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 |
105.1 |
| 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 |
1.378 |
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 |
| Golf Ball |
DIST |
SMASH |
SPIN |
HEIGHT |
| Group Averages |
144.3 |
1.375 |
6560.1 |
116.2 |
| Golf Ball |
DIST |
SMASH |
SPIN |
HEIGHT |
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-Flite
Titanium, 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.
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Editor's Note: 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)
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