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Ball
Test / 2008
Another
year, another miracle has occurred. We have finally completed
our annual ball test. The logistics involved in getting
ball companies to send the balls is always tenuous. We expanded
the group of testers who played a round of golf with each
ball in the test to 80 golfers. We felt this gives us a
better base from which to evaluate each ball and offers
more statistically sound ratings.
In the
past year many new balls have been introduced. In this test
we had 13 balls from 7 manufacturers. Once again we were
not able to get Titleist to participate. We sent Titleist
many emails and left several phone messages at their ball
division and were promised a response but in the end no
one from Titleist ever contacted us. We spoke with top management
at TaylorMade and they indicated they would participate
but once again they backed out. We never got a return call
from Callaway which is surprising because their balls did
so well in last years test.
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
80 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:
Bridgestone
B330-S
Bridgestone e6+
Wilson Staff Fifty
Nike Karma
Wilson Staff ZIP
Nike One Black
Nike One Platinum
GolfAmerica Eagle Pro
Dixon EARTH
Nike Ignite
Innovex E-MOTION
Neutron Crystal
Bridgestone B330-RX
Following
are some ratings; conclusions and observations GolfTest
USA made using the results obtained from the test.
Distance:
The Bridgestone Tour B330-S and the Bridgestone Tour B330-RX
were rated as the best balls for distance.
Control:
Again the Bridgestone Tour B330-S and the Bridgestone Tour
B330-RX were the best in this category.
Accuracy:
The best balls for accuracy were the Nike ONE Platinum,
Nike ONE Black and the Bridgestone Tour B330-RX.
Putting:
The top putting honors go to the Innovex E-MOTION and the
Wilson Staff ZIP.
Short Game: Best balls for your short game were the Bridgestone
Tour B330-RX and the Nike One Black.
Feel:
The top rated balls for feel were the Bridgestone Tour B330-RX,
Nike One Black and the Bridgestone Tour B330-S.
Appearance:
The top rated ball in Appearance was the Chromax Neutron.
The color of the ball in this test was yellow which may
account for the high rating.
Durability: The Neutron Crystal also proved to be the "toughest".
Trajectory:
The Bridgestone e6+ and the Nike ONE Platinum rated best
for "Trajectory".
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.)
Overall,
the Bridgestone Tour B330-RX rated the best at 8.5 which
we believe is the first time a ball has received that high
of a rating. It was very obvious that Bridgestone has a
real winner with the Tour B330-RX.
We want to make a special mention regarding the Dixon EARTH
ball. It is the only “green” golf ball on the market and
golfers should give it consideration when choosing a ball.
After each tester played and rated all 13 balls, they picked
which balls they thought were the top four in the test.
The Bridgestone Tour B330-RX got 25% of the first place
votes, the Nike ONE Black, Wilson Staff ZIP, and Bridgestone
B330-S each received 15% of the first place votes while
the Innovex E-Motion got 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 Tour B330-RX finished on top followed by
the Nike ONE Black and Bridgestone Tour B330-S.
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. We came to the conclusion that the Bridgestone
Tour B330-RX deserved to be ranked #1. The following balls
deserve a strong honorable mention. Bridgestone Tour B330-S,
Nike ONE Platinum, Wilson Staff ZIP, Nike ONE Black. The
Innovex E-MOTION proved to be the real sleeper in the test
getting strong ratings across the board.
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 |
Average |
| Bridgestone Tour B330-RX | 8.5 | 8.4 | 8.4 | 8.3 | 8.4 | 8.4 | 8.3 | 8.3 | 8.3 | 8.5 | 8.4 |
| Bridgestone Tour B330-S | 8.5 | 8.4 | 8.3 | 8.2 | 8.3 | 8.4 | 8.3 | 8.3 | 8.3 | 8.4 | 8.4 |
| Nike One Black | 8.4 | 8.3 | 8.4 | 8.3 | 8.4 | 8.4 | 8.3 | 8.3 | 8.3 | 8.4 | 8.4 |
| Bridgestone e6+ | 8.3 | 8.2 | 8.3 | 8.3 | 8.2 | 8.3 | 8.3 | 8.2 | 8.4 | 8.3 | 8.3 |
| Innovex E-MOTION | 8.3 | 8.3 | 8.2 | 8.4 | 8.2 | 8.3 | 8.2 | 8.2 | 8.3 | 8.3 | 8.3 |
| Nike One Platinum | 8.3 | 8.3 | 8.4 | 8.3 | 8.2 | 8.3 | 8.3 | 8.3 | 8.4 | 8.4 | 8.3 |
| Wilson Staff ZIP | 8.3 | 8.3 | 8.2 | 8.4 | 8.2 | 8.2 | 8.3 | 8.2 | 8.3 | 8.3 | 8.3 |
| Neutron Crystal |
8.2 | 8.2 | 8.1 | 8.1 | 8.2 | 8.3 | 8.4 | 8.4 | 8.2 | 8.2 | 8.2 |
| Wilson Staff Fifty | 8.1 | 8.2 | 8.1 | 8.2 | 8.2 | 8.3 | 8.2 | 8.2 | 8.2 | 8.2 | 8.2 |
| Dixon EARTH | 8.2 | 8.2 | 8.2 | 8.1 | 8.1 | 8.2 | 8.3 | 8.0 | 8.1 | 8.2 | 8.2 |
| Nike Karma | 8.1 | 8.2 | 8.0 | 8.2 | 8.1 | 8.2 | 8.4 | 8.1 | 8.1 | 8.1 | 8.2 |
| Nike Ignite | 8.3 | 8.1 | 8.0 | 8.1 | 8.0 | 7.9 | 8.1 | 8.1 | 8.2 | 8.1 | 8.1 |
| GolfAmerica Eagle Pro | 8.0 | 8.1 | 8.0 | 8.1 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 8.3 | 8.1 | 8.2 | 8.0 | 8.1 |
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 2009 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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