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3 Up Golf 3F12 Ball Review

SuperStroke
Outstanding review Ryan, loved the inclusion of the monitor numbers.


Gonna be honest, this ball sounds like quite the performer. The spin I am reading about is something I seek in a ball. In comparison to other balls in the same category, they are priced middle of the road so I would like to see them come in a bit lower as I feel more folks would give them a chance.


Considering what I pay for Q-Star or e5, I am doubtful to purchase these at $40, but competition is always a good thing in the market.
 
Puttin4Bird said:
Solid write up Hawk. I think they have an uphill battle but I'd love to see 3 Up Golf get a decent share of the golf ball market! I'd love to see some kind of a forum testing with these balls, get them in more people's hands and let the people generate some buzz. Thanks Hawk!
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Considering word-of-mouth referrals are the only "marketing" we've done so far - that's a fantastic idea! Hawk, are you up for picking 6 forum members to each get a sleeve of 3F12's?
 
Always a great idea. Why don't you PM JB to discuss the details.
 
deafninja said:
Any hopes of yellow?
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You wouldn't be the first person to ask that! We are looking at carving out a portion of our third production run (probably this fall) for the yellow ball enthusiasts. We'll have to get those separately approved by the USGA since they consider yellow balls to be technically different.
 
allenpc28 said:
40 bucks a dozen seems pretty steep for a new company to charge. They should sell sleeves for cheap so people can test them. For 40 bucks i'll stick to my Srixon Zstar XV
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^^^^^Agree!!

I would like to get ahold of a sleeve to try them out tho!
 
Interesting ball and it is funny how your logo is the exact way that I mark my balls. Do you ship the bag of balls in boxes? Seems like they would get banged up in shipping/stocking if they aren't in sleeves/boxes.
 
Nice writeup Ryan. I agree that $40 is a bit steep for a new company and Im in love with the Chrome+ right now.
 
next thing you know, thy'll ban anchoring your putter..HAHAHAHA... oh, wait a sec... A yellow ball as 'different'. that's a bit racist...
 
Wongstongs said:
Interesting ball and it is funny how your logo is the exact way that I mark my balls. Do you ship the bag of balls in boxes? Seems like they would get banged up in shipping/stocking if they aren't in sleeves/boxes.
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Funny you should mention that because that's how I came up with the logo. When playing in tourneys I would always put 3 green dots above the "T" on my ball :)

We do ship the bag of balls in boxes. We haven't had any issues with them getting banged up during shipping except for some issues with the ink smudging on customized orders (which we don't offer anymore).
 
RayG said:
next thing you know, thy'll ban anchoring your putter..HAHAHAHA... oh, wait a sec... A yellow ball as 'different'. that's a bit racist...
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Sergio...now with more InsertFootIntoMouth#ier. :)
 
Great writeup Hawk! Interesting company. While they do have an uphill battle, it's nice to see someone contributing proceeds to charity. Doesn't hurt that they perform well either! I'm currently enamored with the B330RX but would love to see a forum testing for these.
 
Ryan, another great writeup buddy. You just flat out kill it.

I'd love to try these out for sure, but that 40.00 tag is a daunting one IMO. But, all it takes is performance to change my mind!
 
Oh, and about the $40.. reasonable? too much? too little? I personally think it's a good target price- based on what the performance is compared to other balls of this type. Yes, the 3 piece RocketBallz Urethane is $30, but there are are plenty of similar performing balls that are $50. Take away the $3 for the charitable stuff, and it's $37 actual. Maybe a *bit* high for someone who isn't quite as talented as the ball might require. But they don't make a 'lower end' ball under the same name that others sell to those folks. C'mon- you can buy a $20 dozen of Titleists. They might be Titleists but they aren't ProV1's, either. As I said to Bob in a message, I'm not interested right now, since I JUST bought a dozen of something else, but would be considering them once those are all gone. Mostly based on that review, and PARTLY due to the charity side of things, I'll probably pick up a dozen later in the year...
 
rob, are there any plans to get these on my side of the pond?
 
RayG said:
Oh, and about the $40.. reasonable? too much? too little? I personally think it's a good target price- based on what the performance is compared to other balls of this type. Yes, the 3 piece RocketBallz Urethane is $30, but there are are plenty of similar performing balls that are $50. Take away the $3 for the charitable stuff, and it's $37 actual. Maybe a *bit* high for someone who isn't quite as talented as the ball might require. But they don't make a 'lower end' ball under the same name that others sell to those folks. C'mon- you can buy a $20 dozen of Titleists. They might be Titleists but they aren't ProV1's, either. As I said to Bob in a message, I'm not interested right now, since I JUST bought a dozen of something else, but would be considering them once those are all gone. Mostly based on that review, and PARTLY due to the charity side of things, I'll probably pick up a dozen later in the year...
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It was great chatting with you earlier today! Also note, that we "eat" shipping costs too. Since we're not in retail yet we're only selling via our website. We charge $3.12 flat rate, regardless of your order quantity ($3.12...see what I did there?). Again, it's tough to get an apples to apples comparison with retail since the shipping stuff is involved but I just wanted to point that out. Ahh the joys of e-commerce! :)
 
Richard Rodgers said:
rob, are there any plans to get these on my side of the pond?
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Right now I'm only shipping internationally to folks who are REALLY interested in trying the ball and don't mind picking up the tab for shipping and all the duty/import fees that come with it. I've been watching some other ball companies and their adventures with doing UK distribution and I can tell you we're probably a long way off from being at that stage. Trust me though, as soon as we can afford to do so, I'll be talking with a UK distribution company.
 
