URETHANE F INDING THE RIGHT BALL SHOULDN’T be like looking for a needle in a haystack. What you need is a magnet. Consider the Hot List your lodestone. The goal with our annual review of the best-rated golf balls is to help you take the first step towards better defining your playing needs and how certain balls might meet those requirements. We also know it’s only a beginning. A golf-ball fitting, some- thing formal with a qualified fitter or more informal with you and a few sleeves, might change your mind, or even better, confirm that what you have been using is the right one. Our process focuses on two categories. Golf balls with a Urethane Cover generally appeal to the best players and those with a certain level of compe- tency from driver through wedge. These balls offer a greater variety of shot- making options in terms of trajectory, spin control and feel, particularly near the green – all without sacrificing much of anything in terms of full-swing distance. These are the best balls by far in our evaluations, scoring on aver- age a full point higher across all performance aspects on our five-point scale, according to our players, and spinning an average of 31 percent more on a half-wedge shot in our robot testing. Golf balls with a Non-Urethane Cover typically provide less spin on full shots through the bag for better distance and improved accuracy than higher spinning balls. Relative to most ure- thane-cover balls, non-urethane models lack the same degree of wedge spin, but the nine balls that made our list showed above average grab on those short-game shots. First, consider which characteristics best support your game – distance, spin, feel. Matching what you need with the array of options available is a personal process. We’re just here to help. In a landscape in which everything looks essentially the same, a little intel can go a long way. – MIKE STACHURA ● BRIDGESTONE TOUR B RX/RXS/X/XS R50 PERFORMANCE ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ INNOVATION ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
HOW WE GOT HERE
In 2024, we embarked on our most comprehensive golf-ball Hot List process ever. It combined player and robot testing to narrow a field of 75 candidates to 46 models, of which 30 shown here are available in South Africa. Robot testing was conducted by Cool Clubs in Arizona, under Tom Mase, PhD, retired professor of me- chanical engineering and member of the Hot List Technical Panel. The robot test used half-wedge shots for the spin and launch characteristics of each model. In player testing, elite golfers (5-handicap or less) put fi- nalists through a full range of shots, scoring them on a five-point scale (1 for “poor” to 5 for “excellent”) with the short game, half-wedge, 7-iron and driver. Players also assessed scores in Feel from 1 (“Soft”) to 5 (“Firm”). The graphics reflect our judges’ assessment of the collective players’ ratings. Throughout player testing, all logos and distinguishing marks were blacked out. – MS
TOUR B RX IS IT FOR YOU?
TOUR B RXS IS IT FOR YOU?
TOUR B X IS IT FOR YOU?
TOUR B XS IS IT FOR YOU?
• Made for swing speeds of less than 168 kph • Preference for distance ahead of workability • Low spin helps accuracy but reduces greenside spin FEEL RATING (SOFT-FIRM) . . . . << . . . . . . . . . . . . SHORT GAME (POOR-EXCELLENT) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . >> . . . FULL SWING (POOR-EXCELLENT) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . >> . . . .
• Targets swing speeds of under 168 kph • The softest feeling ball in the Tour B family • For players who want optimum spin on all shots FEEL RATING (SOFT-FIRM) . . . << . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SHORT GAME (POOR-EXCELLENT) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . >> FULL SWING (POOR-EXCELLENT) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . >> . . .
• For 168-kph-plus swings where distance is a priority • The firmest feeling model • Current ball of choice for Tiger Woods, Jason Day and Matt Kuchar FEEL RATING (SOFT-FIRM) . . . . . . . . . . >> . . . . . . . . SHORT GAME (POOR-EXCELLENT) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . >> . . . . FULL SWING (POOR-EXCELLENT) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . >> .
• For high-speed swingers who like to work the ball • Most short-game spin in the Tour B lineup, per robot testing • Softer feeling than X FEEL RATING (SOFT-FIRM) . . . . << . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SHORT GAME (POOR-EXCELLENT) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . >> FULL SWING (POOR-EXCELLENT) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . >> . .
GOLF BALLS ARE LISTED IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER, GOLD THEN SILVER, IN EACH CATEGORY.
102 GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2024
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