The Ball

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wulsy

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Just heard a commentator (ex tour player) talking about how much straighter the ball goes these days compared to 20 years ago. In the next breath he claimed that it spins more.

Is this possible, given that the ball spins around one axis a la d-plane? Surely this would mean that it would spin more off line on non straight impact alignments. Maybe it has something to to with the dimple pattern, whereby it straightens itself out? Or was he just another misguided ex-tour player? Any ideas?
 
hp12c

hp12c

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wulsy said:
Just heard a commentator (ex tour player) talking about how much straighter the ball goes these days compared to 20 years ago. In the next breath he claimed that it spins more.

Is this possible, given that the ball spins around one axis a la d-plane? Surely this would mean that it would spin more off line on non straight impact alignments. Maybe it has something to to with the dimple pattern, whereby it straightens itself out? Or was he just another misguided ex-tour player? Any ideas?
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Good ? Ive know a guy who is a ball fitter for a major ball MGF who has a few different types of balls on the market depending on what the player wants or need, their tag is the #1 ball fitter in golf and he told me on the range that their ball are as advertised do I believe it not really, he gave me 2 different types of balls to try out, 1 was more spin with wedges to hold on the green and 1 with less spin on wedges and would go farther with driver and I also played my cheap 9.99 for 12 top flite nearly indestructable balls, these ball dont cut as easy, what happenned they all went as far and held the green the same for me, Im no pro and since the performance was the same I'll stick with top flite. Now someone with better skills may and/or will notice a difference but Im not there yet. The guy was a little disappointed but hey I let him know what happened.
 
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birly-shirly

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hp12c said:
Good ? Ive know a guy who is a ball fitter for a major ball MGF who has a few different types of balls on the market depending on what the player wants or need, their tag is the #1 ball fitter in golf and he told me on the range that their ball are as advertised do I believe it not really, he gave me 2 different types of balls to try out, 1 was more spin with wedges to hold on the green and 1 with less spin on wedges and would go farther with driver and I also played my cheap 9.99 for 12 top flite nearly indestructable balls, these ball dont cut as easy, what happenned they all went as far and held the green the same for me, Im no pro and since the performance was the same I'll stick with top flite. Now someone with better skills may and/or will notice a difference but Im not there yet. The guy was a little disappointed but hey I let him know what happened.
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The big deal with the modern premium ball is that it spins ENOUGH around the greens and more or less keeps pace with your topflites off the tee. Much more durable than balatas ever were too.
 
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softconsult

New
There is no doubt in my mind that the modern ball is straighter. I don't remember when Balata balls were phased out because it was during my
10 year hiatus from golf. The blades I am currently playing are not radically different from those I played in lets say 1980 through 1994 when I quit. Back then a fade was easy. The ball (Titleist Black Balata) curved a whole lot more. It also spun like crazy and backed up more on the green.

I should add this after thought. I am talking about my ball striking. Certainly played with some scratch players that hit penetrating lower trajectory irons on a string without my curvature issues!
 
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savydan

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I keep going back to Trackman's rule of thumb that says the ball will curve 0.7% per degree of spin axis tilt.

This implies that it's only the face/path horizontal relationship that determines curvature and not spin rate (RPM).

However, most players that have played both the older and newer balls will say that the balata ball curved more than today's balls.
 
mgranato

mgranato

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savydan said:
I keep going back to Trackman's rule of thumb that says the ball will curve 0.7% per degree of spin axis tilt.

This implies that it's only the face/path horizontal relationship that determines curvature and not spin rate (RPM).

However, most players that have played both the older and newer balls will say that the balata ball curved more than today's balls.
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Did you ever used to randomly check the old balatas for roundness? Eggs always fly crookeder.:)
 
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birly-shirly

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I'm sure I read somewhere that Hogan used to hit it so pure that his ball would finish up more perfectly round as he walked off the 18th green than it had been on the 1st tee.

He used to play the same ball all summer - until it would eventually get a bit dirty from continually rolling into his divots from previous rounds.
 
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Jim Kobylinski

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birly-shirly said:
I'm sure I read somewhere that Hogan used to hit it so pure that his ball would finish up more perfectly round as he walked off the 18th green than it had been on the 1st tee.

He used to play the same ball all summer - until it would eventually get a bit dirty from continually rolling into his divots from previous rounds.
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Sounds more like a story than fact
 
mgranato

mgranato

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birly-shirly said:
I'm sure I read somewhere that Hogan used to hit it so pure that his ball would finish up more perfectly round as he walked off the 18th green than it had been on the 1st tee.

He used to play the same ball all summer - until it would eventually get a bit dirty from continually rolling into his divots from previous rounds.
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Strange... because I read where he marked up about 8-10 balls per round with paint rub-off from the flag sticks. But on the other 8-10 holes he would clean the paint off by hitting the actual flags. Some say he was that good.
 
Burner

Burner

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mgranato said:
Strange... because I read where he marked up about 8-10 balls per round with paint rub-off from the flag sticks. But on the other 8-10 holes he would clean the paint off by hitting the actual flags. Some say he was that good.
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Be wary of making posts such as this, because some folks will believe you. :D
 
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