Ballnamic by PIng

[Jeff58]

1 hour ago, Myherobobhope said:

I wish I had saved the first ball fitting, as it put me in the Srixon Z Star XV and I'm not sure what differences there were.... 

 

I "fit myself" into the Z Star recently based on the MGS testing, and it's fine, but I'm definitely giving up some ball speed chasing lower spin... I hit some absolute rockets with the Bridgestone, which I think is in part of the aerodynamics (as shown by PING).

 

I think it's a cool too, I don't think it's worth $40. I think it COULD be worth $40 but needs some tweaks... I think there is some interesting stuff to be done for choosing "an away ball"... I was curious as to what it would recommend for me at altitude. 

If you have any “tries” left, consider leaving the settings in the current optimal configuration except for swing speed, and drop it to 90mph or so. Might be interesting to see whether it picks a low compression ball.

[stevegp]

 

Yesterday I tried the Ballnamic golf ball-fitting tool. As a person who believes the golf ball is the most important piece of equipment and has always enjoyed conducting my own golf ball tests, I decided to check it out. My plan is to integrate my ongoing, personal “on course" test findings and the Ballnamic data with those of the 2021 Golf Ball Test (and Lab information) by MXX. I strongly believe that how a ball performs for me on a golf course is the best way to know which to play.

 

Background: I am in my early 70s, have a few injuries that I live with, and have lost swing speed and flexibility over the years. My driver swing speed is about 85 and I am a relatively short hitter. I definitely could benefit from some spin on the ball. The last time I was fitted was at Club Champion about 5-6 years ago. I don’t remember my numbers, but I am aware of how my ball flies. FWIW: I am a mid handicap.

 

I did the Ballnamic test three times. The second and third times I did the test, I only adjusted the trajectory and launch angle, because I tend to fluctuate a bit between mid and high.

 

The interesting takeaway was that the ball I currently play and like most, the Bridgestone Tour B X, produced the best results in all three tests. The TaylorMade TP5X (2019 version) came in a close second (especially in my initial test) and was always was a solid performer, and the Srixon Z-Star XV did well each time. The Snell MTB Black also performed well in a number of categories (especially in the second and third tests). 

 

The only “new” ball that showed up in my second and third test was Callaway’s Chrome Soft X. It replaced the Snell MTB-X from my first test. Neither ball did particularly well.

 

I am enjoying these golf ball discussions and decided to share my experience with Ballnamic.

 

[cw1209]

16 hours ago, Myherobobhope said:

So I redid my testing again today... and got fit into the Bridgestone B X... (as have multiple other people I've talked to... especially if you put WORKABILITY down to 0).

 

It's definitely my favorite ball I've played this season. I don't trust my launch numbers with driver in my monitor, because I hit the ceiling on my follow through. 

 

It's interesting what the optimizer optimizes for when you pull various levers... it seems to give a lot of preference to how balls do in the wind. 

 

Fun tool, probably not worth $40 at this point... I think they need to fine tune the inputs and spit out data differently.

 

Thanks for sharing! Curious what parameter you changed that caused the Srixon XV to fall off as good ball fit? Looked like the first round of testing had the Srixon XV as your top ball, while it didn't show up in the top three during the second round. 

 

Played the BX all year and find it to be a great ball as well.

[Myherobobhope]

On 9/2/2021 at 10:59 AM, cw1209 said:

 

Thanks for sharing! Curious what parameter you changed that caused the Srixon XV to fall off as good ball fit? Looked like the first round of testing had the Srixon XV as your top ball, while it didn't show up in the top three during the second round. 

 

Played the BX all year and find it to be a great ball as well.

Sorry, I missed this… i think the biggest factor was the change In workability… it seems like if you go low on the workability score, you’ll get the Bridgestone B X…

 

im hoping srixon included a dozen of the xv with my irons… they’ve been delayed 2 months, so I figure I have a shot… I’m curious to try them!

