Bridgestone Ball Fitting - Shenanigans?

[Chicago Lefty]

So I went to a local Bridgestone ball fitting the other day for fun. Currently I play the ProV1x and have been pretty happy with it. At the fitting we only hit driver. My current setup is a 10.5 degree 909d3 w/ x-flex blueboard.

 

Here's my numbers with the ProV1x

 

Swing speed - 112mph

Launch angle - 13.8

Ball speed - 151

Backspin - 5900rpms

Carry - 222 yards

 

 

After they fit me for a Tour B330-RX

 

Swing Speed - 112mph

Launch Angle - 13.0

Ball speed - 155

Backspin - 3000rpms

Carry - 259 yards

 

 

They use a photo based launch monitor that you have to select different points on the ball and that determines the spin etc. Do you think there is a chance they fudge the numbers on the ball you play? I mean, 5800rpms is way higher than I would expected my combo to be...and on top of that, I hit the ProV1x much further than 220 yards on 99% of my drives. Clearly by the ball speed, I'm not catching the face consistently enough, but I still don't believe with those numbers it should be a 220 yard driver w/ roll.

[geronimo509]

I do not know much but would half the backspin give you 40 more yards? I would check to make sure they didn't touch the device before you switched balls. I don't know what else to tell you

[wfrogge1]

112mph swing speed and they fit you with the RX?

[VA_Astra]

I would have guessed you in the B330 or B330s for your swing speed, but if you hit 5900rpm of spin off of your driver I would have thought an E7 for you.

They probably took your worst swing you had, 5900 rpm is a ton of spin. A ball isnt going to drop it in half, only a club or swing change will do that.

[Chicago Lefty]

Since this is a photo based launch monitor and it requires them to mark points on the ball on the computer, I was thinking they may have fudged up the marking to make the ProV look worse.

[VA_Astra]

No possible way to fudge the markings on the ball. I have used once of those monitors many many times.

All it does it measure the dots through various shots and with in a certain distance it calculates the amount of spin based off of how much the dots have moved and the ball speed by the distance the ball traveled within the timeframe of the pic.


Pretty basic, pretty tough to fudge, but way less accurate than a trackman or similar Doppler setup.

[craz-e]

I recently had the ball fitting, swing speed average = 105 MPH, the guy thought the B330-S would be the best fit but the stats came back better when I was hitting the RXS. Got a sleeve free to try so will give them a chance

[wu_scgolfer]

That it is a lot of spin, my guess is that you made better swings with the 330RX, but the RX will spin significantly less than the ProV1x, they would not have put you into the e7 because you are obviously a better player with the set up that you have and would prefer the urethane cover of the RX around the greens. When marking the ball of the Bridgestone system, it is possible to make a mistake and mark the wrong part of the ball but there is no way of doing it on purpose and fudging the numbers, the system wont allow it, it will make you do it again. For the other poster, just because of the 112 swing speed, does not mean someone should play the 330 series, you play what fits your game the best and gives you the best performance, and that may be the e series or the RX. The RX is a very versatile golf ball that is effective at killing the high spin that most see from the ProV1 golf balls.

[mcmski]

I've heard in the past that they tend to take your worst swings and numbers for your current ball and compare them to your best swings with the ball they fit you to.

Also remember that those distance numbers are Carry only, not carry and roll.

Playing a softer ball can drop your spin numbers quite a bit. Not in half, but still a significant amount. They also tend to more or less ignore your swing speed numbers and go off your ball speed numbers because that's the more important number of the two and 150ish ball speed might be on the high end of the spectrum for the RX. If you slowed down your swing a bit but got closer to a smash factor of 1.45 to 1.48 (so for fun lets say you started swinging at 105 instead of 112 but hit the ball more efficiently you could pick up 5 or more mph of ball speed and probably lower your spin and hit the ball farther ...

I really wish they spent more time fitting people to irons and wedges as well as or even instead of to the driver. The fact of the matter is that extra distance sells more golf balls than improved performance with the scoring clubs...

[rblmp32]

No way a ball made that much difference, especially since the X doesn't really spin that much generally speaking. Imo, that's just bad fitting data, not necessarily from them but probably just a poor swing to use for comparison sake.

[Chicago Lefty]

They told me it was carry plus roll...

The guy also said Freddy Couples has a 127mph swing speed.

[Chicago Lefty]

I brought a wedge and mid iron in as well, but they weren't interested.

FWIW I don't think I flushed any of those shots either.

[rblmp32]

[quote name='Chicago Lefty' date='09 April 2010 - 04:36 PM' timestamp='1270845381' post='2370364']
They told me it was carry plus roll...

The guy also said Freddy Couples has a 127mph swing speed.
[/quote]

Freddy really moves it, but he's not that fast More like 117 I'd say.

[jda]

I'll bet that Freddy could swing it 127 if he wanted to...

I went to one of these and found the numbers to be quite biased. They would not let me mark my own ProV1 (which was new) and wouldn't tell me how old the balls were. They seemed to get quite pissed that I doubted them when I was trying to get a feel for how apples-to-apples the test was. I also got numbers that were 15% less than my average (with other balls) and they did not have any answers for why when I asked. Their ball performed as I would expect, though.

