Observation from today. PROV1 VS TAYLORMADE DISTANCE BALLS

aquapig · October 14, 2020

Today I was at golf store and needed some balls. I've been playing ProV1x this year and love everything about them. But I saw some Taylormade balls I've never heard of for 14.99 a dozen.

I thought ok, for something that cheap, if they suck it's 15 bucks..so what.

I played a solo 18 today and had 2 older guys playing slow in front of me so I decided to play 2 balls every shot. One with a ProV1x and one w a Taylormade Distance.

It was pretty windy and figured this would be a good test. To my surprise the balls didn't play much differently at all.

Well struck drives were with a few yards of each other. Irons played about the same. Long irons stopped a touch more w the ProV1x, but nothing majorly different. Wedges were close to the same as well. Chips and pitches the ProV1x had more bite, but again nothing that would make a huge difference.

All in all, there really wasn't much difference, maybe other than feel. The Distance felt a little clicky off the driver and putter.

Just one man's honest observation.

elwhippy · October 14, 2020

I think most balls get close to, or are on the distance limit. The V1x will be more consistent and be easier to control. A bit like the difference between a Casio and Rolex. Both tells the time but one is more refined.

Tanner25 · October 14, 2020

7 hours ago, aquapig said:

Today I was at golf store and needed some balls. I've been playing ProV1x this year and love everything about them. But I saw some Taylormade balls I've never heard of for 14.99 a dozen.

I thought ok, for something that cheap, if they suck it's 15 bucks..so what.

I played a solo 18 today and had 2 older guys playing slow in front of me so I decided to play 2 balls every shot. One with a ProV1x and one w a Taylormade Distance.

It was pretty windy and figured this would be a good test. To my surprise the balls didn't play much differently at all.

Well struck drives were with a few yards of each other. Irons played about the same. Long irons stopped a touch more w the ProV1x, but nothing majorly different. Wedges were close to the same as well. Chips and pitches the ProV1x had more bite, but again nothing that would make a huge difference.

All in all, there really wasn't much difference, maybe other than feel. The Distance felt a little clicky off the driver and putter.

Just one man's honest observation.

You've found a category of ball I like. 2 piece and mid compression. I like the BurnerSoft and Soft Feel in this category. They go long, feel great etc. You do sacrifice green side control. But, I don't think it will change your score much and they are a lot cheaper,

Edited October 14, 2020 by Tanner25

ihocky2 · October 14, 2020

What was the greens conditions like? I played some cheaper 2 and 3 piece surlyn covered balls to start the year and am working through some inventory of them now. On wet or soft greens I can get them to one hop pretty easily. Played a course the other night with dry, hard, fast greens and those same balls were bouncing a couple times and rolling out a lot. Switched to an AVX I had in the bag and saw noticeable improvement being able to hold the green. Most days I can get the cheaper balls to play well enough it doesn't hurt my score a lot over a premium ball. But when the fairways and greens are hard and fast I'll take a urethane cover every time.

aquapig · October 15, 2020

19 hours ago, ihocky2 said:

What was the greens conditions like? I played some cheaper 2 and 3 piece surlyn covered balls to start the year and am working through some inventory of them now. On wet or soft greens I can get them to one hop pretty easily. Played a course the other night with dry, hard, fast greens and those same balls were bouncing a couple times and rolling out a lot. Switched to an AVX I had in the bag and saw noticeable improvement being able to hold the green. Most days I can get the cheaper balls to play well enough it doesn't hurt my score a lot over a premium ball. But when the fairways and greens are hard and fast I'll take a urethane cover every time.

Greens were pretty average. We've had a pretty wet September here in Florida, but a fairly dry October to this point.

Ofcourse a ProV1x is going to give you more greenside spin. But unless you're playing on hard greens, then I'm not sure it makes much difference. In fact, I've had the spinny ProV1x work in my favor as well as against me. I've hit some firm chips and pitches that have stopped so fast, that I've come up short to the hole.

I spin the ball plenty with my irons and hit a high ball, so getting any ball to stop is never an issue.

If they were priced the same, then I'd play the ProV1x all day. It feels great, is durable and checks all the boxes. But I would say for most golfers I play with, they're wasting their money on a premium priced golf ball.

At 14.99 a dozen, this ball works nearly as well as the ProV1x that is 30.00 more.

I'm going to play the Distance a few more rounds in different conditions and at a couple different courses. But so far, I think I've found a very inexpensive golf ball yhat works for me.

aquapig · October 15, 2020

On 10/14/2020 at 7:33 AM, Tanner25 said:

You've found a category of ball I like. 2 piece and mid compression. I like the BurnerSoft and Soft Feel in this category. They go long, feel great etc. You do sacrifice green side control. But, I don't think it will change your score much and they are a lot cheaper,

The Cally Supersoft is abothee fantastic ball. It's around 20.00 a dozen. For 14.99, the TM Distance is a great value.

Jaoffo · October 16, 2020

I play the yellow TM Distance + and find it to be a bit longer than the PV1 off the tee for me.

I played it this week in a two day tournament and noticed toward the end of the second day as I was getting tired my dispersion increased. I switched to a TF Hammer control and finished par-par. probably all in my head, but it worked.

kmay__ · October 16, 2020

I've played the distance ball a lot over the last 3 years, they go on sale up here at Canadian Tire for as low as 11.99 a box sometimes. You are right they do feel a touch clicky, but when you are losing a few a round and still working on your game, I've been happy enough with them. Got a bunch of ad333 on sale recently to try out next spring.... I cant ever see myself spending 50-60 bucks on a box of balls.

Well I shouldn't say that, I hope one day my game is at a point where I can get enough longevity out of a ball to not worry about the price.

PhilsFanDrew · October 16, 2020

Premium urethane balls definitely have performance characteristics that allow it to do more than cheaper surlyn balls in regards to spin and control. With that said, shot preference and shot execution will heavily influence whether a golfer can truly benefit from playing the premium option. Lets take shot preference. If you are someone that likes to use lower lofted clubs to chip with around the green wherever possible you can probably get on just fine with a surlyn ball and not have to make any adjustments/compensations because you are already playing the ball to roll out. If you are someone that uses more loft and wants to chuck it closer to the hole and rely on spin to stop the ball urethane is clearly going to be your better option. For shot execution you need to have some semblance of consistency in strike/turf interaction to fully utilize the advantages urethane balls have over surlyn. If you are someone that hits as many shots fat/thin versus hitting shots pure and crisp, urethane balls are not going to greatly change the outcome of your shots because your strikes vary too much.

Nevertheless, I don't subscribe to the idea that you have to be a certain handicap to play a premium urethane ball. If you are a high handicapper and you have the money to shell out on premium balls and they give you more confidence have at it. Confidence is equally if not more important to a handicap golfer. If you have it in your mind that a certain ball is not going to work you have already planted the seeds of failure which will make shot commitment and execution that much more difficult.