Hi Guys,

Do you think this is a segment of the market that you
care about any more with the really cheap high quality
Tour balls now floooding the market?

If balls like Taylor Made Penta TP 5 Piece / 3 Piece or
Callaway Hex Chrome / Srixon Zstar are going to be
under $40 a dozen why would a player pick a 2nd Tier
multilayer?

Am I missing something?

Spin control / ball feel / durability do come to mind but
is there something you might be looking for.

The premium 2 piece market seems to be heading below
the $25 zone for good so maybe there will be a $25 to $35
zone for the premium non urethane / non tour multilayer
designs like the NXT Tour / RX 330 and maybe my X4
but any thoughts would be helpful.

Cheers,
Boz.

I play what I like
Not what’s a “tour ball”
Played a few months ago with a 23 capper who is 63 & plays
yep you guessed it prov1
Shake head

Spin control / ball feel / durability do come to mind but

not so much durability boz if the price is on the good side

I would be more inclined to play something that wasn’t marketed as a Tour ball, but as I have said before, if you aren’t in the know, then this is not always apparent from looking at a box of balls.

I don’t think that the construction makes a difference to me – when I started the advice was “get a cheap but not too cheap distance ball and that will suit you till you are a much better golfer than you are now.” It is only now that I have begun to play with a consistent gamer, but most of my fellow players at my course will play with an odd collection of balls that they pick up here there and everywhere include gifts and prizes without any more attention than saying “Callaway/Titleist etc – that’s a good brand”

Yes, I care Boz.

I usually play Hex Chrome but often play others I’ve found or been given when playing an unimportant round. I have a mid ‘cap and find mid range balls suit me. I don’t like the feel of ‘rocks’ (usual cheap ‘distance’ balls) and feel no need to pay for ProV or other ‘tour’ balls as my game is not up to that level.

I played one of your ‘DistancePro’ (or was that ProDistance) recently (given to me) and that performed well.

I would be more inclined to play something that wasn’t marketed as a Tour ball, but as I have said before, if you aren’t in the know, then this is not always apparent from looking at a box of balls.

I don’t think that the construction makes a difference to me – when I started the advice was “get a cheap but not too cheap distance ball and that will suit you till you are a much better golfer than you are now.” It is only now that I have begun to play with a consistent gamer, but most of my fellow players at my course will play with an odd collection of balls that they pick up here there and everywhere include gifts and prizes without any more attention than saying “Callaway/Titleist etc – that’s a good brand”

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http://www.golflink.com.au/...

Interesting, Deege. I’d bet most ladies would pay more attention to the specifics of their handbags or shoes.

Boz, I think it would be difficult to create awareness of a new category => ie. premium non urethane / non tour multilayer
designs.

I usually have two types of ball (1) premium multi-layer, and (2) a two layer ball that I have confidence in (eg. Nike PD soft). If I start playing a round with a premium multi-layer and (on the day) my round goes to crap & I lose a few, I usually change to a two layer ball mid round so it doesn’t sting as much if I lose it.

I am really surprised that there is not more capitalisation in the golf ball area on the idea of selling a “game improvement” ball or similar. It seems to me that the Qstar balls have had the benefit of that sort of marketing, and the “game improvement” tag doesn’t seem to have harmed the marketing of golf clubs. It just seems that for most average golfers who don’t want to geek out about golf balls, if you put something in front of them which unambigiously said “this is a golf ball for improving players” then those that want to pick a suitable ball but can’t be bothered with the geekery would be very attracted to that.

I think that is one of the things that makes the “lady” balls a successful exercise – because people are happy to go “that’s easy, I’m a lady, this ball suits me”.

In terms of my game …....

I like a soft feeling golf ball off the driver face .. I want to feel it compress..

I also want to try and avoid wild side spin if possible

I want a ball to drop and stop on the green

I never play for spin when chipping …... I play for roll

So, having the above, at times, conflicting criteria for my golf ball, I’ve been thru a few different balls over the last few years including Vision balls, which I’ll omit from the list.

In order, I went from using Nike PD Soft ….. a good solid performer around $30 a dozen from memory.

Then Srixon Soft Feel …. The Ladies verson actually …. about $20 a dozen…. A very soft ball, great for around the green spin, and no discernable distance loss off the driver. (bit of sidespin though)

Next came NXT Tours at close to $50 a dozen …. nice ball, workable, yet not too wild.

Now I’ve moved to playing Srixon Tri-speeds, for about half the NXT price.

Both great balls in my opinion (NXT / Tri-speeds), with very little, if anything, separating them in terms of performance in my game.

