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Ball
Test / June 2002
Last
year GolfTest USA conducted a test on premium balls that
typically cost about $40.00 a dozen. In February of this
year GolfTest USA did a test that focused on balls that
cost around $25.00 to $30.00 a dozen. This current ball
test was conducted without regard to the cost of the ten
balls that participated. We were interested to see how our
testers rated a group of balls, which ranged from inexpensive
to premium priced. We had 50 golfers play one round of golf
with each of the balls and rate several categories on a
scale of 1 to 10. We asked each tester to be as fair and
consistent as they could be in evaluating each of the ten
balls. They promised to do their best to put aside any preconceived
ideas or biases they may have had regarding the balls in
the test. "Putting" was added as a criterion and the "Playability"
criterion was eliminated.
Here
are the balls that were included in the test:
Cayman
Grand Tour II
Synergy SC1
Srixon Hi-Brid Tour
Wilson Staff True Distance
Synergy SC Lady
Nike Tour Accuracy DD
Wilson Staff True Tour
Precept Tour LS
Precept Laddie
Dunlop Loco
Following
are some ratings, conclusions and observations GolfTest
USA made using the results obtained from the test.
Distance:
A late entry into the test was the Loco. It was rated as
the best ball for distance by a wide margin overall the
2nd highest rated ball, the Nike Tour Accuracy DD and in
third was the Precept Laddie.
Control:
The Precept Laddie was tops while the Precept Tour LS, Nike
Tour Accuracy DD, Dunlop Loco and Wilson Staff True Tour
were also highly rated.
Accuracy:
Again the Loco was picked as top ball with the Precept Laddie
and the Nike Tour Accuracy DD close behind.
Putting:
Tied for the top spot was the Wilson Staff True Tour and
Precept Laddie, which may add validity to the claims made
by Wilson that the True ball is better balanced thus resulting
in improved putting performance. Other balls that scored
well were the Dunlop Loco, Nike Tour Accuracy DD, Wilson
Staff True Distance and Precept Tour LS.
Feel:
The Precept Laddie was rated as the top ball by a wide margin
over the Dunlop Loco and Precept Tour LS.
Appearance:
Srixon Hi-Brid was rated as the best looking ball. Close
behind was the Precept Laddie, Precept Tour LS and Nike
Tour Accuracy DD.
Durability:
The Nike Tour Accuracy DD was top ball. A test GolfTest
USA did in December 2001 on the Nike Tour Accuracy showed
it rated very low in durability and Nike told GolfTest USA
that they were working on fixing the problem. Looks like
they did. The Wilson Staff Tour Distance and Precept LS
were a close 2nd.
Trajectory:
Nike Tour Accuracy DD was tops with the Dunlop Loco close
behind in 2nd and Wilson Staff True Distance in 3rd place.
Overall:
This rating is not an accumulation of the other categories.
We asked the testers to take into account everything they
look for and is important to them in a ball and give an
overall rating. The Nike Tour Accuracy DD was picked as
best overall, the Dunlop Loco was 2nd and Wilson Staff True
Distance and Precept Laddie were tied for third.
GolfTest
USA also added up all the nine categories that were rated
for each ball and then we determined what the overall average
rating was. Using this method, the Precept Laddie was #1,
Nike Tour Accuracy DD was #2 and the Dunlop Loco came in
#3.
After
each tester played and rated all ten balls they picked which
balls they thought were the top three in the test. 25% of
the testers picked the Precept Laddie as the top ball and
tied for second with 20% each were the Nike Tour Accuracy
DD and the Dunlop Loco. When we added up all the votes received
for the top three spots the Precept LS was named by 50%
of the testers and the Wilson Staff True Tour, Dunlop Loco
and Precept Laddie were mentioned by 45% of the testers
as being one of the top three balls in the test. 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
Precept Laddie
#2 Dunlop Loco
#3 Nike Tour Accuracy DD
#4 Precept Tour LS
#5 Tied for fifth place were the Wilson Staff True
Tour, Srixon Hi-Brid Tour, and the Wilson Staff Tour Distance.
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".
GolfTest
USA has already received requests from several ball manufacturers
to conduct another test. We have scheduled one for October.
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 manufacturer know that you want them to participate
in the new GolfTest USA test.
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.
| Balls |
|
|
|
|
Feel |
|
Durability |
|
|
| Nike
Tour Accuracy DD |
8.15
|
7.95
|
7.85
|
7.90
|
7.75
|
7.95
|
8.05
|
8.20
|
8.20
|
| Dunlop
Loco |
8.60
|
7.90
|
8.00
|
7.90
|
7.85
|
7.75
|
7.30
|
8.15
|
8.15
|
| Wilson
Staff True Distance |
7.85
|
7.45
|
7.50
|
7.80
|
7.50
|
7.50
|
7.90
|
8.10
|
8.00
|
| Precept
Laddie |
8.00
|
8.05
|
7.90
|
8.15
|
8.45
|
8.10
|
7.70
|
7.90
|
8.00
|
Wilson
Staff
True Tour |
7.40
|
7.80
|
7.75
|
8.15
|
7.75
|
7.80
|
7.70
|
7.55
|
7.85
|
| Precept
Tour LS |
7.80
|
8.00
|
7.80
|
7.80
|
7.85
|
7.95
|
7.90
|
7.55
|
7.85
|
Srixon
Hi-Brid Tour |
7.10
|
7.45
|
7.40
|
7.55
|
7.70
|
8.15
|
7.65
|
7.25
|
7.55
|
|
Synergy SC1 |
6.80
|
6.95
|
6.85
|
6.70
|
6.55
|
7.15
|
6.95
|
6.80
|
6.80
|
Cayman
Grand
Tour II |
7.10
|
6.70
|
6.80
|
7.05
|
6.45
|
6.75
|
7.25
|
6.85
|
6.70
|
|
Synergy SC Lady |
6.50
|
6.55
|
6.75
|
6.65
|
6.60
|
7.05
|
6.90
|
6.55
|
6.50
|
Go to
our manufacturer's links
page to find out more information about the items in the
above category.
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