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Lightning Golf Balls Review Thread

SuperStroke
sorry about not getting another update, had a little issue this week, got hit with a kidney stone on Monday and had to have surgery yesterday, everything went well an I should be swinging the club next Tuesday or Wednesday. will post as soon as I get to tee up he Smackdaddy!!!
 
So again today I went to the practice area to work on chipping and putting and to continue my test of the Lightning ball.

Just as I arrived a friend gave me a sleeve of the new Wilson Duo Spin balls. MMy initial impression of this ball is that it is the softest, quietest ball I have played. I am looking forward to a head-to-head with the lightning on the course.

Anyway, the Lightning continues to impress on the practice green giving good control and nice feedback. Hope to be back on the course soon.
 
Put another round in with the HL3 today. This ball remains a solid performer, but I had more trouble around the greens today than normal. Mostly because I was getting more roll out on chips than I was expecting. I'll write this off to bad mechanics more than the ball though.
 
I want a just chipping and putting day with the HL3, I've been very unlucky with green conditions lately so I figured I'd put more control to the situation. Ill try to sneak off tomorrow or Monday at the latest.
 
Got to play 9 today with it. Ball performed well the drive and long irons is where this shines. The chippin I still feel my Duo is a better ball. I did lose 2 of them today. 1 on hole 1 into the water guarding the green. The 2nd wasn't a true loss as it was a dead ball. I thinned the mess out of a bunker shot and put a nice big slice into the ball right below the dots. I will continue to use them and tomorrow if the rain holds long enough for me to get 9 in since a lot of people will stay home I will try and play the Duo and the HL3 side by side, shot for shot. Off the putter though it does feel nice, just wish it reacted as nicely as the Duo around the greens.
 
Mine came in yesterday, so I'll go and play a round with them hopefully tonight after work.
 
I had a nice time on the chipping green yesterday, put the HL3 up against the ChromeSoft with various shots from bump and runs to flops. Imo the ChromeSoft is the best ball around the green I've ever hit, but the HL3 can keep up easily. Its a bit firmer and still gets a tad more roll out after checking up, however its very ProV1x feeling. Still soft and still predictable it might be this balls most surprising aspect considered its more of a distance and control ball.

Hopefully another round of golf is right around the corner with some more updates to follow.
 
Another atrocious round working through swing issues and a really rough course, but I have a couple things I can share.

Still noticing the staining issue. I have a big blue mark on the last ball I played today. No idea how that happened.

The cover seems much more prone to cuts and scratches than my normal e6. I already have one or two that aren't gonna make good gamers anymore.

On the 18th tee today, I hit the Lightning and a Wilson Spongebob ball I found on the course. Stepped on it for both of them, and hit them on basically the same line. I may have hit Spongebob 2-3 yards farther. I couldn't give you specifics about where on the face the strikes were, but I'm not really noticing any added distance off the tee, and it's been like that for both rounds.

Hopefully I can get my act together and get in a decent round one of these days. The dreaded slice was in full effect today for the first time in a year, and that's after cutting my driver down an inch. I'll get you guys a better review son.
 
On Sunday afternoon, I had a chance to put my wife to work at the range to help me gather some data. All shots were driver shots with less than 5 mph into the face wind. The range runs east to west. I have added a line to show the 250 yard mark. These drives were all hit with my 2005 Callaway Big Bertha 454 13 degree driver at 45.5 inches (0.5 in. over standard).

My natural shot is a fade and to hit this shot, I stand fairly square to very slightly closed with a weaker grip and the ball well forward (normal for me). With each ball, I hit around 30 balls, first in my natural setup (fade) and then moved over a little to a new spot and hit some draws. For the draw, I have to close my stance, play the ball back a little further in my setup and have a much stronger grip. It takes more work for the draw, so I did not hit as many draw shots over my natural fade.

First up was the Lightning Smack Daddy ball. I had played the ball twice on the course, and I find that the ball plays a lot like a Pro-V for me. The sound off the driver is very nice and maybe a little softer than I'm use to, but about the same as when I did use the Pro-V at times.

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Next, I hit my normal yellow Bridgestone e6 which I was live fit for. Right away, I noticed the slightly higher sound I am use to when hitting this ball with the driver.

