Fun with Chips - Jman's Ball Testing Fun w/ Foresight and THP

Jman

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So as of late, I've been a bit bored and thusly tinkering more than ever. I actually did this for the Cut golf ball review but as I was thinking about it today, it kind of deserves its own thread. This is nothing more than fun, and obviously technique will matter but the little 8-10 yard chip shot is one I've gotten really consistent with so it still makes for a fun sample, and hopefully discussion.

The Parameters:

I elected to do this the same way I do with all golf balls I try out, the 8-10 yard chip/pitch shot. The decision was made to use 12 shots with each ball, and a total of ELEVEN different golf balls were used, all "premium" Urethane except one which was ionomer to really show the difference. The balls were as follows: Cut Blue, Callaway Chrome Soft**, Callaway Chrome Soft X, Srixon Z-Star, Srixon Z-Star XV, Bridgestone B330, Bridestone B330S, Bridgestone B330 RXS, Bridgestone Extra Soft, Snell MTB, and Taylormade TP5X. In the event that there was a chunky/true-miss shot, it was re-done, ONLY if it was a significant miss, all normal misses were left in and affected the averages as normal.

The Data:

Cut Blue - 22 MPH - 32.8* LA - 2647 RPM - 1 YD Peak - 9 YD Carry - 31.3* DA

EX Soft - 20 MPH - 36.5* LA - 1893 RPM - 1 YD Peak - 8 YD Carry - 39.1* DA

B330-S - 21 MPH - 32.4* LA - 2722 RPM - 1 YD Peak - 9 YD Carry - 33.3* DA

B330 - 20 MPH - 33.0* LA - 2586 PRM - 1 YD Peak - 8 YD Carry - 34.0* DA

B330-RXS - 21 MPH - 32.3* LA - 2705 RPM - 1 YD Peak - 9 YD Carry - 33.7* DA

TP5x - 22 MPH - 34.2* LA - 2593 RPM - 1 YD Peak - 9 YD Carry - 35.5* DA

Snell MTB - 21 MPH - 34.2* LA - 2499 RPM - 1 YD Peak - 9 YD Carry - 32.3* DA

Srixon Z - 20 MPH - 33.1* LA - 2588 RPM - 1 YD Peak - 8 YD Carry - 34.4* DA

Srixon ZXV- 20 MPH - 33.9* LA - 2523 PRM - 1 YD Peak - 9 YD Carry - 35.8* DA

Callaway CS** - 20 MPH - 34.0* LA - 2524 RPM - 1 YD Peak - 8 YD Carry - 31.7* DA

Callaway CSx - 20 MPH - 33.2* LA - 2567 RPM - 1 YD Peak - 8 YD Carry - 35.2* DA

ADDED 9/11/2017:

Volvik S4 - 21 MPH - 32.4* LA - 2708 RPM - 1 YD Peak - 9 YD Carry - 33.2* DA

'17 Titleist ProV1x - 22 MPH - 33.2* LA - 2674 RPM - 1 YD Peak - 8 YD Carry - 34.1* DA
 
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Looks like Bridgestone S series are generating more spin on your short chips. Also love seeing the benchmark ionomer ball spin 33% less but with a higher descent angle... man this whole thing is fascinating, and the possibilities are endless
 
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Looks like Bridgestone S series are generating more spin on your short chips. Also love seeing the benchmark ionomer ball spin 33% less but with a higher descent angle... man this whole thing is fascinating, and the possibilities are endless

Hahaha, yeah, its a lot of fun. Going to throw the V1 and V1x in here the next couple of days I hope, and I think I might still have some Duo Urethane somewhere too.

Sometime this week I'm going to try to do the same thing from the 50 yard range, will be cool to see if the spread between the different balls widens, or maintains.
 
Hahaha, yeah, its a lot of fun. Going to throw the V1 and V1x in here the next couple of days I hope, and I think I might still have some Duo Urethane somewhere too.

