Golf Balls

[coach doyle]

Well you can teach an old dog new tricks........After making bogey from a greenside bunker on a par 5 after two great shots, I had a little "heat" going and decided to hit a Pinnacle Ball, I had found, on the next hole......Well it went dead straight as opposed to my usual draw/hook.........well...LSS I kept hitting this thing dead straight and long.......no sidespin at all!!! 45 years of spin balls and I find out you can hit the cheapest thing out there dead straight!!!  Of course the flip side is no spin on approach shots either; but I was totally amazed how easy it was to hit that ball straight. It even worked on approach shots at this course as the greens were soft and holding. It sort of felt like cheating.........but I can tell you that I will have a sleeve of these boys in my bag for those times when I'm on a course with soft greens!!

[Little Red Club House]

Good morning Coach, one of the joys I have in golf is the relationships that I have formed with a number of my player/friends.  As a support for the business we sell used balls, average of 2000 a month in an open air market.  With the new ProV's selling in the $50 doz. range in the stores our balls, mint condition sell for less than $20 doz.  All of that is really not important other than to relate the differences in buyers.  Most of the balls we sell are the high end balls and usually to folks that have a handicap in the twenties and teens.  The are the ones that pick through all the balls to looking for that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, that perfect hole-in-one ball, that is just waiting for them.  Low handicap players buy balls that we call 2nd's, have minor defects.    These guys and gals buy them for practice balls, if they are in a tournament they buy new balls.  Then there are the new folks just starting out that buy balls by the hundreds for practice, doesn't make any difference as to name or type, just balls, these are our bread and butter.  Different types of balls do play different but for the average golfer the difference in one over another can not be found.  Hard, soft, long, or short, the ball difference is in the eyes of the hitter.  I play the NXT's, one buyer plays Prov's and Noodles, and the differences go on.  Topflite is the most recycled ball with Wilson and Maxfli close behind.  You are right in looking beyond the hype and like myself you know that if the game gets really close you have that favorite brand in the bag.  Tom M.

[Director]

I have a number of friends who play mostly what they find on the golf course. They are retired and play several times a week, often in times when play is slow and get plenty of time to check out the rough and woods for balls and they find plenty. Most of them have their favorites but will tell you that with their 65 to 70 mph swing speeds it doesn't make much difference what ball they hit.

Most of the guys that play the OPBs (other people's balls) as they refer to them don't much care what ball they play as long as they are not paying for them. 

[Little Red Club House]

Besides having a shop where I build, fit, and sell clubs, we also have a mass market retail outlet at the worlds largest Flea Market, Canton 1st Monday.  Actually it is not a flea market, started out that way about a hundred and fifty years ago but time has turned it into a market visited by thousands the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday before the first Monday of the month.  We sell used clubs, book fittings, sell used balls, and soon will be offering club repairs and re-gripping while folks shop.  We average selling 2500+ used balls a month.  These are found balls that are cleaned, culled, and offered for a very reasonable price.  We also supply used balls to course pro shops in the area.  Contrary to popular belief only about 5% of the balls sold are retrieved from ponds and streams and these are culled for only the best of condition for resale.  Most balls found in water have been there less than a month and are just as good as a new ball.  I have tested balls that have been in water for several months and found no loss in distance or playability.

My favorite comment is, "Why these are old used water balls!"  My wife's follow up is, "So is that new ball you hit off the first Tee and you just paid big bucks for it."

I play with a guy that unless he is playing in a tournament you will never see him play a new ball and with a "zero" handicap I am not about to say a word about it. 

I champion the guys and gals that play used balls.  There is no difference in the performance of a used ball and a new one provided there are no cuts, scrapes, of obvious defects in the cover.  We are open three days a month and I can assure you that we have no trouble selling the popular lines of balls.  The not so popular balls are sold as practice balls at a very reasonable price.  There are a lot of backyard driving ranges in East Texas and we supply balls to most of them.

At $50+ for a dozen of the popular balls, that the average player is going to loose within a month, used balls are worth the money.   

I would be interested in any comments related to this subject.

Tom

[Rick]

Tom,

Am familiar with the piney woods of East Texas.  I grew up there.  I find your comment interesting regarding the performance of water balls.  I've always been told that balls that are in the water for a long time tend to lose there compression.  Like most, I seek out inexperienced balls and throw them in my bag.
I was wondering does anyone else have an opinion regarding water balls and their performance?

Rick
Las Vegas

[Mainuh]

Hello everyone - this is my first post here and I look forward to reading through the topics and as always, learning. Also - thanks to Roy for helping me out with the registration process (older computer, like me )

Sorry to revive an older post however this is a subject I have always been torn about. As a notorious cheapskate, although I do tip well  , i have considered buying recycled golf balls but have been put off from data that shows that water submerged balls lose distance.

I will say though that if I found a company that sold balls that were found in the rough, woods, etc. I would be all over them.

Here are a couple sources that upon reading keep me buying new -

* Golf Digest study

Yardage of drives of two-piece balls submerged in water, * and the
cosmetic difference between an untreated pond ball (left) and a
Performance Indicator-treated ball.

New     8 days   3 months   6 months

250.7    244.9      241.6      242.5

and

According to the Global Forum for Sports and Environment,
http://www.g-forse.com/archive/news259_e.html, water does damage golf
balls!

"...So is a ball inferior, if it has been submerged in a body of
water? 'Yes' says an U.S. Army Research Laboratory study. Golf balls
absorb water that cannot be removed and this affects a permanent
change. Testing by Golf Digest in 1996 found a golf ball submerged in
water loses six yards after one week, 12 yards after three months and
15 yards after six months.


Probable Golf Instruction also notes:

http://probablegolfinstruction.com/PGINewsletter/news07-18-05.htm

"...The covers of golf balls are pourous and will absorb water; this
changes the viscoelasticity of the cover and the golf ball will fly
significantly less far..."

rob

 

[robbyporter]

Good to see a familiar face mainuh!!

RP

[Sean Baines]

I've always avoided water balls, just because I've been suspicious of them. Your post here seems to confirm it. Ball I find in the rought, though, that's different. unless the ball seems very old indeed, I don't notice any drop in performance. Mind you, that could just be me and my swing.

Sean Baines
Clubs That Fit
info@clubsthatfit.ca

[humbavasiamma]

club golfer? If you dont have a handicap higher lower than 10 or are playing super hard and fast greens does it make a difference in performance to use exepnsive 2,3 or 4 layer urethane golf balls instead of cheaper ones?