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Understanding Your Golf Ball: The facts, fiction and the importance of playing the right model…
There has never been so much emphasis on dimples, cores and texture.
It is bordering on obscene the amount of technologies that can exist in a tiny golf ball. It seems only a matter of time until Taylormade unveil their GPS Golf Ball making wayward striking a thing of the past. But as standards sore and knowledge increases keeping up to date with your chosen brand becomes even more important to shooting lower.
With promotional advertising in overdrive it can be difficult to push past the jargon and find out exactly what each ball offers. In truth the only way to be sure is trial and error but understanding the basic principles can cut short you search.
Control
There are fundamentally two forms of golf ball; hard compound and soft. The soft design is exactly that, offering additional spin generation and control making it perfect for getting close to pins. They are most commonly used by long hitters that can afford the negative loss of distance from such a soft inner core.
Srixon Z Star balls are battle tested spin balls designed to bring incredible control to skilled players. They are most effective with short irons and wedges and coated with the brands famous ‘spin skin’. The Z star design carried Graeme McDowell to a major success in 2012.
The Top Flite Gamer Soft ball is a surprisingly complete option. They are one of the least expensive three piece balls on the market but offer great performance.
The Callaway Supersoft Golf Ball is another exclusive spin ball offering extreme control bringing pins into range for players with an experienced touch around the greens. It is the softest two piece ball in the world with a compression score of zero.
So what makes this spin happen? The inner core of the balls are highly compressed and feature super soft energetic surround. The exterior is designed with various soft shells and dimple technologies (varying per manufacturer). The ball unifies the various parts to form a soft controlled package.
On impact the ball immediately generates active spin taking effect on landing and allowing instant control on a perfect strike.
Distance
The second form of ball is harder and manufactured to generate distance and power. It has a harder exterior shell and an elastic core designed to accelerate on impact. Due to their tougher exterior they do not generally offer the same level of spin control around the greens.
The Callaway X2 Hot Golf Ball is a tour hardened option for finding crucial extra yardage. The manufacturer has created three unique dimple-pattern aerodynamics to maximize ball distance from the Tee.
This ball was released along with the driver of the same brand and aims to suit players with swing speeds over 90 mph.
Srixon Distance Balls and Taylormade offer high end of the market long shooting options. They are designed to offer extra forgiveness from the tee and suit all level of players, promising increased distance and hang time.
Finding the perfect balance
In an ideal golfing world, every player would want the correct balance between distance and control.
Although many balls claim to strike the balance nothing has the reputation of the Titleist Pro V1 Golf Ball. The most used ball on tour, it combined sizzling distance with incredible soft feel for a very happy medium. The Velocity ball is a cheaper option from the manufacturer with a new dimple pattern encouraging a shallow landing area and flattening out shot from the Tee.
Other highly recommend all round balls include the Nike RZN range and Taylormade Project A. The latter is currently producing big things on Tour and ticks all the boxes of a complete golf ball.
The Tour Stats
In 2013, there were a total of 24 events across the USPGA Tour. The Titleist Pro V1 Series accounted for 10 of these victories. What makes this remarkable is that another 4 were claimed by Tiger Woods and his Nike ball.
The same Titleist range was used by top players Bubba Watson, Rickie Fowler and Adam Scott to claim high finishes in a number of major in the last 24 months. This also includes two Masters Titles.
It is interesting to note that Woods does not use balls available to consumers, specifically compounded balls are produced for him despite advertising campaigns suggesting differently. The point here is that club players require different formats from top pros so although it is a useful gauge, finding something for your handicap is more appropriate than major winning golf balls.
Am I making the most from my game?
Foremost Golf offer a massive range of balls from all major manufacturers and are perfectly priced to make your cash go further.
Do not be afraid to sample different balls and cores; you will be surprised by the impact on your game and scorecard.
It is worth noting that no one golf ball is considered unanimously perfect and new advancements will continue to offer new levels of distance, spin and control.
No matter what ball you decide to arm up with, a perfect swing will always be just that no matter the dimples on the other end.