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For this session we did not use a GPS but my wife stood dead center in the range and paced off each shot first right (fade) and then left (draw) as well as pacing off distance to and from the 250 yard marker. We used two radios and I logged each number as she called them back to me. This was about 2 hours of hitting on my part and walking on her part. I did manage to lose one of the Lightning balls (under a tree my wife thinks), so I only had 11 for most of the testing.

If I charted all the info I noted correctly, and I remember most of the shots, the Lightning Ball I would say produced much more spin off the driver which resulted in some shorter drivers and some a little more right than normal, but only one was really short and right, and I think the same could be said for the e6, where I did have one short and right.

The e6 was a little longer and the dispersion is a little tighter. One the course, I did see some distance loss with the driver and had to setup a little more left than normal, but once I got a feel for the ball, I was able to change and make it work.

The Lightning ball off of my woods and hybrids was much like the driver, where I had to aim a little more left than normal to hit my stock fade. With irons, I really did not have to change anything setup wise, and where this ball was good was inside of 100/90 yards. I'm using old square grooved irons and wedges (because I can) and while I get a fair amount of spin with the e6, the Lightning balls had a lot of spin around the greens and I stopped many approach shots dead. The ball also sounds (which is feel to me) good off of the irons and wedges and sounds very nice off the putter.

Durability does not seem to be an issue at all with the Lightning ball. They took a good beating on the range and most of them have little to no damage.

It is still early in our season here and while it was fairly dry Sunday, with some drives and long approach shots jumping up a little, it has now rained the past two days, so my next round will more than likely be Thursday in league play. I plan to use the Lightning ball. I really want to see how this ball works and holds up once we get hot, dry and fast towards June and July.
 
Thats dedication! I wonder if my wife would help me that much haha
 
Fluvanna10 said:
Thats dedication! I wonder if my wife would help me that much haha
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It was costly, in more ways than one. I did this to her when I did the Heavy Driver testing a couple of years ago.
 
Next, my plan is to compare the Lightning Ball to the Pro-V. I played the Pro-V for several years before JB headed me in the right direction by doing first an online fitting, then a live fitting with Bridgestone. The B330RX is a good ball for me as well, but like the Pro-V, it is a little more spin than I like off the tee with driver or 3 wood.

Our weather has really gone south here this week, with rain, high winds and now a freeze warning tonight, so our conditions are less than ideal for accurate testing. Our Thursday scramble league has been pushed to Friday evening this week and I plan to only use the Lightning Ball, so I should have more thoughts to share on the weekend.
 
I played 18 holes today at a place called Alden Pines. It is an hour from anywhere and would not be worth the trip if it were not to play with a long time friend.

Anyway, except for some bad advice on one tee shot I would have played with only one ball. These balls go straight for me. I do not know why I can get reasonable back spin but virtually no side spin. Whatever it is they are working.

They don't go any farther or stop any quicker than the B330 RX but for me they perform about the same. And durability seems to be fine also. They are a little scuffed after 18 holes but not so much that I would not put them in play for another round. I have no reason not to play these balls on a permanent basis.
 
Review #3: Milledgeville Country Club 4/22/15

Previous reviews: #1 #2

After going back to my SR2 for a round or two, I wanted to come back to the SmackDaddy on a beautiful sunny, but damp day to see if I continued to like the way it performed. We've had a ton of rain here the past week or so and this course never holds water well, so there was a lot of clean, lift, place going on. The first thing I noticed is how much dirt this ball picks up. There has to be something on this ball that makes it so tacky. I didn't matter what kind of shot I hit on any kind of lie in any kind of condition, this ball picked up dirt. The course was really soft, but I dropped a Pro V and a SR2 down a few times and hit a shot and didn't see nearly as much dirt picked up as the other two. Just really strange stuff. I had to put in a different ball after 9 holes because of this.

I will say that I do enjoy the performance of this ball, though. As I've said in the past, it launches really well for me and distance is about the same. I could see why some would not see as much distance from this ball as an e6. With my irons, I actually spun one back a good 5 feet. The next 18 I played that afternoon, I hit a Pro V from about the same distance and it hopped and stopped, but didn't move back that much. It checks up nicely around the greens. For me, better than the Chrome Soft and similar to the SR2. My buddy is really enjoying his recent purchase of three dozen SmackDaddys. He's taken my money the past three times out (stupid pops) and it's fun to see someone enjoying a product he didn't even know existed before I gave him a ball to try.

