This video, in which Neil Tappin is joined by Titleist golf ball specialist Tom Hiscock, explains what these misconceptions are and will hopefully help you make a smarter choice when it comes to selecting the right ball for your game.
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00:00Hello everyone, Neil Tappan here from Golf Month B and welcome to West Hill Golf Club
00:03in this video in which we're going to take a look at seven of the biggest golf ball myths.
00:09Now we've partnered up with Tightlist for this one and I'm going to play golf with Tom
00:13Hiscock who's a golf ball specialist at Tightlist and he's come up with a list of seven misconceptions,
00:18I guess you'd say, about the type of golf ball that certain players should be using.
00:23We're going to talk about what they are and hopefully debunk some of those myths in order
00:27to help you make a better choice about what actually is the right golf ball for your game.
00:33Right, let's head out onto the golf course and get started.
00:43Okay, so the first one on our list to talk about, and this is one I've heard a lot over the years,
00:48is people say, I don't spin the ball. And well, that's just not true, right?
00:54Absolutely, yeah. And this is the reason why we've got so many different clubs,
00:57isn't it? The loft of the golf club helps us spin the golf ball and as soon as the golf ball is in
01:02the air or it's left the ground, left the club face, it's spinning and it's spinning backwards.
01:07So we're talking about backspin, but we're not talking about how you might perceive backspin
01:12like you do on the TV. You see the players hit it into the green, it's spinning backwards.
01:15We're talking about the golf ball slowing down.
01:17Yeah, okay.
01:18So it's all about for us trying to find out how much spin or stopping power or rollout
01:25the golfer's looking for.
01:26Right, okay.
01:27We're not talking about curvature, that's something we can come to later,
01:30but it's more about how the golf ball's reacting when it hits the green.
01:35So spin is backspin, but it's stopping power and not seeing the ball.
01:39Right, and so the sort of the follow-up for me then on this, Tom, is that because of the
01:43different way that different golfers attack the ball, they will create different spin
01:50profiles. You might think, I don't spin the ball, but because actually the way that the club attacks
01:53the ball, you are creating more spin than you need to in certain shots and therefore it might
01:58be ballooning up into the air. Am I talking nonsense?
02:00No, not at all. So every golfer has a different spin profile, so we have to match that in with your
02:06delivery and how you deliver the golf club. So like I said, every golfer that comes to see us will
02:11spin the golf ball. It's then down to us, if they're having a track man fitting for instance,
02:15it's down to us to guide them or recommend a golf ball based on how they deliver the golf club.
02:21And every golf ball, because they perform differently, it's really important to get the
02:25right one. Especially if you're chopping and changing from hole to hole or round to round,
02:31it's really important to settle on the one that's performing best for you.
02:33Yeah, because then you're going to understand how it's going to react when it hits the green.
02:36You're going to know what club to hit presumably as well.
02:37Absolutely. Right, Tom, do you know what, you've got 180 in here and it's into the wind and
02:47there's just not a lot going in your favour. I don't want to sort of put you off before
02:50we've even got started. This is an opener, isn't it? It's quite daunting this, isn't it?
03:01Oh, it's a bit pulley. It's a bit pulley, but do you know, it's good flight. It's on the green.
03:07Got to take that, it's fine. Yeah, it's okay, isn't it?
03:09Okay, so for our next one, we are going to talk about soft versus hard golf balls and how that
03:16affects performance. And I think the myth here, certainly the conception that a lot of people
03:22will have is that a softer golf ball is going to spin more and that, by contrast, the harder golf
03:27ball is going to offer me less control in the short game. Is there any truth to any of that?
03:31Not really. No, it's a big myth and the word soft is very misunderstood. So, soft golf balls are soft
03:41through compression. They feel soft. Right, okay. Soft covered golf balls are typically higher in
03:47compression and firm feeling, but offer you more spinning control. Right, okay. So, but you have
03:52different compression golf balls in your range, right? Yeah, absolutely. So, why do you have different
03:58compression golf balls? So, the compression is, again, very much a feeling thing. So,
04:03every golf ball will have a preference. Some golfers prefer a slightly softer golf ball,
04:07some people prefer a firmer feeling golf ball. So, within our performance range, which encapsulates
04:14true feel, velocity, tour soft and tour speed, all those golf balls are a different compression.
04:21They're all two-piece golf balls, right? Tour speed is three-piece. It's multi-layered, but
04:26true feel, velocity, tour soft are two-piece golf balls and they have different compressions. They'll
04:30feel different, but with them being two-piece, they're going to offer you low spin for distance
04:36off the tee, which we all want. Yes. But as we get closer to the green, because they're two-piece golf
04:41balls, you're going to get some control and stoppability from loft, but with them being a harder cover over a
04:49softer core, you're going to compromise a little bit when it comes to spinning control. Right, okay.
