Persimmon & Balata V Titanium & Pro V1x

How does a Titleist Tour Balata 90 struck by a Tony Penna Persimmon Driver compare to a Titleist Pro V1x struck by a Titleist 913 Titanium Driver?

This is the third part in the series where I've looked at the differences between Titanium and Persimmon and Balata and Pro V1. The first two parts looked at the club and the ball individually. In this part the cumulative effect of both will be looked at.

As a reminder here are the results of Persimmon V Titanium

Club	Ball	Club Speed (mph)	Ball Speed (mph)	Launch Angle	Spin Rate	Carry (y)	Total Distance (y)	Dispersion (ft)	Height (ft)
913	Pro V1	103.4	151.7	12.6	3113	250.8	272.6	37 right	96.3
TP	Pro V1	96.5	145	11.3	2815	228.1	256.5	25.9 right	72.2
913	Pro V1x	103.8	152.9	11.8	2595	251.9	270.8	28.4 right	102.7
TP	Pro V1x	97.3	144	13	2300	234.8	260.9	12.8 left	83.7

 Here are the results of Tour Balata V Pro V1

Ball	Swing Speed(mph)	Ball Speed(mph)	Launch Angle	Spin Rate(rpm)	Carry (yards)	Total (yards)	Height (feet)
Balata 1	103.1	148.4	9.0	3454	216.9	237.8	78.2
Balata 2	103.3	146.9	9.9	3297	219.5	236.9	80.4
Average	103.2	147.7	9.5	3376	218.2	237.4	79.3
Pro V1 1	102.6	150.7	11.7	2383	233.2	252	91.3
Pro V1 2	104.5	153.3	11.7	2792	236.2	252.9	99.9
Average	103.6	152	11.7	2588	234.7	252.5	95.6
Pro V1x 1	105.1	153.6	10.7	2579	236.9	252.9	102.9
Pro V1x 2	104.4	152.4	11.9	2562	238.2	257.4	106.4
Average	104.8	153	11.3	2571	237.6	254.4	104.7

There was 16.1 yards difference between the Tony Penna and 913 with a Pro V1.

There was 9.9 yards difference between the Tony Penna and 913 with a Pro V1x.

There was 15.5 yards difference between a Balata and a Pro V1 with a 913.

There was 17 yards difference between a Balata and a Pro V1x with a 913.

The next question is will the effect of the two be cumulative? Would we see a 26.9 yard difference between a Tony Penna with Balata and a 913 with a Pro V1x

Here are the results

Club	Ball	Club Speed (mph)	Ball Speed (mph)	Launch Angle	Spin Rate	Carry (y)	Total Distance  (y)	Average Dispersion  (ft)	Height  (ft)
913	Pro V1x	103.4	151.8	12.7	2494	248.7	266.9	35.06	106.3
TP	Balata	96.4	143.5	11.0	2783	221.0	242.4	19.16	77.8

Temperatures today were 10 degrees C (50F) with no measurable wind. Results were recorded with a TrackMan 111 launch monitor.

The Titleist 913 Driver is a D3 model with 9.5 degrees of loft and a 45 inch Graphite Design Tour Ad Di-7 graphite shaft. The shaft is S-Flex with 265 cpm. The club weighs 330 grams and has a D2 swingweight.

The Tony Penna has 10.5 degrees of loft, a 43.5 inch Aildila Low Torque graphite shaft which is S-Flex with 274 cpm. The club weighs 346 grams with a D2 swingweight.

The difference in carry was 27.7 yards with the total distance being 24.5 yards. This is within 10% of the cumulative distance differences found in the other two tests.

We can see from the 3 tests that the main gain in distance is due to the ball but the club has had an effect as well.

Persimmon drivers are a very useful training aid. The smaller head makes you hit more centered strikes. Definitely worth taking one to the course every once in a while!!

Any comments or questions are very welcome.

Titleist Tour Balata 90 V Titleist Pro V1

How does a Titleist Tour Balata 90 compare to a Pro V1 or Pro V1x?

I have some Titleist Tour Balatas that are being kept for posterity. A couple of days ago I took one dozen out and thought it would be interesting to see how they compared to a Pro V1.

I hit a dozen Tour Balata, Pro V1(2011 version) and Pro V1x(2011 version) with my Titleist 913 D3 driver, 9.5 degrees of loft, Graphite Design Tour AD Di-7 S-Flex shaft and recorded the results with my TrackMan 111 launch monitor. I hit balls over two different days. Both days there was a slight breeze of about 7 mph against with temperatures about 9 degrees C (48F).

Here are the results

Ball	Swing Speed(mph)	Ball Speed(mph)	Launch Angle	Spin Rate(rpm)	Carry (yards)	Total (yards)	Height (feet)
Balata 1	103.1	148.4	9.0	3454	216.9	237.8	78.2
Balata 2	103.3	146.9	9.9	3297	219.5	236.9	80.4
Average	103.2	147.7	9.5	3376	218.2	237.4	79.3
Pro V1 1	102.6	150.7	11.7	2383	233.2	252	91.3
Pro V1 2	104.5	153.3	11.7	2792	236.2	252.9	99.9
Average	103.6	152	11.7	2588	234.7	252.5	95.6
Pro V1x 1	105.1	153.6	10.7	2579	236.9	252.9	102.9
Pro V1x 2	104.4	152.4	11.9	2562	238.2	257.4	106.4
Average	104.8	153	11.3	2571	237.6	254.4	104.7

First thing to note is given the swing speeds and ball speeds the total distance for all the balls is slightly lower than expected. This was due to the slight breeze against and the low temperatures on the days.

As expected the Balata ball doesn't go as far as the Pro V1 or Pro V1x. Carries on average 16.5 less than the Pro V1 and 19.4 than the Pro V1x. The total is 15.1 yards less than the Pro V1 and 17 yards less than the Pro V1x.

The liquid center of the Balata doesn't transfer energy as well as the solid center of the Pro V1s. This is the main reason behind the shorter distance. We can see the ball speed is 4.3 mph and 5.3 mph lower. Spin rates are also a bit higher. Launch angle and height of the shots is also lower leading to a less optimised flight and lower overall carry.

The interesting aspect of the shots is the Balata was known as a high spinning ball, so would have expected higher spin rates and also a higher flight due to the higher spin rates. But the height of the flight was a good bit lower. The Balata also seemed to waver in flight. One potential reason behind this is the age of the balls, just over 12 years old which would have an impact on them.

I didn't include accuracy data in the analysis as I was mainly concerned with distance comparison but the Balata was slightly more accurate then the other two balls, averaging 2 yards closer to the target then the Pro V1 and 4 yards closer then the Pro V1x.

Coupled with the comparison between Titanium and Persimmon that I did last year we can see the jump is distance by elite players is mainly due to equipment. The difference between Titanium and Persimmon was 15 yards. Almost identical to the difference between Balata and Pro V1. The two combined gives us the 30 yard jump in distance that we have seen in the last 20 years.

Please leave any questions or comments you might have.