Which Ball To Choose?

There are numerous golf balls on the market. This begs the question which one to choose? Are the premium expensive balls better? Or will a value ball work?

A good way to choose is to hit a pick a few balls, hit some short shots and putts to see if you like the feel on and around the green. From the ones you like the feel of, hit a few tee shots and then pick the one that goes the furthest. 

Late last summer I hit 3 shots with 11 different golf balls to see which one went the furthest. I recorded the results on the TrackMan 111 launch monitor. I used a Titleist 910D3 9.5 degree driver with a Graphite Design Tour AD Di-7 for all the drives. It was about 23 degrees C, with a following wind of about 10mph.

The golf balls I tested were the Titleist ProV1, Pro V1x, DT Solo, Velocity, NXT Tour, NXT Tour S, the Bridgestone Fix, B330s, B330rx-s, the Taylor Made Penta TP5 and the Srixon AD333.

Here are the results.

Ball	Ball Speed	Launch	Spin Rate	Carry(yards)	Total(yards)
Penta TP5	154.6	14.2	2702	273.1	296.4
Pro V1x	156.5	13.7	2725	271.8	295
Velocity	153.5	14.4	2875	269.9	290.2
B330 RX-S	155.5	12.4	2732	263.5	289.8
NXT Tour S	153.9	13.9	2764	264.3	286.4
Pro V1	155.6	13.3	3271	264.7	285.5
B330S	155.8	11.8	2958	256.4	284.1
DT Solo	155.4	11.7	3982	259.4	283.9
AD333	151.9	15.0	3249	256.4	282.5
NXT Tour	154.7	12.4	3693	257.4	281.3
Fix	152.1	13.8	4145	246.3	276.2

The first thing to notice is there was a following wind which added to my normal distance. There was a significant difference between some of the balls 20 yards between the TP5 and the Fix. As expected the lower spinning balls went the furthest, especially with relatively consistent launches.

The top two balls TP5 and Pro V1x had a significant 5/6 yard advantage over the rest, both work well around the greens and so from the exercise the choice was narrowed down to just two for me and either would work pretty well. 

Probably would have expected the ball with the highest speed (Pro V1x) to go the furthest, the TP5 going further could be explained by the small sample size(3 balls) and potential for wind gusts on the day.

A ball to note was the Titleist Velocity, half the price of the premium balls but similar distance. It's slightly livelier around the green, so probably would work well in softer conditions.

If you would like to try this exercise contact us at Drive Golf Performance. It's a similar price to a dozen golf balls and well worth the information.