I would too!
Volvik XT Soft Golf Balls Review
The feel off the wedge was not clicky but somewhat muted. I did get the sense that I was hitting the sweet spot by the sound all of the time which I know I wasn't. The Volvik was as good off the face of the putter as my AVX which to say not clicky.
erock9174
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Now having said that. If these were buy 3 get 1 free for $120, I might be swayed back
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- #29
It's really funny you say that. I don't want to overstate this point, but I felt the same way at times. Moving to a firmer ball quickly reminded me who I really was
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- #30
Putting these through the gauntlet of tests today in the Tech Studio. I like what I am seeing.
erock9174
Well-known member
Can you elaborate? Really on the fence with this one. Debating on trialing one box of these or taking the 3+1 V1x deal before it ends
I really like the height that the V1x delivers. Wasn't sure how this would stack up there. And I can take all the spin I can get expecially with irons (low spinner of the ball)
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- #32
I couldn’t think of a more different ball from a Pro V1x. Not to say it wouldn’t deliver solid results, but they are on opposite ends of the Tour ball spectrum.Can you elaborate? Really on the fence with this one. Debating on trialing one box of these or taking the 3+1 V1x deal before it ends
I really like the height that the V1x delivers. Wasn't sure how this would stack up there. And I can take all the spin I can get expecially with irons (low spinner of the ball)
erock9174
Well-known member
I get one is a lower compression softer feeling ball vs a firmer higher compression ball but I was more focused on their performance attributes (flight type, spin profile etc).
With Titleist I like that on their site it will tell you how they design the ball to be compared to others in their lineup:
With Volvik I go on their site and all it says is:
Extreme Soft Feel & Power Distance
– VU-X Urethane Cover– Ultra Soft Core
– 336 Perfect Symmetric Dimple Pattern
– 70 Compression
I have no idea if its a low flying ball like an AVX, mid flier like a V1, High Flier like a V1x.
Doesn't say how many pieces it is. Just very vague. I read the homepage article and got some clues as to how it might work for me, but I feel like if Volvik wants to be taken serious in the urethane market game, they should probably beef up their information.
Just providing some constructive criticism as a previous Volvik ball user.
Was hoping to get some feedback after @JB posts earlier.
erock9174
Well-known member
@Hawk -saw this quote in the homepage article,
In general, we found that, on full swings, the XT soft produced medium ball speeds.......... than some of the other current “Tour” golf balls on the market.
How much ball speed loss are you seeing with this one vs other premium balls? We talking only 1 mph or something more?
And do you feel that is a result of it being a lower 70 compression ball or due more to construction or materials they use when compared to other brands, etc?
In general, we found that, on full swings, the XT soft produced medium ball speeds.......... than some of the other current “Tour” golf balls on the market.
How much ball speed loss are you seeing with this one vs other premium balls? We talking only 1 mph or something more?
And do you feel that is a result of it being a lower 70 compression ball or due more to construction or materials they use when compared to other brands, etc?
I agree, looking at the Volvik site is "almost as bad as the Wilson site. If your going to make a golf ball and be successful at it, at least throw some technical information about the product with a comparison cut-away.
Et Tu Brute?
Well-known member
If you can source Pro V1x at $41/dozen and you know its ball flight and performance suit you perfectly, it's hard to see paying $40/dozen for the Volvik. Best case, you'd be hoping the XT Soft might be pretty close to Pro V1x performance.Can you elaborate? Really on the fence with this one. Debating on trialing one box of these or taking the 3+1 V1x deal before it ends
I really like the height that the V1x delivers. Wasn't sure how this would stack up there. And I can take all the spin I can get expecially with irons (low spinner of the ball)
Unless there's some specific benefit to the Volvik XT Soft that Pro V1x can't offer, it doesn't add up on price alone. Not compared to the 4-for-3 deal.
My general rule is, if you're going to shop on price, then make sure you're getting a REALLY good price. Not sure an un-discountable $40/doz qualifies.
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- #37
They are not designed to be the same ball or even close. From Volvik that Titleist ball would be closer to Condor X.
This is a soft ball designed to reduce spin off the tee, have a very soft feel while providing high spin the closer you get to the green.
There are full details in the article above (linked 1st post)
I agree...but I'm not a 4 for 3 type of guy. I did at one point, but I found out that It was hard just using 24 balls plus the good ones that you find in a season and I usually play 3-4 times a week, not 18 all of the time. I just hate to be tied down to a certain ball and it's tough getting sleeves of balls to try. My mainstay is the AVX, but a few years ago I really liked the Wilson Professional..had good spin especially around the green and distance. I'm not a big hitter so being in the short grass 225 or so is fine with me. My game is from 120 in...that's why the interest in the XT-Soft.
erock9174
Well-known member
You make valid points. I probably shouldn't compromise not knowing what this ball would do for me and my game. The V1x is proven and I know what I am going to get. Durability, nice shade of yellow, high quality, higher flight, high spin, control around the greens. And with the loyalty deal a similar price.
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- #40
Sorry, not ignoring you. I go to bed early and my weekends are a bit crammed these days.
