Understanding Your Golf Ball: The facts, fiction and the importance of playing the right model…

There has never been so much emphasis on dimples, cores and texture.

It is bordering on obscene the amount of technologies that can exist in a tiny golf ball. It seems only a matter of time until Taylormade unveil their GPS Golf Ball making wayward striking a thing of the past. But as standards sore and knowledge increases keeping up to date with your chosen brand becomes even more important to shooting lower.

With promotional advertising in overdrive it can be difficult to push past the jargon and find out exactly what each ball offers. In truth the only way to be sure is trial and error but understanding the basic principles can cut short you search.

Control

There are fundamentally two forms of golf ball; hard compound and soft. The soft design is exactly that, offering additional spin generation and control making it perfect for getting close to pins. They are most commonly used by long hitters that can afford the negative loss of distance from such a soft inner core.

Srixon Z Star balls are battle tested spin balls designed to bring incredible control to skilled players. They are most effective with short irons and wedges and coated with the brands famous ‘spin skin’. The Z star design carried Graeme McDowell to a major success in 2012.

The Top Flite Gamer Soft ball is a surprisingly complete option. They are one of the least expensive three piece balls on the market but offer great performance.

The Callaway Supersoft Golf Ball is another exclusive spin ball offering extreme control bringing pins into range for players with an experienced touch around the greens. It is the softest two piece ball in the world with a compression score of zero.

So what makes this spin happen? The inner core of the balls are highly compressed and feature super soft energetic surround. The exterior is designed with various soft shells and dimple technologies (varying per manufacturer). The ball unifies the various parts to form a soft controlled package.

On impact the ball immediately generates active spin taking effect on landing and allowing instant control on a perfect strike.

Distance

The second form of ball is harder and manufactured to generate distance and power. It has a harder exterior shell and an elastic core designed to accelerate on impact. Due to their tougher exterior they do not generally offer the same level of spin control around the greens.

The Callaway X2 Hot Golf Ball is a tour hardened option for finding crucial extra yardage. The manufacturer has created three unique dimple-pattern aerodynamics to maximize ball distance from the Tee.

This ball was released along with the driver of the same brand and aims to suit players with swing speeds over 90 mph.

Srixon Distance Balls and Taylormade offer high end of the market long shooting options. They are designed to offer extra forgiveness from the tee and suit all level of players, promising increased distance and hang time.

Finding the perfect balance

In an ideal golfing world, every player would want the correct balance between distance and control.

Although many balls claim to strike the balance nothing has the reputation of the Titleist Pro V1 Golf Ball. The most used ball on tour, it combined sizzling distance with incredible soft feel for a very happy medium. The Velocity ball is a cheaper option from the manufacturer with a new dimple pattern encouraging a shallow landing area and flattening out shot from the Tee.

Other highly recommend all round balls include the Nike RZN range and Taylormade Project A. The latter is currently producing big things on Tour and ticks all the boxes of a complete golf ball.

The Tour Stats

In 2013, there were a total of 24 events across the USPGA Tour. The Titleist Pro V1 Series accounted for 10 of these victories. What makes this remarkable is that another 4 were claimed by Tiger Woods and his Nike ball.

The same Titleist range was used by top players Bubba Watson, Rickie Fowler and Adam Scott to claim high finishes in a number of major in the last 24 months. This also includes two Masters Titles.

It is interesting to note that Woods does not use balls available to consumers, specifically compounded balls are produced for him despite advertising campaigns suggesting differently. The point here is that club players require different formats from top pros so although it is a useful gauge, finding something for your handicap is more appropriate than major winning golf balls. 

Am I making the most from my game?

Foremost Golf offer a massive range of balls from all major manufacturers and are perfectly priced to make your cash go further.

Do not be afraid to sample different balls and cores; you will be surprised by the impact on your game and scorecard.

It is worth noting that no one golf ball is considered unanimously perfect and new advancements will continue to offer new levels of distance, spin and control.

No matter what ball you decide to arm up with, a perfect swing will always be just that no matter the dimples on the other end.

What makes the Titleist Pro V1 golf ball the pick of the bunch?

Simply put, the Titleist Pro V1 golf ball is a golfing icon. Other balls have come and gone, trying to accomplish the lofty heights of Titleist’s premium offering, but have consistently come up short.

In this blog post, Foremost Golf looks at the reasons behind the dominance of the Titleist Pro V1 golf ball whilst trying to answer one simple question:

What makes the Titleist Pro V1 golf ball so special?

The golf ball is the only piece of equipment that is used for every shot on the golf course, so it’s vitally important that you can trust what you’re using. And trust is something that is synonymous with the Titleist Pro V1 golf ball.

Anyone who plays golf will know that the Pro V1 has dominated the ball market over the last decade. There’s no arguing it. The fact that the Titleist Pro V1 golf ball has been at the top for such a long time, without any drastic changes, speaks volumes for what Titleist has been able to achieve.

Never ones to rest on their laurels, Titleist undertook unparalleled research and comprehensive testing with both professionals and amateurs before releasing the 2015 version of the ball. When asked how the Pro V1 could be improved, the pros were adamant in their response:

“Don’t change anything, just add some more control around the green”

We don’t want to delve too much into the technical side of things, but the way Titleist has achieved this is quite remarkable. Now urethane covers aren’t new, but Titleist’s version certainly is. They’ve built their patented Elastomer cover in-house so that they’re in control of the characteristics it provides, rather than adding a pre-made urethane cover that isn’t necessarily designed for a golf ball. All this means that they have created an extremely soft ball offering premium feel off the clubface.

So what can you expect from the Titleist Pro V1 golf ball?

• Extra distance
• Softer feel
• Enhanced durability
• Greenside control
• Optimum trajectory

Most golfers would take one or two of these characteristics in a ball if it was going to improve their performance. So when you get all five in the Titleist Pro V1 golf ball, you can see why it’s the number one ball across worldwide tours.

But this ball isn’t just for professionals. The exceptional tee-to-green performance makes the Titleist Pro V1 golf ball a firm favourite for golfers of all skill levels.

How can added distance and increased greenside control not be beneficial?

Our rating?

Quite simply: 5 out of 5. Unbeatable.