We've launched the new forums! Read more here

Hopkins Golf Balls - Forum Review

SuperStroke
Not an official tester by my man drp3r34 sent me 3 of these babies and I put them to work today.
Distance wise the were about 8 yrds longer then the 35 on the carry. This was constant.
Spin on the greens we really solid. Doemant greens makes for a hard place to judge, but they held well when they hit.
They had a vwry nice feel putting of the face today.
One one round in with them but they seem like a solid offering from hopkins.
 
I got out to play 18 holes and did a head to head matchup between the Bridgestone B330 RX and the Hopkins 3 pice ball. It was very windy 20-30 MPH, but not many people were on the course so I got to play 2 balls with little issues. I will denote which ball is used by a H = Hopkins or B = Bridgestone. All distances were measured with my Neo X watch.

Hole 1 - Long par 5

H = I pulled a low left drive off the first tee, that went 245, hit a tree and dropped down.

I hit a 6 iron to punch out but didn't hit it well and ended up behind another tree. I was 136 out, but had to punch out again, hit a great low 6 iron on the gree and hit my putt for par.

B = I hit a slice off the tee that went 250 and landed on the right side in the trees.

Again had to punch out and ended up in good shape 150 yds out. I landed on the very edge of the green and 3 putted for a bogey.


Hole 2 - Short 350 yd par 4

H = Hit a good drive here that landed in the FW at 263 yds. I was 90 out, hit a wedge on the green and 2 putted for par.

B = Another good drive in the FW about 250 that left me 100 out. I flew it a little over the green

but stuck my pitch shot for a 1 putt par.


Hole 3 - long par 3 213 yds

H = Shankedmy 5 iron to 70 yds out. Wedged in on for a 2 putt bogey.

B = Hit it pin high but the wind took it all the way to the right side of the green. 3 putt for bogey.


Hole 4 - short par 4 360 yds

H = Hooked my drive under a tree, punched out to 120, wedge to the green for a 2 putt bogeyor another bogey.

B = Hooked another drive, not sure what happened this hole. Basically did the exact same thing


Hole 5 - Another short par 4 380 yds

H = Hit a good drive here but aimed to far left for the wind. Went about 265. Hit a decent shot to front of green but then sculled my chip and ended up with a dbl bogey.

B = Hit another good drive but again the wind didn't affect it as much as I thought it would.

Was 160 out, hit an 8 iron over the green and ended up with a bogey


Hole 6 - Very short 340 yd par 4

H = Hit a low 245 yd draw to left side of FW. Hit my lob wedge a little short which rolled all the way down due to an elevated greens. Got a bogey.

B = Hit a 285 yd bomb here to just off the green. Easy chip and 2 putt for a par.


Hole 7 - 130 yd par 3

H = Hit it to about 10ft, 2 putt par.

B = Hot another good wedge shot but bad luck got it and rolled off the elevated green. Had a 2 putt bogey.


Hole 8 - Par 4 380 yds

H = Hardest hole on the course for most people. Both sides lined with trees and a big draw is needed off the tee. Hit a bad tee shot, had to punch out of trees and ended with a 2 putt double.

B = Did the same exact thing here, Awful hole for me. Doble bogey again...


Hole 9 - Par 4 412 yds

H = Hit the longest drive of my life here. Not sure what happened, but I did have the wind at my back. 350 Yd drive in the FW. Ofcourse I then 3 putted for bogey, doh.

B = I hit a 240 yrd drive that hit a tree but fell in the FW. Hit a 165 yd 8 iron to 20 ft and got par.


Hole 10 - 500 yd par 5

H = Hit a pretty good bomb here, 280 yds in the FW. Stuck a 200 yd 5 iron on the green and 2 putted for a birdie.

B = Hit another god drive about 280. Hit my 5 iron again but landed off the green, chip and 2 putt for par.


Hole 11 - 177 yd PAR 3

Mishit both balls here and accounted for too much wind.

H = dbl bogey

B = bogey


Hole 12 - short 316 yd par 4

H = Hit a good one but pulled it left a little. Chip on and 2 putt par

B = Sliced the tee shot here. Mis hit my chip, chiped on and 2 putt bogey.


Hole 13 - par 4

H = Easy swing, wind at my back 270 yd drive. 2 shot landed back of green, on and then a 2 putt bogey.

B = Somehow did the exact same thing again...


