2021 Golf Ball Test

[flushem]

1 hour ago, ShowMe said:

If my ball doesn't win, then I will file a suit to audit the results.  They did use a Dominion robot, after all.  Wait, too soon?  🙂

what is your ball?  Pinnacle range ball?

[ShowMe]

3 hours ago, flushem said:

what is your ball?  Pinnacle range ball?

Pinnacle "Gold" range ball.  I have my standards.

[flushem]

14 minutes ago, ShowMe said:

Pinnacle "Gold" range ball.  I have my standards.

c'mon... you gotta go for the Platinum.  I am glad that we both share the same spectrum.  

[betarhoalphadelta]

9 hours ago, ShowMe said:

If my ball doesn't win, then I will file a suit to audit the results.  They did use a Dominion robot, after all.  Wait, too soon?  🙂

 

You play an orange ball, don't you? 

[ShowMe]

2 hours ago, betarhoalphadelta said:

 

You play an orange ball, don't you? 

Yep, orange with a bad combover.

[ShowMe]

Test results to be published tomorrow.

[gioreeko]

Ball test is live. Just as I have found for my SS of 112-115, the Snell MTB-X and ProV1 Left dash have been the best performers for me. I'll play a yellow Srixon ZStar XV on holes that have a driving range next to it if it's using white balls, and when it's getting dark, and the Srixon is a great performer also. What a great test, really appreciate all the hard work they put in!

[VinnyG41]

Kind of bummed they don't have shot area and dispersion provided in the data this time around. Tony answered a few questions in the comments about why they didn't which makes sense so I don't knock them too hard for it. Just feels like this test answered "Which ball goes furthest?" instead of  "Which ball is best?" Guess I'll just continue to blame the Indian and not the arrow

Edited August 16, 2021 by VinnyG41

[betarhoalphadelta]

Not a good day for the Kirkland... Ouch. Gives up a TON of distance with all that spin, especially at my SS which is approximately in range with "mid" on this test. 

 

Oddly not as much distance lost for the 115 driver folks, probably because it's high compression and that compensates somewhat for all that spin. But those high-speed players lose a full club (16y) or more of distance on the 8i where the slower CHS doesn't compress it as much and the spin overwhelms.

 

I like the ability to spin the ball, but that might just be too much. There are other balls that would probably give me more of a happy medium between distance and spin. 

[gioreeko]

6 minutes ago, betarhoalphadelta said:

Not a good day for the Kirkland... Ouch. Gives up a TON of distance with all that spin, especially at my SS which is approximately in range with "mid" on this test. 

 

Oddly not as much distance lost for the 115 driver folks, probably because it's high compression and that compensates somewhat for all that spin. But those high-speed players lose a full club (16y) or more of distance on the 8i where the slower CHS doesn't compress it as much and the spin overwhelms.

 

I like the ability to spin the ball, but that might just be too much. There are other balls that would probably give me more of a happy medium between distance and spin. 

Pretty much what I've found with that ball. Driver goes far, irons are shorter and spin like crazy. Wish the new (mythical?) 4 piece would've been for sale and been able to be tested.

[Carolina Golfer 2]

37 minutes ago, VinnyG41 said:

Kind of bummed they don't have shot area and dispersion provided in the data this time around. Tony answered a few questions in the comments about why they didn't which makes sense so I don't knock them too hard for it. Just feels like this test answered "Which ball goes furthest?" instead of  "Which ball is best?" Guess I'll just continue to blame the Indian and not the arrow

This test provided much more than just the furthest ball.  It gave you spin results from 3 speeds from 3 different clubs.   

 

The last test focused on dispersion a lot and people wanted distance and spin and different swing speed parameters. So they get that this time and they--Not just you  but several commenters--want the dispersion back.   I guess it's a clear case of you can't please everyone every time.

 

That said, while there you can find a series of ball lab reports on just about every major ball.  It will give yo a good idea as to the quality of each ball.  Take that and use it along with the results of this years study and you should be able to make some informed decisions. 

[Tupperwolf]

I've been trying TP5 and TP5x and interesting to see that TM calls TP5 "faster" ball speed and TP5x "fastest" they are opposite on the test, with TP5 showing higher ball speeds across the driver and iron.  Might have to put that one back in play since I never had a problem with its spin levels.

[JDubya89]

Interesting results when comparing the Tour B XS vs Tour B X

 

Seems like the XS is a better ball in most situations, which is opposite of the sentiment around here

[crazygolfnut]

1 hour ago, VinnyG41 said:

shot area and dispersion

That is a big factor to look at.  To bad they left that out. 