I have been playing this ball for a few weeks, so far it has performed extremely well, and following on twitter , some times a good deal on them comes along, like the last promo, discount on price plus a free sleeve of balls, can't beat that, plus you can purchase a sleeve of balls if you want to try them before purchasing a dozen , can't do that with any ball company out there. Try a sleeve, think you'll be like me and ordering a dozen
 
Great review Hawk, your game seems to be in line with most of us hackers so your thoughts are always welcome.

You gotta love that Rob is in here answering questions, customer service at its finest.
 
Hitman said:
I have been playing this ball for a few weeks, so far it has performed extremely well, and following on twitter , some times a good deal on them comes along, like the last promo, discount on price plus a free sleeve of balls, can't beat that, plus you can purchase a sleeve of balls if you want to try them before purchasing a dozen , can't do that with any ball company out there. Try a sleeve, think you'll be like me and ordering a dozen
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We run monthly deals for all our existing customers. I cook up a monthly newsletter that anybody can subscribe to that just keeps everyone up to date on what the company is doing. In addition, I also put out customer-only email that has the "deal of the month". This month, we gave our customers a free sleeve for every dozen that they bought because so many of our customers have been giving 3F12's to their friends to try out. Word of mouth...the best marketing channel of them all!
 
rob_zim said:
It was great chatting with you earlier today! Also note, that we "eat" shipping costs too. Since we're not in retail yet we're only selling via our website. We charge $3.12 flat rate, regardless of your order quantity ($3.12...see what I did there?). Again, it's tough to get an apples to apples comparison with retail since the shipping stuff is involved but I just wanted to point that out. Ahh the joys of e-commerce! :)
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Anyone ordering online would generally have to pay shipping anyways, so I don't consider that it my decision. Of course if you charged $15 or $20 for normal 1 week shipping, there would be an issue. Other larger retailers might offer free shipping if you order $75 or $100 of stuff, but for a dozen rocks? minimum of $5 to ship- they might be eating some of that as well, but their volume covers some of that. Another issue is the sales tax- If I order from Dicks, GolfGalaxy, or any e-tailer that has a brick and mortar in NY, I pay that as well. So shipping costs don't figure in my decision- I have to pay that, or the tax, or both anyways so it's a fairly moot point.
 
So I bought 3 sleeves a couple of weeks ago and put the 3F12 into play today. I was absolutely floored by the performance of this ball! I spoke with Rob via IM before buying the balls as I had a few concerns. But Rob cleared them up and I ordered right away.

When I took one out of the box last night I was amazed at how soft it felt. I thought for sure I would put a grill mark on one by the 4th hole. WRONG! I played the same ball until the 10th hole today. The only reason why it didn't make it past the 10th was because it ended up in the water. I was sad to see my 3up #4 end up in the water. It was like watching a friend leave. This ball is super durable. Before going for a swim it took a ride off of a couple of trees and showed no signs of hitting anything other than grass. There were also no indications that the ball had ever been hit. I've played Callaway (Black, Chrome and Chrome +), TaylorMade (Lethal, Penta 3, 5), Titleist, etc and they all eventually ended up getting grill mark by the 7th hole. This was by far the most durable ball I had ever played.

The feel is beyond words. It's soft around the greens and flies like the missile off the tee. If I were to compare it to other major manufactures, I would say it feels so close to a Pro V. The 3F12 also has AMAZING stopping power. This early in the season we are still playing on semi-aerated greens that are generally pretty firm. This ball stopped cold for me with a 9i from the rough as well as again with a 6i. The best shot was probably a 7i I hit from 175 into a green that has a 2 foot ridge running towards the hole. It's a tough shot, especially if you land the ball on the ridge. The pin sat about 2 paces off the base of the ridge today. My shot hit the base of the ridge and stopped inside of 3 feet. Tap in birdie!

Off the putter the 3F12 performs better than any ball I've ever played. It's not soft, but not too firm. I had my best putting round in the last 2 years and the putts I didn't make only missed by a few inches.

All I can say about the 3F12 is that I'm sold on this ball. I've got a dozen Chrome + that are going to sit in my garage now. This is the ball I've been looking for the last 2 years!
 
I love the story about this company. I'm going to look more into these
 
Rob's a great guy, very friendly and he's happy to talk to golfers about what they're looking for out of a ball.

I haven't taken my 3Ups onto the course yet as my course just opened, but I've been absolutely loving them off of my putter and chipping in the backyard. Such a soft feel off of my wedges, and I agree on how the cover feels in your hand. Soft and slightly sticky, but boy do they feel good when you hit them.
 
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