10 drives, and the TaylorMade also had only 2 out of 10 drives hit the fairway. My normal drive to fairway ratio with Arccos is 36.5%. The Bridgestone Test Ball performed exceptionally well in this area.

Looking at the launch angle, spin numbers, carry distance, and the number of times I hit the fairway, I can see that this ball is looking very promising toward my game.

Great feedback! You seem to have made great contact with the mystery ball with your driver!

 

[JDax]

Once it was revealed that the Mystery Ball was from Bridgestone, I was hoping that it was like the Return of The E5...

But I don’t think the Mystery Ball has a Urethane cover...

 

[oddjob27]

Balls just arrived about 5 minutes ago! Unfortunately forecast says that it's going to be raining the next few days, I will try and get out in between!

 

[campilobaxter]

Balls just arrived about 5 minutes ago! Unfortunately forecast says that it's going to be raining the next few days, I will try and get out in between!

Mine just arrived too! Total surprise.

Luckily my weather is cooperating and I can put them to the test tomorrow. Looking forward to trying them all out and comparing.

 

[tequila4kapp]

Once it was revealed that the Mystery Ball was from Bridgestone, I was hoping that it was like the Return of The E5...

But I don’t think the Mystery Ball has a Urethane cover...

Just touching and feeling it I couldn’t tell a difference between it and the Titleist ball. Based on profile of the compare balls I’m kind of expecting a cost effective urethane cover ball in the $35-40 range

 

[JDax]

Someone probably said this, but VICE is a good ball. I would put it with the best on the market, though it is different, you'll notice.

I think we were given the other balls to test the Mystery Ball v. The Industry leaders in this price point.

I think the the Q-Star Tour should have been included because it’s a great ball in this price point.

 

[fuffle master]

I think we were given the other balls to test the Mystery Ball v. The Industry leaders in this price point.

I think the the Q-Star Tour should have been included because it’s a great ball in this price point.

Funny you mention this as I grabbed the Q-Star off my desk and was going to test, but decided against since that ball wasn’t part of the package.

I thought the same that the Q-Star would be a good comparison to go with this Bridgestone new ball.

 

[JDax]

Funny you mention this as I grabbed the Q-Star off my desk and was going to test, but decided against since that ball wasn’t part of the package.

I thought the same that the Q-Star would be a good comparison to go with this Bridgestone new ball.

Now I did test the Z-Star against it in the Sim on the 3/4 wedge shot.

 

[armidwestgolf]

Q star, thats made by callaway?

 

[Davidhibler]

Q star, thats made by callaway?

Srixon.

 

[JDax]

Q star, thats made by callaway?

Q-Star Tour by Srixon

 

[MWard]

I could be wrong, but I’m doubtful the mystery ball is a urethane ball. Didn’t seem to react around the green like my gamer ball at all, but the I know the makeup of the ball has a lot to do with that than just the cover.

I’ll be curious how it reacts and flies based on full shots.

 

[Chef23]

I spent more time on the sim today. It was 28* and real world golf is out for a while. On full swings all of the balls would be playable for me based on the feel. The feel really comes into play for me around the greens and unfortunately I haven't gotten any time around the greens.

This chart has the summary data from last week and this week. There are 4 shots with each ball on each day. With the exception of the PW on the ERC my numbers are pretty consistent. I made a change to the setup on my driver from last week to this weeks test (I actually figured it out after looking at driver results last week). I would need to see how the balls behave after hitting the greens and how they feel around the greens. Off the putter I feel I could play any of the balls except the Tour Speed which feels really firm.

ERC

Tour Response

Tour Speed

New Ball

Club

Carry

Spin

Height

Launch

Carry

Spin

Height

Launch

Carry

Spin

Height

Launch

Carry

Spin

Height

Launch

PW 1/16

121​

6978​

75​

121​

6962​

75​

119​

7200​

73​

119​

7271​

76​

PW 1/23

116​

8260​

78​

119​

6470​

75​

119​

7314​

77​

119​

7271​

79​

PW Avg

119​

7619​

77​

120​

6716​

75​

119​

7257​

75​

119​

7271​

77​

7i 1/16

154​

5825​

79​

155​

5677​

78​

157​

4406​

74​

152​

5868​

80​

7i 1/23

154​

5780​

83​

156​

5244​

84​

159​

4387​

79​

153​

5970​

84​

7i Avg

154​

5803​

81​

155​

5461​

81​

158​

4396​

77​

153​

5919​

82​

D 1/16

208​

2223​

46​

9.0​

209​

2007​

49​

10.0​

207​

2020​

50​

10.4​

208​

2203​

50​

10.2​

D 1/23

221​

2423​

62​

10.9​

223​

2320​

65​

11.4​

227​

2020​

71​

11.6​

223​

2673​

73​

11.7​

I have more details including club and ball speeds below which I will put in a different post.

