Re: right ball for the job

hi Peter
what i have found with the prov1 is that the ball spins more than the harder (distance) balls.
what this means to my game is:- off the tee with the driver the prov1 has more side spin and this can be as much as 20 feet on a drive and that can be the diffrence of being on the fairway or in the rough.
when playing to the green the prov1 stops quicker and if hitting a 7 or 8 iron you do feel the club bite into the ball and it has more feel when playing to greens.
with me its a trade off. i want my drives on the fairway so i use a harder ball, (top flight) when playing to the green i know i wont get as much backspin on my ball but sometimes with the prov1 you get to much backspin and it spins back off the green.
most of the par 4s on my course i can get to the green with a 4,5 or 6 iron but to do that i need to be on the fairway and i find i can do that better with the harder (distance) ball.
the diffrrence in distance with the prov1 and a distance ball for me is about 5 feet so distance dont come into it for me it more about control with the driver.
if you can put the ball on the fairway with the prov1 most of the time then it will be the better ball to the green so i would keep using it but if like me you have troble with finding the fairway with the prov1 then a harder ball should help you.
i sometimes swap balls on the par3 and use a prov1 and then on the par4 and 5 go back to top flight. i check before i start that my partners dont object to the ball change and they know what balls .
cheers
Bill

Re: right ball for the job

Thank you for your reply Bill, makes sense to me, I often also use the nxt which seem to be faily soft also. I don't have much trouble hitting fairways and I really like that control around the green. I might give a harder ball a go just to see what, if any, distance I am sacrificing.
Regards
Peter

Re: right ball for the job

if your using the nxt now, then i reckon the prov1 would be a good option... thats what i did back in the day.

but just like bill said.. the difference between a pure distance ball and the prov is gonna be like 5 - 10yards distance.

what kind of stopping power are you getting with the nxt now.. usually the prov will allow you to attack the pin a bit stronger if your getting a little roll on with the nxt.

Re: right ball for the job

Hi Oz,
I like the nxt and get fairly good roll on off the drive, the best part though is around the green where they just drop and stop. Here is a good tip I ordered 100 titlest practice balls from squizzies and only about 2 dozen showed enough wear to be considered practice balls. The others had logos from coca-cola and various pharmacy companies, etc., so I suspect they were only used once in a tournament but can't be sold as Grade A balls.
Regards Peter

Re: right ball for the job

I normally use Srixon AD333 balls which are a good all rounder, they have a nice cover for good spin with wedges but the core gives impressive distance. I also like ProV's but the difference is so small it's not worth the extra money.

Re: right ball for the job

I play in the 20s as well, and use a soft ball too (Top Flite D2 Feel). I have tried balls that were designed to straighten out your shot (Bridgestone E6+), and quickly came to the conclusion that I wasn't going to fix a slice by changing my ball.
Improving the short game is currently at the top of my list of ways to lower my score. I figure I hit 50-60 strokes inside 100 yards a round (putts included in that number). My thought is that getting an extra ten yards off the tee isn't going to reduce that number, but having a ball that feels and works good with my short game might do that (along with a lot of practice .

I would argue that you stick with the pro v1s if you enjoy playing with them, but remember that there are a lot of good balls out there. As a high handicapper, its easy to identify faults that need addressing (I've got lots of em!), and think a different ball is going to be a cure-all. I think you are better off picking a ball that works well with your swing speed, and performs on short shots the way you like.

Cheers, GB

Re: right ball for the job

I think it boils down to me that I will give a little distance away on the fairway and pick up the advantages on the green as both the nxt and prov1 really behave well on the green ...something I have needed for some time.I am also just starting to learn how to shape shots and these are ideal for this. So I'll stick with them while I am still getting them cheaply. Hopefully I will be a little more skilled when I have to go to a cheaper ball. Thanks for all the great advice everyone.
Happy golfing, Peter