A Real 09 Premium Golf Ball Review

[rlheiman]

For everyone that didn't like the GD list, try this one.

2009 Premium Ball Shoot Out -- Part 1

After hitting all 14 of the premium balls on the market, we found that they are all very similar. We didn’t find one that blew the others away. They all have some benefits over a different ball. Totally Driven in Oakdale, MN was so kind to help us out with launch monitor testing. It was a camera based system that gave us good results. Mr. Divots and myself are both players who really struggle hitting into nets indoors, so our numbers aren’t perfect, these tend to be more of the best numbers we got rather than the averages. Our swings were rusty, but with over 150 drives we did the best we can to give some numbers to the results we found. This is just the first part of a multi-part ball test. Once we can start playing outside, we hope to get some on course data for these balls. This was just a driver test. We will be adding parts as the season goes on with wedge testing too. The driver distance is kind of a composite of our two distances off the tee. Mr. Divots is a bit longer than these numbers and I am just hair less. We didn't have iron byron swings by any means so understand these are not perfect, just the results we got. Spin numbers are also the same kind of composite numbers. When we kept our side spin numbers down, it really helped. We did the best we could understanding and translating the data for a comparison list below.

Carry Distance (long to short)
Bridgestone B330: 251
Callaway Tour ix: 251
Nike Tour D: 251
Srixon Z-Star x: 251
Titleist ProV 1x: 251
Taylormade TP Black 250
Bridgestone B330-S: 249
Titleist ProV 1: 248
Bridgestone B330-RX: 248
Callaway Tour i: 248
Srixon Z-Star: 248
Dixon Earth: 247
Nike Tour: 247
Taylormade TP Red: 247



Spin (low to high)
Nike Tour D: 2800
Srixon Z-Star: 2800
Bridgestone B330-RX: 2900
Callaway Tour ix: 3000
Taylormade TP Black: 3100
Brdigestone B330: 3100
Titleist ProV 1: 3200
Srixon Z-Star x: 3200
Callaway Tour i: 3300
Titleist ProV 1x: 3400
Dixon Earth: 3600
Bridgestone B330-S: 3600
Taylormade TP Red: 3700
Nike Tour: 3800

Rlheiman's Comments:

ProV 1: ’09 Titleist will still retain the king of ball sales, but it will get smaller. These are good, but the other companies are catching up.
ProV 1x: Retained much of the old ProV 1x. Still that firmer feeling ball which still is one of the longest tee-balls out there.

Srixon Z-Star: New balls that retain some of the previous Srixon feel, but much improved.
Srixon Z Star x: Long, nice overall feeling ball that will find the bags of many golfers.

Nike Tour: NOP replacement. Higher spin ball. If you need more spin in your game this was the highest spinning ball in our test.
Nike Tour D: NOB replacement. Low spin ball, low launch ball that is long. It has just a smidge harder feel then the Tour.

Bridgestone B-330 RX: New concept in premium golf balls making this one for slower swing speeds. This was a pleasant surprise, great low spin with nice feel off driver.
Bridgestone B-330: Long, firm feel. Low spin.
Bridgestone B-330S: Much softer feel, still offered good numbers. Nice all around premium ball off driver.

Taylormade TP Red: If you need a little more spin this ball was near the top spinners. Didn’t find this one to be as long as expected.
Taylormade TP Black: Found this to be decent ball off the tee. Nothing blow you away either feel or distance, but low spin and nice launch angle gives this good overall play.

Callaway Tour I: The HX dimples on the Tour I are a little softer and spin a little more than the Ix.
Callaway Tour Ix: This is a great ball when it comes to spin, feel and distance. HX dimples offer something different from the other companies, especially in the wind.

Dixon Earth: Premium cost from a newcomer. It’s feel isn’t quite up to those above, but performance was very good.




mr_divot's comments:

Try as I might, indoor launch monitors and I just don't see eye to eye. I need that visual feedback of the ball to adjust my swing. That said, it's always fun to see where the launch angles and spin rates come in for the different ball manufacturers. The differences are slight and down to a few yards here and a few hundred RPM's there. The balls I suspected would be best for me off the driver came in tops in carry distance, with the Bridgestone B-330 coming in tops for me around 255 yards, closely trailed by the Callway ix. With my poor early Spring form, it was surprising, however, that my spin was mitigated some by the softer compressing balls such as the Bridgestone B-330RX and the Srixon Z-Star. The carry distance was a little shorter, but it gave me something to consider going into this season. More forgiveness in a ball might have something to it. The fact there are so many balls to choose from now makes it a good idea to see what a ball change can do for you. I'll save my final judgment for the Spring when I can hit these premium pond pellets and see how they check around the greens and how they putt. I ran out of time and functioning vertebrate, so the Nikes will have to be tested another day. The Tour D is definitely on my radar though.

