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Ball
Test / 2005
Well,
we finally did it. We apologize for taking so long to get
the 2005 Ball Test completed. It is a daunting task logistics
wise getting10 sleeves of balls distributed to 60 golfers.
Once that was done we had to deal with what has been a very
strange spring for northern Arizona. We had more rain in
the last 4 months than we had in the last 4 years. We know
we were not the exception as golfers from all over the country
can relate to the weird weather. Then came the task of rounding
up all the golfers and reminding them that they needed to
turn their ball test rating sheets in so we could tabulate
the results.
In the past year many new balls have been introduced. In
this test we had 10 balls from 6 manufacturers. Once again
we were not able to get Titleist or Callaway to participate.
Callaway was very considerate and responded to our request
even though they declined to participate. Titleist and TopFlite
did not return any of our numerous phone messages to them.
Could be that they have been very busy. You may be aware
that TopFlite is now under the Callaway umbrella. Dunlop
and Maxfli promised to let us know if they would be participating
but they also must have gotten busy and didn’t have time
to call us back.
We believe that if enough golfers contact Titleist, Callaway,
TopFlite, Dunlop and Maxfli directly by phone or email and
make their feelings known to them they may decide that it
is in their best interest to participate in future tests.
Please take some time and let them know what the golfing
public wants.
Ball Test Format
We asked each golfer to play one round with each ball and
to be as fair and consistent as they could be in evaluating
each of the balls. They promised to do their best and to
put aside any preconceived biases they may have had regarding
the balls in the test. We understand that golfers can have
good days and bad days but we are confident that by having
60 golfers evaluate each ball that the final average results
are a good indication of how each ball is perceived by golfers.
Here are the balls that were included in the test:
• Dimplit
• Wilson Staff Dx2
• Volvik Crystal White
• Volvik ST 446
• Check-Go Pro Balance
• Check-Go Balance Distance
• Bridgestone B330
• Precept Laddie Xtreme
• Nike Mojo
• Nike ONE Black
Following are some ratings; conclusions and observations
GolfTest USA made using the results obtained from the test.
Distance:
The Bridgestone B330, Nike ONE Black and the Precept Laddie
Xtreme were rated as the best balls for distance by a wide
margin. The Wilson Staff Dx2 also got high ratings.
Control:
The Precept Laddie Xtreme, Nike ONE Black and Bridgestone
B330 dominated this category.
Accuracy:
Once again the Nike ONE Black, Bridgestone B330 and Precept
Laddie Xtreme garnered top ratings.
Putting:
Top putting honors go to the Precept Laddie Xtreme and Bridgestone
B330
Short
Game: Do we detect a trend here. The Precept Laddie
Xtreme and Bridgestone B330 were the top picks.
Feel:
The Precept Laddie Xtreme followed by the Bridgestone B330
and Nike ONE Black rated tops.
Appearance:
Don’t ask us why the testers thought the Precept Laddie
Xtreme followed by the Nike ONE Black “looked” good.
Durability:
Finally another ball broke the ice. The Volvik Crystal White
scored well along with Precept Laddie Xtreme.
Trajectory: The Nike ONE Black was the top performer
in this category.
Overall:
This rating is not an accumulation or average of the other
categories. We asked the testers to take into account everything
they look for and feel is important to them in a ball and
give an overall rating. It was no surprise that the top
three balls in the test were the Bridgestone B330, Precept
Laddie Xtreme and the Nike ONE Black.
After each tester played and rated all ten balls they picked
which balls they thought were the top four in the test.
The Bridgestone B330 got 35% of the first place votes, Nike
ONE Black received 25% of the first place votes and the
Precept Laddie Xtreme and Wilson Staff Dx2 each had 10%.
When all votes were counted from 1st to 4th place (We gave
1 point for 4th place on up to 4 points for a 1st place
vote) the Bridgestone B330 finished on top followed by the
Nike ONE Black, Precept Laddie Xtreme and Wilson Staff Dx2.
We have looked very carefully at all the results from many
different angles and are making this unscientific judgment
and taking the liberty of ranking what we think were the
top balls in this test.
1. Bridgestone B330
2. Nike ONE Black
3. Precept Laddie Xtreme
4. Nike Mojo
5. Wilson Staff Dx2
We
are leaving it up to golfers to draw their own conclusions
as to how the price of the balls relates to how each ball
did in this test. We welcome your thoughts regarding the
results of this ball test. Please feel free to post your
comments on our "Message Boards".
| Balls |
Distance |
Control |
Accuracy |
Putting |
Short Game |
Feel |
Appearance |
Durability |
Trajectory |
Overall |
| Bridgestone B330 | 8.67 | 8.14 | 8.24 | 8.19 | 8.05 | 8.10 | 8.38 | 7.48 | 8.14 | 8.45 |
| Precept Laddie Extreme | 8.57 | 8.19 | 8.05 | 8.24 | 8.10 | 8.24 | 8.48 | 8.38 | 8.00 | 8.36 |
| Nike ONE Black | 8.67 | 8.14 | 8.29 | 7.81 | 7.71 | 8.00 | 8.48 | 8.00 | 8.33 | 8.24 |
| Nike Mojo | 8.19 | 7.76 | 7.76 | 7.86 | 7.62 | 7.76 | 7.71 | 7.67 | 8.05 | 7.88 |
| Wilson Staff Dx2 | 8.05 | 7.67 | 7.57 | 7.90 | 7.67 | 7.67 | 8.10 | 7.71 | 7.95 | 7.62 |
| Volvik ST 446 | 7.67 | 7.57 | 7.57 | 7.76 | 7.62 | 7.52 | 7.71 | 7.57 | 7.67 | 7.50 |
| Dimplit | 7.71 | 7.29 | 7.57 | 7.19 | 7.10 | 6.90 | 6.86 | 7.48 | 7.81 | 7.17 |
| Check-Go Pro Balance | 6.81 | 7.14 | 7.29 | 7.43 | 7.19 | 7.48 | 7.33 | 7.19 | 7.19 | 7.12 |
| Volvik Crystal | 7.33 | 7.57 | 7.33 | 7.52 | 7.00 | 6.95 | 7.14 | 8.19 | 7.33 | 7.10 |
| Check-Go Balance Distance | 7.24 | 7.10 | 7.14 | 7.29 | 6.71 | 6.76 | 7.05 | 7.29 | 7.33 | 7.02 |
If you
would like to see a specific ball included that we have
not done to date let us know and equally important let the
ball manufacturers know that you want them to participate
in the GolfTest USA 2006 Ball Test. We think it would be
great to have ALL the ball companies participate next year.
We would like to thank each of the ball manufacturers for
their participation. Without their support and assistance
we would not have been able to conduct this test and bring
the golfing public these results.
Go to
our manufacturer's links
page to find out more information about the items in the
above category.
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