New Srixon Z-Stars

[Jonesy]

8 hours ago, elwhippy said:

Baffled as to what you gents are doing to the balls and what type of clubs you use? I can get 3-4 rounds out of a Z-star or V1 without knocking chunks out of it. The level of damage you are doing looks like playing out of builder grade sand or bouncing off rocks. 

Well whatever you're doing to get 3-4 rounds out of a Zstar I need to learn! 

Course conditions are soft at the moment (rainy season) clubs are in my sig

 

Played with a new ProV1 on the weekend and it too didn't last as well as I'd hoped... better than the Zstar but not miles better 

[soregongolfer]

On 2/8/2021 at 3:28 AM, Jonesy said:

Some updates:

 

Managed 3 rounds with the ball, 1 sleeve down already. Compared to the previous model not much has changed, the cover lasts a bit longer (compared to the previous model), noticed no loss or gain with distance across the bag, feels great, same trajectory across the bag and still great in the wind. One area I think they have improved on a lot is the partial wedge shot, this new version has some zip, really gave me confidence to be aggressive and throw it all the way to flag without fear of it checking and releasing. On full wedge shots it grabs a bit easier but I never had an issue of it ripping back uncontrollably. Also around the greens it seriously grabs, left it short a couple times because I was expecting some rollout.

 

But, longevity... Played 3 rounds, used 3 balls, not once did I think I could use 1 ball for 36 holes... interested to compare against other brands when I can get my hands on them. 

 

Full sleeve, 3 rounds 3 balls. From the left 1st round, 2nd, 3rd

 

Round 2 ball took a beating... To be fair their was a brief meeting with a cart path which is the top scratch, the bottom scuff is from a 52­° wedge. Surprised there was no seam split here 

 

Round 3 ball held up fairly well

I miss the pre-spinskin balls in yellow.  

[Gary Gutful]

On 2/14/2021 at 12:09 PM, arenapoutine said:

Mark Crossfield did a ball test on this year's Z-Star/XV/ProV1/V1X. Regardless what you think of him as a person/YouTuber (I'm indifferent, don't watch often) or of his narrative in the video (I didn't agree), the data in this is fascinating. He did 50 shots with each ball at 10 yards, 50, 150, and then driver. Performance between the balls is about what you'd expect, but my biggest takeaway - the Pro V1 and ProV1X are markedly tighter in spin/distance deviation than Z Star and XV, V1 seeming the best and XV seeming the worst. I'm a big XV fan so this was a bit of a bummer.

 

Look at the below - still subject to human error, sure, but this many shots and XV's range is double Pro V1s? Srixon just seemed like they had wider ranges throughout the video. Maybe I'm making more of this than there is there, or there's another explanation - bad batch of Srixons or something, I don't know - but it's enough to make second guess my ball choice. Curious if anyone else saw this and is thinking the same thing. 

 

Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlyUR8T3NSY

 

I agree 100% with this. Surprised he didn’t talk about the smaller standard deviation with the Pro Vs. The data points to the balls being more consistent. 
 

Actually, given he’s sponsored by Srixon I’m probably not surprised...

Edited February 16, 2021 by Gary Gutful
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[ewaldbeukes]

On 2/2/2021 at 10:41 AM, Jonesy said:

Only 1 round in so far but the 1 shot I hit where I noticed the difference in spin was a partial lob wedge from 50m/55yards? and it stopped very quickly which was nice, basically 1 hop and stop. Around the green I'd say it's the same so far from the previous model, good check on chip shots and a slightly softer feel.

 

But I'm playing again this weekend and will try get a couple rounds in for a proper comparison. 

I hit a few chip shots and short shots with the new XV, spin was so good I bought a few sleeves to try. Been gaming the Pro V1x to date but these seem to be a worthy replacement with better wind performance. 

[ewaldbeukes]

On 2/8/2021 at 1:28 PM, Jonesy said:

Some updates:

 

Managed 3 rounds with the ball, 1 sleeve down already. Compared to the previous model not much has changed, the cover lasts a bit longer (compared to the previous model), noticed no loss or gain with distance across the bag, feels great, same trajectory across the bag and still great in the wind. One area I think they have improved on a lot is the partial wedge shot, this new version has some zip, really gave me confidence to be aggressive and throw it all the way to flag without fear of it checking and releasing. On full wedge shots it grabs a bit easier but I never had an issue of it ripping back uncontrollably. Also around the greens it seriously grabs, left it short a couple times because I was expecting some rollout.

 

But, longevity... Played 3 rounds, used 3 balls, not once did I think I could use 1 ball for 36 holes... interested to compare against other brands when I can get my hands on them. 

 

Full sleeve, 3 rounds 3 balls. From the left 1st round, 2nd, 3rd

 

Round 2 ball took a beating... To be fair their was a brief meeting with a cart path which is the top scratch, the bottom scuff is from a 52­° wedge. Surprised there was no seam split here 

 

Round 3 ball held up fairly well

Thanks for this review - its so good! Some quick questions if I may... (want to compare what my wear might be)... what type of courses are you playing? Lush green or some sandy / harder areas? Shooting good scores? Currently I am a good ball striker but the odd foul ball means I am not going to get much more than 1 round in with these before I send one over the fence or lose it in some lush grass haha. 