[sniper]

I tried this today. TaylorMade TP5X 93.2% and Pro V1X 92.3%. Pro V1X is my current ball. Results show less than a yard difference off the driver and 3.6 yards on the 7i.  Green side spin listed as Very High Spin with TP5X vs High Spin on the V1X. 

[Quasimoto]

On 8/30/2021 at 11:19 AM, arbeck said:

So Ping has just launched a ball fitting tool. Seems like they have similar data to the other large ball test, but probably more of it. The kicker though is that it can take your delivery numbers (trackman if you have them, distances and swing speed if you don't) and recommend a ball for you. It's not free, but it costs less than a dozen balls from most manufacturers, so it's probably money well spent.

 

I went ahead and did it, and it turns out I did a pretty good job of fitting myself from the other test numbers. It recommended me the Chromesoft X or the Srixon Z-Star XV. They were a 92.3% and 92.1% match to me. My current ball is the Snell MTB-X, which is "only" a 91.7% match. My ball seems to get knocked a little for it's driver performance into the wind, and it's fligher prevention (I guess they calculate this through spin consistency?). Based on the numbers I can't say it would be worth it to spend more on a Chromesoft X, but maybe if I was going to play in really windy conditions it would be.

 

So I may be missing something here however I fail to see how anyone can notice a .5% difference in ball performance in any category, let alone the overall. Perhaps the software has a very high starting point like wine points where 85 is cr*p and 95 is excellent. That would need to be the case for such a minute difference. I’ll keep my $$.

[erichake]

On 8/30/2021 at 1:47 PM, arbeck said:

 

It will be more interesting if you happen to be an outlier type of player. I'm in the middle of the bell curve. My driver is 5* up AoA, 14* launch, 2500RPM of spin, 140MPH ball speed. With a 7i (31* of loft) I'm 17* launch, 117MPH ball speed, 5* down AoA, and 6000RPM of spin.

 

I don't need a ball that spins a lot more and I don't need to kill spin either. Because I don't need anything special, fitting myself wasn't really a hard task given the data.

Based on Ping's data, you could use a couple degrees higher launch and ~300 fewer RPMs to optimize driver distance.

 

https://ping.com/en-us/blogs/proving-grounds/optimal-launch-and-spin

 

[Primo1868]

On 8/30/2021 at 4:20 PM, larryd3 said:

I just did it and really surprised by the results.  Srixon Z star XV (93.8%), TP5X (93.7%) and Bridgestone Tour BX (90.9%) were by far the best for me. My current prov1x didn't do so good in the comparisons at just 82.9%.   Guess I'm going to buy a couple sleeves of the Z star XV and Tour BX.  I've played the TP5x's before so have an idea on them.  Once again, really surprised.  Now the true test will be how they work on the course.  Figured the cost of doing the test was under 1 dozen balls, so why not give it a try and seems PING doesn't have a dog in the hunt since they aren't a ball manufacturer/seller.    Another thing that surprises me is that on Bridgestone's website they  have the Tour BX has an over 105 ss and mine is not close to that.  Tour BX did well on the mgs test also for medium and slower players.  

I really love Z star XV’s. You can get decent deals on 2020/2019 leftovers on Amazon as well! 

[QuigleyDU]

I am curious the motivation by ping to do this..

[MattM97]

44 minutes ago, QuigleyDU said:

I am curious the motivation by ping to do this..

 

They don't make a ball, they are an engineering company, they want their players to find the best ball possible for their game, they felt the public should get access to this information as well to better their game. 

[cardigan]

1 hour ago, QuigleyDU said:

I am curious the motivation by ping to do this..

They felt that there was a market for it.  They get money as well as contact info and demographic info.  Probably have something kind of package available to fitters as well.  I wouldn't doubt that they get more revenue from fitters (or that that is their ultimate goal) but I have absolutely no information on that.

[QuigleyDU]

3 hours ago, MattM97 said:

 

They don't make a ball, they are an engineering company, they want their players to find the best ball possible for their game, they felt the public should get access to this information as well to better their game. 

