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Thoughts on golf balls

SuperStroke
Trevor68 said:
What surprises me is that when you look at the web.com or division 1 golf, most use prov1 and I am pretty sure that they don't get paid much or at all. Just tradition or do these guys feel they are truly better than the rest?
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Actually most Web.com guys have company affiliation.
As for colleges, the same thing applies.
 
JB said:
Actually most Web.com guys have company affiliation.
As for colleges, the same thing applies.
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Yup, Titleist does a ton of sponsoring college and even high school teams by providing them with golf balls.
 
JB said:
Actually most Web.com guys have company affiliation.
As for colleges, the same thing applies.
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It's a pretty sound strategy. The guys who play a lot, and go on to inundate the ranks of coaches and club pros everywhere, get their hands on Titleist balls from an early age, and just keep playing it because it's what they're used to, and it's a solid ball...to say nothing of the guys who go on to become touring pros.
 
Very interesting. However, I would assume all other competitors would also attempt to give free balls to those guys in web.com and division 1, right?
 
Trevor68 said:
Very interesting. However, I would assume all other competitors would also attempt to give free balls to those guys in web.com and division 1, right?
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Web.com guys are not getting free balls (they are to an extent), they are sponsored players.
College teams are sponsored completely and its certainly not just Titleist doing it.

Does anybody really think that one ball is vastly superior to another and top players in the world (including the worlds best the last 20 years) (current & previous) are using something inferior and still winning?

Here is the top 12 in the world. Do you think the guys that are not using hte Titleist (more than half) are winning in spite of it? Meaning they are playing something inferior?

116
NIR.png
Rory McIlroy11.6003591.6251-267.69540.8751
222
AUS.png
Adam Scott8.6916356.3641-248.09211.0141
3310
ESP.png
Sergio Garcia7.5597362.8748-183.43281.0048
4419
USA.png
Jim Furyk7.4384342.1746-156.21280.1746
553
SWE.png
Henrik Stenson7.2119375.0252-257.13156.0657
664
ENG.png
Justin Rose6.9904349.5250-248.63225.6550
7728
USA.png
Bubba Watson6.8799323.3647-160.68321.7147
8811
AUS.png
Jason Day6.6218271.4941-151.49190.3341
997
USA.png
Matt Kuchar6.2048322.6552-223.00226.4454
101040
USA.png
Rickie Fowler5.7212297.5052-103.51267.8952
11115
USA.png
Phil Mickelson5.4874257.9147-225.23137.2147
121239
GER.png
Martin Kaymer4.9898259.4752-108.54231.5158
 
I don't doubt for a second that the best player in the world can win with any ball. What amazes me is that when you look at the pga tour, LPGA, web.com and division 1 as a WHOLE, it is truly amazing the dominance that Titleist has.
 
Trevor68 said:
I don't doubt for a second that the best player in the world can win with any ball. What amazes me is that when you look at the pga tour, LPGA, web.com and division 1 as a WHOLE, it is truly amazing the dominance that Titleist has.
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Honest question.
Do you think TaylorMade drivers are vastly superior to every other driver on the market?
Do you believe Odyssey Putters are vastly superior to every other putter on the market?

If not, why? The same dominance is there.
 
Very good point JB. Didn't think about that!
 
Trevor68 said:
Very good point JB. Didn't think about that!
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They make a tremendous golf ball. Testing from all levels have shown something different than perception by most, but that does not take away from the product. If you like it, go for it and enjoy the heck out of it.
 
I personally think the ProV1 and ProV1x are excellent balls. I would not put much distinction between those balls and other competitors' tour-quality balls, however.


For purely philosophical reasons, I don't seek out ProV1 balls, though. I don't approve of their marketing philosophy. Titleist spends an awful lot of time and money saying that swing speed doesn't matter and that everyone should be playing the ProV1 series ("play what the pros play!"). But, if SS really didn't matter, there would be zero need for Titleist's other balls. The Velocity, for example, would be a complete waste.


The marketing philosophy is pretty obvious. When you are the market leader, you don't want change. So Titleist fights the tour-level balls made by competitors that are tailored to different swing speeds.

Again, this is just a personal preference. I do think the ProV1/ProV1x balls are excellent balls.
 
I like the pro v1. I like all the top end balls.

But the project a, and e5 gave me similar performance for a much lower cost.
 
ATLGolfer said:
I personally think the ProV1 and ProV1x are excellent balls. I would not put much distinction between those balls and other competitors' tour-quality balls, however.


For purely philosophical reasons, I don't seek out ProV1 balls, though. I don't approve of their marketing philosophy. Titleist spends an awful lot of time and money saying that swing speed doesn't matter and that everyone should be playing the ProV1 series ("play what the pros play!"). But, if SS really didn't matter, there would be zero need for Titleist's other balls. The Velocity, for example, would be a complete waste.


The marketing philosophy is pretty obvious. When you are the market leader, you don't want change. So Titleist fights the tour-level balls made by competitors that are tailored to different swing speeds.

Again, this is just a personal preference. I do think the ProV1/ProV1x balls are excellent balls.
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So if Chevy says the Corvette is the best car in the world, they shouldn't make a cheaper alternative?
 
Erky said:
So if Chevy says the Corvette is the best car in the world, they shouldn't make a cheaper alternative?
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If Chevy says that everyone should be driving a Corvette and there is no need for any other car, then yes, it wouldn't make sense for them to make a cheaper alternative.

