Balls, Balls, and more Balls!

(photo by Lon Horwedel)

How different golf balls affect your game

With the seemingly millions of different golf balls available in today's market, how does a golfer know which ball is best for his or her game? It's nearly impossible for any golfer to try every ball available, so lets look at the three specific types of balls on the market and if you should give them a try. 

The first type of ball, and easily the most expensive, is what is classified as a professional, or a "tour" ball. Several different companies make a professional ball, but the most popular are the Titleist Pro V-1 and Pro V-1x, the Callaway Tour iX, the TaylorMade TP Red and Black, the Bridgestone Tour B330, and the Nike One Black and Platinum models. 
Expect to pay up to, or more than $50 a dozen for these models and don't be too shocked if your scores don't change one bit despite the expense of the ball. 
The key to playing a tour ball well is having a swing speed in excess of 100 mph, and more preferably 105 mph with the driver. If you don't, and chances are pretty good you do not, then these balls do you little, if any good. True, most tour balls are covered in a long-lasting, soft-feeling urethane, or elastomer cover that are great around the greens, but you may be surprised to find little, if any gain in distance with these balls off the tee and even less with your irons.

The better bet for most amateurs is to drop down a level to the ever-popular high-end amateur balls like the Titleist NXT and NXT Tour, or the extremely popular Bridgestone B330RX (a tour quality ball built for players with slower swing speeds). Callaway also makes the HX Hot ball which falls into this category. 

Precept may well have started this trend about five years ago when golfers discovered their MC Lady ball (designed for women) was flying miles further, and was considerably cheaper, than professional models. To appease the male golfer, Precept simply changed the name of the ball to the Scottish-sounding "Laddie" and marketed it for males. It was one of the best balls I ever played until they tried to improve it with their Laddie X, which may have gone further, but was hard as a rock around the greens. 
The high-end amateur balls are much better for players with swing speeds in the 85-95 mph range and they'll cost you much less. Typically they'll sell anywhere from $20-$45 a dozen.

The last type of ball, that most experienced, or better players, avoid all together, are the garden-variety distance balls found at sporting goods stores. The Dunlops, Pinnacles and Top-Flite's of the world (although it should be noted the Top-Flite Gamer is a high-end amateur ball). Usually selling in a bargain quantity greater than a dozen (15-ball packs seem to be the rage) these balls can sell for as little as $9.99 per pack. 

For beginners, these balls are great because feel is of little concern and if you pound three, four, five or maybe a half dozen of them into a water hazard, you haven't ventured much capital. Of courseanyone with even a remotely decent golf game will tell you these balls are just painted-white rocks.

Perhaps the first thing you should do before you go out and buy a dozen balls is figure out how much money you're willing to spend. Once you know that, the best thing you can do is make up your dozen from four different 3-ball sleeves comprised of similar-styled balls. 

You'll soon find that some balls will just feel better than others, some will go further than others, and most likely, none of them will do what they say they'll do on the side of the sleeve. And remember, no matter what brand you choose, at some point during the season you will stray and try another brand. It's half the fun of golf.