What's the lifespan of a ball?

[pgheaja]

On 3/9/2023 at 9:46 AM, double_d said:

 What do you mean you never scuff your ball indoors? After a certain number of full wedge shots any tour level ball will start to show cover wear. At least that has been my experience.

I meant scuffs from a hard surface like the cart path or a tree.  You're right about the wedge shot wear.  

['Noles2013]

I play them until I lose them.  The vast majority of players aren’t good enough for some scuffs or scratches to majorly affect anything.  

[MtlJeff]

On 3/10/2023 at 11:42 AM, pgheaja said:

I meant scuffs from a hard surface like the cart path or a tree.  You're right about the wedge shot wear.  

 

The big difference between outdoor wear and indoor is that outdoor you will actually pierce through the cover whereas inside you won't. So yeah outdoors, a cartpath will shred the cover and could actually affect performance a bit. 

 

Indoors if you hit a ball enough the cover will appear faded and you'll notice some stress marks around the ridges of the grooves. I haven't noticed much affect on performance if any

 

But as mentioned, after enough swings into a net or a screen the ball will crack. At my swing speed which is fast but not absurd it's probably around 500 or more shots.

[jas904]

I have wondered myself how long I should keep a ball in play. So here’s my question - assuming the ball undergoes “normal” play but gets scuffed from a wedge shot from the fairway. An example is pictured below:

 

Is there a performance sacrifice under this condition? I normally play a ball for one round then retire it in casual money games with my buddies. If it’s a really important match I might switch after nine holes if it has wedge damage. For a guy who buys balls, this can get costly at 140+ rounds per year. 

[IndyArcher]

1 hour ago, jas904 said:

I have wondered myself how long I should keep a ball in play. So here’s my question - assuming the ball undergoes “normal” play but gets scuffed from a wedge shot from the fairway. An example is pictured below:

 

Is there a performance sacrifice under this condition? I normally play a ball for one round then retire it in casual money games with my buddies. If it’s a really important match I might switch after nine holes if it has wedge damage. For a guy who buys balls, this can get costly at 140+ rounds per year. 

I personally wouldn’t think twice about playing that one. Every once in a while, if a scuff like that develops a small ‘hangnail’ I’ll peel it off with my thumbnail, but that ball looks to have plenty of life left to me.