Looking for great winterball. Tinkering with Wilson FG Tour

[darnoldil]

In all honesty, this is a petty and fairly stupid debate (regarding the accuracy of difference in distance between two balls). We KNOW scientifically that two different golfers can get different distance results between different balls, it's a fact, no argument there.

So the real issue that is being questioned (ridiculously I might add) is whether or not one golfer saw 4 yards difference between two balls. Some are questioning if a person can swing consistently enough to see that small of a difference, while others are questioning the accuracy of the measuring equipment to determine such distances.

This doesn't take rocket science here; if you stand and hit 10 balls of brand "A" vs. 10 balls of brand "Z" and 40% of "Z" made the fairway but 80% of "A" did; then you would base the experiment on 40% of "A". As a result you now have a representative sample to glean from. Of course some would say that if you had 80% of brand "A" into the fairway but only 40% of brand "Z" because "Z" kept slicing/hooking out of the park that the test would be over because that was enough of an indication that "Z" wasn't for them and not to worry about distance.

So when you walk to the balls you could look at the dispersion pattern for each brand, throw out the outliers and use one of the balls to represent the average. This could be done simply by pacing off the distance by using a "heel to toe" method since your shoes are consistent in whatever length they are, and then dividing by the sum. Once this was done you would place a ball of each brand as a representation of where the "average" of each ball landed and you could then pace off the distance difference. At home you could measure each shoe and then multiply that by the amount of heel to toe paces that you measured and you would have the distance.

Of course most of us just look at the fact that the "majority" of brand "A" balls landed about "here" and the majority of brand "Z" balls landed about there and one was further than the other. In other words if you hit one further, then it went further; if you hit it further enough times then you are establishing a pattern, if the pattern continues it becomes hard to argue the results for THAT golfer.

Like I wrote at the beginning; there have been enough scientific queries published with robotic swing machines, on GPS grids with wind variables included to show that different clubs, swing speeds, and swing paths WILL affect distance on different balls. To say that one golfer doesn't notice a 4yrd average distance increase/decrease is simply not supported by the rather stringent scientific data collection that has been done.

For all of those that are questioning the gentleman's results just stop and ask yourself this: "Is there a ball that I have played that gave me less distance than other balls when I put my "good" to "best" swings on them? If your answer is yes, and I think everyone on the ball forum would have to answer thus, then you have seen the intricacies of ball construction to swing and club variables in action for yourself. This forum is here, in part, because every year we look for that next ball that will give us more distance without sacrificing other parameters that we deem essential. Many of us have switched balls over the past 8yrs because we have found balls that did exactly this. The funny thing, in closing, that I find is that we scoff at golfers who say they gained 25yrds and we nitpick at those that say they gained an average of 4yrds; the truly funny thing however is that the 4yrd difference is reflects the scientific data much better than the 25yrd difference. Amazing.

[RainShadow]

FG Tour ( My year 'round ball) or the Burner TP, but I think you'll get a little more distance in the cold from the burner. I payed a burner for the first time yesterday in 38* and snow showers ( not sticking) Decent ball and long... I was surprised, actually. Nice feel for a 2 piece.
If the greens where you play are soft, it should stop well enough. I back the FG tour up too much on soft winter greens with my wedges, but the burner seems to hop once and stop or come back about a foot or so.
Burner seems to be a little longer and straighter, as well. I want to try the Topflight gamer V2 as well for winter.
I love the FG Tour ball. I can't believe more people aren't playing it. $35 a dozen or less if you look around.

[caller]

More update.

Played 4 rounds of golf this past weekend.

Played TM Penta, TM Burner TP, Srixon Z-star and Prov1x.

Whather was dry and little wind but not too strong (5-7mph) and 60 to 70 degree most of day.

Penta was ok, played it first thing in the morning around 45degree.
Distance wasn't all that off the tee and irons (about same as Zstar) and spins about Zstar and holds up well like Zstar.
Good ball but not better

TM Burner TP.... Spin was out of control. I don't want to play it again.

Zstar, my same old work horse. Good overall ball.

Prov1x. 3 birdies with this ball on 2nd round and played entire round, ended up shooting 76. Very predictable and long off the tee and consistant around the green
Of course this ball was played when the temp was around 70 degree so not a fair comparison.

Overall, I wish there's ball that works like Prov1x in colder temperature, any recommendation?

[ShakeyT]

Played a couple of weekends ago when it was in the high 30s/low 40s. On the way to the course I stopped in at Wal-Mart looking for a cold weather ball.

Ended up picking up some Noodle Easy Distance balls for $15 and was very happy with the result. Same or better distance than the D:25s I'd been playing and this ball had some serious bite to it around the green.

One shot in particular stands out. I missed a green horribly right and was left with about a 10 yard carry over a trap and a short sided pin placement on a green that ran away from me. Being the typical 15 handicapper, I was petrified of this shot. Used a 52* degree wedge with the the ball just of my front foot and a little waist high to waist high swing. I was stunned when the Noodle landed about 4' from the pin and checked up about 3' short of the pin. I never get that kind of bite on a ball, much less in those conditions.

These balls say there for swing speeds up tp 85mph, but they work great with my mid to low 90s swing speed.

[Cwebb]

Your best option in a value winter ball, is probably the Bridgestone E5. It has a soft compression, which is generally good for cold temps and it has the softest cover of any value ball (Urethane), so you can still get a decent amount of spin on a partial wedge shot. Although nowhere near as much as you do out a premium ball. This can be a good thing, if the greens are very soft and receptive, so as to not fight spinning back wedges too much.

Bstone E5

[btasse]

I normaly play Pro V1's when the weather is above 60 degrees. When it gets cold i like to play either the Precept Laddie Extreme or the Wilson Fifty Elite. They are both long in cold weather; I find the Wilson longer but poor spinning ball (and doesn't last long); few holes and the cover is all marked up.

[NCg0lfer]

[quote name='Bobbers' timestamp='1288966405' post='2775815']
I swear that if someone asked "how much is 1+1?", and a member answered "2" that, within a day or less there'd be someone asking what dimension of time and space was said sum arrived at in????

Guy offers us information, did not need to take the time to share that with us and all of a sudden the "I need more fiber in my diet cause I'm a bit bound up" crowd goes to swarming. [/quote]



Absolutely fantastic post....Thanks for the laugh, I enjoy good sarcasm.