Product Tests - Golf Balls


2001 Golf Ball Report - Irons

With the numerous brands of golf balls to choose from this year, selecting the appropriate golf ball for your game can be difficult. Manufacturers make significant claims of more distance and spin as well as greater durability without providing supporting data. We recently came across a comprehensive golf ball study that may assist you in selecting your next golf ball. The contibutor of this study is our online colleague Bob Vislocky of State College, PA. Bob is an accomplished golfer with a USGA handicap index of +0.1, 7-iron swing speed of 76 mph, smooth tempo, and solid short game. Bob is also a PhD scientist.
Analysis Method

The study was performed on a Swing Dynamics Ball Flight Monitor (www.swingdynamics.com) using brand new balls and a Titleist DCI OS+ 7-iron. The test took place over 10 days. Each day 1 shot was hit with each of the 40 brands of balls. If the shot was hit in the "sweet area" then it was tabulated. If the shot was mishit then it was re-tried until a solid shot occurs. Therefore, in some cases it took 2 or 3 shots to get one to "count" for a particular ball brand. However, when the tests were completed there were 10 solid shots tabulated for each ball brand.

Trimmed averages of distance, smash factor, spin rate, and height were computed for each ball brand by eliminating the highest and lowest values and computing the mean value based off the middle eight values. The trimmed averages mitigate the effects of an extraneous value or two which can skew the total mean. It's these trimmed values that are presented in the table.

Results

In the table, DIST is the carry distance of the shot in yards, SMASH is the smash factor (ball speed/club speed), SPIN is the initial spin rate of the ball in RPMs, and HEIGHT is the peak height of the shot in feet.

Additionally, due to the human element in this study, the values for distance, spin, and height were adjusted based on differences in clubhead speed (smash factors need not be adjusted).

Golf Ball DIST SMASH SPIN HEIGHT
Callaway Rule 35 Blue 144.0 1.375 6594.7 117.1
Callaway Rule 35 Red 145.8 1.381 6119.8 118.3
Hogan Balata 138.7 1.331 7263.7 108.1
Maxfli Elite 141.3 1.351 7235.9 108.1
Maxfli Revolution 142.8 1.369 7018.1 113.4
Maxfli Tour Patriot 143.8 1.371 6552.3 115.9
Nike Tour Accuracy 145.8 1.384 6646.4 114.7
Pinnacle Gold Spin 144.5 1.380 6599.4 119.3
Pinnacle Ti Extreme 146.4 1.386 5917.9 120.0
Pinnacle Ti Spin 145.1 1.382 6535.7 119.0
Precept MC Advantage 144.5 1.381 6681.9 117.2
Precept MC Double Cover 143.9 1.370 6743.3 113.5
Precept MC Distance 143.1 1.370 6689.5 115.9
Precept MC Lady 146.0 1.381 6446.8 114.9
Precept MC Tour Premium 145.5 1.384 6874.7 116.4
Precept MC Spin 144.3 1.372 6752.7 114.4
Strata ML Balata 145.4 1.383 6342.6 115.6
Strata Pro Distance 146.6 1.381 6104.5 118.4
Strata Tour Pro 145.3 1.373 6375.5 116.8
Titleist DT 2-piece 146.0 1.381 6349.0 116.9
Titleist DT Distance 147.6 1.395 6147.6 119.1
Titleist DT Spin 144.8 1.379 6572.9 117.8
Titleist DT Wound 142.2 1.365 7043.9 116.9
Titleist HP Distance 145.2 1.365 6086.4 117.6
Titleist HP Eclipse 143.9 1.371 6599.5 117.7
Titleist HP Tour 144.9 1.383 6704.3 116.2
Titleist HP2 Tour 142.8 1.372 6943.3 117.7
Titleist Prestige 143.4 1.365 6710.6 114.1
Titleist Professional 141.3 1.350 6619.0 112.5
Titleist Pro V1 145.9 1.392 6586.3 121.9
Titleist Tour Distance 100 141.7 1.354 6609.4 114.2
Titleist Tour Distance 90 142.3 1.355 6343.9 113.8
Titleist Tour Distance SF 142.1 1.358 6659.8 112.9
Titleist Tour Balata 141.4 1.364 7577.5 111.8
Top-Flite Extra Carry 146.7 1.384 5869.9 117.6
Top-Flite Extra Long 146.7 1.386 6086.4 120.3
Top-Flite Extra Spin 143.8 1.383 6991.5 117.1
Top-Flite Titanium 146.7 1.385 5876.0 119.7
Wilson SC Distance 148.3 1.399 5985.6 122.3
Wilson SC Spin 142.4 1.356 6548.0 113.4
Group Averages 144.3 1.375 6560.1 116.2
Conclusions

What does all this data mean? It is difficult to determine a best ball since individual golfers may want a high spin ball, a distance ball, or some combination in between. However, the following general conclusions can be made based upon the data collected.

  • Although the Titleist Pro VI and Precept MC Lady are longer than average, recent claims of 10-20 yards of increase are unfounded.
  • The highest spinning balls were the Maxfli Elite, Titleist Tour Balata, Top-Flite Extra Spin, the discontinued Titleist DT Wound, and the discontinued Hogan Balata. Surprisingly the Titleist Professional was only average in this regard.
  • High spinning balls paid a serious price (approximately 1/2 a club) in terms of distance and smash factor, scoring well below average in both factors.
  • The top distance balls were the Wilson Smart Core Distance, Top-FliteTitanium, Top-Flite Extra Long, Top-Flite Extra Carry, Titleist DT Distance, Strata Pro Distance, and Pinnacle Titanium Extreme.
  • The top distance balls paid a price though in terms of poor spin rates.
  • The balls that provided a good balance between distance and spin (scoring above average in both categories) were the Titleist Pro VI, Titleist HP Tour, Titleist DT Spin, Precept MC Tour Premium, Precept MC Advantage, Pinnacle Gold Spin, and the Nike Tour Accuracy.
  • Some balls had overall poor performances by having below average smash factors, below average distances, and only average spin rates. These are: Wilson Smart Core Spin, Titleist Professional, Titleist Prestige, Titleist Eclipse, Precept MC Distance, Precept MC Double Cover, Maxfli Tour Patriot, and all the Titleist Tour Distance balls.


Additional information on
our review methods can
be found here.
 
Editor's Notes:
We hope that this report will assist you in selecting your next golf ball. We would like to thank Bob V. for allowing us to publish his report. Keep in mind that, as Bob noted, these results are based only on the study as previously described and results may differ based on the golfer, swing type, weather, or other factors. GM (2.25.01)