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Golf Ball Fitting...of a Sort

SuperStroke
Sean

Sean

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Albatross 2024 Club
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Seeing the new Chrome Soft X LS got me thinking about finding the ball that works best. Last year I took six premium golf balls and over the course of two days tested them...from putting, to chipping, to pitching, from great lies to horrible lies, out of bunkers, and then out on the course.

I found that off the tee each golf ball went pretty much the same distance (this included non-premium balls as well), it is around the green where I could really tell the difference. For me, the ProV1x came out on top, which surprised me as I don't have the club head speed to play this ball (some opine that you need a certain CHS to play a certain ball). Titleist also came to my home course a couple of months after may test, and the ProV1x came out on top. Fortunately, I find a lot of these golf balls so I don't have to pay for them.

Have you ever fit yourself for a golf ball, and if so, what did you come up with?
 
Here is our video we alluded to in the article which shows why golfers should not just test around the green in my opinion. Here is a low compression vs high compression golf ball and the differences with just an iron are quite large.

 
Sean said:
Seeing the new Chrome Soft X LS got me thinking about finding the ball that works best. Last year I took six premium golf balls and over the course of two days tested them...from putting, to chipping, to pitching, from great lies to horrible lies, out of bunkers, and then out on the course.

I found that off the tee each golf ball went pretty much the same distance (this included non-premium balls as well), it is around the green where I could really tell the difference. For me, the ProV1x came out on top, which surprised me as I don't have the club head speed to play this ball (some opine that you need a certain CHS to play a certain ball). Titleist also came to my home course a couple of months after may test, and the ProV1x came out on top. Fortunately, I find a lot of these golf balls so I don't have to pay for them.

Have you ever fit yourself for a golf ball, and if so, what did you come up with?
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Sean, I think you are on the right track. I love testing them out and finding which one fits best for you and your needs which are different from everyone. Enjoy!
 
Last year was the first time I did a ball test. I quasi formally did it on a gcquad over a couple of 2-hour sessions. I was looking for a combination of numbers and feel. From that I tested 2 preferred options on course and ended up playing both over the season. Tour B X and Tour B RX. My ideal would be X off the tee, RX with irons, X around greens, and RX with putter. This year I will go through the process again and see if I can find my unicorn.

BTW, I would not have done a ball test without the info sharing and outreach from THP, including things like the video above. I had no idea how much ball could make a difference. Now I get it. 👍
 
JB said:
Here is our video we alluded to in the article which shows why golfers should not just test around the green in my opinion. Here is a low compression vs high compression golf ball and the differences with just an iron are quite large.

Click to expand...

Watching this video again I would love to see @Canadan do a new testing with the soon to be released CSX LS balls. They may be a perfect fit for what he was looking for to go against his Bridgestone ball.
 
fuffle master said:
Watching this video again I would love to see @Canadan do a new testing with the soon to be released CSX LS balls. They may be a perfect fit for what he was looking for to go against his Bridgestone ball.
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test out the full Callaway golf ball lineup?

What do you think @JB? Can we help the people out? Maybe in a couple weeks?
 
fuffle master said:
Watching this video again I would love to see @Canadan do a new testing with the soon to be released CSX LS balls. They may be a perfect fit for what he was looking for to go against his Bridgestone ball.
Click to expand...
I would love this, especially the CSX vs CSX LS!
 
I played the ProV1x for years (later shortened my name since I don’t anymore).

Titleist came out with the AVX and it was a game changer. The V1x was horrible for my moonballs into the wind. The AVX cut it great. Lost a lot of control around the greens but I didn’t care too much as I was hitting more greens into wind as I only had to guess 1-2 clubs not 3-4.

Then I was lucky enough to get selected for the THP Bridgestone Championship. It included a golf ball fitting and of course I couldn’t make contact that night (may have had one too many at dinner and just flat out must have been talking to someone and not paying attention or I’d have cut it off).

Long story short, and I’d been playing them the few rounds I got in prior that year, their TourB RX is by far the best ball I’ve ever played for my game. It’s as long and maybe even longer into wind as the AVX. Has much better greenside control for me.

I did a golf ball test here recently. None of the balls would be tops for me but they all had their perks. They were TM’s, Callaway, Bridgestone (surprise:)), and Titleist.

They were all good balls and I could play any of them. But when a round really matters I’ll play the TourB RX. But I’ve also played damn near everything else so it’s with a pretty informed decision.
 
