Ball Forgiveness?

[Hat Trick]

I have a driver swing speed of 96-98 mph and my carry distance is 225ish - index handicap 4.9.

I was told that a softer ball... V1 instead of V1X, TP5 instead of TP5X, Chrome Soft instead of Chrome Soft X would be more forgiving for me because I would compress it more through all the layers of the ball.

To me the balls are all getting very close to one another and to me the non x vs. x balls seems to be just a feel thing.

Anybody know the logic on this theory?

[tsecor]

you should go with a surlyn ball for forgiveness. The high priced urethane balls are ok for 8iron and under for spinning and what not but for longer straighter shots with you SS, I am not sure how you can compress the TP5X and balls of that nature and still maximize distance. Chrome soft might be ok for you though......look at some of the Wilson offerings too

[BB28403]

I play TP5X, thing goes a mile. I'm around your SS, maybe a bit faster. I think they designed the TP's with softer material. The whole reason I started in on this slippery slope is I found one at the range I frequent. My usual shot was oh 240,hit the ground and roll to the back of the net. Well the TP5X shot off the driver face and just went buddy!! It hit the net in the air at about 20-30 feet up. I was sold at that point. And on course it has nothing but surprised me.

Find some used ones on eBay and try them. They are amazing .

[noodle3872]

Callaway says a mishit softer compression ball will give you more distance than an identically mishit firmer compression ball. I have been told a firmer ball offers more ball speed so I really don’t know what to believe or if there is a true way to measure it anyway.

 

For the compress the X ball part, read this link. Point #9.

 

https://media.titleist.com/images/titleist/files/US/2019_Ball_Fitting_Booklet.pdf

[Stuart_G]

> @"Hat Trick" said:

> I have a driver swing speed of 96-98 mph and my carry distance is 225ish - index handicap 4.9.

> I was told that a softer ball... V1 instead of V1X, TP5 instead of TP5X, Chrome Soft instead of Chrome Soft X would be more forgiving for me because I would compress it more through all the layers of the ball.

> To me the balls are all getting very close to one another and to me the non x vs. x balls seems to be just a feel thing.

> Anybody know the logic on this theory?

 

I don't believe there is any actual valid physics behind that theory in any amount that would be significant at all if they are referring to "forgiveness" in terms of ball speed generated. It's amazing how many misconceptions have been created around the concept of compression of the golf ball. The only real concept of forgiveness that applies to golf balls might come in terms of spin generated. The less spin, the more forgiving the ball will be (so surlyn might be a bit more forgiving with the irons/wedges - but then there are potential consequences in terms of distance and distance control.

 

[tsecor]

There are some great videos on you tube which go into compression of a golf ball and for the 1st time I actually see the value in choosing a ball you can compress properly. One video showed a guy with 115mph swing use a low compression ball. The video shows the ball being compressed to a point of being mushy. Then he went to a higher compression ball and gained 10 yards because it didnt compress as much and the ball springing off the club face was maximized. This was tested on drivers. when they went to lower irons where swing speeds were slower, the result was not as dramatic.

[arbeck]

> @"Stuart G." said:

> I don't believe there is any actual valid physics behind that theory in any amount that would be significant at all if they are referring to "forgiveness" in terms of ball speed generated. It's amazing how many misconceptions have been created around the concept of compression of the golf ball. The only real concept of forgiveness that applies to golf balls might come in terms of spin generated. The less spin, the more forgiving the ball will be (so surlyn might be a bit more forgiving with the irons/wedges - but then there are potential consequences in terms of distance and distance control.

>

I don't believe that the less spin the more forgiving makes sense. Backspin actually stabilizes ball flight. That's why it's harder to slice a wedge than to slice a driver. The wedge has backspin which stabilizes the flight so even if the two balls have the same spin axis, the driver is going to slice more. Too much spin is going to make the ball go a shorter distance and maybe go too high, but it's not going make it go further left or further right.

 

[Stuart_G]

> @arbeck said:

> I don't believe that the less spin the more forgiving makes sense. Backspin actually stabilizes ball flight. That's why it's harder to slice a wedge than to slice a driver. The wedge has backspin which stabilizes the flight so even if the two balls have the same spin axis, the driver is going to slice more. Too much spin is going to make the ball go a shorter distance and maybe go too high, but it's not going make it go further left or further right.

>

 

Personally, I don't think there's going to be enough difference between different balls (IMO, "forgiving" is not a ball characteristic ).

 

But in theory it's going to depend on a lot of things as to whether it might help or hurt how off-line the ball might go, but comparing a driver to a wedge isn't going to give you the answer to the question of how two balls will react with the same club. In general, the real question as I see it is about - given the same spin axis (that is determined by impact so the ball wont really change it) - how will changes to the total spin effect the ball flight? In that context more spin will both increase the magnitude of the side component and the hang time from the greater back spin. So (in general) we'll likely have a bigger vector and it's operating over more time.

[tsecor]

The ball engineers for all the major companies disagree with your guys but I side with you...even on clubs.....it seems as if the term "forgiveness" is starting to creep into the ball market and could play a major role in how average golfers make their purchases in the future.

[arbeck]

> @tsecor said:

> The ball engineers for all the major companies disagree with your guys but I side with you...even on clubs.....it seems as if the term "forgiveness" is starting to creep into the ball market and could play a major role in how average golfers make their purchases in the future.

 

You could conceivably make a ball that is a little straighter and hence has forgiveness by changing the dimple pattern. If you hit a ball in a vacuum, the magnus effect (which is how spin causes the ball to curve) goes away. So a ball with a more arrow dynamic dimple pattern would be straighter than one that has more air resistance. That's why balls curve less at altitude. So a ball that is better in the wind, would also be straighter than one that is worse in the wind. There's only so much that the aerodynamics package can do though, and we're probably pretty close to those limits.

[GSDriver]

I'm thinking as a 5 hdcp you can play with whatever you like, find or are given. Might take a little getting used to, especially short game behavior. Given USGA limits, are most modern balls really about same as far as distance goes, at least under testing conditions would seem to be really close to the limit.

 

The golf marketing peeps will sell "distance" and/or "forgiveness" in about anything, can't wait for the ad wars to start.