I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve spent my fair share of time sifting through the woods looking for forgotten golf balls. I blame this acquired habit on my grandfather, who spends an inordinate amount of time collecting old and relatively new pellets in trees when his ball happens to go offline. Going out with five or six potential reloads can ease the pain of a lost ball—provided the balls fit your game.
As we discovered during a recent robotic ball test with Golf Laboratories – where we tested 40 different balls with a swinging robot using the same club, swing speed and angle of attack – not all golf balls are created equal. And that becomes even more apparent when it comes to a decisive shot around the green.
The test showed that the turn-rate delta between the driver’s highest spin and the driver’s lowest spin was a merely 600 rpm. For the average Tour pro, 600 rpm might sound like a lot, but when you factor in inconsistencies among weekend golfers, it’s a manageable number.
In other words, if you’re playing a random golf ball and don’t take the time to pass the right ball, the numbers you see with the driver probably aren’t far from where they would be if they were playing the best ball in your game. As stated by Fully Equipped co-host Ryan Barath podcast this weekRotational dialing is possible with the wrench on the driver.
“You can change the loft in your driver and adjust the 600 very, very quickly,” he said. “You can’t do that with a wedge.”
This brings us to the most interesting revelation from the robotic ball test. While the driver produced relatively tight spin deltas across all 40 models tested, the 50-yard “half wedge” shot revealed 3300 rpm Delta rotates between the highest and lowest spinning models.
Depending on the ball you’re currently playing, that’s the difference between warming the ball up next to the hole and watching it slide over the green and travel to the rough – with the same swing. It’s a staggering number that highlights the importance of prioritizing green control when choosing a golf ball.
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“If you’re at 2800 rpm with the driver and all you have to do is shift a golf ball to get to 2500, that probably gives you 5-6 yards without doing anything else,” said Fully Equipped co-host and co-founder of Golf. Laboratories Jane Parente. “And if that ball is in the category of a half-wedge spin, you just have two there. I lowered the spin with the driver and picked up the spin on the green.”
Instead of just finding a golf ball that maximizes driver distance, start around the green and work your way back to find the best option for your game. And if you’re still golfing, it’s time to stop and go through the proper fitting.
Ballnamic is a good place To get started if you don’t have time to go through fitting a ball or simply want to narrow down your list of potential options to three or four models. From there, find a short playing area and test the balls before you field them. As most golfers can attest, the short game can make or break a round. Automated test data only reinforces the belief.
Want to fix your bag for 2023? Find a suitable location near you at True Spec Golf.