Dyed balls, can't believe I didn't think of it before.

[lefthack]

Orange Pro V1's. The first batch came out a little too red, could have pulled them earlier. But the second batch with the same dye is more appropriate. 

 

Compared to the Cut Matte, Inesis 500, Honma D1, and Velocity Matte. 

 

 

[Socrates]

Have to admit, I never thought of dyeing my balls.  Maybe if they were a different color, I might not need a mirror.

[TNwanabe]

I was considering this but thought it may have some affect on the cover performance. It seemed too obvious and easy fun, so I said to myself "must be no one does it because it messes up the cover" and dropped it. Thank you for trailblazing!!!!! 

 

Any thoughts on that though? 

Edited February 7 by TNwanabe

[st1800e]

“Inquiring minds want to know”

What dye did you use? And what’s the process? How long is too long? 
Have you played them yet? 

[lefthack]

8 minutes ago, st1800e said:

“Inquiring minds want to know”

What dye did you use? And what’s the process? How long is too long? 
Have you played them yet? 

 

It's the Rit Synthetic dye. Boil a gallon of water, pour into bucket, shake up the dye and dump it in. I put 3 dozen in and stirred them around for a few minutes. I used a slotted spoon and checked on the color as it progressed, then pulled them out and put them on paper towels. I had another 3 dozen so I just dumped them in for about 5 minutes. The first batch is much redder than in the pictures, but they should work. 

 

The dye goes all the way to the core, so they should scuff well. I won't get to play until Friday to find out, but the color is pretty uniform. Looks a lot better than I anticipated. 

[st1800e]

2 minutes ago, lefthack said:

I won't get to play until Friday to find out

Great, interested in your results, and if the dye comes off on hands, clubs, clothes.  
Thanks for testing this.  

[lefthack]

21 minutes ago, TNwanabe said:

I was considering this but thought it may have some affect on the cover performance. It seemed too obvious and easy fun, so I said to myself "must be no one does it because it messes up the cover" and dropped it. Thank you for trailblazing!!!!! 

 

Any thoughts on that though? 

 

I did a dozen cheap 2 piece in the second batch with the Pro V1's. I really don't anticipate and difference with the color and the water was boiling when I added it to the bucket, it had cooled slightly and we're only submerged for less than 5 minutes. That might impact them, but these are used "Tour" balls, so only $20 a dozen.

[lefthack]

1 minute ago, st1800e said:

Great, interested in your results, and if the dye comes off on hands, clubs, clothes.  
Thanks for testing this.  

 

I dyed some skateboard wheels last year with black and it didn't come off on anything. I was blown away that the color went all the way to the core. 

[Greenie]

I did this experiment last year around this time. Boy do some of us get bored through the winter. lol

 

I tried the Rit Synthetic dye and their All Purpose dye. The All Purpose dye didn't take to well to any of the model balls I tried to dye. The Rit Synthetic dye did work. I believe Rit makes a better powder dye that is supposed to be even better for dyeing golf balls. I could not find it locally. It is more expensive to purchase and with the shipping cost added I passed.

 

I found that the temperature of the water, the length of time in the dye water, and the model of ball impacts the color results. Some balls absorbed the color better. 

 

I played and gave some balls to my buddy to try out. I didn't notice any difference in how any of the balls played. My buddy didn't either and he actually liked playing them more than I did and wants me to do more. The dye doesn't come off. I didn't notice any color on my towel when I wiped the ball clean. I didn't notice anything usual on my clubs from striking the ball. I did notice some balls didn't absorb the color deeper into the core. Some balls when hit on the cart path left a white scuff and other balls the color remained scuffed.

[DonOmar]

I wonder where the line is between letting the balls sit in water for a bit and “waterlogging” them, especially if these claims of the dye going to the core of the golf ball. That doesn’t sound too reassuring. Seems like something internally would be messed up if that happened. I doubt the millions of dollars of R&D like water or dye getting into the balls. 
 

maybe if someone has a golf ball cutter they could cut a dyed ball open. 
 

Also, I’m genuinely curious, i’m not trying to rain on anyone’s parade. Mostly because I would love the option to custom color my golf balls, so I would like this to work out. 

[lefthack]

I know based on the wheels I dyed the color went all the way through the urethane. I would be surprised if 5 minutes submerged resulted in a water logged ball. But I'm clearly no expert. 

[Jtgavigan]

10 hours ago, lefthack said:

 

I did a dozen cheap 2 piece in the second batch with the Pro V1's. I really don't anticipate and difference with the color and the water was boiling when I added it to the bucket, it had cooled slightly and we're only submerged for less than 5 minutes. That might impact them, but these are used "Tour" balls, so only $20 a dozen.

Which color dye did you use from them? 

