Real Golf Balls on the Range

I am a member of a private club here in Elk Grove and last week we started using Titleist golf balls on the range. They are practice balls, but from what I understand they are real Tour Soft balls. Plus yesterday they put ProV1 practice balls on the chipping green. Don’t know how permanent the Pro V1’s are, but wow. It may not seem like much, but coming from someone that practices a lot it sure makes a difference. It really took my practice up a notch. Just curious is this the norm for private clubs or an outlier? I know this is first world issues, and I am sorry if I offended anyone by asking, but I am legitimately curious.

> @cpouley said:

> I am a member of a private club here in Elk Grove and last week we started using Titleist golf balls on the range. They are practice balls, but from what I understand they are real Tour Soft balls. Plus yesterday they put ProV1 practice balls on the chipping green. Don’t know how permanent the Pro V1’s are, but wow. It may not seem like much, but coming from someone that practices a lot it sure makes a difference. It really took my practice up a notch. Just curious is this the norm for private clubs or an outlier? I know this is first world issues, and I am sorry if I offended anyone by asking, but I am legitimately curious.

Our club switches back and forth between TM and Titleist balls for the warmest 7 months of the year.

During the colder months we have to hit the recycled balls.

We use tour soft balls that get replaced every season or two. No Pro V1s for us though.

No idea just another public golf course pleb here...

Our club uses Titleist Tour Softs on the range and short game areas.

TopFlight SuperRange Yellow baby! Probably haven't been replaced in at least two seasons. Gotta love the muni.

gosh, only prov1's? I feel bad for you peasants and your flat land living...

I don't belong to but have played Victoria National 3 times. They have the driving range stocked with TP5's

My course is a higher end public one that tried using Titleist Practice balls. No stripe so they ended up all over the course and on other courses in town. We went back to yellow balls with stripes but it was fun while it lasted.

Most private courses here, even high end ones, use some kind of dedicated "range ball". I don't really mind, it's more about contact for me, and there's very few private clubs here that have targets with specified yardages anyway

The local muni course recently replaced their range balls with Prov1 practice balls. The last few times I went I noticed Precept practice balls. I asked my instructor about them and he said it was because so many of the prov1s disappeared.

It was nice hitting a nice soft tour ball when you really flushed one but those hard clicks ones are more like what I play regularly.

Me personally I'm a bit of a range rat and usually go to ranges that give me the most for my money. 9 times out of 10, its range balls are pretty beat up. That's ok. I'm not looking for distance when I practice. My focus is direction and solidity of the shot.

Would be pretty sweet to practice with Pro V1s on grass tees (even if they're X-outs).

We use real Chrome Soft X balls marked 'PRACTICE', but they are not limited flight nor 'range balls', they are the real production balls marked practice.

The short game area used to have Custom Chrome Soft Truvis balls, but I think the tourists kept stealing them so we just use the same Chrome Soft X practice balls there too now.

> @hacker49 said:

> The local muni course recently replaced their range balls with Prov1 practice balls. The last few times I went I noticed Precept practice balls. I asked my instructor about them and he said it was because so many of the prov1s disappeared.

>

> It was nice hitting a nice soft tour ball when you really flushed one but those hard clicks ones are more like what I play regularly.

This is a big problem for public courses and it's no wonder they 'cant have nice things'. People steal stuff all the time especially 'nice' range balls and use them on the course or just plain take them.

Even at my private course, I find our Chrome Soft X PRACTICE marked range balls out on the course sometimes but its very rare. I find more ProV1's than anything else.

Most nice clubs have nice practice balls... my current club has mediocre range balls due to a pond at the end of the range...

Nemacolin has real prov1 & tour softs, it’s a big deal when practicing short game. I have a shag bag filled with pro v1’s that are always in my truck with me. If I practice pitching or chipping I’m

Shag bagging, it will throw off your shots when suddenly you get on course and your balls don’t roll out 10 ft.

Restricted Range balls are also not good full swing if you are working on shaping shots or co telling height. I just use them to get warmed up, I don’t sweat it if my shots look spinnier than normal.

"Hey Romeo, sneak a few of these balls in the bag when nobody is looking."

I've played a couple of places where they had real balls marked as practice for the range.

A couple in New York had ProV1.

Shoutout to Valley Hi in EG, OP

Thanks for the shoutout. Valley Hi is a great club. Been a member for just over 2 years and have enjoyed ever minute.

> @theboypinoy said:

> I've played a couple of places where they had real balls marked as practice for the range.

>

> A couple in New York had ProV1.

>

> Shoutout to Valley Hi in EG, OP

I'm a member at a private club and we have standard range balls. Nothing special.

Local public course had the same problem last year that others have mentioned. Usually was old recycled balls. Some were becoming smooth. They bought a bunch of the Titleist range balls, and within two weeks there were almost none left to use...

Fn people stealing. Every place I go to around here has Wilson Staff balls. I'm pretty sure even the super private and expensive Pinnacle which hosts an LPGA every year has Wilson Staff.

We use > @GowerND11 said:

> Local public course had the same problem last year that others have mentioned. Usually was old recycled balls. Some were becoming smooth. They bought a bunch of the Titleist range balls, and within two weeks there were almost none left to use...

How you fix that is to have “limited flight”

Stamped on them. Hahaha

> @BB28403 said:

> We use > @GowerND11 said:

> > Local public course had the same problem last year that others have mentioned. Usually was old recycled balls. Some were becoming smooth. They bought a bunch of the Titleist range balls, and within two weeks there were almost none left to use...

>

> How you fix that is to have “limited flight”

> Stamped on them. Hahaha

Ha! I might just talk to someone there about doing that. Of course, that could lead to some "Ridiculous things you've heard on the range" moments. "Wow, did you see that? I just bombed that limited flight Titleist over 250! WIth a regular ball, it'd easy be 350!!!"

I got to play with the Titleist rep at MidSouth (in Southern Pines) a couple of years ago. Titleist had just GIVEN countless dozens of ProV1 Range balls to MidSouth to use. The rep said it was pretty common, Titleist will give away great range balls once, and hope the members of the club will get spoiled enough to demand that the range continue to be stocked with ProV1s. Some clubs can afford that, some can't. This past Thanksgiving, the range balls at MidSouth were Titleist, but not ProV1.

My club uses Titleist NXT's. Harbour Town uses ProV1's.

It's too bad people are thieves.....

Our club had talked about it for a little bit when we had our range teeing area re-sodded. We have a short range (225ish) with a large pond right behind the net. We ended up keeping our yellow flight limited balls rather than having people pumping new balls over the net into the water.

Where I practice, some have no dimples. Sometimes it's fun to hit a draw AND a fade with one shot.

Most around here are striped range balls.

Some of the private courses ( I've heard) , use Taylormade range, and another uses 'Floater' balls.

We had a small muni course go in a few years ago.

It was backed by some private investors.

The manager\owner bought 9600 brand new NXT practice balls from a place in Vegas.

His wife had anhonor system at the driving range.

After 3,000+ balls disappeared with no money, she kept them in the clubhouse.

Then, people were buying a large bag for $5- 70 balls.

They would play them on the course, and take the rest home.

We didn't play there for long.

Don't know how they stay open.