I don't have numbers in front of me, but I want to say 1-2mph vs the Chrome Tour series. Those are the balls I've been using more recently. Overall distance wasn't really that different. They also launched a little higher and spun a little less on full swings. I intended to run V1x's against them for you tomorrow, but seem to have pulled a muscle in my neck. So, what we have is a guy that goes to bed early and pulls muscles in his neck. If you're still interested I can make it happen sometime next week I'm sure.
Played 18 the other day with these and my AVX. Definitely not an apples to apples comparison but gave me a lot of insight. Played the front 9 with the Volvik and the back 9 with the AVX.
Volvik: launches higher, not as much spin as the AVX but comparable in all sense to the QST. Feels good off the putter but the AVX being firmer but feeling better if that makes sense. Again all in all, very much like the QST in drives and irons shots.
AVX: Lower launch, good spin around the greens, feels good off the putter and got more roll with it.....costs $10 bucks more but might be worth it.
Volvik: launches higher, not as much spin as the AVX but comparable in all sense to the QST. Feels good off the putter but the AVX being firmer but feeling better if that makes sense. Again all in all, very much like the QST in drives and irons shots.
AVX: Lower launch, good spin around the greens, feels good off the putter and got more roll with it.....costs $10 bucks more but might be worth it.
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- #42
Stay tuned to the home page for some forum testing on XT Soft.
So the first thing I did was take the yellow ball outside to get a visual comparison between it and my current gamer.
The yellow pops more on the Volvick, but no shimmer like the other. It’ll be interesting to see if these standout as well in the grass. One thing I did notice after looking at the pictures - the dimples seem to be more clearly defined, causing more shadowing on the surface of the ball.
I can’t wait to get these out to try later this week!
The yellow pops more on the Volvick, but no shimmer like the other. It’ll be interesting to see if these standout as well in the grass. One thing I did notice after looking at the pictures - the dimples seem to be more clearly defined, causing more shadowing on the surface of the ball.
I can’t wait to get these out to try later this week!
Hopefully my ramblings will offer some decent insight. I'm by no means a professional.
Step 1 for me: Testing each ball out on the putting mat. I don't live right next to the range or a course, so this was an easy way to get right into it. I spend a lot of time putting at home. I'll putt during meetings, for a break, and generally sometime every evening I've been rolling putts for 30 minutes or so.
To start with, I rolled 10 putts with my current gamer (Srixon QStar Tour) to make sure I was in the right frame of mind. I setup a target at 8'. Put 9 of 10 in the target.
Switched to the XT Soft and hit a few purposely soft to try and get a feel for them. I was aiming for 3', and they were all close enough. I then went to the 8' length and was able to put 9 of 10 in the target again. Then I spent about 30 minutes kind of playing around with mishits, shorter putts, faster putts, etc. Each time I setup a new scenario I would compare it to my current gamer so that I could have a baseline. After messing around with the different types of putts, I went back to the target. 10/10 on the last round.
The sound/feel is very similar to my current gamer. I'd call it medium soft off the putter. It's not mushy at all, but also not stiff. The XT Soft has a nice sound coming off the putter. Not too clicky, but not too muted either.
The alignment aid is visually appealing, but haven't given it a try yet. I'll save that for hitting the putting green.
I really like the yellow, and hope that it shines well in the sun/grass once I am able to get these out for a round.
Step 1 for me: Testing each ball out on the putting mat. I don't live right next to the range or a course, so this was an easy way to get right into it. I spend a lot of time putting at home. I'll putt during meetings, for a break, and generally sometime every evening I've been rolling putts for 30 minutes or so.
To start with, I rolled 10 putts with my current gamer (Srixon QStar Tour) to make sure I was in the right frame of mind. I setup a target at 8'. Put 9 of 10 in the target.
Switched to the XT Soft and hit a few purposely soft to try and get a feel for them. I was aiming for 3', and they were all close enough. I then went to the 8' length and was able to put 9 of 10 in the target again. Then I spent about 30 minutes kind of playing around with mishits, shorter putts, faster putts, etc. Each time I setup a new scenario I would compare it to my current gamer so that I could have a baseline. After messing around with the different types of putts, I went back to the target. 10/10 on the last round.
The sound/feel is very similar to my current gamer. I'd call it medium soft off the putter. It's not mushy at all, but also not stiff. The XT Soft has a nice sound coming off the putter. Not too clicky, but not too muted either.
The alignment aid is visually appealing, but haven't given it a try yet. I'll save that for hitting the putting green.
I really like the yellow, and hope that it shines well in the sun/grass once I am able to get these out for a round.
I spent some time on the putting mat with these last night. Nice feel off the putter, both insert and milled. The feel to me seems closer to a Chrome Soft then say, a Supersoft or Soft Fli. Sound is nice. The alignment aid looks good, although I rarely use a line .I'm excited to give them a try on the course.
