Precept EV Extra Spin - Then and Now

[Masque]

And now, a topic that will interest … maybe six people.

 

The Precept EV Extra Spin was my absolute favorite ball in 1995 and 1996. For $25/dozen, it offered enough spin that wedge practice was almost a matter of hitting the ball and waiting for it to roll 105 yards back to you. It offered most of the softness of the wound balls. And over all this, it offered some kind of durability - not much by modern standards, but enough that it might survive an entire round, and part of the next. It was remarkable. And then it was gone.

 

…and then, ten years later, it was back! But despite my best hopes, the second coming of this ball is not the same. Common sense leads me to observe the lack of threads here praising the ball (when it's mentioned, most praise is of the memory of the old model), the lower price, and the fact that this ball is now offered in packs of 15 - long a hallmark of a "value ball". Yet searches suggest that there are people who wonder, so let me present evidence of the differences.

 

Tonight I pulled my "My First Birdie!" ball out, a 1995-vintage Precept EV Extra Spin, and I placed it next to a freshly-purchased EV Extra Spin. Let me show you.

 

 

New on the left, 1995 on the right.

 

(Please forgive the dirt - that's "first birdie" dirt right there, and that dirt will live there forever. It is part of my history, and will not be polished away for the sake of science or exposition.)

 

I am sad, for I believe the current ball is "extra spin" only in name. It seems more durable, but its dimples are simple. Its cover is slick. Its spin seems reduced. I even hit a few with those same irons I used back in 1995 to check. No dice. Different feel. Time marches on. Spin is now something companies work to remove from their ball offerings.

 

So I sadly confirm - this ball has been gone a long time. What is there now in its name is not the same. This dirt-stained dimple-in-dimple 2-piece miracle ball is the last of its kind, at least in this house. But… if you look carefully, and strip away the name, I think what you see on the right is not so much a forgotten good ball, but more the ideas that eventually spawned the RX330, and the modern e5.

 

And for the same $25/dozen, that e5 is close enough for me.

 

Rest in (2-)piece, EV.

[Grim]

Ahh the Precept Extra Spin.

I played these back in High School tourneys.

Quite firm compared to the Titleist Professional and Tour Prestige wound balls I was using.

But these things got the job and were affordable.

I was a huge Precept fan back in the day.

[Fourmyle of Ceres]

The e5 is for all intents the same ball. Really firm core, really soft cover, spins like a son of a gun on any full swing (including driver), spins not so much on half swings and doesn't play nearly as "soft" as a Pro V1 or similar urethane Tour ball on chips, putts and short pitches. As you say, just buy the e5. Any ball with "Precept" on it now is just a generic cheap ball with a once-well-known name stamped on it.

[Pulley]

Didn't they make a rexstar back then too? I seem to remember that really spun back.

[farmer]

I loved those balls. Don't remember the dimple in dimple design though.

[Pingfitz]

I played that ball back then, switched from the tour balata 90, picked up some distance, lasted much longer as you stated and was a better performing ball, liked the two digit #'s. After that it I went with the Strata, which I thought was even better then the EV.

[zgolf2001]

hi,,,was just searching for the year that the precept ev extra spin came out,,and i find this conversation, so, neat story, i think at least, lol,,,at the time our golf course was just 9 holes, and the sales rep comes to our pro shop to show our pro the new ball,,so after talking a while, our pro says hey, take this rep out for 9 holes and you can try out this new ball and tell me what you think.  so we tee it up, get to the second hole, 130yds and the rep says to me, i bet you got a couple ones on this hole,,and i say well actually no never made one here and i had played here for prob 14yrs,  so he hits ,,i hit, looks like mine is right on the stick,,can not see the green only the pin, well yep, we get down to the green and no ball,,,walk over and bingo in the hole for a one, lol,,needless to say i played the precept for a while, lol, that 1 that day opened the flood gates for me and that hole, i have since made a total of 7 on that hole, so thanks precept !!!

[JAM01]

Good stuff and worthy revival of an old thread.