Ball Fitting Low and Slow
The current distance debate throws up much blame on the golf ball and the plethora of balls on the market doesn’t make it any easier. If you go on any of the companies website’s and you’ll also usually find that the vast majority of us are recommended the premium ball so is the only way the top ball or is their more personalisation to be had through having a ball fitting Click here to see our full range of golf balls.
Why get a ball fitting?
First of all lets remember that impact happens very different both with different clubs and at different speeds. Essentially when hitting woods and hybrids the core of the ball is being engaged and more spring effect goes on with the club resisting movement and compressing itself rather than just the ball, as lofts increase and we’re using a more solid head the ball has a 3 stage impact which bring the cover into play more with ball moving more as well as the club. What this in essence means is the ball can come off higher and with lower amounts of spin with a driver and while still being able to launch lower with more spin as loft increases and head design changes. But, and this is a big but, these sort of flight characteristic’s although optimal may not totally suit the way you play hence why we have the variety of ball’s moving down to the low compression surlyn cover distance ball
Where to start?
First port of call is looking at the state of various areas of your game from driving to approach play to into the greens followed by short game and putting. This will give you a fair inkling as to wether short game spin is actually something you play with and if you’re playing from grassy lies your control of its is going to be pretty varied. This is going to probably point you to one of the mid range balls where you’ll have some spin from a clean lie but crucially the ball will take off higher so you’ll get a more predictable all round shot shape (Mickelson’s a good example of this and can create too much spin so goes for the lower spinning Callaway ball) If distance is the issue and club speed is on the low side then the lower compression distance balls are probably going to work better as they will again take off higher with less spin. Strangely these balls will often display slightly lower ball speeds but the combination of launch and spin is artificially creating a flyer type shot which will have stronger looking flight without the necessary ball speed. Crucially whatever ball you’re thinking of using spending time with a PGA pro first seeing how your shot performs and changes through the distances before working on your short game to get you used to how it reacts, performs and feels around the greens while tailoring your short selection and strategy to maximise the properties of the ball type. Its also massively important you spend time getting used to it with your putter, the sound vibration and feel differences between balls will show up most here.
Remember the clubs you use will play their part as well, find out more about custom fitting
