The "length" of golf balls

D3Coach · September 4, 2010

got to love this

I remember in 2005, someone wrote that the Pro V1 adds 2-4 yards of distance on the long and mid irons. In 2007, another 3-5 yards were added, as it was in 2009. Now, i just read on this forum that the new 2011 test ball will add another 3-5 yards. If i'm right here, since 2005, i should have added around 12 yards of distance just because of my golf ball.

Let's be serious - the golf balls aren't making us hit it that much further. I'm tired of reading this every time a new ball comes out so i'm just writing it here. Nobody has added 12 yards because of their Titleist since 2005.

Dei3Nascar8 · September 4, 2010

Not to sure about that statement. I bought a sleeve of Titleist Tour Balatas off ebay earlier this year and they did not go anywhere near as far as the Nike ONE Tour or Srixon Z-Stars do. I played with one for 9 holes and was a club or 2 longer off the driver with the others.10-15 yards. Now I know you said starting with the Pro V1's but I hit the ball considerably farther than I did in high school 10 years ago. I'm sure that it is a combination of equipment but the ball has to have changed. Just think about how harder the Pro V1 is from the old balata days.

cristphoto · September 6, 2010

[quote name='Dei3Nascar8' timestamp='1283629370' post='2679222']
Not to sure about that statement. I bought a sleeve of Titleist Tour Balatas off ebay earlier this year and they did not go anywhere near as far as the Nike ONE Tour or Srixon Z-Stars do. I played with one for 9 holes and was a club or 2 longer off the driver with the others.10-15 yards. Now I know you said starting with the Pro V1's but I hit the ball considerably farther than I did in high school 10 years ago. I'm sure that it is a combination of equipment but the ball has to have changed. Just think about how harder the Pro V1 is from the old balata days.
[/quote]

To my knowledge the Tour Balata hasn't been made in over 10 years. The life of a wound liquid center ball is nowhere near 10 years (more like 2-3 years) so you were hitting duds.

Dboysdad · September 7, 2010

I have to ditto the "duds" comment. I'm not guessing those were fresh enough to make a solid comparison

stage1350 · September 7, 2010

I can tell you that watching my playing partner hit an older HX Red compared to a more recent golf ball, he was 4-5 yards shorter off the wedge. What should have been all over the pin was short and in the bunker.

Whether it's a hotter core or thinner cover, the new balls can offer help especially compared to an old wound ball.

storm319 · September 7, 2010

Dud or not, the difference in distance between a solid multilayer ball and a wound ball is not a fair comparison.

While I do agree that the amount of compounded "added yardage" over the improved versions of the ProV1 seems excessive, but there definitely is a noticeable difference between the new and older balls. The biggest difference I have noticed is aerodynamics of new balls. Older balls just seem to fall out of the air once they hit the apex.