Sometime this week I'm going to try to do the same thing from the 50 yard range, will be cool to see if the spread between the different balls widens, or maintains.
Were you expecting the higher compression balls to spin more? It seems like this wasn't necessarily the case with the RXS and cut ball beating out quite a few of the higher compression urethane balls. Do you expect this to change when you go out to 50 yards?
 
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Were you expecting the higher compression balls to spin more? It seems like this wasn't necessarily the case with the RXS and cut ball beating out quite a few of the higher compression urethane balls. Do you expect this to change when you go out to 50 yards?

I kind of figured going in that the 330-S would lead here because I've been seeing it for so long on the course at this distance. That said, I think when I move it back to that 50 yard range (might actually need to do 25 and 50) that we will see them all start to separate a bit.
 
How much that Bridgestone XS stands out from spin and total distance is crazy. Just started hearing about the Cut balls and that is impressive against some of the best on the market.
 
Interesting...so on short chips the ball really doesn't make much difference as long as it has a urethane cover. I'm guessing from further out you will see bigger differences
 
I love seeing these numbers man! Any thoughts on getting the ProV1 and ProV1X in the mix? Also, I swear the Chromesoft and Chromesoft X are the same golf ball. I have shot the best rounds of my life with those two golf balls!
 
No Volvik Bubba ball in test........bogus!! :D

Still a cool test. The Callaway CS and Z Star is right about where I want to be in spin numbers.
 
How much that Bridgestone XS stands out from spin and total distance is crazy. Just started hearing about the Cut balls and that is impressive against some of the best on the market.

Surlyn balls will always spin less in short shots and the further you get away from the green the cover matters less (in terms of spin) and compression will begin to dictate that number.
 
No Volvik Bubba ball in test........bogus!! :D

Still a cool test. The Callaway CS and Z Star is right about where I want to be in spin numbers.

Hahahaha, just for you I will grab some and add to the test. Truth.
 
Interesting data, Jman! Thanks for posting. I really look forward to the 50yd (and potential 25yd) comparison!
 
I love seeing these numbers man! Any thoughts on getting the ProV1 and ProV1X in the mix? Also, I swear the Chromesoft and Chromesoft X are the same golf ball. I have shot the best rounds of my life with those two golf balls!

Yep, those will be added (hopefully by the end of the week)!

Surlyn balls will always spin less in short shots and the further you get away from the green the cover matters less (in terms of spin) and compression will begin to dictate that number.

Precisely why those were added in here, to show the difference close, and eventually how it will differ as distance increases on well struck wedges.
 
Pretty neat little collection of data here James.

I'm really interested to see the results of 50 yards, 100 yards, and 150 yards if you even get a chance to do those.
 
Great Data JMan! Thanks for posting! Interesting to see the ionomer spin substantially less, but also see that the majority of the urethane balls were all comparable spin wise.
 
Looking forward to seeing the 50yd test results.

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Hahahaha, just for you I will grab some and add to the test. Truth.

No Volvik Bubba ball in test........bogus!! :D

Still a cool test. The Callaway CS and Z Star is right about where I want to be in spin numbers.

S3 & S4 please. Saw some crazy spin numbers on YT on these 2.
 
S3 & S4 please. Saw some crazy spin numbers on YT on these 2.

Probably just going to be one since I'm going out of pocket for these testings! Sorry dude!
 
NP! I'm willing to donate for any golf related research!
 
Really cool seeing data like this. I look forward to seeing the longer shot numbers also. Thanks for putting this together.


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Awesome collection of data james. Lots jumbled together spin wise for sure
 
Great test and data James. I like seeing the performance in the B330 and Chromesofts and seeing that the difference is pretty similar


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I am sure I have said it before but THP is really stepping the game up with the use of Foresight. Data like this is amazing instead of "I feel like it had the most spin."
 
Wow, James, that was pretty cool. Was interesting to read, and I bet you had a fun time doing that.
 
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