I did a Titleist golf ball fitting last year using a Trackman on my home course range and they fit for irons and wedges. The Titleist position is that the performance off the driver for their three premium balls is roughly equivalent but you need to fit the spin requirements of the wedges and irons. After recommending a ball off mid iron and wedge shots they had you hit some drives with the AVX, ProV and ProVx and the results off the drivers were very similar.

I have never done a multi brand premium ball fitting I think it would be interesting. I did spend a fair amount of time on the Trackman with the balls that THP sent me and there was definitely a performance difference off the irons in the 4 balls. There may have been a few yard difference in drivers and 200-400rpm in spin but not enough to be significant in my game on the the golf course.
 
I do not have access to Trackman data or any such equipment, so my ball testing has to be out on the course. When I first got my Mizuno JPX 919 Hot Metals 2 years ago, I did some ball testing to see what worked best with them. I tested the following: Mizuno Tour B (I think that's the name), ProV1, TP5, Cally Truvis, and Snell MTB. I was primarily basing my judgments on ball flight, feel off the club face, accuracy, and ultimately, my scores. I found the Mizuno ball to be okay, but ball flight was far too low. The ProV1 was all over the place with my swing. The Truvis felt great, but 1 round I'd play well with it, the next round horribly. The TP5 and MTB gave me a ball flight in my Goldilocks zone, felt great on contact, generally went were I wanted them to go fairly consistently, and I scored best with them. So, since then, I've alternated between the 2 since they were basically the same for me.

I haven't done any ball testing since that time, but I have a dozen AVX's coming in that I'm going to try.
 
Rebel4life said:
I do not have access to Trackman data or any such equipment, so my ball testing has to be out on the course. When I first got my Mizuno JPX 919 Hot Metals 2 years ago, I did some ball testing to see what worked best with them. I tested the following: Mizuno Tour B (I think that's the name), ProV1, TP5, Cally Truvis, and Snell MTB. I was primarily basing my judgments on ball flight, feel off the club face, accuracy, and ultimately, my scores. I found the Mizuno ball to be okay, but ball flight was far too low. The ProV1 was all over the place with my swing. The Truvis felt great, but 1 round I'd play well with it, the next round horribly. The TP5 and MTB gave me a ball flight in my Goldilocks zone, felt great on contact, generally went were I wanted them to go fairly consistently, and I scored best with them. So, since then, I've alternated between the 2 since they were basically the same for me.

I haven't done any ball testing since that time, but I have a dozen AVX's coming in that I'm going to try.
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The AVX ball was great for me when I was trying them out. I am currently trying out the TP5X. I like the flight and lesser driver spin and distance. Best of luck to you.
 
JB said:
Here is our video we alluded to in the article which shows why golfers should not just test around the green in my opinion. Here is a low compression vs high compression golf ball and the differences with just an iron are quite large.

Click to expand...


That is almost a full club difference. Perhaps it's my inconsistency, but I have never noticed that much of a difference in yardages with any ball I have played. As I said, the only difference I have noticed is the responsiveness around the greens, and I get more of that with the ProV1x than any other ball. I have played the Bridgestone B-RXS, but it wasn't as responsive around the green as the ProV1x, and distance wise they were about the same.
 
Sean said:
That is almost a full club difference. Perhaps it's my inconsistency, but I have never noticed that much of a difference in yardages with any ball I have played. As I said, the only difference I have noticed is the responsiveness around the greens, and I get more of that with the ProV1x than any other ball. I have played the Bridgestone B-RXS, but it wasn't as responsive around the green as the ProV1x, and distance wise they were about the same.
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Try out the TourB X or XS.

Colin and I both had them both consistently check up faster and with more response side by side with a ProV1 and ProV1x.

The RXS is kind of a blend and probably a good all around ball for most golfers. But if you’re after maximum greenside control, it’s not the ball for you. The X and XS should provide the control you want if you wanted a fair test.

Maybe you’ll like them, maybe you won’t. It’ll be a lot more apples to apples though.
 
Smiter said:
Try out the TourB X or XS.

Colin and I both had them both consistently check up faster and with more response side by side with a ProV1 and ProV1x.

The RXS is kind of a blend and probably a good all around ball for most golfers. But if you’re after maximum greenside control, it’s not the ball for you. The X and XS should provide the control you want if you wanted a fair test.

Maybe you’ll like them, maybe you won’t. It’ll be a lot more apples to apples though.
Click to expand...

Hopefully I will find some to try out, lol. Right now I have a boat load of ProV's to get through. :)
 
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