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I spent about an hour hitting pitches and chips with these in my yard. It’s not the same quality as a green but it’s short enough and firm enough I can tell if the ball has spin or not. Just got new Edel wedges in so I figured why not kill 3 reviews with one ball (actually 3 balls but the Condor reviews will be in that thread). Started out with a standard Pro V1 just to get a baseline of how I was going to be hitting them today. Didn’t know what to expect with the wedges. The Pro V did what the Pro V does, feels perfect and spins a bunch on short shots.
Once I got warmed up, I moved on to this one. I honestly picked it first because I didn’t expect much so I thought if I’m gonna hit some sh!tty shots starting out I’ll waste them on this one. Boy was I wrong. I’ll start with the feel. It’s Pro V1 soft but different. I don’t know how to explain it. It’s definitely not firmer than a Pro V, it’s not mushy soft either, but it’s different than the Pro V. It’s really close to having perfect feel off the wedges but it’s not quite there. I think it’s the sound that throws off the feel. It’s really quiet. No click or thud just a light…something. I don’t even know how to explain it. It’s definitely not bad but it could be better.
Let’s move onto ball flight and spin. I have no numbers back any of this up, this is just the eye test in the backyard against the Pro V1 and the other two Volvik balls.
The ball flight is definitely the lowest of the four. And I’m not talking a little bit, it’s noticeably lower. On each type of shot that I hit with all four it was the lowest every time.
As far as spin goes it released the most of all four. Again, not a crazy amount but it was noticeable. I wish I had a Q Star Tour to compare to because that’s what it reminded me of. I think I could play it but it would take some time to adjust to the extra rollout.
These are just my initial thoughts. The next test will be putting and then on course testing. I probably won’t get to that until tomorrow. As long as the weather is good I’ll be practicing my short game so if I notice anything else before I get to play them I’ll post my thoughts.
Once I got warmed up, I moved on to this one. I honestly picked it first because I didn’t expect much so I thought if I’m gonna hit some sh!tty shots starting out I’ll waste them on this one. Boy was I wrong. I’ll start with the feel. It’s Pro V1 soft but different. I don’t know how to explain it. It’s definitely not firmer than a Pro V, it’s not mushy soft either, but it’s different than the Pro V. It’s really close to having perfect feel off the wedges but it’s not quite there. I think it’s the sound that throws off the feel. It’s really quiet. No click or thud just a light…something. I don’t even know how to explain it. It’s definitely not bad but it could be better.
Let’s move onto ball flight and spin. I have no numbers back any of this up, this is just the eye test in the backyard against the Pro V1 and the other two Volvik balls.
The ball flight is definitely the lowest of the four. And I’m not talking a little bit, it’s noticeably lower. On each type of shot that I hit with all four it was the lowest every time.
As far as spin goes it released the most of all four. Again, not a crazy amount but it was noticeable. I wish I had a Q Star Tour to compare to because that’s what it reminded me of. I think I could play it but it would take some time to adjust to the extra rollout.
These are just my initial thoughts. The next test will be putting and then on course testing. I probably won’t get to that until tomorrow. As long as the weather is good I’ll be practicing my short game so if I notice anything else before I get to play them I’ll post my thoughts.
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I practiced putting this evening with the XT Soft and I liked it. I liked the feel and I really like the alignment aid. Line it up, concentrate on the dot, and hit the putt. It’s automatic. I’m looking forward to trying it for a few rounds as I’ve been struggling with leaving everything short. I didn’t have that with the XT as long as I focused on the dot and not my putting stroke.
I was able to get to an indoor golf facility yesterday and thought I would provide some Trackman #’s on the Volvik XT Soft with PW, 7 Iron and Driver.
With my Srixon Zx4 PW the average spin was 7977. Distance was similar to other golf balls that I have used. I hit a few shots using a Bridgestone E6 given to me by Southern Twang (shoutout to Southern Twang!) to compare and the avg spin with that ball was 7662.
With my Srixon ZX4 7i once again similar yardage as I usually get with Spin #'s avg 5566 with distance 152 avg.
With my Srixon ZX5 Driver I averaged 3574 spin with 244 avg distance.
All in all I liked the look of the ball and especially the alignment lines.
As @Hawk said in his review they can be used as you would normally use while putting and when parallel to club face on full shots. My swing speed is in mid to upper 90's so this ball would be a good fit for me. The feel and sound of the ball off the putter was similar to my Srixon Qstar. Next week I will try to get out to the course and see how it performs there.
With my Srixon Zx4 PW the average spin was 7977. Distance was similar to other golf balls that I have used. I hit a few shots using a Bridgestone E6 given to me by Southern Twang (shoutout to Southern Twang!) to compare and the avg spin with that ball was 7662.
With my Srixon ZX4 7i once again similar yardage as I usually get with Spin #'s avg 5566 with distance 152 avg.
With my Srixon ZX5 Driver I averaged 3574 spin with 244 avg distance.
All in all I liked the look of the ball and especially the alignment lines.
As @Hawk said in his review they can be used as you would normally use while putting and when parallel to club face on full shots. My swing speed is in mid to upper 90's so this ball would be a good fit for me. The feel and sound of the ball off the putter was similar to my Srixon Qstar. Next week I will try to get out to the course and see how it performs there.