Have you found your ball for 2018? TP5 for me.

[North Butte]

AVX

 

how is this ball compared to ProV?

 

Lower spin throughout the bag. Slightly lower trajectory, especially off the driver.

 

If you overspin irons (not my problem!) or if your driving distance can benefit from a low, boring, "hot" driver ball flight then the AVX might have advantages for your game.

 

The question then is whether you can live with giving up a certain amount of spin around the greens. Most of us who like AVX find that not a big concern but if you really on really zipping back the "low spinner" pitch shot AVX is probably not going to suit you.

[rainkingjr]

Snell MTB Black for now. Going to try the Red on the course soon so we'll see how that Call me a fanboy, but I'm not even bothering with other brands at this point, Snell MTB ticks all the boxes for me and I like Dean's business model/accessibility.

[Torrey4Life]

B330S will always have a spot in my heart. But the TP5X is nice.

[Mych]

I found used Srixon Q-Star Tour's for about $6/doz on eBay a while back, AAA+ condition (overrun logos/sharpie marks). I have enjoyed them so far. One more order should get me through the year, but for the price I may stockpile a few extra the next time eBay has one of those 15% off coupons. My backups are yellow Q-Star's for fall/winter visibility and Maxfli U6's when they go on sale at DSG.

[BeerPerHole]

The Q Star XV. Recently started playing these and I like them.

[Randy_Bobandy]

I got 9 dozen of some closeout B330s's. All the premium urethane balls play about the same for me as my swing is by far the biggest factor. I play literally whatever cheap ball I can get my hands on during the winter though, so I've played most of them, and they all play very similarly. I did pick up a sleeve of TP5x last fall and really liked them. Nothing game changing, but was definitely the real deal. If I was made of money I would play those!

[Dasenergi]

TP5 for me. It’s the best all around ball I’ve played since the og Nike one platinum

[rgk5]

Srixon QStar Tour

[jesusdelallata]

So many great balls. Can’t go wrong with any. But for some reason I felt the tp5 really good. I had tried it when it was in the mid 50s a couple months ago but at 85 degree weather it felt amazing.

[craz-e]

This could be my first ever year playing a non "tour" ball.

I have been trying the Taylormade project (a) recently and can not fault it.

 

Love this ball. Especially now that they have it in yellow. But occasionally it feels like it might be just a little shorter than some of the other balls.

 

Have you experienced that at all?

This could be my first ever year playing a non "tour" ball.

I have been trying the Taylormade project (a) recently and can not fault it.

 

Love this ball. Especially now that they have it in yellow. But occasionally it feels like it might be just a little shorter than some of the other balls.

 

Have you experienced that at all?

 

No difference in length for me but to be honest I have never ever really found any balls to give me any greater or even less distance than one another

[bnb9433]

TP5x

[BrandonG31]

AVX, bullets off the tee, easy length with irons, and I’m a bump and run type of short game player.

[BrandonG31]

I hope they come out with a firmer version of the ball

[FKA HB]

So many good tour balls out there. Haven't tried the 2018 Bridgestones, but I've still got some 2017 B330 and B330s. I like, not love those, though nothing beats the B330 off the driver.

I may go with the Cally Chromes. Have a box of each flavor, but have only played the ProV1 version. Seemed to cut through the wind very nicely through the bag and felt great on full shots, wedges, chips and putts.

[Hat Trick]

TP5, V1 and Chrome Soft are all my choices that I like... Just haven't decided which is 1st, 2nd and 3rd yet!

[jesusdelallata]

TP5, V1 and Chrome Soft are all my choices that I like... Just haven't decided which is 1st, 2nd and 3rd yet!

 

I like all three. All good balls. My issue is the Pro V1 flies way too high with the driver and I tend to lose some distance.

 

The TP5 seems to be longer on irons too.

 

 

[tips09]

Current gamer project a is in a battle with the chrome soft at the moment. Still need a few more rounds to make the decision.

[ebrasmus21]

Snell MTB Black

[monks66]

Snell MTB Black

 

+1......great ball

[John9213]

TP5 is my current gamer but the Chromesoft and Q star tour are close behind. When I play goat tracks where it’s easy to lose balls or the greens aren’t ideal, I break out the trusty TF Gamer soft.

[Frisco Kid]

Shot even par for the first time with Gamer Soft so I’m sticking with it.

[rxk9fan]

After testing a lot of different balls over the last months, I have concluded that the TP5 will be my gamer. Second favorite for me is the Pro V1. I have to say, now that we are having warmer weather the TP5 and Pro V1 feel nice and soft. I just give the edge to the TP5 because the distance with the irons was impressive. That ball comes out high and long.