The cheaper end of the ball market no longer means inferior quality as there are now quality balls for every type of game, at the lower end of the price range.

For me Boz, I’m like Kiwi. I game what I feel is a good ball. It used to be SoLo and Carry by Titleist, but have also gamed the Callaway Diablo’s and Chrome’s and NXT S (yellow) which I was given or won. Recently I’ve warmed to the Bridgestone E6’s which I’ve found to be an excellent performer.

All through this, as most would know I’ve predominantly used your Vision gear and they remain the only ball I actually buy.

I struggle often to relate to the cover material, the number of layers, the core and mantle make up or the dimple pattern to my performance on course. I leave that up to the experts like yourself.

No I go on what I feel confident with, have had good performance with, provides good value for money and generally like the appearance of. I’ll never fork out $30 for a dozen golf balls as far as I’m concerned, regardless of the “promised” performance. It’s just not worth it. Not until the day I’m a low handicapper with an awesome swing. So, yep, never.

Boz,

Agree with you personally looking for a ball thatf eels soft of the club particularly the putter and reasonable spin and distance.

Must admit I have been gaming the Penta TP5 lately, primarily as they are on run out while the new “Letal” ball comes, fits my needs getting them cheap at the moment,

Don’t want the tour ball, but have found in last 18 months or so that there is ussually a tour type ball in run out that you can get fairly cheaply, the Callaway’s and now the Taylor made.

The thing that alsways surprises me though is the slavish worship of the Prov by alot of social golfers, expensive and normally does not help their game suppose the advertising must work

I think there needs to be four catergories
1. I’m learning and lose a lot. Budget ball
2. I’m losing less and want some perk that I’m happy to pay extra for.ie. distance, control
3. I have a lot of skill and want to get more movement. Club champion low hcp etc
4. Tour quality

How many layers etc I feel is a good marketing idea.

Nope.

TBH don’t pay much attention to how many layers a ball has; or whether it is a “tour ball”. What does “tour ball” mean anyway? ProV don’t go sideways like old balatas did so like any other ball they will go where I hit them.

The list of balls I use is loooonnnnng because the differences between most of them are indiscernible to me except toward the extremes i.e. I can probably feel the difference between a Callaway Warbird and Zstar off the driver. I can’t tell the difference between a Zstar and a ProV.

Even where there is a discernible difference between balls it doesn’t have any effect on my score. That is 100% down to the muppet hitting the ball.

What do I want? A reasonable priced ball that spins a bit. Lucky for me there are heaps that fit that description. I could pass on all the OEM bullshit.

20+ handicappers like myself are aspirational. We like the idea of a multi layer ball that stops on a dime around the greens but we know we don’t yet have the game to buy $45/doz or more balls as we lose them too regularly. So we go looking for a ball say $30/doz maximum that strokes our ego with multiple layers, but doesn’t sting the wallet so badly when we lose one :-)

I started playing in Feb 2012 and have tamed my slice somewhat but I still pull one out often enough to still not yet want to pay big bucks for a ball. I tried TM Rocketballz, Callaway HX Diablo Tour, now using Bridgestone E6 for its straightness.

I definitely vote for the “game improvement” category of ball, that’s like the E6. Not a rock hard feel, but like SGI or GI clubs it helps you go straighter. We swallow our egos and play sensible clubs for our handicaps. It’d be helpful if balls were better targeted likewise.

Bos
It’s hard to go past the Srixon ZStar yellow at $22 per doz. Especially when the golfer has the technique to control a golf ball and his eye sight is not what it used to be.

I play what I like
Not what’s a “tour ball”
Played a few months ago with a 23 capper who is 63 & plays
yep you guessed it prov1
Shake head

If i was to start smoking
i think they would be oh i don’t know..
Vanilla flavored i reckon

Twice in one day. I have to agree with Kiwi.
I play with a certain type of ball because I like the way it performs & Feels. I believe about 10% of what is written on Golf ball boxes.
Prefer to find a SH version of a ball & try it before even thinking about buying some.
IMO the marketing of golf gear at times is way over the top.
In another thread we were discussing the Optima Tour Soft.
One of the reasons that the ball was so popular was that it was on the market for so many years.There are so many products that are put on the market & then a couple of years later the line is Discontinued & those that use that product then have to find another one that they like to use. Not difficult but a Nuisance .

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the great input,,,,,

Razaar,,,$22 a dozen for a Premium 3 Piece Urethane design
is not really going to make Srixon much money or maybe all
the tooling is paid for and the R&D budget is smaller as there
is no real new technology being used over the past 10 years
maybe it doesn’t cost as much as we all thought to make these
type of balls?

