How many of you play the same ball?
Many of you will have seen some of the articles circulating about Bubba Watson and his early ending of a deal he had with new ball manufacturer Volvik. Just a year ago he started playing with their luminous coloured balls and they announced he had signed a multi-year deal to play their performance ball. However, a disastrous 2017, by his standards (he won a paltry $1.2 million) has seen him look for answers and, it seems, Volvik have taken the biggest hit. Now, please be clear; this is not an article bashing Volvik balls (I’ve never tried one so how would I know?) and I would actually be quite keen to say that I am certain there is nothing wrong with their products at all. The colours are amazing and their top ball apparently really does perform. Many of you will have seen them in stores and no doubt some of you have tried them. Unfortunately for them though this will hurt them and I feel a little sorry for them. If you hire a big name to promote your product and it goes wrong then you can only expect fallout. Having said all of that I do have a slight problem with them but it has nothing to do with performance. I think they’re a gimmick that won’t last and some of their colours really don’t help. A few weeks ago I watched someone tee off the first with their luminous red ball and it disappeared about 100 yards off the tee even though the player hit a nice straight shot down the middle. I couldn’t see it in the air and despite it being a lovely day I couldn’t see it on the fairway. Red on green? We all know that’s a bad idea and several of their other colours aren’t much better. They’re good fun but straight away most serious golfers won’t consider them - I actually use the yellow Srixon in the winter but most people look at me like I’ve grown a second head. So that’s my personal concern and it’s why you won’t see them in my shop but the whole episode does say something important about ball choice. Most of you are using the first ball that comes out of the bag, and it could be a different make and type every time. Bubba’s episode has told you that it’s more important than that. For goodness sake, most of you won’t consider using a different colour or make of tee than the one you always use but half of you don’t think the thing that you actually hit around the course is worthy of the same loyalty. I know that sounds ridiculous but I bet many of you are laughing at that because it’s you! Let’s be clear I’m not saying you all have to rush out and spend a fortune on Pro V1s, in fact far from it. That may not be right for you at all so you might need a little help from the likes of your friendly club pro to work out the right type of ball you should use, but what I am saying is that you should stick to one ball after that. Most importantly the ball you use affects your short game, the most important bit and the bit that will save or lose you the most shots. Using a different ball every time will affect how the ball leaves the club when you’re chipping and will also affect spin rates. How on earth can you predict what will happen to the ball if all that is different every time? So Bubba’s lesson is simple - ball choice is important.
If you need help in that area then please pop in and see me. With the new season approaching there are some new balls out there so it can get even more confusing. I am here to help.
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