[Greenie]

2 hours ago, lefthack said:

I know based on the wheels I dyed the color went all the way through the urethane. I would be surprised if 5 minutes submerged resulted in a water logged ball. But I'm clearly no expert. 

 

I agree with you. I doubt the balls got water logged. All of mine played fine. I don't have any left to cut open. I would be surprised if the balls were dyed all the way through. Some of mine showed the white when scuffed after hitting a cart path. I was more concerned about dropping them in the hot water and what the heat might do to the balls.

 

Yours turned out better than mine did. I did yellow and mine turned out more of a brown. I didn't do any ProV's. I know from removing Sharpie marks from found balls ProV's will leave a stain when removing a Sharpie when most balls the Sharpie will completely wipe off.

[klbcec]

I did this several years ago with orange.  The die will fade as you play the ball.  But it was interesting.

 

Srixon actually makes an Orange Z-star line for Japan, but won't ship and sell them here in the US.

 

 

[jholz]

Signature Brands is licking their lips at the moment...

Could they remarket PAAS easter egg dying kits, mark up the price by about 1000% percent, and sell them to golfers?

Survey says yes!

[lefthack]

Rit actually has an article about it where they did both types. I did 3 dozen at a time vs 2 balls. 🤣

 

https://www.ritdye.com/2013/08/23/dyed-golf-balls/

 

I noticed the dye looks different on the cheap balls vs the Pro V's. I also noticed I have a white line like there was a hair or something on a few balls. 

[AdamMH]

13 hours ago, lefthack said:

The dye goes all the way to the core, so they should scuff well.

This was not my experience at all when I tried Rit synthetic on golf balls. Wedge shots that would dig into the cover would immediately expose fresh white. That said, let us know how it goes as it's always possible I did a bad job!

[lefthack]

I won't get to play until Friday, but I only have 9 holes on these irons and the wedges are brand new, so the grooves are very fresh. 

[gripandrip]

Did you cut any of them to look at the dye penetration?

[lefthack]

1 hour ago, gripandrip said:

Did you cut any of them to look at the dye penetration?

 

Not yet, but I will when I get home. The black I used for the wheels went all the way through. 

 

 

[SouthHope]

3 hours ago, AdamMH said:

This was not my experience at all when I tried Rit synthetic on golf balls. Wedge shots that would dig into the cover would immediately expose fresh white. That said, let us know how it goes as it's always possible I did a bad job!

Agree with this...I've RIT dyed G10 knife scales many times, it surface dyes only, doesn't penetrate. Maybe urethane is different but I'd be surprised if the "new" color truly goes deeper than the cover.

Edited February 7 by SouthHope

[AdamMH]

13 minutes ago, SouthHope said:

I've died G10 knife scales many times, surface dye only. Maybe urethane is different but I'd be surprised if the color truly goes deeper than the cover.

I think the kicker isn't the mantle material, rather the fact that many golf balls are straight up painted white.

[lefthack]

Crazy, I thought it would go through and it clearly doesn't.

 

 

 

<edit> also doesn't look like it changes the insides at all, so likely little or no change in performance.

Edited February 7 by lefthack

[Greenie]

I didn't think it would go all the way to the center.

 

I'm not an expert on what materials the various models of balls are made from. I know my results varied from different models. I dyed Maxfli Soft Fli matte white, gloss white,Titleist NXT tour, and Top Flites. The matte balls worked the best.

 

Now that this thread has peaked my interest again I may dye some more balls. I'm thinking maybe blue. My yellow dyed balls looked very similar to the Bridestone balls in the Rit link supplied above. They were more dirty looking than yellow. I want to do some in green but they didn't have green when I did mine.

[Bad9]

There’s a fairly large thread on this hear 5+ years ago. Maybe more like 7 years

[lefthack]

8 minutes ago, Bad9 said:

There’s a fairly large thread on this hear 5+ years ago. Maybe more like 7 years

 

I did a search and came up empty, but I didn't look too far back I guess. 

 

Madd-X2 are the others I dyed, I will cut one open later and see if the dye went any further. 

[Bad9]

It may have actually been over on GEA years ago, before it disintegrated due to politics. I used RIT and did a bunch including ProV1s

[Bad9]

Here’s one from 2013 

 

[lefthack]

Depending on how these wear, this could be a new option $16 a dozen for the Tour ball and $5 for dye covers about 6 dozen or more. 

[bluedot]

Two random thoughts:

 

1. I remember seeing a video that Dean Snell did several years ago where he talked about the challenges of making yellow golf balls.  His point was that it isn’t just a matter of adding yellow pigment to “normal” golf ball paint, that it’s very difficult and expensive to get right.

 

2. Nit picking, and won’t matter to most, but wouldn’t a dyed ball be non-conforming?