[North Butte]

1 minute ago, JDubya89 said:

Interesting results when comparing the Tour B XS vs Tour B X

 

Seems like the XS is a better ball in most situations, which is opposite of the sentiment around here

Yeah, their recommendation of the Tour B XS as a ball that low speed players ought to consider was pretty surprising. It sure is marketed as kind of the opposite ("The Tiger Ball" and all that) and as a borderline slow swinger myself I'll say it sure didn't work out well for me. But with all their recommendations, they give the actual data for us to look through so the recommendations are just kind of icing on the cake, so to speak.

[The Pearl]

Some shuffling around from the last test in performance at slower swing speeds. 

 

 

[arbeck]

1 hour ago, North Butte said:

Yeah, their recommendation of the Tour B XS as a ball that low speed players ought to consider was pretty surprising. It sure is marketed as kind of the opposite ("The Tiger Ball" and all that) and as a borderline slow swinger myself I'll say it sure didn't work out well for me. But with all their recommendations, they give the actual data for us to look through so the recommendations are just kind of icing on the cake, so to speak.

I found a very big difference between the 2020 B XS and the earlier one. 

 

My biggest takeaway is that the differences in the big manufacturers main balls is pretty small. I could play the Pro V1, V1x, either Snell, the Tour B X or XS, or either Z Star and not notice all that much difference. I'd have to hit 1000's of shots before the differences stood out in my normal dispersion. If I needed the absolute best ball the B XS would probably be it. But the MTB-X is really close and doesn't have any outlier characteristics, so at that price, I'm sticking with it.

[adamnbomb]

1 hour ago, North Butte said:

Yeah, their recommendation of the Tour B XS as a ball that low speed players ought to consider was pretty surprising. It sure is marketed as kind of the opposite ("The Tiger Ball" and all that) and as a borderline slow swinger myself I'll say it sure didn't work out well for me. But with all their recommendations, they give the actual data for us to look through so the recommendations are just kind of icing on the cake, so to speak.

 

The Tour B XS is such an interesting ball in the test across all swing speeds. It's well above average in all metrics but not the "best" in any. The rollout yards on drives is surprising ~34 yards for 100 mph clubhead speed.

[North Butte]

1 minute ago, arbeck said:

I found a very big difference between the 2020 B XS and the earlier one. 

 

My biggest takeaway is that the differences in the big manufacturers main balls is pretty small. I could play the Pro V1, V1x, either Snell, the Tour B X or XS, or either Z Star and not notice all that much difference. I'd have to hit 1000's of shots before the differences stood out in my normal dispersion. If I needed the absolute best ball the B XS would probably be it. But the MTB-X is really close and doesn't have any outlier characteristics, so at that price, I'm sticking with it.

I'm maybe just a bit beyond the "slow" range of clubhead speed but not much so that's the category I looked at in detail.

 

My most recent ball switch was from 2021 Pro V1 to 2020 Chrome Soft X. I was pretty sure I liked the Chrome Soft X better but it wasn't any sort of night and day difference. Sure enough, looking at their results in almost every characteristic they are virtually the same. But what little differences exist between them (like a bit more spin) favor the Chrome Soft X for my needs. So it confirms my subjective impressions after 50-60 rounds with each. 

 

P.S. I found a source for a batch of 2020 Chrome Soft X at about half what the Pro V1's cost me so that made the decision much easier for the moment at least!

[Fairways_and_Greens]

1 hour ago, JDubya89 said:

Interesting results when comparing the Tour B XS vs Tour B X

 

Seems like the XS is a better ball in most situations, which is opposite of the sentiment around here

If I were king, I'd setup the robot to hit a draw and a slice and then measure the shot paths and area. I think that would much more telling. I don't know if just a straight ball really tests the aero of the covers that much.

[arbeck]

8 minutes ago, adamnbomb said:

 

The Tour B XS is such an interesting ball in the test across all swing speeds. It's well above average in all metrics but not the "best" in any. The rollout yards on drives is surprising ~34 yards for 100 mph clubhead speed.

That confuses me a lot, and I really want some more information on it. Off the driver at the slow swing speed the B X and the B XS are basically the same. Everything is within decimal places of being identical. At high speed, they're really freaking close. But at the mid speed, they are quite divergent. The B XS spins less, peaks 6 feet lower in height, hits it's peak much earlier, and descends shallower. That's what leads to the extra roll out. I'm not sure how that's possible but it is weird.