I want to keep this ball in play, but I need it to dry up around here first. Throughout the course of a round, a ball will get dirty, but I've never seen a ball pick dirt up like this one. Let me know if you have any questions!
 
Miller Time said:
Review #3: Milledgeville Country Club 4/22/15

Previous reviews: #1 #2

After going back to my SR2 for a round or two, I wanted to come back to the SmackDaddy on a beautiful sunny, but damp day to see if I continued to like the way it performed. We've had a ton of rain here the past week or so and this course never holds water well, so there was a lot of clean, lift, place going on. The first thing I noticed is how much dirt this ball picks up. There has to be something on this ball that makes it so tacky. I didn't matter what kind of shot I hit on any kind of lie in any kind of condition, this ball picked up dirt. The course was really soft, but I dropped a Pro V and a SR2 down a few times and hit a shot and didn't see nearly as much dirt picked up as the other two. Just really strange stuff. I had to put in a different ball after 9 holes because of this.

I will say that I do enjoy the performance of this ball, though. As I've said in the past, it launches really well for me and distance is about the same. I could see why some would not see as much distance from this ball as an e6. With my irons, I actually spun one back a good 5 feet. The next 18 I played that afternoon, I hit a Pro V from about the same distance and it hopped and stopped, but didn't move back that much. It checks up nicely around the greens. For me, better than the Chrome Soft and similar to the SR2. My buddy is really enjoying his recent purchase of three dozen SmackDaddys. He's taken my money the past three times out (stupid pops) and it's fun to see someone enjoying a product he didn't even know existed before I gave him a ball to try.

I want to keep this ball in play, but I need it to dry up around here first. Throughout the course of a round, a ball will get dirty, but I've never seen a ball pick dirt up like this one. Let me know if you have any questions!
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Interesting observation on the dirt. It has been dry here so I have not had this experience but as noted earlier the brand new balls do seem to have a tacky feel to them.

I wonder if there is something on the cover that causes them to get dirty? That could be a real issue if playing the ball "down".
 
Jeanthemachine said:
Interesting observation on the dirt. It has been dry here so I have not had this experience but as noted earlier the brand new balls do seem to have a tacky feel to them.

I wonder if there is something on the cover that causes them to get dirty? That could be a real issue if playing the ball "down".
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I've noticed it each round. It could very well have been that it was just too wet out, but I do agree. It could cause issues when playing it down. This is honestly the only problem I've had with this ball so far.
 
I played on Friday evening and used the Lightning ball on every other hole while using the Bridgestone e6 on the other holes. What I found in my range session seems to hold true on the course. It is still fairly wet here, so I was getting little to no roll out on driver shots or long approaches.

The Lightning ball I feel is offering too much spin for me with driver. When using the ball with the driver, I must aim more left than normal as the ball tends to fade right more than my regular ball and there is some distance loss as well, I'm guessing as a result of the added spin.

The ball is great around the greens and is giving me good stopping power as I am a pin hunter on approach shots. I feel that it plays much like a Pro-V in this area.

I have not had any issues as of yet on durability, as it is just wet enough to not get much roll out. Ball does get dirty, but so did my regular ball because of the conditions, so I always play with a wet towel and just cleaned the ball at the green or at the next tee. My wedges have not done any real damage to the balls at this point although I did see a little of the markings coming off from the grooves of my wedges which are very sharp at this time.

Still lots of time in this testing and I'll withhold any judgement until our conditions become more normal.
 
I played 18 holes again today. The weather was a little warm but otherwise perfect.

The Lightning HL3 continues to impress. I mixed in the B330RX today and I could not really tell any difference. Well struck shots feel and behave very much the same for drives, full irons, chips, pitches and putts.

The ball I used had seen some earlier action and continued to perform well. The cover is still in good condition but is yellowing much like a ProV1.

I shot a 78 today which is pretty good for me these days so I am satisfied that I can play with this ball and not be at a disadvantage.
 
I played in a scramble this afternoon with the HL3.

Had our long ball hitter give it a go & he was impressed. It was on par with his ProV1x for distance & dispersion.

Today was brutally windy & it did get hung up in the air pretty bad with the driver into the wind for me, but I think thats more a swing flaw of mine than the balls fault.
 
Fresh off my kidney stone surgery i was finally able to get out and play nine holes on Sunday. Six4three5 was also getting in 9 holes with me. Here are some thoughts on the Smackdaddy!