[rlheiman]

One things I forgot to mention.

 

I have gone over the numbers 10 times, they are, what we hit. You might find something different in your testing. I hope this helps.

[Baconator]

Thanks for the reporting!

 

It's interesting to see such tight grouping and really makes one question claims of 15 yard gains from switching balls. I look forward to future additions/editions :clapping: .

[the glenn]

I thought the Taylormade red was supposed to be the lower spinning ball , LOL ! I will never figure this stuff out .

[rlheiman]

Remeber that we used carry distances, so if you switch from a higher spin to a lower spin, depending on conditions you could gain 15 yards total, but probably not carry.

[longballjs]

Just a question, and I am a bit of a novice when it comes to ball technology - but why does the provx spin more than the prov?

[rlheiman]

I thought the Taylormade red was supposed to be the lower spinning ball , LOL ! I will never figure this stuff out .

 

 

We did too, this seemed to be the one ball that was out of place in our test. Maybe as the year goes on and we are outside we will find different information.

[Baconator]

Remeber that we used carry distances, so if you switch from a higher spin to a lower spin, depending on conditions you could gain 15 yards total, but probably not carry.

 

Thanks for the reminder! I played my first round of the year yesterday with waterlogged (if not submersed) fairways. There was less than one foot difference between carry and total yardage on most shots.

[dansrixon]

Just a question, and I am a bit of a novice when it comes to ball technology - but why does the provx spin more than the prov?

 

 

I higher compression tour ball is going to spin more if you do not posses the swing speed to compress it.

[longballjs]

Just a question, and I am a bit of a novice when it comes to ball technology - but why does the provx spin more than the prov?

 

 

I higher compression tour ball is going to spin more if you do not posses the swing speed to compress it.

 

Ohok, I was starting to worry and think that they switched the 2 balls around or something

[ONn2]

Thanks for the data. I started doing some outdoor testing and its good to look at some data to start to put things in perspective. Two things that will help everyone expecially those that really delv into the numbers: What was the composite swing speed? And if possible the launch angles? My guess for swing speed is about 105 and launch angle is about 13*.

[blinden]

This is great guys. Thanks for taking the time. I look forward to outdoor play results. It's fun to see how different balls perform for different swings. For me the TP Red is the longest ball I have ever hit. The Z-Star is a tad behind, but gives me the spin on iron and wedge shots that I need.

 

 

 

Brian

[rlheiman]

Thanks for the data. I started doing some outdoor testing and its good to look at some data to start to put things in perspective. Two things that will help everyone expecially those that really delv into the numbers: What was the composite swing speed? And if possible the launch angles? My guess for swing speed is about 105 and launch angle is about 13*.

 

 

That is fairly close on the launch angle on swing speed.

 

I was averaging around 103

Mr. Divots was around 108

 

Our launch angles were in in the range of 11-16.

 

Like I said we were a little rusty and hate hitting into nets. I am sure there might be some other finding different numbers, but we are just sharing what we found. We hope to get some on course stuff going in a month or so once we get above freezing and find some dry fairways to hit on.

 

I will say this, I played the Z-star the other day and shot my personal best. It was great off the driver, irons and wedges. Mr. Divots played the Z-star x really well the other day too. We're not quite ready to crown it the best new ball yet, but it certainly is in the running.

[DBake]

Just a question, and I am a bit of a novice when it comes to ball technology - but why does the provx spin more than the prov?

 

 

I higher compression tour ball is going to spin more if you do not posses the swing speed to compress it.

 

Do you need a higher swing speed for the V1x over the V1?

 

Just a question, and I am a bit of a novice when it comes to ball technology - but why does the provx spin more than the prov?

 

 

I higher compression tour ball is going to spin more if you do not posses the swing speed to compress it.

 

Ohok, I was starting to worry and think that they switched the 2 balls around or something

 

Maybe you do....

[minimal45]

i liked the hot list thought it was great...i didnt think that it was hard to understand and this test dosent apply to everyone ill stick with gd no offense...

[SaltytheSlicer]

I'm interested to see what you think playing them outdoor and if the distance projections hold up. Hitting into a net, I think the only numbers worth looking at are the spin and launch angle. The aero model used by the computer doesn't change for each ball, and the dimple pattern for each ball can have a big effect on how long spin is held downrange and how much lift and drag are generated. Not that I expect the differences to be huge, but expect it will make a real difference.

 

Thanks for the reviews and I looking forward to any updates. I'm with you on hitting in a box - it's hard for me to do.