 

[ljkelly2171]

Received the box of balls yesterday afternoon and had a little bit of time this morning to take them to the chipping and putting green before hitting some balls on the range.

Putting
Let me start out by saying none of these felt bad on the green, so I wouldn't rule out playing any of them based on how they felt off the putter.

1. Taylor Made Tour Response: It felt firmer than the other test balls except the Titleist, but felt really good off the putter face. It wasn't clicky at all and I felt like it was firm and responsive enough for my preference, especially outside of 12 feet. I feel like the Tour Response also gave me good feedback in terms of feeling a mishit. Full disclosure, I played this ball a lot late in the summer through the fall, so I was already comfortable putting it from various distances and feel I have a good sense of how to putt with this ball.

2. Mystery Ball: Off the putter, it was sort of a Goldilocks ball....not too firm, but not too soft. It seemed to roll nicley off the club face and it didn't take me long to get comfortable from several distances putting this ball. Like the Tour Response, I felt like the mystery ball wasn't so soft that I couldn't get feedback on mishits. I didn't have any trouble knowing if I had pulled or pushed a putt before seeing it happen. The mystery ball had sort of a muted sound and came off the putter a little hotter than the Tour Response which helped me place the Tour Response ahead of it. I really enjoyed the mystery ball on the green and could certainly put it into play based on putting.

3. Titlesit Tour Speed: definitely the firmest of the bunch and a little clicky. I don't think I disliked putting this ball as much as some others, but it was a distant third for me. Because it was firmer, I felt like I really putted this ball well outside of 15-18 feet (I tend to putt better with firmer balls). Even though the compression isn't that high, I feel like the cover makes it feel firm and gives off a clicky sound that might turn some people off. Like the two balls previously mentioned, I could really get a good sense of when I was hitting it well and when the mishits happened. I felt like the Tour Speed jumped off the club face as well which I wasn't a fan of inside 7-8 feet. Also, for whatever reason, I wasn't a fan of the alignment aid. Again, while being third out of the balls tested, if this ball performs off the wedges, irons, and driver, it's performance on the green wouldn't deter me from playing it.

4. Callaway ERC Soft: I didn't hate it, but it was a clear fourth. First, I really liked the triple track putting aid. Unfortunately, it had a really muted sound and was too soft for my preference. Oddly enough, I felt like I putted this ball the best inside 6 feet, but once I was outside of 15 feet, I struggled to with this ball in terms of getting comfortable controlling the speed of the putts.

Chipping
I had a little bit of time to hit some chips from 10 and 20 yards. All of the chips were from the rough.

1. Taylor Made Tour Response: Having played a decent amount with this ball, today's little test reconfirmed that this is a ball that checks up nicely, feels great off the wedge, and at least for me is a ball the I am confident in controlling the distance on chips and pitches. The Tour Response had minimal run out, if any, on all of the shots I hit with it.

2. Titlesit Tour Speed: This ball reacted very similarly to the Tour Response when chipping. It checked up very nicely and I felt like I had good distance control. After a few chips, I felt like this is a ball I could be aggressive with on tight wedge shots and if I miss, it won't run out so much that I would be chipping again. Really the only difference between this ball and the Taylor Made was that I prefer the feel of the Taylor Made.

3. Callaway ERC Soft: Off the wedge, this ball seemed to spin less than the Titleist and Taylor Made, but it consistantly launched the highest so it pretty much just rolled a smidge after landing. I think the apparent lack of spin could hurt me on faster or smaller greens. My home course has more than a handful off greens with decent drop offs on the backside and if I put one long, I don't know if this ball would give me a chance to hold the green.