[Jonesy]

21 minutes ago, ewaldbeukes said:

Thanks for this review - its so good! Some quick questions if I may... (want to compare what my wear might be)... what type of courses are you playing? Lush green or some sandy / harder areas? Shooting good scores? Currently I am a good ball striker but the odd foul ball means I am not going to get much more than 1 round in with these before I send one over the fence or lose it in some lush grass haha. 

So my home course a parkland setup and we're in our rainy season at the moment so everything is lush/soft, however we do tend to pick up a lot of mud after shots so that might play a small part in wear and tear but I doubt too much. Our bunkers are a bit rough but I haven't been in too many of them (8 over the last 4 rounds) and they haven't chewn balls up in the past.

 

Been playing some ok golf by my standards (3 75's and a 72 all at my home course) with 1 bad round where I did have some tree trouble so that's 100% not the balls fault. 

 

The main wear contribution I reckon comes from the fact that I hit a lot of short irons into holes on my front 9 and also a fair few irons off of tee boxes, I'd probably hit 3 drivers on my front 9 max. Back 9 I hit more drivers off the box and about half the approaches with short irons, the rest with mid irons. 

 

Hopefully this helps!

[ewaldbeukes]

3 hours ago, Jonesy said:

So my home course a parkland setup and we're in our rainy season at the moment so everything is lush/soft, however we do tend to pick up a lot of mud after shots so that might play a small part in wear and tear but I doubt too much. Our bunkers are a bit rough but I haven't been in too many of them (8 over the last 4 rounds) and they haven't chewn balls up in the past.

 

Been playing some ok golf by my standards (3 75's and a 72 all at my home course) with 1 bad round where I did have some tree trouble so that's 100% not the balls fault. 

 

The main wear contribution I reckon comes from the fact that I hit a lot of short irons into holes on my front 9 and also a fair few irons off of tee boxes, I'd probably hit 3 drivers on my front 9 max. Back 9 I hit more drivers off the box and about half the approaches with short irons, the rest with mid irons. 

 

Hopefully this helps!

Nice, thanks. I also play parkland thats nice and manicured and green... going to have some tree trouble as we have some good old 100ft rough (trees). Shooting 70s-low 80s at the moment with some wild ones but ball striking is decent. Hit it a long way so also mostly short irons. Bit worried the new versions might scuff up on some flush wedges? Other than that I think Im going to power through some sleeves and see how it goes.. will let you guys know how I fare

[Choclab]

Anyone know the answer to the biggest question... Where are the sample/performance packs? Haven't seen any yet, which makes me worry a little. 

[ewaldbeukes]

13 hours ago, Choclab said:

Anyone know the answer to the biggest question... Where are the sample/performance packs? Haven't seen any yet, which makes me worry a little. 

We have the performance packs In South Africa already... 

[ewaldbeukes]

Plated 18 today with the XV. Was amazing in the wind as usual, was getting a lower ball flight into the green and loads of spin. Specially on half wedge shots and out of the rough.

 

The seam reared its head around hole 4. Apart from the Aesthetic (ie if you can live with that) its a great ball. 
 

Was on par off the tee with my prev gen ProV1x (2019 model), better in the wind, more greenside spin (which I didnt expect). The lower ball flight into the green was a bonus as I havent had a ball thats good off the tee but lower into the green. Durability was good bar the seam and the ball gets a bot dirty but thats not unusual / can live with it. 
 

Surprisingly soft too for the 100+ compression. I putt with an old Ping Anser G2 and felt great rolling it.

[herbert7890]

to be honest, that visual seam problem screams low quality to me and would not even try these again til they fix it.

Edited February 27, 2021 by herbert7890

[Jonesy]

Damn that seam looks bad there

[hammergolf]

On 2/27/2021 at 6:00 AM, ewaldbeukes said:

Plated 18 today with the XV. Was amazing in the wind as usual, was getting a lower ball flight into the green and loads of spin. Specially on half wedge shots and out of the rough.

 

The seam reared its head around hole 4. Apart from the Aesthetic (ie if you can live with that) its a great ball. 
 

Was on par off the tee with my prev gen ProV1x (2019 model), better in the wind, more greenside spin (which I didnt expect). The lower ball flight into the green was a bonus as I havent had a ball thats good off the tee but lower into the green. Durability was good bar the seam and the ball gets a bot dirty but thats not unusual / can live with it. 
 

Surprisingly soft too for the 100+ compression. I putt with an old Ping Anser G2 and felt great rolling it.

I played the 2017 Z star and never noticed this. Is this something that just started on the 2019 model and newer? Crazy a ball can do that and Srixon have not done anything to fix it.

[OhYeahPlayer]

Man, that actually looks like an indent on the seam, not just a discoloration. Looks worse than 2019 version. That's a bummer. 

[Godfather]

12 hours ago, hammergolf said:

I played the 2017 Z star and never noticed this. Is this something that just started on the 2019 model and newer? Crazy a ball can do that and Srixon have not done anything to fix it.

