Golf Town Tutorials - Balls

Bob Weeks

TSN Senior Reporter

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Unlike any other piece of equipment, it’s pretty hard to see what makes a golf ball work.

Drivers, irons, putters and even shoes have visible technology that quite often gives the user an indication of how they work.

A golf ball has dimples and a cover.

It’s what goes on underneath that cover that you should know about before you make your purchase. Choosing the proper ball for you game can be one of the most important – and too often overlooked – decisions in the final tally on your scorecard.

Here’s a test that you should do before your next round: reach into your bag and pull out all the balls. Take a look at how many different kinds you have. If you’re like most golfers, you probably have between four and six different types. You know how it goes; you buy three, then find one, then are given a sleeve at that tournament. Pretty soon you’re playing a different type of ball every few holes.

So step No. 1 is to find the ball that’s right for your swing and try to stay with that to build consistency. To do that, you should consult an expert like the ones they have at Golf Town.

Your choice will often be determined by a few factors. One is swing speed, another is whether you are looking for more distance or trying to control a slice or hook. And don’t forget about feel.

In most cases, amateur players should be looking for two things: one is a ball that spins less when it’s hit with the driver. That means it will travel farther. And second is one that spins more on shorter shots. This is probably most important as most of us will be hitting more shots from 100 yards and in than the tour pros. You need control to get the ball to stop.

Most tour professionals spin their wedges shots at about 10,000 rpm. A 15-handicapper will generate about 5,000 rpm (that’s the reason why most of us don’t spin the balls back like the pros).

These days, most companies have a number of different offerings that will suit you. Top of the list is Titleist, which has been the leading golf ball on the PGA Tour for as long as anyone can remember.

The Titleist Pro V1 and Pro V1x are used by more of the world’s best than any other ball, but that doesn’t mean it won’t work for us mere mortals. In fact, the two models might actually give more benefits to mid-handicappers.

"They need a golf ball that performs consistently and a golf ball that will help them score better," says Bill Morgan, vice-president of Titleist golf ball R&D. "Our focus on making our golf balls perform in the shots to the green will help golfers of all skill levels shoot lower scores.”

So that means you’ll hit this ball a long way but you’ll also get control on shots you hit into the greens. And it’s that latter part that will really help improve scores. Three more yards off the tee won’t provide a huge benefit but hitting it three feet closer to the pin will.

Technically speaking, the Pro V1 is a three-piece ball with a urethane cover and a soft compression core. It has a soft feel with every club in the bag. The Pro V1x is a four-piece ball with multi-component technology with a dual core and ionomeric casing layer. It spins less off the driver (meaning more distance) but more with short irons, meaning control around the greens.

Callaway’s Chrome Soft ball also manages to combine both distance with longer shots and control on shorter shots all with super soft feel. It’s a three-piece ball with a low compression core and a fast-spinning cover. Let’s talk compression for a moment. When you make impact with a golf ball, it compresses on the face of the club and then springs back to form. The lower the compression, the more the ball gets mashed. The ball launches as the compression is released.

With the Chrome Soft, that lower compression translates into great feel, better launch speed and great spin on your shorter shots. You don’t have to swing as fast as a tour player to get this ball moving, although if you do happen to have a fast swing, you won’t lose anything by playing this ball.

TaylorMade’s Project (a) was created specifically for amateur players. These balls were designed to have maximum spin on shots from about 80 yards and in. On these shots, this ball will tend to grab the green more and get your ball to stop closer to the hole.

Best of all is that you won’t be giving up any noticeable distance off the tee. You’ll still see this one fly well and also deliver great feel on every shot.

TaylorMade also has a premium ball offering in the Tour Preferred and the Tour Preferred X. The former is a four-piece ball that offers up more spin with great feel while the latter is a five-piece model that delivers feel with a lower, penetrating ball flight.

Nike’s line of balls is headed by the RZN Black and the RZN Platinum, both of which are in the bags of its tour professionals. Both are four-piece balls with the Black offering more in the way of distance and Platinum more spin and control. They’ve been updated for 2016 to offer better feel which was done by increasing the size of the core of the ball, made from the company’s special resin (hence the name, RZN) material.

You’ll also notice that each one has dimples inside its dimples. These “micro-dimples,” as Nike calls them, are said to help improve aerodynamics and make the ball fly better, especially as it’s losing speed.
 
With golf balls, there are lots of choices and lots of technology. Golf balls may all look the same but each has its appeal and its benefits that come from plenty of years of research and development. As with every part of your gear, work with Golf Town experts to test out golf balls and then make a choice and stick to that particular ball. Your scorecard will show the rewards.