[arbeck]

3 minutes ago, Fairways_and_Greens said:

If I were king, I'd setup the robot to hit a draw and a slice and then measure the shot paths and area. I think that would much more telling. I don't know if just a straight ball really tests the aero of the covers that much.

The Aero of the cover is mostly about lift and drag. Take the Pro V1 and AVX as an example. Spin, launch, and ball speed are all pretty close. But the Pro V1 peaks 7 feet lower. What causes this? the AVX has more lift from the dimples.

 

You can see how much drag the ball has by looking at two balls with similar launch characteristics and looking at their carry distance. For example the Z-Star XV and MTB-X are about as equal as two balls can be off the driver launch wise. They're within half a yard in distance as well. So you can say that their dimple pattern probably causes the same amount of drag.

 

I'm actually not seeing much that shows anyone is really standing out in dimple pattern. If I had to say someone was the best, it's going to be Titleist because they use a different pattern on each ball, whereas most everyone else is using the same pattern across their balls. If there are gains to be made with dimples Titleist is probably doing it, but those gains have to be minute.

[adamnbomb]

4 minutes ago, arbeck said:

That confuses me a lot, and I really want some more information on it. Off the driver at the slow swing speed the B X and the B XS are basically the same. Everything is within decimal places of being identical. At high speed, they're really freaking close. But at the mid speed, they are quite divergent. The B XS spins less, peaks 6 feet lower in height, hits it's peak much earlier, and descends shallower. That's what leads to the extra roll out. I'm not sure how that's possible but it is weird.

 

It's a very interesting ball. Has some special properties around the green too (inside 55 yards). I've been playing it exclusively all season and love it. That said, I'm not sure Bridgestone would have developed and marketed a ball like this if it wasn't for Tiger.  

[ShowMe]

43 minutes ago, adamnbomb said:

 

The Tour B XS is such an interesting ball in the test across all swing speeds. It's well above average in all metrics but not the "best" in any. The rollout yards on drives is surprising ~34 yards for 100 mph clubhead speed.

I always look at how far the ball traveled in the air when I do comparisons, as most courses don't get that much rollout.  We're lucky to get 5 yards of rollout at our course. 

[gioreeko]

1 hour ago, Fairways_and_Greens said:

If I were king, I'd setup the robot to hit a draw and a slice and then measure the shot paths and area. I think that would much more telling. I don't know if just a straight ball really tests the aero of the covers that much.

it's all relative, just use the spin numbers given, and they would react the same when working the ball

[flushem]

From the data, the #1 overall "tailor made" ball for me is surprisingly ProV1.  Somehow I hate ProV1, but the fact says otherwise.  And followed by my favorite MTB Black.  

[tyorke1]

I am confused , into the wind is this saying a chrome soft will be better than a pro v x especially for iron shots . I am a high spin iron player . What ball would be the best?

[soregongolfer]

4 hours ago, gioreeko said:

Pretty much what I've found with that ball. Driver goes far, irons are shorter and spin like crazy. Wish the new (mythical?) 4 piece would've been for sale and been able to be tested.

The driver has been a mixed bag for me.  Sometimes I find myself saying, "that's about normal" and sometimes i find myself saying, "Dude?  That's all you got?"  And the trajectory has been much lower than the Z-Star XV.  I've been blaming myself because I haven't played much and I've gotten noticably smaller due to not lifting weights during the pandemic.  

 

My irons have been woefully short with the 3.2, but not spinny.  The trajectory is the same and the ball has pretty much been drop and stop for me.  My results with the ball have been strange indeed.  

[gioreeko]

2 minutes ago, soregongolfer said:

The driver has been a mixed bag for me.  Sometimes I find myself saying, "that's about normal" and sometimes i find myself saying, "Dude?  That's all you got?"  And the trajectory has been much lower than the Z-Star XV.  I've been blaming myself because I haven't played much and I've gotten noticably smaller due to not lifting weights during the pandemic.  

 

My irons have been woefully short with the 3.2, but not spinny.  The trajectory is the same and the ball has pretty much been drop and stop for me.  My results with the ball have been strange indeed.  

I find on average I'm about 8-10 yards shorter with the Kirkland, but I usually put those in play when I'm sore from lifting, and don't want to lose any Snells or Titleist that day. I have done a few tests when I'm feeling good and when it's not crowded, and it's just a little shorter for me with the driver compared to my gamers, but, for the price, I can't complain. Hurry up damn new 4 piece ball!!!

[Tupperwolf]

I've been looking at this stuff all day and I'm honestly more confused than when I started.