Who can REALLY tell the difference in brands of golfballs?

[deepred]

The biggest difference is this, the more I paid for a ball, the more likely I am to lose it, often in a really stupid way or the more normal errant tee shot.

[WooPig]

I can tell the difference between the the regular and x version of balls and I tend to like the regular versions better. Anything beyond that is all in my head because I’m not good enough to distinguish them. For me it boils down to the fact that I’ve had better days in the course with Pro V1 and B330s so I play them. I’ve had really bad days with Chrome Soft and Z Star so I don’t play them.

[baldandbroke]

I think you can:

• hear the difference between different balls
  
• see the difference in flight
  
• see the difference in spin around the green
  

 

... but I don't think:

• any of these characteristics (inherently) make a huge difference to most golfer's scores
  
• you can feel any difference from the club face to your hands through the grip. It's like people saying they like the feel of forged irons, I think they mean they like the sound of forged irons :-)
  

More important is that you stick with a certain ball so you can learn how it reacts in different situations and play to that. The biggest issue is usually the putter, where distance is king and a small change can lead to big differences in determining distance.

[JdeepSauce]

I played the ProV1 and ProV1x for years.

Switch to the Srixon Z-Star last year and have no reason to go back.

The biggest difference was putting.

I compared the two brands. (Z-Star vs ProV1)

The Srixon ball had a much more solid feel off the putter face that I had to switch.

Needless to say it paid off as I was holing more putts.

 

Distance wise, the two were very similar, slight edge to the Z-Star. (could be because i'm now biased though)

 

- Jdeep

[jorvidas]

There are some things i definitely notice are different between different types of golf balls:

1. Spin off the driver - low spin balls go longer/straighter for me in general, some premium balls work while some don't (% fairways hit goes significantly down)
   
2. Feel off the driver - some balls I just can't tell what I did when I hit it (where on the face i hit it, how fast the swing was, etc.)
   
3. Distance off the irons - I sometimes play random balls I find (much less so these days) and some balls like the NXTs would give me fits before I realized this because all of a sudden I'd be hitting mid-irons 10 yards over the green (so like 25 yards past my target)
   
4. Trajectory and as a result distance on (especially 3/4) wedge shots - Another one that can cause me to airmail the green with a different ball type. Some balls just come off the face different from 80 yards out.
   
5. Spin on pitches and chips - I don't play a ton of high spin wedge shots so I notice this most on chips around the green. I hit a lot of chips low with pitching wedge and let them run out. I typically don't play a high spin ball so if I have a higher spin ball it will hit and stop a lot quicker. Can end up like 15 feet short on maybe a 30 yard chip from the front of the green to a back pin if not adjusted for.
   
6. Putter feel - I have a soft-faced putter and the first time I played a supersoft I had a 60 foot putt on the first hole and thought I only hit it about 25 feet, was shocked when it ended up about 2 feet from the hole.
   

There are definitely enough differences that when I'm taking my game seriously I play only one model for a good length of time. There are enough things that I can do wrong, I don't need extra factors compounding the difficulty of figuring out what went wrong on a shot so that I can make adjustments where needed. Worst thing that can happen is you start trying to adjust your swing to outcomes that are a result of the ball you are using, especially when you are constantly doing it for different balls mid-round and not realizing it is the ball is effecting those outcomes.

[3woodvt]

Reminds me of the old milk test .

 

You cannot taste the difference between skim, 2 percent, or whole. You can see the difference but taste are identical. Put a blindfold on and its 100 percent proven .

 

Same w golf balls. People don't know the difference between premium balls all things being equal. Urethane vs urethane etc,,,, people can tell difference between surlyn and urethane balls .like you could tell between goats milk vs cow. Hope this closed this thread .

[tangojay]

Reminds me of the old milk test .

 

You cannot taste the difference between skim, 2 percent, or whole. You can see the difference but taste are identical. Put a blindfold on and its 100 percent proven .

 

Same w golf balls. People don't know the difference between premium balls all things being equal. Urethane vs urethane etc,,,, people can tell difference between surlyn and urethane balls .like you could tell between goats milk vs cow. Hope this closed this thread .

 

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have also wonder how people can tell the difference between golf balls of the same type. If they can, they would not be posting on golf forums, they would in on tour.

[IHFN]

Reminds me of the old milk test .

 

You cannot taste the difference between skim, 2 percent, or whole. You can see the difference but taste are identical. Put a blindfold on and its 100 percent proven .

 

Same w golf balls. People don't know the difference between premium balls all things being equal. Urethane vs urethane etc,,,, people can tell difference between surlyn and urethane balls .like you could tell between goats milk vs cow. Hope this closed this thread .

 

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have also wonder how people can tell the difference between golf balls of the same type. If they can, they would not be posting on golf forums, they would in on tour.

 

Having the ability to feel and see the difference between golf balls and quality of player have nothing in common. The tests are simple, hit shots with different balls from the same spot. You can see launch characteristics, feel the soft/hardness of the ball, and in the end know how much they spin based on how far they fly and how they fly.

 

It's not rocket science. The key is knowing what should happen when you hit a solid, good shot. If you can't hit a solid, good shot, then you can't do that test. But it doesn't take a tour pro to tell the difference.

[Justsomeguy]

Reminds me of the old milk test .

 

You cannot taste the difference between skim, 2 percent, or whole. You can see the difference but taste are identical. Put a blindfold on and its 100 percent proven .

 

Same w golf balls. People don't know the difference between premium balls all things being equal. Urethane vs urethane etc,,,, people can tell difference between surlyn and urethane balls .like you could tell between goats milk vs cow. Hope this closed this thread .

I'll admit that unless two balls are polar opposites, like the Wilson titanium or xl lines, versus a softer urethane, that it's closer than some people admit.

But if you can't tell the difference between skin milk, whole milk and heavy cream, you need to get a medical exam.

[3woodvt]

you can't and i'd bet any amount you'd like. All I would ask is you have someone buy the 3 and pour in a glass while you're blindfolded and can't see the milk. You nor anyone else can taste, feel, smell, whatever you wish to call it. Try it and see. It's 100% visual... Now do the test and eat some crow when done...at least you want lose any money...I've won several 100 dollars with this bet.

[Justsomeguy]

you can't and i'd bet any amount you'd like. All I would ask is you have someone buy the 3 and pour in a glass while you're blindfolded and can't see the milk. You nor anyone else can taste, feel, smell, whatever you wish to call it. Try it and see. It's 100% visual... Now do the test and eat some crow when done...at least you want lose any money...I've won several 100 dollars with this bet.

Not typically one to bite on internet vs IRL bait, but if you live in the southeast, I'd bet u a round of golf!