How much shorter do range balls fly?

[TheShark1]

The balls at the range I frequent usually go about 10% shorter than a real ball. Usually I’ll find a few gamer balls in each bucket and they always go further than the range balls with similar strikes. 
 

 

[Drivingrangehero]

6 minutes ago, 596 said:

Where are playing around here that are expensive? San Lan?

 

No, I live close to Sarasota, that’s where I go to the driving range on the weekends mainly

 

Lakeland is where I’m working currently and I am not familiar with the area, but it seems nice.  I have only gone to Cleveland Heights which is $4 a token (small)

 

I’ve never been to San Lan, is the range any better than The Heights? 
 

BTW the $15 bucket of range balls is as many as you can hit in 1/2 hour, so it’s not limited to a bucket per se, and the unlimited for the day is $25….. 

 

I bring two of my daughters 4&6y, so they don’t hassle me about time, (I’m usually around 45 mins)  no way I’m spending more than $15

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

On 3/1/2024 at 4:21 AM, bcflyguy1 said:

You think that's bad, try to do a top quality fitting where all you can use is balls like that. Makes a tricky job that much more difficult.

 

If the fitting is using balls like that, I wouldn't call it top quality, even if they are charging top dollar.

 

 

On 3/1/2024 at 5:13 AM, Jamie_Tee said:

Worth lasering yardage markers as well, often find they are well off!

 

The markers may well be placed to take the ball discrepancies in account. This was told to me by a pro at a driving-range. He said their range used 10% balls (may have been 20%), which means they go 10% shorter than "normal" balls.

 

So the 50 yard marker would not be set at 50 yards, but at 50 yards - 10% = 45 yards; 200 yard marker at 18 yards and so on.

 

 

[596]

1 minute ago, Drivingrangehero said:

No, I live close to Sarasota, that’s where I go to the driving range on the weekends mainly

 

Lakeland is where I’m working currently and I am not familiar with the area, but it seems nice.  I have only gone to Cleveland Heights which is $4 a token (small)

 

I’ve never been to San Lan, is the range any better than The Heights? 
 

BTW the $15 bucket of range balls is as many as you can hit in 1/2 hour, so it’s not limited to a bucket per se, and the unlimited for the day is $25….. 

 

I bring two of my daughters 4&6y, so they don’t hassle me about time, (I’m usually around 45 mins)  no way I’m spending more than $15

San Lan range is very wide, which I don't like.  It's like hitting into a huge field instead of a fairway.  even though they are right across the street, I don't go there. The range is way too wide to focus and much too expensive per bucket. 

[bcflyguy1]

16 minutes ago, No_Catchy_Nickname said:

 

If the fitting is using balls like that, I wouldn't call it top quality, even if they are charging top dollar.

 

Fair play; however, all but the most trashy of range balls can still be worked around in the course of doing a great fitting. Ball data is contaminated and therefore must be properly interpreted, but delivery and strike location is not. Makes the process exponentially harder on the fitter, but it can still be done extremely well.

[CROUSE99]

I don't think there can be a definitive answer.  It depends on your swing, the ball you normally play and the model of range ball.  I noticed a few in the thread saw similar distances on short irons but progressively less distance as the clubs got longer.  This may be because the range balls are spinning more, which might seem counter-intuitive.  But another site tested range balls and found the model they tested did spin more.  On the other hand, I would not be surprised if there are range balls that have extremely low spin.  I think the best way to find out would be to take a couple of range balls from the range you use and test them on a high dollar launch monitor against your normal ball.  Just remember to return the range balls.  I hate range ball thieves.