04:54But there will be a feel difference between the three of them, and therefore,
04:59there'll be an option for everybody. Come on, let's hit this one.
05:10Good hit. Okay, so for this one, we're going to talk about golf in the winter,
05:16and I think it feels like a fairly sensible idea to play maybe a different golf ball in the winter
05:20when conditions underfoot are different. It's wet here today at West Hill. The temptation might be to
05:25use a harder golf ball. What's the sort of tightest thinking on that front? Yeah, it's a really good
05:30question, Neil, and it's a question we get asked all the time. The consistency of playing the same golf
05:36ball from season to season, from wet conditions to drier conditions, remains the same. We would much rather
05:44the golfer change their club selection or their technique to suit the conditions, because if you
05:52change the golf ball to suit the wind, say, for example, or where the golf was landing, it's also
05:57going to feel very different when you're putting and chipping, when the conditions are not going to be
06:02too different to how they might be in some conditions, for example. But for us, the most important
06:09thing is consistency. You play the same ball all the time. Obviously, we reference the tour players a
06:14lot and they play at a different venue every single week. They might go from a Lynx venue to an inland
06:20venue. Do you ever get golfers on tour changing their ball? Very, very rarely.
06:25Because you're trying to discourage them from doing it. Yeah, absolutely. But they would be quite
06:30comfortable maybe taking a long iron out and putting a hybrid in or changing their wedge selection,
06:37but they would never change the golf ball because they know what that golf ball does, but also they're
06:43hitting that ball on every single shot. Yes. Well, so in that spirit, I've changed my... I've gone down in
06:48loft. I'm going to try and hit it in a wee bit lower. Great. Well, it's quite high.
07:03Yardage was good. Look at that. I'll take it. I'll take it. Right, so the next myth we are going to
07:10cover is around swing speed. The idea being here that a lot of golfers would say, well, I have a swing
07:15speed of, let's say, 100 miles an hour. Therefore, I need to use X golf ball. But Tom, Titus would say
07:23that's not actually how golfers should be thinking about it at all. Yeah, absolutely. Our methodology
07:30is quite different. So when we're recommending golf balls, we start from the green and we work our way
07:34back to the tee. Because if we think about it this way, when it comes to club head speed, yes, you are
07:40going to swing your driver faster than any other club in your bag. But as soon as you exit the tee and make
07:44your way towards the green, every golfer's going to slow down. And we've got 14 clubs. Every club is
07:50swung at a different speed. Yeah, what speed do you swing your seven iron? I don't know the answer
07:53to that question. Absolutely. Yeah. And then you think about your sand wedge and you could even
07:58include your putter. Yeah. We spend loads of time on the green and the club's still moving at a speed.
08:03So for us, it's not about the speed. It's more about the club conditions. Right. So loft, spin loft,
08:10and how the golf ball reacts to the loft that we're presenting. Right. That's interesting. So I was
08:15fitted by Tom into a golf ball last year, went through the whole fitting process. I ended up with
08:20the Titus Provo 1X. I'll put in a link below to that video if you're interested in taking a look.
08:25And I know from that experience that you start at the green, work your way back towards the tee,
08:30but you would fit the club to the ball once you get to the tee. Is that right? Absolutely. Yeah. So yeah,
08:35you're absolutely spot on. So we fit the golf ball to the wedges and the irons. We fit the driver to the
08:39golf ball. There's far more we can change from the driver setting, whether that's loft or centre of
08:45gravity or head design to influence spin and distance from the tee. So we focus primarily on
08:52the shorter shots. Given that we spend more time there, all of our golf balls are designed to be
08:57low in spin from the tee to give you optimal distance. And then we focus primarily on the shorter
09:04shots. Right. Okay. So there will be balls in the range that are lower in spin.
09:09But they'll be lower in spin around the greens as well. Absolutely. Yeah. When we're talking about
09:13lower spin golf balls, it's more with irons and wedges. So we're talking about stopping power as
09:18opposed to distance from the tee. Right then. Let's have a hit. Give it a whirl.
09:23Oh, come back. Oh, it's at the post on the left. Get out. Get bounced. I squeaked out.
09:36It's a bit heavy. It just skipped over the ground. It's fine.