 

So what's your ball for this year? And what others did you test before deciding?

 

NOTE: REPEAT POST but I feel relevant to your post because I agree :-)) I made this post a few weeks ago!

 

The last 3 weeks I have been testing balls for the first time. I remember a time that my only requirements were that my ball was round and I preferred white.

Then after a few years I added the requirement that it was at least a little softer than a rock.

More recently, I kept those requirements but had found I mostly liked best a few of the premium balls and played Pro V1 or V1x. But I also liked a few other balls I had found on the course so I decided to see what ball I really liked before i got too deep into this year. I have worked very hard since this time last year putting the rest of my bag together and FINALLY am set for at least the rest of this year. All that was left was to find if ball choice made any difference or perceived difference to my game.

Though I may have missed some great opportunities, I limited this quest to some balls I have actually at least played before and liked. I feel like I did the preliminary work during the years I have played and I wanted to work with what I liked and not waste time or money on others. The contestants would all be the most recent editions of the following:

Callaway CS and CSx

Taylormade TP5 and TP5x

Titleist Pro V1 and V1x

 

I started by buying a dozen of each locally. I have spent about 7 hours chipping and pitching these balls on three different greens in my area. I would take 2 balls of each and hit from the same spot. I wanted to see how they reacted to different conditions and even on different grasses. I played 72 holes of golf on 3 different courses in varied conditions including winds that were a mild 5 to 7mph one day up to winds of 18 to 22mph one day. While I took some notes, I decided to be brief and provide my perception of results because this is how I decided to make my decision. I want to play the ball that after hours of practice and play stood out in my mind as the best for my game.

 

Where these balls differed the most to me was around the green. There is a huge difference when putting these balls one after another. Of course they are round and all roll well but they are very different. The softest ball off my putter seemed to consistently be the TaylormadeTP5. I kept rolling putts and when I hit the TP5, it jumped out as being so soft and smooth off my putter. All the x balls seemed much harder. I liked the soft feel a lot but then it got into my head that I was actually making more good putts with the harder balls and particularly the Pro V1x. There was the comfort factor with the ball I had been playing all spring. So the winner in putting...I was not sure.

 

On the course I found all 6 to be playable for me. The TP5x seemed to be the longest off the driver for me but not by enough to be the deciding factor. With full shots into the green with mid irons to wedges, this was important to me and I saw some differences:

Pro V1 and V1x: both had a lot of spin with the wedges and short irons and more than I really wanted at times. The 4 to 10 foot zip back is not ideal for me. I don't always know my courses nor the greens all that well so if I can get a yardage on my rangefinder and hit that yardage I feel I take some terrain variables out of the equation. Nothing like hitting a great shot only to see it zip backwards down a slope that you really were not aware of.

CS and CSx: I felt these two were both low launching and because I have bent my irons strong to control launch I probably set my clubs up in a way that was not ideal. With the low launch and mid spin I saw with both, they played their way out of contention pretty quickly for me. I do not think that is a short coming of the ball, but instead a short coming with my set up?

TP5 and TP5x: These two balls on full shots were both pretty much just land and stop. On less than full swings, I got more run out with the TP5x than what I wanted. Additionally, the TP5 seemed more consistent in trajectory and carry for me. On less than full swings, the TP5 again felt soft.

 

So, down to the Pro V1, V1x, and TP5 I went back to the greens for another 2 to 3 hours. This now came down to feel. The one thing against the TP5 and V1 was that on this very windy day, pitches seemed to be more affected by the wind while in the air (crazy wind this day). On the green, I loved the firm V1x probably out of familiarity. I loved the soft feel of the TP5. The Pro V1 seemed to land in the middle of the other two. In the end, I have decided on the TP5. It seems to be the king of landing and stopping on iron shots into the greens almost always very close to the divot. It is super soft off of the putter compared to the others and has no real weakness when played with my game.

 

We all know they are all great and I don't know if I would score any different with any of the six balls in my finals. But, for me the feel and performance of the TP5 is as good as anything made. None of my normal group play it so identifying my ball will be easy. I see no reason not to make it my ball for 2018.

 

I could not help one more session which borders on torture/stupidity. There was no one on the driving range where I live so I stopped. I hit a couple of small buckets into another windy day. It was humid and the wind was 18mph with gust up to 40mph so not all that pleasant. However, I could not resist pulling out 6 balls, 2 Pro V1x, 2 TP5, and 2 TP5x.

I proceeded to hit each ball at the hundred yard mark and then walked down to see where they landed. I picked them up and did the same for the 125 yard marker, then the 150 marker, then the 250 with my driver, then repeated the 100, then the 125, and then the driver one last time.