Hopefully they can start getting their clubs in their players hands too…

[MattM97]

Just now, QuigleyDU said:

Hopefully they can start getting their clubs in their players hands too…

 

Who's contracted by Ping and not using their clubs? 

[QuigleyDU]

10 minutes ago, MattM97 said:

 

Who's contracted by Ping and not using their clubs? 

I am speaking about those paying for them. Tour guys are not using ballnamics..

Edited September 28, 2021 by QuigleyDU

[MattM97]

9 minutes ago, QuigleyDU said:

I am speaking about those paying for them. Tour guys are not using ballnamics..

 

It's what Ping uses in their fittings. I'm sure the tour guys use it to some extent. 

 

Marty Jertson did an interview last week and said it's a tool Ping uses in their fitting and with their tour guys.

[kintap]

On 8/30/2021 at 4:47 PM, arbeck said:

 

It will be more interesting if you happen to be an outlier type of player. I'm in the middle of the bell curve. My driver is 5* up AoA, 14* launch, 2500RPM of spin, 140MPH ball speed. With a 7i (31* of loft) I'm 17* launch, 117MPH ball speed, 5* down AoA, and 6000RPM of spin.

 

I don't need a ball that spins a lot more and I don't need to kill spin either. Because I don't need anything special, fitting myself wasn't really a hard task given the data.

Interesting.  I get ~117mph ball speed from my 7I at 19* launch and ~5800rmp spin, but I get 155-160mph ball speed off of my driver with 14* launch and ~2400rpm spin.  Granted, I play my 7i @ 34* and it is a solid forging so no face flex, but something seems off if you’re getting a similar ball speed to me off of your 7i and 15-20mph less ball speed off of your driver.  Are you not hitting your driver in the center?  Maybe it’s time to get fit for a driver?

[bwhitish]

Well I was very curious and I didn't play this week so I figured I would spend the money. I played Srixon Qstar Tour almost all year. A few weeks ago I got the Kirkland V 2. Have not used them. Went to my driving range which has a launch monitor. Plugged in the numbers and the best for me came out Bridgestone BX, Callaway Chromesoft X, and Taylor Made TP 5X with the Snell My Tour Ball Black in 4th. My driver ball speed is 110. Spin was around 2600. And I did specify straight over workable. I usually shoot between 85-92. I found it interesting and did it 4 times and got mostly the same balls with minor tweaking on the questions.

[MattM97]

On 9/30/2021 at 2:16 AM, bwhitish said:

Well I was very curious and I didn't play this week so I figured I would spend the money. I played Srixon Qstar Tour almost all year. A few weeks ago I got the Kirkland V 2. Have not used them. Went to my driving range which has a launch monitor. Plugged in the numbers and the best for me came out Bridgestone BX, Callaway Chromesoft X, and Taylor Made TP 5X with the Snell My Tour Ball Black in 4th. My driver ball speed is 110. Spin was around 2600. And I did specify straight over workable. I usually shoot between 85-92. I found it interesting and did it 4 times and got mostly the same balls with minor tweaking on the questions.

 

Seems like if you put straight over workability everyone gets the Bridgestone Tour B X as their #1 ball. Which isn't a bad thing it's a really good ball. 

[kasting333]

On 9/28/2021 at 1:11 PM, MattM97 said:

 

It's what Ping uses in their fittings. I'm sure the tour guys use it to some extent. 

 

Marty Jertson did an interview last week and said it's a tool Ping uses in their fitting and with their tour guys.

Did they ever get a guy to switch balls? 

[MattM97]

3 minutes ago, kasting333 said:

Did they ever get a guy to switch balls? 

 

Would have to ask Marty, really hard for us to tell unless it's from a regular to an X version. But someone could easily go from an older to newer or newer to older model without us knowing or playing a completely different ball than what is the marking on the ball anyways. 

[Billfitz]

On 8/31/2021 at 9:07 AM, Abh159 said:

Just out of curiosity is there a free version of this, or did all of you pay $40 to see the results?

