Josh’s Tips & Tricks: Ball Performance

Intro

Hello golfers. I hope you’re all well and braving the weather to get some productive practice under your belts. The nights are getting lighter and the clocks will be changing soon so it won’t be long until 9 holes after work will be possible. This week I have done some testing on golf balls on the driving range and wanted to show you the difference. I also did the testing with the new Taylormade Stealth HD iron so I will share my thoughts of that with you.

Different Balls

Firstly lets have a look at how different golf balls can influence how the ball travels through the air. For the purpose of this test I used the two different types of ball we have in our machines. The original balls in the machines are the Srixon range balls. They are very similar to the Srixon Distance ball that is available to purchase in the shop. The other ball we have is the Tour Special. These are newer and more like a Srixon Soft Feel. We have different balls in the machines because we could no longer get the original balls due to supply chain issues. Both balls are very good quality, 100% two piece balls that represent true distance.

I used some of the older, more worn “Distance” balls and then some brand new “Tour Special” balls. The results were interesting to say the least and worth discussing. Lets have a look at the data to see what happened.

Findings

There is quite a lot of data to look through on these images but the main ones I was interested in were the launch and spin. The blue tracer lines are for the older golf ball and the orange line is for the newer ball. It was really interesting to see that the newer ball launched over two degrees higher than the older ball. The spin was also almost 300rpm higher with the newer ball compared to the old. You will also notice how the ball stayed more stable through the air with the newer ball compared to the old. All of these factors could be big contributors towards the control and flight of your golf shots.

So what do we take from this? If you’re using a really old, scabby looking golf ball it’s probably not performaing as well as it once did. Also the quality of golf ball you use will contribute to consistency in certain parts of your game. A better quality ball will help you more in windy conditions, help with distance control, and help with feel on or around the greens.

Stealth HD Iron

All of the testing I did was with the new Taylormade Stealth HD iron.

My first impressions were that it wasn’t the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen. It took a few shots to get used to but when I did I was very impressed. It has a much more curved sole than lots of game improvement irons and therefore makes it much more forgiving for people that vary their dynamic lie angle. Some people hit the ball with high hands at impact and other people with low hands. This club will be amazing at cutting through thick grass and is very forgiving on off centre hits. It also feels very good from the middle of the clubface. Some game improvement irons don’t give much feedback from the face but this thing feels great! It’s also slightly weaker in loft compred to the normal Stealth irons so is much easier to get up in the air.

Overall I think this product will be amazing for beginners or people who struggle to launch the ball in the air. It’s a big yes from me!

Summary

A combination of hitting a clean, new, premium golf ball with well fitted irons will give the most reliable and consistent results. Obviously we are all human and these results could be subject to change based on the player. Giving yourself a good change before you have even set foot on the course could lead to more consistency.

When I’m custom fitting I will only be using the “Tour Special” ball from now on. This eliminates one variable making the fitting process more reliable. It only makes a tiny bit of difference but that difference could save you shots in your round.

If you would like a custom fit for any of the new products BOOK HERE NOW.

See you soon!

Cheers,

Josh