Todays findings, these balls mainly differ in how they feel and how they react on the green. Today was a lot of walking and a little sweat to find they were pretty much interchangeable during this test. Some went a little lower or higher but landed very close to one another. I was hitting the ball pretty consistently and the results were the same.

So, my advice is not to repeat this little exercise without a cart LOL

I am pooped now and only found out one thing. These three balls handle the wind well and give me the same results as far as carry distance with the irons and total distance with the driver into a stout wind.

[rxk9fan]

I found used Srixon Q-Star Tour's for about $6/doz on eBay a while back, AAA+ condition (overrun logos/sharpie marks). I have enjoyed them so far. One more order should get me through the year, but for the price I may stockpile a few extra the next time eBay has one of those 15% off coupons. My backups are yellow Q-Star's for fall/winter visibility and Maxfli U6's when they go on sale at DSG.

 

I could never play a $6/doz ball without my HC going up. I am afraid it would be like sunglasses when I use to race boats. If I bought cheap glasses, I was constantly letting them blow off into the lake or tearing them up with my helmet. If I paid big bucks for a pair, I took care of them and they lasted a long time.

I am afraid the same would be true with golf balls. At $40 plus a dozen I try to hit them where I can find them. At 50cents a ball, I would probably lose 6 a round ;-)))

[rxk9fan]

Let's face it, there are very few here where a ball will make or break scores.

 

My Grandad once told me "I don't know why you spend so much time picking out a girlfriend...at the end of the day they are pretty much all alike". I thought at 15 years of age that might be the most stupid thing I had ever heard!

Now, maybe I see his intended drift a little more but I did like picking them out and I like picking out my golf ball too :-))

[Dbogey]

Let's face it, there are very few here where a ball will make or break scores.

 

My Grandad once told me "I don't know why you spend so much time picking out a girlfriend...at the end of the day they are pretty much all alike". I thought at 15 years of age that might be the most stupid thing I had ever heard!

Now, maybe I see his intended drift a little more but I did like picking them out and I like picking out my golf ball too :-))

 

Sound advice.....my buddies ask why I change clubs so much and my stock reply is I can't change my wife this much.....as far as ball fro this year CS or V1

[Uhit]

Let's face it, there are very few here where a ball will make or break scores.

 

My Grandad once told me "I don't know why you spend so much time picking out a girlfriend...at the end of the day they are pretty much all alike". I thought at 15 years of age that might be the most stupid thing I had ever heard!

Now, maybe I see his intended drift a little more but I did like picking them out and I like picking out my golf ball too :-))

 

Sound advice.....my buddies ask why I change clubs so much and my stock reply is I can't change my wife this much.....as far as ball fro this year CS or V1

 

...you only need to find THE right ball...

 

...I have found the OnCore ELIXR - at least for this season. ;-)

[Mych]

I found used Srixon Q-Star Tour's for about $6/doz on eBay a while back, AAA+ condition (overrun logos/sharpie marks). I have enjoyed them so far. One more order should get me through the year, but for the price I may stockpile a few extra the next time eBay has one of those 15% off coupons. My backups are yellow Q-Star's for fall/winter visibility and Maxfli U6's when they go on sale at DSG.

 

I could never play a $6/doz ball without my HC going up. I am afraid it would be like sunglasses when I use to race boats. If I bought cheap glasses, I was constantly letting them blow off into the lake or tearing them up with my helmet. If I paid big bucks for a pair, I took care of them and they lasted a long time.

I am afraid the same would be true with golf balls. At $40 plus a dozen I try to hit them where I can find them. At 50cents a ball, I would probably lose 6 a round ;-)))

 

I definitely don't feel bad about dropping a 2nd one and trying a stupid shot from time to time. "I wonder if I can carry that water", "I wonder if I can bend it around those trees". I still try to play my first ball conservatively, but that 2nd golfer tries a lot of dumb stuff that leaves balls at the bottom of a pond.

[IL2AZ]

Bridgestone Tour B XS for me. Great distance off the tee, great spin around the green, stable in the wind and just seems to feel a little more soft and dense/heavy than others I have tried. I do miss looking down at a Pro V for some reason though.

[Zakers23]

Bridgestone Tour B XS for me. Great distance off the tee, great spin around the green, stable in the wind and just seems to feel a little more soft and dense/heavy than others I have tried. I do miss looking down at a Pro V for some reason though.

 

Then go buy a pro V lol

[Roc-A-Fella_1]

Bridgestone Tour B XS for me. Great distance off the tee, great spin around the green, stable in the wind and just seems to feel a little more soft and dense/heavy than others I have tried. I do miss looking down at a Pro V for some reason though.

 

Then go buy a pro V lol

 

Or mark your Bridgestone with "Pro V"