That is Titleist's marketing concept for the ProV line. Not that they are the "best," but that they are the only ball that every kind of golfer needs.

If Titleist came out and overtly said that the Velocity, etc., are just cheaper alternatives, I would respect them a little more. Of course, I'm not holding my breath on that commercial.
 
I confess that I have never seen a Titleist ad that says what you are saying. I have seen them present their own research that says swing speed makes little difference on their ball. Not that all types of players should only play one ball. However, I am guessing if an average golfer played 100 rounds with a Pro V and 100 rounds with a Velocity, their scores would be lower with the Pro V, provided they are capable of hitting the ball in the air at all.
 
Even if they believe it there is an awfully big market for <$50 a doz balls they'd be giving up on.
 
"Your ball doesn't know who's hitting it. It doesn't know if you've won a major. Or what your handicap is. It doesn't know how fast you swing. *** No matter who you are, no matter what you're playing for, PV1 and PV1X perform for EVERY player. ***"

The other ad I can think of shows the compression video and they cut to PGA instructors saying everyone compresses the ball the same, etc

Their message seems pretty obvious to me.
 
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tequila4kapp said:
"Your ball doesn't know who's hitting it. It doesn't know if you've won a major. Or what your handicap is. It doesn't know how fast you swing. *** No matter who you are, no matter what you'd playing for, PV1 and PV1X perform for EVERY player. ***"

The other ad I can think of shows the compression video and they cut to PGA instructors saying everyone compresses the ball the same, etc

Their message seems pretty obvious to me.
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Those are the commercials that I'm thinking about. Link below:


http://ispot.tv/a/7TVd



I have seen the above commercial and a commercial for a Velocity back during the same commercial break. Amazing.
 
When I am playing the Pro V1 I feel like I should have a good shot or putt. It might be mental but the confidence is real. I know the Pro V1 is a great ball. I think the others might be just as good, but something changes with the Pro V1. Fortunately I find enough on the course to not need to buy them.
 
My club only sells Titleist balls and 80% of the members play Pro V1's. This obviously creates a need to mark your balls in a specific way and for that reason alone I won't play them. Titleist has the most market share just like Coke does - it doesn't make either one the best. It does mean that both companies have done a great job marketing their product.
 
I have a hard time narrowing down my favorite golf balls. Right now it would be Prov1x, Z-Star, and B330-S. All three give me excellent performance.

The one thing that peaks my curiosity with golf ball marketing is the "swing speed" element. I get that different swing speeds compress the ball differently, but I also find the Titleist argument quite compelling. Just because you swing a driver say, 103MPH, for instance, doesn't mean your 7 iron or GW come even close to that.

The first thing I look for in a golf ball is how it performs around the greens on chip shots. I'm not sure what my swing speed on a chip is, but I'm guessing it's not that high. I'm constantly changing "favorite" golf balls, so I'm definitely not trying to prove any type of point here or champion any particular brand. Just some of my thoughts.
 
You have to test balls just like clubs. But feeling is key. Titlest says theres no difference between balls and swing speeds so if you use their logic most would buy the $20 soft balls. I play SR-2s. If you cant control your ball it really doesn't matter what you play, better off with the $15- $20 balls.
 
To be fair, That's not what Titleist is saying at all. They are saying that regardless of your swingspeed, you can benefit from the performance of a Tour-Caliber ball. When it comes to the short game, I would wholeheartedly agree. Of course a distance ball will give you more distance. But does that really mean better scoring? I think that's the message they're trying to send.

Mayday said:
You have to test balls just like clubs. But feeling is key. Titlest says theres no difference between balls and swing speeds so if you use their logic most would buy the $20 soft balls. I play SR-2s. If you cant control your ball it really doesn't matter what you play, better off with the $15- $20 balls.
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I gamed the prov1, prov1x and NXT Tours for most of my golfing life. I have tried others like TM Penta, Several Callaway models, Srixon Q and Z Star/Star XV and Bridgestone e series and B330Rx. The provs and nxt, Bridgestones and Srixon have been my most favorite balls. After playing most of this year with the Srixons i will be gaming them most of the time. I have some prov1xs i need to get rid of otherwise I wouldn't be gaming them at all anymore. I was hung up on the names for awhile until I started messing with other balls and Titleist may have the #1 ball on tour but there are lots of balls that are just as good if not better.
 
By the way, I would argue that for the vast majority of amateur golfers that they would actually score better with non premium balls that have generally lower compression, less spin and less side spin by default. Most amateurs underclub and don't need green side spin, don't have technique to hit "skip and check" chip shots, and swing speed to produce the outcomes pros can with a urethane ball. So balls like e6, Callaway Supersoft and Wilson Duo are probably a much better match to many golfers than ProV1 or any urethane covered ball.

Keep in mind, most amateurs are not at the level of golfer as is found on this site in volume so I'm not talking about the average THP poster necessarily.

As an aside, I play B330-S as it gives me great distance off the tee and predictable spin around the greens. When my swing is off, it also causes me more angst than if I were playing a cheap ball. Pitching out from the woods 6 times a round does not help me score.

My best round of the year I played a Wilson Ultra ball. It was very windy and I didn't want any additional spin, had a sleeve I got at a scramble tournament. The results speak for themselves with a 75 of a tough course.
 
I learned this weekend that on full shots surlyn and urethane balls perform pretty much identical .


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