Dear Pards,
I want to talk balls.
I've been playing golf my whole life and would put myself as slightly above average, yet nothing to write home about. 12.4, but trending. It’s always been hard to stomach the price of a dozen new ProV1s or a three-piece equivalent. I find myself playing anything I can get my hands on or fish out of the pond on the course. That said, I recently played an entire round with a TP5x and shot my year's low. I swear the ball goes further, and it's a huge reason why I played so well last week.
Is there actually something to the ball, and if so, is it something I should notice or think about?
-Not a Ballknower in Boulder
Dear Not a Ballknower,
I, too, find it hard to swallow the fact that twelve new nugs can cost as much as a full tank of gas in my Tundra. Two quick snappers off the first and you’re down ten bucks before you can say the word “press.”
The short answer is the ball does matter. How much I’d say depends on your index/skill level. One thing I notice from amateurs is less the golf ball type and more the condition they play them in. Dirt and scuffs do a plethora of inconsistent things to your spin rate and ball flight. So much so that I’d argue a brand-new NXT is a better option than an off-white Pro V1 with seventeen cart-path scuffs. No reason to make this game harder than it already is.
Side note to the hitters: I recently switched to the left dash and am hitting spinless moonballs that go for miles. Highly recommend.
At your stage, until you’re ready to bite the bullet and buy the same ball consistently after getting fitted, I’d advise you to play the same type as much as possible, keep those Pinnacles, Rock Top Flites, and Nitros at the bottom of the pond, and whatever you do, stay far, far away from the yellow ones.
P╞r╠℮P.S. The stamp at the top of the newsletter is a sneak peek of the art in this month’s mail club, by Dave Baysden. Probably not too sneaky at this point. It’ll ship with November at the same time, next week.
I got nothing this week. Other than that, the October and November mail club issues will ship together next week. Along with a giant (to me at least) announcement.
If you’re a premium member, your annual gift is in the oven, and you should receive it before Christmas.
The times they are a changin’.
Thankful you’re here.