They were nice and gave me a free sleeve of B330s though. I like them OK when the course is soft.

[wu_scgolfer]

As a Bridgestone ball fitter I have first hand experience and will try and help out like I tried to do above. To the poster above me, it seems to me you had a bad experience and that is unfortunate. I would encourage you if you have another chance to try again. As far as the fresh balls, I always try and replace the balls used most often after they would have gone through what they would have in a typical round, that way it is a fair test. As far as sample sizes of swings, I know my partner and I only compare good swings with each ball, regardless of how many attempt is takes, generally speaking 3 good swings with each ball. I believe the original poster had bad swings left in as 5900 rpm's of backspin is very high, even for the ProV1x. And by no means does anyone think the RX is 37 yards longer than the ProV1x. This year most teams will be using mats that can be used for iron and wedge testing if you would like, the disparity in distance will not be nearly as great in irons as swing speeds will be lower and it is not as evident with a 150 yard 8 iron as it is with a driver. The driver is the easiest club to see the difference in technology and quality of Bridgestone golf balls versus our competitors.

[ckern1]

Played the B330-S and I think it cost me three shots, seriously. Would not stop on the greens. it was the firmest the course has been all year though.

[Skaffa77]

Surprised with the results.

I did a fitting...put a TP Red on the monitor and they fit me into a B330s. Gained about 10 yards...launch angle was improved (higher, 13*)...SS = 112 mph.


BTW - I read the comment on the B330s costing strokes and I'll be the first to say it's a great ball...every bit as good as a Pro V1 (for me). Spin was never an issue with either the B330 or B330s. I've recently been battling with "baked out" (dry, hard) greens here too. Didn't matter what ball I was hitting, they just wouldn't stop...

[BombandGouge]

[quote name='rblmp32' date='09 April 2010 - 04:42 PM' timestamp='1270845744' post='2370371']
[quote name='Chicago Lefty' date='09 April 2010 - 04:36 PM' timestamp='1270845381' post='2370364']
They told me it was carry plus roll...

The guy also said Freddy Couples has a 127mph swing speed.
[/quote]

Freddy really moves it, but he's not that fast More like 117 I'd say.
[/quote]

i bet he is faster than 117. based upon his drives i would say he is in the mid 120s.

[1badbadger]

The reason the distance seems short is because it is a mathematical equation that calculates distance. It does not factor in any atmospheric conditions like wind of humidity. It is also calibrated at sea level. So it would be like hitting balls in a vacuum. If you added about 20 yds. to that, it's probably pretty close. The point is the difference between the distances.

The other poster who commented on the difficulty of "fudjing" the numbers is correct. Very difficult to do with that type of system. And using the driver makes sense, because a players tencancies are more obvious when hitting a driver. Also, when hitting off turf, a couple of divots with an iron would make the tee area unuseable, so realistically, drivers are the best option.

As far as the B330-S costing another poster 3 shots, that might have happened if you had played [i]any[/i] other ball other than your normal ball. Any time a good player changes balls, you could run into the same issue.

[BombandGouge]

[quote name='1badbadger' date='21 April 2010 - 04:59 PM' timestamp='1271883561' post='2393000']
The reason the distance seems short is because it is a mathematical equation that calculates distance. It does not factor in any atmospheric conditions like wind of humidity. It is also calibrated at sea level. So it would be like hitting balls in a vacuum. If you added about 20 yds. to that, it's probably pretty close. The point is the difference between the distances.

The other poster who commented on the difficulty of "fudjing" the numbers is correct. Very difficult to do with that type of system. And using the driver makes sense, because a players tencancies are more obvious when hitting a driver. Also, when hitting off turf, a couple of divots with an iron would make the tee area unuseable, so realistically, drivers are the best option.

As far as the B330-S costing another poster 3 shots, that might have happened if you had played [i]any[/i] other ball other than your normal ball. Any time a good player changes balls, you could run into the same issue.
[/quote]

+1
anytime you switch a ball, you have to learn the strengths and weaknesses of that ball. for example, i use the b330 and i cannot expect it to act like a nike one platinum around the green. it takes time to learn the ball that you're playing and to figure out what type of shots you should hit in certain situations. if i switched to a higher spinning ball i might be coming up short/spinning balls off the front/checking too fast and it would be easy for me to say this ball cost me strokes. you have to really learn the ball you're playing with.

[funseeker]

Got my fitting done today and the guy was great... I took about 6 swings with my TP Red and he showed me that there were a couple that I got up a litlle too much or mishit, and he took my best 3 avg... SS 114, LA 10.2, BS 3320

He did the same with the B330... SS 116, LA 11.5, BS 3700 and B330S... SS 115, LA 11.2, BS 4200.

For me the experience was really helpful... I have been wondering if my driver and wood shafts should be a little bit heavier(currently have a 65g shaft in my driver) or even an X shaft, and those numbers validated that.

This now means i have to start the search process for new gear. Good thing my birtday is coming up.