Yes. 2017 had great durability. I’m disappointed to see the visible seam problem persists in the new version. That pic looks worse than my experience, but still rather annoying when you’re accustomed to playing a ball 18 holes. I felt I was switching it out more often based on the seam visibility. Kind of kills the value proposition. 

[ewaldbeukes]

I am going to keep playing (at least the 3.5 sleeves I have left and will leave some comments)... not sure what other ball to try to be honest. Looking for low spin on driver, mid flight into greens with great spin and short game spin... bit unicorn ish. Usually dabble between ProV1x, XV, Bridgestone BX and TP5X... Will post some more pics and comment on performance. As bad as that seem looks, it didnt seem to impact performance. But to be fair, my control on irons isnt where it should be the past few rounds...

[hammergolf]

8 hours ago, ewaldbeukes said:

I am going to keep playing (at least the 3.5 sleeves I have left and will leave some comments)... not sure what other ball to try to be honest. Looking for low spin on driver, mid flight into greens with great spin and short game spin... bit unicorn ish. Usually dabble between ProV1x, XV, Bridgestone BX and TP5X... Will post some more pics and comment on performance. As bad as that seem looks, it didnt seem to impact performance. But to be fair, my control on irons isnt where it should be the past few rounds...

Bridgestone Tour B X has been GREAT for me.... 

[msg]

It's still snow covered here in Canada and I picked up 5 boxes of these because they were on sale, 40% off. I tried one ball in the sim and it was ok, I played 19 holes with it and tried a few shots on the range virtually. No issues what so ever. Then I tried another one and hit just a few wedge shots and a few 9 irons and the seam issue started to show on the second ball. It was not that bad but I definitely noticed it. 

 

Now I am thinking of returning these. 

[hammergolf]

Just out of interest, what does Srixon customer service say about this issue? Crazy that this continues to happen.

[OhYeahPlayer]

On 3/4/2021 at 4:50 PM, hammergolf said:

Just out of interest, what does Srixon customer service say about this issue? Crazy that this continues to happen.

Seconding this request - very curious. 

 

I'll hijack this to ask another question as well, anyone know of good discounts (in the US) on 2019 Z Star/XV? 

[ewaldbeukes]

Another 18 holes with the Srixon today... This one held up better. Dumped my second on the Par 5 closing hole in the water otherwise I would have finished another 18 with a ball. 
 

Pics are from 9 holes but seam was much better on this one.

 

And I must re-iterate, loving the actual ball performance. Long off the tee and getting a mid / penetrating flight >300m, lower flight into greens and stops on a dime <40m... 

Edited March 6, 2021 by ewaldbeukes

[hammergolf]

On 3/6/2021 at 11:37 AM, ewaldbeukes said:

Another 18 holes with the Srixon today... This one held up better. Dumped my second on the Par 5 closing hole in the water otherwise I would have finished another 18 with a ball. 
 

Pics are from 9 holes but seam was much better on this one.

 

And I must re-iterate, loving the actual ball performance. Long off the tee and getting a mid / penetrating flight >300m, lower flight into greens and stops on a dime <40m... 

Have you contacted Srixon customer service and showed them the pics? 

[portland]

Is that seam issue on the XV only or also on the regular Z Star?

Edited March 7, 2021 by portland

[storm319]

3 hours ago, portland said:

Is that seam issue on the XV only or also on the regular Z Star?

Theoretically both some the cover assembly method is the same on all of Srixon’s multilayer urethane balls. The majority of the pics that I have seen are of the XV. 

[Golf4lifer]

Here is the ‘21 XV ball I used for 18 today. I hit several trees, but I am not seeing the seem showing. I don’t know why but I have not seen this issue with the ‘19 XV either. Even if it does show up I love the ball too much not to play it.

[TheBear95]

8 hours ago, hammergolf said:

Have you contacted Srixon customer service and showed them the pics? 

It doesn't matter. The issue with the seam is inherit to how Srixon is currently manufacturing the ball. Until the design and the build process changes, it will be that way.

[ewaldbeukes]

3 hours ago, Golf4lifer said:

Here is the ‘21 XV ball I used for 18 today. I hit several trees, but I am not seeing the seem showing. I don’t know why but I have not seen this issue with the ‘19 XV either. Even if it does show up I love the ball too much not to play it.

Nice to see some of the balls hold out completely. Maybe I am hitting them to hard haha. 

 

Agreed, its such a good ball. Really going to give the '21 a decent run and see how the seam issue holds up. Have not seen a change in performance yet so thats good! Really is my unicorn ball out of the current bunch...

 

 

[Golf4lifer]

@ewaldbeukes Maybe you do LOL! After I posted that message I went through my shag bag and I only noticed one '19 XV that had the seam issue. Had I not seen this thread I would not have known it was an issue....ignorance is bliss!

 

I have tried all the other balls out there and I always come back to the XV. Something about this ball that seems to fit my game. It just feels right.

 

 

Edited March 8, 2021 by Golf4lifer

[coreyl]

Played the new Z-Star this past weekend. I didn't encounter a single seam issue and actually found durability improved over the last generation. Excellent ball overall.

[ALTSean]

Anyone found the trial packs in the U.S. yet?