Hole 14 - short 343 yd par 4

H = 270 yd drive but off to the right, 2nd shot fell short got a bogey

B = 275 yd drive in FW, mis hit 2nd shot, another bogey


Hole 15 - long 220 yd par 3

H = Hit my 4 iron short left, flubbed my chip and ended up with a double

B = Hit my 4 iron short left, chiped on 2 putted and ended up with a bogey


Hole 16 - par 4

H = 270 yd drive in FW, on the green and 2 putt par

B = 245 yd drive in FW, on the green and 2 putt par


Hole 17 - par 3 144 pin in very back

H - Nicely struck 9 iron that just rolled off back off green, on and 1 putt par

B = Nicely struck 9 iron that landed pin high 10 ft off, 1 putt for birdie


Hole 18 - 505 yd par 5

H = Short drive, 2nd shot ended up about 200 out. Struggled to get to the green here, and ended up with bogey.

B = Hit a bomb here, 300 yds in the FW. 2 more shots to get on, and a 2 putt par.


Final score H = 84 B = 82

Fairways hit H = 5 B = 6

Putts H = 35 B = 33


Final thoughts

While I played slightly better with the Bridgestone ball it wasn't by much and it easily could have gone the other way. I am not overly impressed with either of these balls but for the price, the Hopkins fairs well and I am dissapointed in the Bridgestone. But for the money, I think the Hopkins ball is a steal performance wise as long as you don't mind the sound/feel of it.

Distance = I give both balls an A here. When I hit it well I can bomb both of these balls and they faired well into a stiff wind today.

Sidespin off the tee = B+ for both balls. They went fairly straight for me off the tee. No issues here.

Green side/short iron spin = Both balls played similar here as well and would give them a B-.

For the Hopkins ball I think that is actually pretty good. But this is where I am really dissapointed in the RX. For a "premium ball" that comes at a premium price I was expecting more spin here.

I didn't get anymore spin out of it than the Hopkins or the Q star that I have been playing.

Durability = A+ for both balls here. No issues whatsoever.

Feel = Definate edge to the Bridgestone ball here. A for the RX and a lowly D rating for the Hopkins. This is the only area between the 2 balls where I felt there was a major difference.

The Hopkins ball just feels harsh everywhere in the short game.

If Hopkins could get the feel aspect down I think this ball could be a big hit.
 
Last edited:
Nice write up barber. With saying you're not impressed, is there something more than feel that is making you feel this, or is it all in the feel?

I've been spending more time putting, and have gotten a much better feel for how these feel and react. It has just taken time and repetition, as with most everything with this game. I can't say I really like the feel and sound when putting, so much as am getting used to it.

One thing I wanted to mention, that I haven't previously, is the durability of these. I have hit them off of cart paths and trees and while they do scuff up, I have yet to scuff one bad enough that i couldn't keep playing it. I may be getting lucky, but they really seem to hold up quite well.
 
Yea, basically just the feel/sound of these are pretty bad IMO. And that mentally affects a lot of other things for some people.
If they could improve upon that I think it would be a great ball.

But with that said, in it's current form, I would rather play a Q star, Top flight gamer or Hex Chrome.

Still a good ball for a lot of people willing to give it a try.
 
Barberakb said:
Yea, basically just the feel/sound of these are pretty bad IMO. And that mentally affects a lot of other things for some people.
If they could improve upon that I think it would be a great ball.

But with that said, in it's current form, I would rather play a Q star, Top flight gamer or Hex Chrome.

Still a good ball for a lot of people willing to give it a try.
Click to expand...
Totally understand. The feel and sound has been the one thing that continually stands out for me too. That said, the balls they say it should compare to all perform pretty darn close to the same as these, to me.
 
I changed my post to add
But for the money, I think the Hopkins ball is a steal performance wise as long as you don't mind the sound/feel of it.

I didn't want people getting confused. This is not the ball for me due to sound/feel. But I still think it is a great value and could be the gamer for a lot
of people if they just gave it a chance.
 
You know, this got me thinking. What kind of resources does Hopkins have? I mean, they built a great website and customization system for their wedges, and within a few months, stood up a ball division. Do you think they have a big R&D team for their balls, or do you think they are using an existing design and manufacturing process from somewhere? Is this a white label ball that they are printing their logo on? Either it's a LOT easier to design and create a golf ball manufacturing business from scratch than I thought, or they have some help.
 
One thing to consider is that they save cost by selling directly to the consumer via their website, so they don't have to work deals with box stores which will want a discount because they purchase in bulk from the manufacturer. Another is that it appears that for such a small company they really are going about their marketing in the right way, and all the free press really saves on their bottom line as well. Sounds like Greg Hopkins knows what he is doing.
 
natideac said:
Has anyone hit the Hopkins 2 piece ball? I'm curious as to how it stacks up against the supersoft or duo.
Click to expand...

