3Up Golf Ball Review (3F12)

[diehllane]

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with 3Up Golf and am providing this review as an independent testing party that is receiving NO compensation for my opinions and statements.

 

First, I want to start this off by mentioning the company’s philanthropy. If I don’t mention it now, a lot of you may miss it later in the post.

For every dozen sold, 3Up donates $3 to a golf-related charity. After every 333 dozens, they write a check for $1000 to the charity of choice at that time.

 

Now onto the ball.

 

 

 

They offer 2 different options for purchasing the balls. You can either get the dozen in the velvet pouch (like I did) or you can skip the pouch (if you’re not interested in the extras or are just replenishing your stock) for $2 less. The extras include branded tees, a poker chip, a marking pen, and a pencil tee.

 

 

 

 

Looking at the ball, I like the way it looks. The 3Up logo is small enough to not be distracting and the alignment aid is large enough to be useful for those who use the manufacturer provided line instead of putting one on themself. The balls are numbered from 1 to 4, 3 of each in the dozen. I emailed Rob and asked about ordering a full dozen with the same number (for people who play events with the one ball rule) and he said it was no problem, just to email him with the order number and mention it.

 

The ball is VERY tacky. Even after playing 9 holes with it, it still had that tacky feeling. Other premium balls I’ve played with have taken some damage from hard wedges, but I really swung hard with the 3Up ball and my Vokeys didn’t rip it apart. This includes a SW off the tee and a 100 yard LW, neither of which are half or three-quarter power shots. I even put the ball off the cart path with a hybrid and it didn’t seem to hurt the ball. In fact, there was no visible scuff from this.

 

It flew like the other premium balls I’ve played (B330 RXS, ProV1X, Z Star), but generated a little more spin for me than my old gamer, the Bridgestone B330 RXS. I’ve had problems in the past with my mid and short irons getting too much roll out, making it difficult to consistently hit GIRs without fear of rolling through the green. With the 3F12, my iron shots stopped very quickly and with my wedges I even got enough on it to spin it back rather than just stopping dead (although I was playing for it to stop dead or slightly roll out as I’m not used to this).

 

For chipping, this ball is stopping much better than I am used to. Depending on the shot I play, I can get it to stop within a foot of landing or roll it out to a controlled, repeatable distance. On the practice green I have holed more chips with the 3F12 in the week I’ve had them than I have any other ball I’ve used in my life. I’m chipping to 5 or 6 different holes on the practice green

and consistently within one-putt distance and quite often they are just tap-ins.

 

Putting is just like chipping. The ball is slower than other balls I’ve played so I can really give it a run and don’t have to worry about sending it too far past the hole. I’ve played some balls that just seem to ricochet off the face with the amount of force and speed they have. This is not one of those balls. At first I was coming up about 12-15 inches short on every putt. That’s a consistent distance, so it was something I could adjust to quite easily. If the putts had been short and long, or short by varying distances, that would’ve made it harder to judge what the problem is.

 

As of 7/28, I have played 2 separate 9 hole rounds with the 3F12 and the second round was much more controlled in all aspects. Very hard swings with the irons and wedges, but the ball held up. Another cart path. This one left a mark, however the ball wasn’t scraped. There were no shreds of the ball, just some discoloration. A few short high pitch shots landed softly and barely rolled out more than a few inches. Putts rolled true and the perfect distance all day long.

 

Conclusion: This ball is a winner and is replacing the Bridgestone as my daily gamer. I’m ordering a second dozen (although I don’t need them yet, wanting them for an upcoming tournament) and getting all the same number. My original dozen will be used for league and casual rounds.

 

Scores:

Value - 5/5. Premium ball for a little less than the standard premiums.

Feel - 5/5. Tacky feeling lasts. Ball sounds and feels crisp off the clubface.

Spin - 4/5. Almost too much spin. This might be MY problem and not the ball's as I'm not used to it yet.

Distance - 5/5. As long as all my other balls with every club.

Company - 5/5. Small business, fast response time, great charity work.

[gpleonard]

I was given one last year. Played with it a little bit. It is not that bad a ball. They will struggle against the big ball makers as they certainly do not have the marketing of the others brands. It was hard to really judge the ball based on only having one . But I managed to use it on and off for a few rounds. Unfortunately I finally snapped hooked it in to the woods and did not find it. I do like the idea behind it though. They give a portion of the sales to charities and that is pretty cool. They are also made up in New Hampshire if memory serves me right.

[Toddo64]

I just had Rob Zimmerman on my sports talk show just before Christmas and they sent me some of these and the other ball as well to try out. Look forward to using them when we get a good weather day here in Kentucky.

[Eustace1080]

Great review. I just ordered 6 of each ball and I am really looking forward to using them in a few months.

[citizenfore]

Won a sample of each if the balls they make. Quick communication, friendly, and the ball putts like a dream. Excited for my myrtle trip in a few weeks to really get out and use them. Oh yeah, and the charity donation piece is awesome!

[Fore_Man]

I'm from the same NH city as 3Balls. I love that it is a small company and local. I also like the passion that's in the product and golf. The balls are pretty good, too actually. Like all things there are likes and dislikes. These are just my opinions. The logo is way to big on the ball. It looks more like a logo ball. I wish it were smaller. I like the ability to save a couple bucks when reordering, too as nobody wants to spend $ on packaging. I'm not attracted to the price point. For me it's just far too close to the price of premium balls from big brands, and as bad as it sounds, it may be the forced $3/doz donation that does it.