4. Mystery Ball: The mystery ball seemed to have the most run out amongst the 4 test balls. It felt great off the wedge, but pretty much all of my chips from both distances ran out a little. I am assuming this is a low spin ball based on its reaction off of the wedges. It certainly ran out more than the others and also seemed to have a lower launch than the others. I so play a fair amount of bump and runs, especially from the fairway and this ball seems like it would be a good ball to be able to bump and run with based on its feel and won't check up too quickly.

I am anxious to get them on the course for some more testing, but that might not happen until next weekend. While I struggled some chipping the mystery ball, I do want to see how it plays off the irons, longer wedge shots, and of course the driver. I do think it is a low spin ball and i really want to see how the cover impacts its play all over the course.

The other ball I am really interested in putting into play is the Titlesit Tour Speed. It seems like a lot of feedback on this ball has been underwhelming, but I really liked it in the short game. Despite being clicky off the putter, I actually liked putting it and was really impressed with it chipping around the green.

At least in my opinion, the Tour Response seems to be the closest to the premium balls. It just has more of a premium feel and look to it (because of the cast urethane, maybe?). Even though it has a lower compression (70), it doesn't feel overly soft.

I don't want to rule it out, but I feel like the ERC Soft is built to perform in the short games and I just wasn't feeling it. Obviously, I want to see how it plays off the irons and driver, so we will if I have this ball pegged incorrectly.

 

[Chef23]

Here are details including CS and BS

ERC

Tour Response

Tour Speed

New Ball

Club

C

S

H

BS

CS

C

S

H

BS

CS

C

S

H

BS

CS

C

S

H

BS

CS

PW

116.3​

8260​

78​

93​

76​

119​

6470​

75​

92.7​

74​

118​

6738​

79​

92.7​

75​

120​

7250​

74​

94.5​

74.3​

122.5​

7040​

77​

95​

76​

126​

6582​

85​

97​

74​

116​

6975​

68​

91.5​

75​

123​

7246​

80​

96​

74.7​

123.3​

7406​

83​

97​

75​

125​

7130​

84​

97.1​

75​

120​

7955​

78​

95.3​

76​

120​

7400​

80​

94.9​

76.2​

122.6​

7067​

79​

96​

75​

126​

7393​

86​

98.3​

76​

120​

7589​

82​

95.7​

76​

123​

7160​

80​

96​

74.8​

Avg

121​

7443​

81​

95​

75​

124​

6894​

83​

96.3​

74.9​

119​

7314​

77​

94​

76​

121​

7264​

79​

95.4​

75.0​

7I

152​

5830​

79​

110​

80​

157​

4771​

79​

110​

79​

161​

4186​

76​

150​

6090​

80​

110​

78.9​

154​

5750​

84​

112​

79​

152​

5830​

84​

110​

80​

154​

2963​

70​

154​

6190​

88​

112​

79.3​

157​

5890​

85​

113​

80​

154​

6110​

88​

112​

80​

155​

6020​

86​

156​

5960​

87​

113​

80.4​

151​

5650​

82​

109​

80​

162​

4266​

83​

111​

79​

165​

4378​

84​

153​

5640​

81​

110​

79.6​

Avg

153.5​

5780​

82.5​

111​

80​

156​

5244​

84​

159​

4387​

79​

153​

5970​

84​

111​

79.6​

D

220​

2330​

65​

140​

95​

218​

2010​

58​

141​

95​

223​

2520​

61​

142​

96​

223​

2600​

70​

140​

94.3​

221​

2380​

68​

140​

96​

225​

2400​

71​

141​

96​

225​

1940​

61​

144​

97​

220​

2520​

66​

142​

96.1​

218​

2420​

54​

143​

96​

220​

2380​

60​

142​

96​

229​

2110​

75​

142​

96​

225​

2810​

82​

140​

95.5​

224​

2470​

64​

142​

97​

223​

2180​

63​

142​

96​

227​

2010​

77​

141​

95​

224​

2690​

72​

141​

95.1​

Avg

221​

2423​

62​

141​

96​

223​

2320​

65​

141​

95.8​

227​

2020​

71​

142​

95.9​

223​

2673​

73​

141​

95.3​

 

[Davidhibler]

Sooo...tomorrow is the big day?