Time- 3pm

Weather- 50* overcast, winds 8-15 mph, gust may have hit 20 mph.

Conditions- would say soft with some soggy areas, very little role, greens were soft be deceptively quick.

I played 2 balls for about 6 holes. Smackdaddy vs Pro V 1. (had to go to one ball because of a single catching up to us)

Driver. The Smackdaddy was about 3-5 yards shorter than the Pro V 1. Did not see a lot of difference as far as side spin goes, balls were anywhere from 2-4 yards left or right of each other. I missed a couple of drives with each ball. Performance on the misses were very similar.

16* 4 Wood. Only had 3 swings at each ball. I found the Smackydaddy to be about 2-3 yards shorter than the Pro V 1. Did not miss any with Smackdaddy, did miss one with Pro V 1. I did strike a tree with the Smackdaddy and the ball showed no signs of damage and was still playable after the direct hit.

Rescue Club. Only had 2 swings. 175 yard par 3 in to a 15 + mph head wind. I put 2 identical swings on the balls. Pin high approximately 30' left. The balls were with in 2 feet of each other. ( Six4three5 hit his 4 iron using 2 balls with in 6 feet of my shots, 4 shots pin high 28-30' into a 15 + mph head wind, Hey, these guys are good!!! LOL )

Long Irons. One swing on each ball with 4 and 5 irons. Smackdaddy seemed to have a slightly high ball flight from the 4 iron but the distance was the same. I hit 2 poor shot with the 5 iron, pushed both of them, the Smackdaddy had a little more spin and was 2 steps farther right than the Pro V 1.

Short Irons. Had several shots form 120 yards and in. Both ball performed well, the Smackdaddy seem to have a little softer feel on contact. I was able to have both balls check up nicely, in part due to soft greens.

Chipping. i like the feel of the Smackdaddy on the pitching wedge ( 47*) my 54* and my 60*. Smackdaddy had a little softer feel than the Pro V 1. It also performed well with my favorite 6 iron bump and run from the fringes on 2 greens ( for those of you who know me, i can be deadly with my 6 iron on bump and runs )

Putting. Again, Smackdaddy has a little softer feel of the putter face. Both ball performed well on the greens. I used the alignment mark on both balls. Only trouble putting was with my speed, not the balls fault.

I will be using the Smackdaddy in league play on Thursday night. This will be my first competition test for the ball.

More to follow..............:golf:
 
Good stuff. Maddog, I know all about kidney stones. I have a thread here about my displeasure with our heath care system.

Great stuff on the ball. I hope to get out later today again. What I'm seeing is that the ball is very much like the Pro-V.
 
Weather's gone to the dogs here, but I have about 5 days basically off next week before vacation, so I'm going to try and get a few rounds in with the ball. My last outing, I had a lot of success with a few swing changes, so I'm looking forward to putting this ball into play with a little more confidence in my game.
 
Was able to get out on the course last night and played a par3/par4 course so had plenty of iron shots with the smack daddy's. Hitting into the greens with my irons have been great with the smackdaddy. Little roll out and much stopping power from 75yds in. Distances last night seemed to have been normal for me even though I got my new irons. But overall still enjoying these golf balls.
 
got out for nine hole league with six4three5 on Thursday. a little windy but warmer than what we have been having. this review is just going to be about feel and performance. shot a 5 over 41 ( should have been a 38). the Smackdaddy did well as far as durability, direct hit on a tree from a pulled tee shot, ball show no signs of damage. i feel as if the ball is about 3-5 yards shorter than the pro v1 on drives. it did feel solid on the driver. the Smackdaddy performed well as far as stopping distance with everything from 54* wedge and my 16* rescue. the wedges were anywhere from 3-5 feet, one bounce and a little role out. the rescue hit and rolled out to about 6 feet from 183 yards into a one club wind.( this shot impressed me with the stopping ability with this ball) i had 14 putts during the round, when i had the right read on the putt the ball felt good off the putter face and had a true roll to it. only thing i can say negative right now is that it seemed the ball was prone to "ballooning" when hit into a head wind. i hit a 7 iron and a rescue and a 4 iron that all "ballooned" into the wind and all ended up short. after i mentioned this to six4three5 he said his b330's were doing the same. looking forward to my next text on Sunday. will have to do more comparisons to see if "ballooning" is a factor yet with this ball!

more after my next round.........:golf:
 
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