Midline Cracks with Srixon Z-Star XV

[NailedIt]

 

[NailedIt]

To be honest those balls above have mostly seen practice green time only. I bought them on sale last season for $20/dz so I'm a little skeptical now of why they were so cheap.

[cxx]

Are you sure that's a crack and not a seam?

[awtryau89]

Folks, according to the rep, its a seam and it where the molds are pieced together. I have never had a ball crack there but alway just show wear along the seam. From his explanation, the balls all have this seam and it is raised when they come out of the mold. Then the balls are turned/polished down to be perfectly round and then finished with logos. Its all part of their manufacturing process. I am not sure if it affects performance. I would say you have to make a decision whether this is a deal breaker for you on Srixon balls. Its going to happen on every Z Star ball whether you have noticed it or not.

[lookylookitzadam]

> @awtryau89 said:

> Folks, according to the rep, its a seam and it where the molds are pieced together. I have never had a ball crack there but alway just show wear along the seam. From his explanation, the balls all have this seam and it is raised when they come out of the mold. Then the balls are turned/polished down to be perfectly round and then finished with logos. Its all part of their manufacturing process. I am not sure if it affects performance. I would say you have to make a decision whether this is a deal breaker for you on Srixon balls. Its going to happen on every Z Star ball whether you have noticed it or not.

 

Correct, it is definitely a seam; you can see as it follows the dimple patterns. As mentioned all balls are made from two disc molds which are then fused together. I have played the XV for a while now and I have had a few where this has happened but it doesn't really impact performance as it is just a wear pattern. The only time I have seen them is when I play a ball for over 18 holes.

[NailedIt]

I agree it doesn't seem to affect performance, I just personally have not seen this with other brands I play.

[BeerPerHole]

I play these and have never seen that, either. Very interesting. The engineer in me says "excessive cross-linking in the urethane cover"... But, I'm not even sure urethane works that way.

[NailedIt]

I emailed Srixon and the response I received from them was that they have the thinnest cover out there and it's the seam showing through. He said if the cover hasn't separated it shouldn't be an issue. Which for me it hasn't.

[ode]

> @NailedIt said:

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Yep that's it.....thx for the pics!

[ode]

And you can see it if you look closely on a brand new ball, it's just not as pronounced. Something they need to address IMO, as it certainly does not help performance and it looks horrible!

[Jason m]

Dang, gonna look at mine now. Thanks for the pics

[976-Evil]

Interesting. Definitely going to have to look at this when I play tomorrow.

[Kmac]

I ordered a bunch of yellow XV’s with my own custom triple track and when they arrived I noticed the seam right away. They said the same thing to me when I called CS, should not affect the performance of the ball. Here’s two pics I took- first one I made a line along the seam to show it better and the second pic the seam is going up and down.

 

[Double Dodger]

Played this ball exclusivities for about 5-6 years. Mostly yellow because of the durability. I personally have never seen nor heard of this ball cracking from guys I know that play it. I am a 1, carry a driver about 270 and sometimes I have played the same ball 2 or 3 rounds with no issues. I live in the south and it’s hot here nearly all the year. I wonder if these issues are in cooler climes?

[SwingBlues]

Well, it's happened to my ball, played 2rounds before today & 5 holes into todays round when I took a look at the ball & WALLAH - theres the line. Crap

[Hateto3Putt]

Now I've got to closely examine my balls...

 

I've played Z-Stars almost exclusively for the past few years, I've never noticed anything like this. Of course, I've never really looked and my eyes suck.

 

Between the garage, trunk and bag I've probably go 10 -12 dozen in the stash.

[Choclab]

You should all discontinue playing these balls immediately due to this issue, and send me your stocks ASAP.

[Mike_C]

I have noticed this too. Though it was the grooves from a new wedge. Must be the seam.

[Wardonation]

19 XV yellow after 6 holes or so you can the seam as it appears lighter in color than ball itself disturbing for sure.. Also the yellow XV feels harder than the white XV?

[cxx]

Does anyone think that the visible seam is really a problem? As I recall visible seams used to be commonplace for all brands.

[jblough99]

The visible seam doesn’t bother me, it’s the ball actually cracking is what has me concerned. Cracked another one last night. That makes 3 in the past week. All have been last years XV models from the 6 ball trial packs. Hopefully I don’t have this issue with the 8 dozen 2019’s I have in the closet.

[jblough99]

I’ve looked at the 3 cracked ones, and none have cracked along the visible seam.

[Go_Blue!]

The XV5 yellow has been the best all around ball for me. Just dont care for the new ones as much as the previous version.

[RacineBoxer]

I've got some that are showing similar wear to what I'm seeing in this thread. To me it just looks like the paint is wearing off the seam before it wears off other parts of the ball. I've always found Srixon's to be more durable than Pro V1's which is one of the reasons I play them (along with price).