From what I have seen over the past 12 years is that most balls
are just variations in terms of specifications but nothing new to me.

This is a world issue where golf ball stocks are still too high
compared to demand plus the Yellow better visibility approach
by all the OEM companies is not getting the traction they need.

Why would Srixon keep promoting Yellow ( not cheap) whilst
dumping Yellow stock at cheaper than Qstar prices??? I see
a lot of knee jerk selling approaches nowadays as real brand
building in balls is being left to Titleist in Oz even though their
prices do not reflect the USA levels at all which is the guide
I work from nowadays as we continue trials over there.

Cheers,
Boz

I don’t understand does everyone on here buy new balls? Why? You can go on ebay and get 100 AAA rated top of the line balls for like $60? Why would you ever buy new balls at amature level? It won’t help you play better golf only practice will! Give tiger or rory a 1 piece ball or a range ball they would still shoot -5under. dont waste your money

Twice in one day. I have to agree with Kiwi.

oh wow…

Twice in one day. I have to agree with Kiwi.

oh wow…

If i was to start smoking
i think they would be oh i don’t know..
Vanilla flavored i reckon

Love in …....

Hmmm, when I try a new ball the whole tour vs non tour isn’t what I look for. Initially I look at spec’s, new technology and price. If two out of the three meet my expectations I will test them out. I can understand why balls are marketed as tour or non tour but I don’t really agree with it. I feel three types of ball are all that really need to be categorised… distance, premium and a mixture of the two. However the lines are getting blurred between the categories in terms of both spec and price.

I think uneducated consumers like things to be simple when they buy and the companies are trying to pigeon hole us into a mould… Eg.
“I play to 27, I need a distance ball and GI irons…”
“I play off scratch I need a tour ball and blades…”

Certain criteria fits you into a certain box so to speak.

I think the ‘middle of the road’ balls are getting much much better thus potentially creating another box in which to pigeon hole us. Like I said, I don’t agree with the philosophy but I do understand it.

In terms of my game …….

I like a soft feeling golf ball off the driver face .. I want to feel it compress..

I also want to try and avoid wild side spin if possible

I want a ball to drop and stop on the green

I never play for spin when chipping …… I play for roll

So, having the above, at times, conflicting criteria for my golf ball, I’ve been thru a few different balls over the last few years including Vision balls, which I’ll omit from the list.

In order, I went from using Nike PD Soft ….. a good solid performer around $30 a dozen from memory.

Then Srixon Soft Feel …. The Ladies verson actually …. about $20 a dozen…. A very soft ball, great for around the green spin, and no discernable distance loss off the driver. (bit of sidespin though)

Next came NXT Tours at close to $50 a dozen …. nice ball, workable, yet not too wild.

Now I’ve moved to playing Srixon Tri-speeds, for about half the NXT price.

Both great balls in my opinion (NXT / Tri-speeds), with very little, if anything, separating them in terms of performance in my game.

The cheaper end of the ball market no longer means inferior quality as there are now quality balls for every type of game, at the lower end of the price range.

http://www.golflink.com.au/...
2012 Rotary Ambrose Champions “All Star Team” Member.
LD Champion – Growling Bog ’11, A Grade WV ’12, Bendigo ’12.
Albatross – 3rd hole Par 5 Beaconhills 19-11-2012 3W-6 iron.

very well put and I agree !!!

Just another point
I don’t buy balls to test. I read a lot about balls from here and play with all handicap ranges & chat about balls.
A mate at my club (26 marker) was playing an nxt tour.
Was struggling some so I gave him a Wilson D:25
Told him its a two piece distance ball. He didn’t even know they came in pieces so there is a lot of players playing stuff they aren’t aware off.
I noticed in the results he had 36 points.

I won 5 next tour softs for a ntp, tried them didn’t like them.
Have tried e5’s 6’s that I have found too. Spin to much so not to straight or long. Found a penta tp5 in franks bag.
A good ball, checks a little and good distance.
Normally I play Wilson balls D:25 or duo as I like the feel.
Don’t stop as well as the penta.

Played prov1x a few years ago but cost is to high.
Can get the wilsons from club tech $12 a doz 2nd hand.

So guess what I’m saying is I play a feel as priority 1
Stop as priority 2.
Cost last.

I do try balls I find that I recognise as potential (srixon q & z’s)

I’m off 23….I’ve gone from the Tri-speed tours, which at about $15 a dozen met 2 of my main criteria….they weren’t expensive, and they weren’t rocks.

I have gone to the Q-Stars – I reckon I get better distance and I tend to hit them straighter. There is also the possibility that I am swinging the club better…and the ball may have nothing to do with it.

I like yellow.