Forgiving Ball for Beginner?

[ktkn]

Assuming budget or cost is NOT a factor. Is there a more forgiving ball that a beginner (high or mid handicapper) should use? Are 2 piece balls more forgiving, or tour balls such as the Callaway Tour ix, is, iz, i, etc or Titleist Pro Vs just as forgiving and provides more distance off the tee and bite around the green?

 

 

 

 

[Sean2]

Generally speaking two-piece balls spin less than their more expensive brethren. As a result the two-piece will go a bit straighter off the tee. However, there will be much less spin around the greens.

Two-piece balls are generally designed for one thing: distance. The high end balls will provide more bite around the greens (if the ball is properly compressed), but will spin quite a bit more off the tee.

IMHO a beginning golfer is much better off with an inexpensive two-piece ball.

[parpar41]

What many golfers do not realize is that the Pro V1 and the Pro V1x are specifically and intentionally engineered to provide optimum results with the [b]high swing speeds[/b] of pro golfers.

In other words, most recreational golfers who proudly spend $40 or $50 to buy a dozen ProVs (to be just like their favourite tour pro) are wasting their money; they are getting a well made, high quality golf ball for sure, but in 99% of the cases, they do not have high enough swing speeds to get the benefits the ball is designed to provide.

Most recreational golfers ( with more modest swing speeds) will get better results with a lower compression ( and lower cost ) ball than the ProV1.

That is the idea behind the Bridgestone ball fitting, that Bridgestone is hyping in commercials: match your ball to your swing speed.

To answer your question a little more directly, the [b]Top Flight D2 Feel[/b] is a great ball for pretty much every recreational golfer . The fact that you can get a 15 pack for under $20 is just a happy coincidence.

[Russ757]

Srixon tri speed or soft. Seems like theres always a deal for them at Dicks or GG 2 for $30

[skizix]

Best I've found so far are Wilson Zips and Srixon Soft Feel. Don't know if they still make the Zip, but it's all over ebay, and for cheap (I bought 6 dozen for < $70). And get the newer-gen Soft Feels -- the first edition was not supposed to be nearly as nice.

 

I don't buy ProV's, but I find them all the time (brand-new looking the majority of the time, lol), and so play them sometimes. They do have a great feel for short game, but I could swear I lose them faster than any other ball I ever play. So I have to conclude that they have impressive spin (erm...side-spin that is, at least in the case of my driver )

 

And I have good swing speed for a hack (I think - never measured, but semi-old-school-loft 7i is my 175yd club, and I on the occasions that I connect well with driver...almost always outdrive my partners), so I don't think that's why. For me, I think it's just worth giving up some spin around the greens, in order to keep more of my tee shots in play. A lower spinning ball with a nice soft cover seems to be the ticket for me at this point.

[ktkn]

I'm not sure where I found this document (I forgot) but was wondering the accuracy or importance of it. [url="http://www.usga.org/ConformingGolfBall/gball_list.pdf"]http://www.usga.org/ConformingGolfBall/gball_list.pdf[/url] It has the list of golf balls and spin ratings off the driver and for short irons. For example, the Callaway Tour ix (4 piece ball) has a spin rating of L-H, which means low spin off driver and high spin for irons. Would this ball be better (disregard swing speed from the equation for the time being) than say the Callaway Big Bertha (2 piece) ball which has a rating of L-M (low spin off driver, medium spin short irons). Since they both have a rating of Low spin off driver, is this what people mean when they say the forgiveness of the ball? Would Callaway Tour ix = Callaway Big Bertha in terms of forgiveness for a beginner?

Now if you put swing speed into the equation, I know everybody says a modest swing speed won't reap the benefits of an expensive ball, but does it hurt at all? Please don't consider value or monetary costs. Assume all balls cost the same. Will that person lost distance or control vs another ball assuming both balls have the same spin rating.

Now regarding swing speed, is there a document somewhere online that shows what ball I should be playing based on my swing speed. Is that the compression value of the ball I should be looking at? I think I ran across it some time ago but forgot where. Again, an important point is will I lose out by playing a more expensive ball having a lower swing speed (i have no clue on my swing speed but I assume it can't be great).

[xamilo]

Bridgestone's E6 or E6+.

A little hard but straightest ball flight I have hit to date...

[harold baines]

I'm not sure how a ball would be "forgiving"

but at a beginner, the best plan is just to stay consistent with the type of ball you use, find something soft and cheap

don't alternate from balls that spin a lot, to balls that spin little or it'll be harder to learn touch around the green

[wreiman]

The Sirxon soft-feel is a nice ball. I started playing it about a month ago as I lost a lot of club head speed due to injury. I find that it has good bit on the short irons and wedges and puts well. Not certain about the distance off the tee... hard to tell with the injusy.

[EnglishBob]

Another Vote for the Srixon Soft Feel... the Top Flite D2 Feel or Gamer are nice too.

[CosmosMpower]

Top Flite D2 Feel, Nike Power Soft, Srixon AD-333/Tri-Speed are all good choices. Also check out lostgolfballs.com if you want to try a bunch of different stuff at a low price to see what works best for you.