It feels a bit harder to me. Both of the balls you mentioned (and along with a few others) feel quite soft at impact.
 
natideac said:
Has anyone hit the Hopkins 2 piece ball? I'm curious as to how it stacks up against the supersoft or duo.
Click to expand...

Definitely firmer. I think it plays OK, just firm. I would be interested to try the new 'softer' ball of theirs.
For the price, though, I think the 2 piece plays pretty darn decent.
 
Well it took the better part of four months--thank you mother nature--but I finally got these out for on course testing for two nine hole league rounds and one full 18 hole round this month.

I'll hit a few of the major areas for me with a ball:

Driver Spin: 4 STARS out of 5
Seemed to be very low spin off the driver, I've actually been hitting the driver well this month but my few bad swings have only resulted in minimal side-spin misses, mostly in the rough, no wild out of play slices or hooks. The low spin also seems at least in my mind to give them decent amount of bounce and roll out upon landing, which is always nice for a few extra yards.

Irons: 3 STARS out of 5
About the only thing to say here is they sound fine off the irons, nice solid click. Not a muted sound and not a loud crack, just very pleasant sounding. Again the low spin seems to be in play here. The 18 hole round had very firm greens and they weren't holding even short irons very well, so that's not a good indication. But I overall there is definitely less bite and hold with the irons then I find with the Chrome + my usual ball of choice right now.

Wedges: 2.4 STARS out of 5
Sound and feel again are important to me in this category, as well as bite/spin control. They fell short in the bite category in almost every instance. I'm not a tour player by any means but generally hit wedges well enough to get them to at the very least one hop and stop. These just didn't seem to have that initial bite. They would land and continue to roll out a bit. The sound was fine again, not harsh and about what I'm accustomed to.

Putter: 4 STARS out of 5
Sound and feel again. They deliver on that well enough for me here. In the extensive putting comparison I did earlier in this thread, they were slightly firmer than the Chrome but not a whole lot. The sound was negligible between the two. Nice performance with the putter.

Price: 4 STARS out of 5
I believe these are still priced at $19 and they are a great ball for that price. I typically wouldn't have shopped for balls in that category. But I feel these could do very well there.

As mentioned earlier they come in a plain plastic bag. That was fine with me, as I typically unbox and mark most balls I buy anyway from the start.
 
JB said:
It feels a bit harder to me. Both of the balls you mentioned (and along with a few others) feel quite soft at impact.
Click to expand...
Harder to me as well.
 
im glad someone was honest about their game and not saying they were hitting 350+ yards with the driver like most people on the forums do. I am 6'5 and a fluffy 305 and I average around 245-250 with my driver. I value your review over most others because you seem to be a little more honest than others.

again thanks for the honest reviews.
 
Is this still going on? How had the played over the past month?
 
Tadashi70 said:
Is this still going on? How had the played over the past month?
Click to expand...

I've only had one 18 hole round and a one 9 hole league since my above post. I used the ball for the 9 hole round and it performed pretty well on most accounts.

The one area I find it a bit lacking is spin off the full iron shots. But in fairness the greens were pretty firm.
 
I just bought a 4 dozen pack of the 2 piece balls this spring. I am now down to my last dozen. I feel like they play really well for me (23 hdcp) long and low budget. I only struggle with spin around the green but I'm getting a lot better at predicting it. Much more consistent than when I used to just play random used balls found in the woods.
 
Just posted this in the DotD thread if anyone wants to get 3 dozen for $30

$19.99/doz for 1 doz! $14.99/doz for 2 doz! $9.99/doz for 3 doz! http://offpricegolf.com/products/ho...122757913&mc_cid=378b7c8cba&mc_eid=5f8ca974e8

r1uCA4AYJtXJdWa5PZPFgjW9QGo2uEq4sSd5O4bFAuOpfc2-iLRKcfEW9HwmkF7tZNAni-BDc9lpoiF7bp13Ym1jJuTNaahMXYGpstgtz6I8z4f0zRtULb0nL1Xmw1gaL6KtxAlU9rPron6xGQtOucNyE06Vjc6pYxkk-kM=s0-d-e1-ft
 
Still have a dozen of these from the original release that I have sitting around. Need to get these out for a test.
 
Hopkins Golf Balls - Forum Review

Great share DD i played these balls for a bit and I have nothing bad to say about the performance, they did get banged up pretty easy though.

Heck of a deal.
 
rockbottomgolf has these for $5/dzn +s/h.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top