Not me. There isn't a ball made that I don't find quite a few of on my course, so I don't have to rely on a program to tell me what works best for me. I hit them. The $40 I saved paid for two dozen balls. 😏

[Anser3]

On 9/28/2021 at 1:00 PM, QuigleyDU said:

I am speaking about those paying for them. Tour guys are not using ballnamics..

 Had a set of iblades to my door in less than a month  (I was originally told 4 months).  It must depend on what you are ordering.

[cardigan]

3 hours ago, MattM97 said:

 

Would have to ask Marty, really hard for us to tell unless it's from a regular to an X version. But someone could easily go from an older to newer or newer to older model without us knowing or playing a completely different ball than what is the marking on the ball anyways. 

Pros have access to "tour only"/"secret recipe" balls but they are marked differently than retail versions.  I think It's highly unlikely that anyone on tour is playing a ball with markings that don't represent exactly what the ball is.  The ball manufactures don't have any need to specify in their marketing that some of their pros are playing non-retail balls (when Titlesist says what percentage of pros are playing ProV1/ProV1x, they don't go into details on version/year or retail versus tour only) so there is absolutely no reason to do something which would be a clear violation of the rules of golf.  Also, would a player really want to have to wonder if a ball marked like a standard ProV1x is really a left dash under the markings or just have a ball with the left dash on it so they know what they are getting? Only "possible" reason I could think of is a player wanting top play a completely different brand of ball than what they are being paid to play so they basically want a refinished ball with the wrong markings but I don't think it's very likely that that happens either. 

[Billfitz]

I doubt that tour players mess around with the labeling on the balls, as they may only use balls that have been tested and approved by the USGA-R&A. The list is definitive, as are the markings on the balls that identify them. https://www.usga.org/ConformingGolfBall/gball_list.pdf

[QuigleyDU]

2 hours ago, Anser3 said:

 Had a set of iblades to my door in less than a month  (I was originally told 4 months).  It must depend on what you are ordering.

I blades?? Really… that’s pretty amazing considering they have not been available for almost 2 years..

[Anser3]

21 hours ago, QuigleyDU said:

I blades?? Really… that’s pretty amazing considering they have not been available for almost 2 years..

 

 

 I didn't know they were ever not available.  They should be hitting replacement only status before too long, though.  With the price hikes recently and the i59's costing as much per iron as a fairway wood, I wanted to get another set before they become difficult to get in a not-used status.  They are my favorite Ping irons ever.  The only thing I can figure is the Phoenix factory still had some heads and the DG X100 shafts in supply.  I am not sure if the iblade heads are cast in the USA or not  (I don't think they are).

Edited October 6, 2021 by Anser3

[Myherobobhope]

Bought a bunch of maxfli tour x based on the Mai thai golf discount… have some XVs still…

 

working on speed training and might re-assess mid season when my numbers are settled.

 

has anyone actually used the results from ballnamic and stuck with what it picked?

[VanTheMan0519]

I wasn’t going to pull the trigger until I got a $10 off coupon emailed from ping for this ball fitting. 
 

I play an original ProV but have been testing: AVX, ProV1x, Tp5, the past 4 months. 

 

After the fitting, I was almost a 94% ProV1. Second was left dash and chrome soft snuck in there too at third. 
 

 

[KhiloD]

On 1/2/2022 at 8:49 PM, Myherobobhope said:

Bought a bunch of maxfli tour x based on the Mai thai golf discount… have some XVs still…

 

working on speed training and might re-assess mid season when my numbers are settled.

 

has anyone actually used the results from ballnamic and stuck with what it picked?

It gave me Chromesoft X and they have been much more consistent than the Pro V1 I was playing. I still hit bad shots, but that's on me, not the ball.

[Myherobobhope]

3 hours ago, KhiloD said:

It gave me Chromesoft X and they have been much more consistent than the Pro V1 I was playing. I still hit bad shots, but that's on me, not the ball.

Cool. Glad you like the results!