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COPYRIGHT 2006 Consumers Union of the United States, Inc.
Once upon a time, every golfer sank birdies. The game's first ball was made of a stout leather cover packed with boiled chicken or goose feathers and laced shut. The feathery, as it was nicknamed, was surprisingly heavy, never precisely round, and quite unreliable.
Six centuries later, the feathery's descendants might be the most highly engineered balls around. Last year, 27 million U.S. golfers spent $763 million on golf balls that can travel farther, roll longer, and fly straighter than ever before. Precisely engineered dimple patterns on the ball's surface allow manufacturers to alter the ball's trajectory. (For more on golf-ball parts and the difference they make to your game, see You Need to Know, on facing page.) More than a dozen manufacturers produce different models to address different players' needs.
Unfortunately, you can't tell which ball is best for you by its cover. Labels use the same words (long distance, soft feel) to describe what's inside. Some makers strive to set themselves apart using more creative copy with little clarity. Nike's Mojo II Karma ball, for example, is promoted as having "the psychokinetic energy of a tangerine dream squeezed into a 1.68-inch shimmering ball of fire." Yeah, but can it spin?
In short, selecting a ball today involves more than a quick stop at the local leathersmith. "It's so confusing, many players just buy the equipment that the people they play with like or their favorite pros use without taking into account the possibility that their choice may be hurting their game," says Michael Marion, director of golf at Promontory golf course in Park City, Utah, and Golf Digest's pick for Utah's top golf teacher. For example, beginners may not know enough about their games to determine whether they do better with a harder or softer type of ball.
To help you match a ball's performance to your game, we tested 25 balls for factors every golfer should weigh: how far they travel, how much they spin, how accurately they fly, and how they feel (how hard or soft they seem when you hit, chip, or putt them). For details on how we tested, see CloseUp, page 32. Our tests uncovered some results that run counter to widely held beliefs:
* You can buy balls that go the distance for less than $20 a dozen. When hit by a machine that struck every ball with a driver with the same force and in the same spot, all the tested balls, regardless of construction or price, traveled virtually the same distance: 272 to 281 yards when hit at 110 m.p.h., 227 to 235 yards when hit at 90 m.p.h. In fact, three of the least-expensive models, the Dunlop Loco Dart ($11 a dozen), the Top Flite XL Pure Distance More Carry ($10), and the Pinnacle Gold Distance ($13), went farther than 7 higher-priced balls. (Note: All the Top Flite balls we tested have since been discontinued but are still available at many retail locations.)
* By contrast, spin rates off an 8-iron varied from fair to excellent. We assigned higher scores to balls that spun the most. Most golfers prefer a ball that has a higher rate of spin off their irons; that way, they can have more control over the ball's path. Beginners shouldn't worry about buying expensive balls to enhance their spin rates. That's because experts say it's more important for them to work on improving club head speed and contact to improve control.
* In some cases, we found that the less-expensive balls had a softer feel. Most golfers prefer this because harder balls will not be compressed as much when hit with the club face....
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