[Wardonation]

If you feel the seam it is raised quite a bit. I have 4 dozen I want to return but cannot as they are personlized. I switched back to the PROVX and gained some distance from the XV in the irons and lower flighted wedges but hate paying that price even thought I use book money from club to do so...

[Wardonation]

> @Kmac said:

> I ordered a bunch of yellow XV’s with my own custom triple track and when they arrived I noticed the seam right away. They said the same thing to me when I called CS, should not affect the performance of the ball. Here’s two pics I took- first one I made a line along the seam to show it better and the second pic the seam is going up and down.

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Ya on this last batch of balls I can see the seam out of the box and it is raised...

[Nixhex524]

Posted in the XV thread about this... I teed one up as a provisional today and after finding my first one, I noticed this when I picked the provisional up... one swing and it stands out like this? If it doesn't break that's all I care about, but it is in the back of my mind, no doubt.

[aewon]

Reviving a somewhat old thred. I have started practicing with and playing this ball during this season, thinking of switching from my regular Tp5 ball. I think Srixon XV is a great overall performing ball at a much better price point than almost every other premium golfball. I can se why so many people here are praising it. Unfortunately i have been put off by this cracked seam issue.. I have played both the 5:th and 6:th generation (2017 and 2019) ball and i have to say that the durability really sucks. Almost every ball i have played so far the last couple of months have cracked along the seam, some balls lasting no more than one hole before i have to take them out of play. Sure the price are much lower than most other tour balls but overall the price gets way higher than lets say my regular ball tp5, which easily last 18 holes and somethimes 36 if its just practice rounds. It´s hard to justify a switch when there´s so many great balls out there. I think Srixon has do adress this issue .

[TheBear95]

8 hours ago, aewon said:

Reviving a somewhat old thred. I have started practicing with and playing this ball during this season, thinking of switching from my regular Tp5 ball. I think Srixon XV is a great overall performing ball at a much better price point than almost every other premium golfball. I can se why so many people here are praising it. Unfortunately i have been put off by this cracked seam issue.. I have played both the 5:th and 6:th generation (2017 and 2019) ball and i have to say that the durability really sucks. Almost every ball i have played so far the last couple of months have cracked along the seam, some balls lasting no more than one hole before i have to take them out of play. Sure the price are much lower than most other tour balls but overall the price gets way higher than lets say my regular ball tp5, which easily last 18 holes and somethimes 36 if its just practice rounds. It´s hard to justify a switch when there´s so many great balls out there. I think Srixon has do adress this issue .

 

Calling it a crack is not accurate though. It is a wear mark. Big difference.

 

I'm a Z-Star player. And yes, I find this wear mark annoying. That said, the ball performs well for me and the price point is right. 

 

Issue here is the TPU urethane cover. In an effort to keep-up with the cast urethane covers, Srixon's TPU cover is getting thinner and thinner. The issue, the durability of the ball keeps getting worse and worse. Without a doubt, the past generations of Z-Stars (2011, 2013, 2015) are much more durable than the current generation Z-Star (2019). For me, the issue with seam showing after a few hits started with the 2017 model and has continued into the current model (though not as bad). The 2017s are the worst with it.

 

I believe a new generation will arrive in 2021. Hopefully, they figure out a way to eliminate this issue with the seam showing. I'm pretty sure their customer service is tired of having to answer customer questions about whether the ball is actually cracked.

 

Edited October 1, 2020 by TheBear95

[aewon]

2 hours ago, TheBear95 said:

 

Calling it a crack is not accurate though. It is a wear mark. Big difference.

 

I'm a Z-Star player. And yes, I find this wear mark annoying. That said, the ball performs well for me and the price point is right. 

 

Issue here is the TPU urethane cover. In an effort to keep-up with the cast urethane covers, Srixon's TPU cover is getting thinner and thinner. The issue, the durability of the ball keeps getting worse and worse. Without a doubt, the past generations of Z-Stars (2011, 2013, 2015) are much more durable than the current generation Z-Star (2019). For me, the issue with seam showing after a few hits started with the 2017 model and has continued into the current model (though not as bad). The 2017s are the worst with it.

 

I believe a new generation will arrive in 2021. Hopefully, they figure out a way to eliminate this issue with the seam showing. I'm pretty sure their customer service is tired of having to answer customer questions about whether the ball is actually cracked.

 

Thank you for the reply. 

 

Have you compared the regular z star to the xv? Is the wearing comparable on both balls or is the softer z star holding up better due to its softness? I have not tried the regular z star yet, thinking I will loose distance of the driver. As I mentioned my ball has been the tp5 since it was first launched (and before that the tour preferred x) , and I feel it's just as long as any other ball dispite it's being a softer ball (which I like) I have stayed away from the regular z star so far because there's plenty of comments saying it's short of the tee? It's that something you have experienced? 

Edited October 1, 2020 by aewon