What actually is a Proper Golf Ball Fitting?

Johan185

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After playing for years and going to many clubs fittings, I actually don't know if I have ever been properly fitted for my golf ball.

Now I have been fitted for Bridgestone and Titleist. But those fittings only have been fitted for their brand of golf balls.

Has anyone else been fitted for your golf ball using all the major brands until you find the top one or two or three Balls that fit your game.

I understand that every day you can buy a sleeve and test it to see if you like it. But again I don't have a launch monitor, nor access to all the latest golf balls at one time to test and compare :drinks:
 
I'm watching this one with interest as I've never had one.
 
I’m really not sure. I’m a bit tempted to try the golf galaxy ball fitting.
 
I have been fitted several times by a specific brand with the advise as to which one I should use....
 
I have been fitted several times by a specific brand with the advise as to which one I should use....
But like most of us, not a brand unbiased testing and fitting :drinks:
 
And by the way I am not saying any brand is not absolutely Premium in their products.

But like everything else, one must fit each player better than the others, just like the golf clubs :drinks:
 
I was fitted virtually by Bridgestone based on my style of play and Hcp and love them. As you may have seen, they offer this on their website
 
I’d be interested in trying something like this for the upcoming golf season. I get company logo ProV’s for a pretty low price so it would have to be a big difference in performance to get me to switch.
 
I've never had a proper ball fitting, but I've sort of done it myself.

1) What's important to you? Distance or control?
2) See if you're BSing yourself. Buy a sleeve of a premium ball, mid priced urethane covered ball, and distance ball
3) go to the putting green and putt with each. See which one feels the best there.
4) hit some chips with each. See which one feels the best and which one has the most control.
5) hit some short pitches with each. See how the balls check when they land.
6) hit some bunker shots with each and see how they check when they land.
7) go inside and use the launch monitor. Hit five 7 iron shots with each and check the distance and spin numbers. (a golf shop that is going to sell you 2-3 doz should let you do this)
8) hit five driver shots with each, check distance and spin numbers
9) hit five full shots with your PW with each and see which one gives you the best spin numbers.

Now figure out if the premium ball is worth the money for you. Or can you live with the mid-priced urethane ball. Or if you're such a low spin player that the urethane balls don't matter. I ended up with: I prefer Srixon Z-stars, Callaway Chromesofts, TP5, or the Pro V1x because of the way they play around the green. With my SS I need all the spin I can get
 
Bridgestone does their fitting a bit differently. They literally as you to choose your current gamer ball or two balls. You hit those for a number of shots and THEN they fit you into their ball or make a recommendation to one of their balls if it makes sense.....thats a true ball fitting that isnt biased if you ask me
 
I have no idea, but you give me a good outdoor launch monitor, about 30 balls, a sharpie, one hole to myself for an hour, and I'll never have to think about it again.



Until they change the balls next year.
 
I've been looking for a reasonably priced outdoor launch monitor,,, Any thing new out there.. or recommended? (checking for spin) off driver, irons and wedges.
 
The new model of the SC 300 measures spin. I don't know how it compares to the Flightscope MEVO which requires you put a metal dot on the ball as far as accuracy goes.
 
At the Bridgestone event last year, they had us hit about 10 shots with whatever ball we currently used. 5 with an 8i, 5 with a driver. Then they had us try a ball from their lineup and compared the numbers. Increased spin with the 8i and less sidespin with the driver. It was pretty neat to see the differences between the balls.

I would assume a full ball fitting would be even more involved with lots of options available.
 
Buy several brands/models of balls and play rounds of golf with them. From that process the brand/model that is best for your game will be revealed.
 
Buy several brands/models of balls and play rounds of golf with them. From that process the brand/model that is best for your game will be revealed.
I find more golf balls when I play than I lose. So I think I have probably played with most of the golf balls available for play these days.

But unlike golf clubs for which I have been fitted and know very accurately which kinds of clubs and shafts suit my game best. I can't actually say that I see any major differences between golf balls, based on playing.

The difference is to small to detect empirically. So it would be nice to know if the PV1 or PV1x is best etc. Etc.
:drinks:
 
Never had a ball fitting. I use about 5 different brands with various models within those brands. I know what I like in a ball and where i want the best performance to be at. For instance, I like the BXS but I probably wouldn't be fit for it. I might lose some distance with woods or irons but I love the short game spin and off the putter. For someone who Carrie's 5 wedges spin is important.
 
I’ve never been fitted for a ball, but would certainly like to try it after I get my bag set. I will say that one of my four ball found a Pro V 1 and held onto it for nearly 9 holes last week. I kept pointing out how well he was hitting it compared to the “lesser quality” balls he had been playing. I don’t know what it was, but it seemed the match up suited him well. We’re playing Wednesday and I’m gifting him a sleeve of The same that I received and have just been sitting in the garage- so looking forward to seeing how it pans out for him.

It’s not a scientific observation, just what I saw out of him and the combo.

I too would like to hear about a ball fitting that covered more than one Brand.
 
I think I need more game improvement before I get overly concerned about ball fitting. I have used a number of different balls and most work well for me. I do think the better you get the more a good ball would play (pun intended) into it.
 
I think there is definitely some benefit in a golf ball fitting. I think with regards to balls though the very best thing you can do is just stick with 1 ball. If you play the same ball you will learn the ins and outside of it's performance and learn to perform with it. I know I have improved by just sticking with 1 ball over the last 7 months quite a bit.
 
I have not done a ball fitting but having spent three arms and two legs hitting on both gcQuad and Trackman monitors this winter, I can see how quantifying differences between balls could lead to simple player swing models that could be used for fitting more widely. Build the dataset and model, golfers will come. In my own tests so far I see significant flight and spin differences across different balls. For some balls those differences only come out in segments of the bag. The only thing I can’t get from a monitor is feel. My own exploration started when I asked if there were real differences in balls. I was hitting ZStar XV with a gap wedge. Woody says, “here, hit this ball.” Half the spin, lower peak height, longer roll. OK, point taken.
 
I think I need more game improvement before I get overly concerned about ball fitting. I have used a number of different balls and most work well for me. I do think the better you get the more a good ball would play (pun intended) into it.
Plus once you get your GHIN below 10 even one swing better every two rounds and one putt better per round makes a huge difference :drinks:
 
I have not done a ball fitting but having spent three arms and two legs hitting on both gcQuad and Trackman monitors this winter, I can see how quantifying differences between balls could lead to simple player swing models that could be used for fitting more widely. Build the dataset and model, golfers will come. In my own tests so far I see significant flight and spin differences across different balls. For some balls those differences only come out in segments of the bag. The only thing I can’t get from a monitor is feel. My own exploration started when I asked if there were real differences in balls. I was hitting ZStar XV with a gap wedge. Woody says, “here, hit this ball.” Half the spin, lower peak height, longer roll. OK, point taken.
So imagine the difference in the whole bag would knowing that you are playing the best ball, spin, height, distance and performance for your game. It would literally save you more strokes than a proper club fitting?:drinks:
 
The new model of the SC 300 measures spin. I don't know how it compares to the Flightscope MEVO which requires you put a metal dot on the ball as far as accuracy goes.
Thanks for the info... Found it for $ 450. 00 will have to think about that price... but it sure would be nice to fine tune daily practice sessions
 
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