09:49Okay, Tom. So for the next one, I wanted to ask you was about female golfers. And the idea,
09:55the myth here being that female golfers should use a golf ball that's designed specifically
10:01for women. I know that's not a kind of a school of thought that Titleist buy into.
10:06Why not? And how should female golfers be thinking about their golf ball choice?
10:11It's a really, it's a really good one. And again, it's one we tackle every day.
10:14I always say the golf ball doesn't know who's hitting it. So the golf ball doesn't know whether
10:21you're male or female, whether you're older or younger and vice versa. So for us, it's more a case
10:26of what's the golfer looking for, regardless of their gender? How do they want the golf ball to
10:31perform? What are their preferences when it comes to golf balls? But typically, women's golf balls are
10:38softer for slower club head speeds. But again, from our methodology, working from green to tee,
10:45for us, speed doesn't come into it. Because from here, every golfer is going to swing the club slowly.
10:50Yes. And we spend more time around the green. Yes.
10:53So it's more about our approach from fitting green to tee, the long clubs, everybody wants the same
10:59thing. So all the golf balls are going to be distance orientated from the tee. But then it depends on
11:04what the female or male golfer wants from here and how they want to see the golf ball perform.
11:09It's not about speed. Soft is a big word when it comes to women's golf balls. And for us, soft is
11:14more of a feeling thing. It's not performance-based. And all those differences between the golf balls
11:19that you've spoken about, they're going to be noticed by whoever's hitting them, whether they're
11:23male, female, older, younger, et cetera, as you mentioned. Absolutely. And you can't link a club head
11:28speed with a gender because there will be some females that swing it faster than some males and vice versa.
11:33So it's, yeah, it's more about what the golfer is looking for and not gender.
11:38Yeah. Okay. Right. I'm going to have a go at this. This is not
11:42my forte, this particular shot, Tom, but... I've got faith in you, Neil.
11:47You've actually got a long putt. You're in three-putt territory there, so I feel fine.
11:54Oh, what a little kick forward. Hit the collar of the thing. I'll take it. It's fine.
12:00Great.
12:03That's beautiful. Great shot, Tom.
12:16So, Tom, next one I wanted to ask you was about coloured golf balls. Now, I don't want to offend
12:21anybody who uses a coloured golf ball that watches this video, but I have heard people say from time
12:26to time, things like, oh, you know, serious golfers don't tend to play coloured balls, but that's a myth,
12:32isn't it? Yeah. Again, it's a big myth, isn't it? You know, there are coloured golf balls being used
12:38on tour now. So some of the senior players, it might be more of a visual thing, but to be honest,
12:42for us, it's more preference. Right.
12:44We always talk about when we're fitting and recommending golf balls, we're talking about
12:49performance primarily, if the golfer's looking for that, but it's really important to find out what
12:53the preferences are. I remember fitting a gentleman who was struggling to hit the white golf ball. As
13:00soon as I put an orange golf ball down, he could make really good contact, and it completely
13:05revolutionised his game. That's very interesting. What I've found, Tom, is that I've used a yellow
13:12golf ball in not dissimilar sunlight to today, so kind of like dappled sun where it's quite bright,
13:19but then there's shady areas and it can be quite hard to see, and I feel like I can see a yellow
13:25golf ball maybe a little bit better in that scenario. Yeah, I mean, the good thing from our side of things
13:30is that the coloured golf balls, whether it's yellow or some of our matte finished golf balls,
13:35they all perform the same as the white golf ball, so it's not a performance thing, it's just a
13:40preference. In winter conditions, for example, like you just referenced, or if the light's changing,
13:47then some of the other golf balls might be a bit easier to pick up in flight.
13:51Yeah, and have you not just launched a blue golf ball?
13:54We have, yeah. So in our velocity range, we have white, obviously, and then we have orange,
13:59green, and blue. So it's not for everybody, but there will be...
14:03You know, there will be a lot of people out there that are excited by that proposition.
14:06Yeah.
14:06And I always worry with blue, for instance, that it's going to be a bit dark and I might
14:10not see it as it goes into the shade. Yeah.
14:13But I take it they've worked on that to make sure that you can.
14:15Yeah, anything we do is researched before we launch any product, so there's been some great research
14:23behind the colour schemes and the options that are available. Yeah.
14:27And it's, from a visual perspective, it's great for some golfers and not for others.
14:33So it's going to be a very individual thing, but yeah, we'll see how it goes.
14:39Yeah. Quick question. Do you use a coloured golf ball? If so,
14:42which colour do you use? Why do you use it? Be interested to hear what you have to say.
14:46Right, go on, Tom.
14:47Sure.
14:47OK, so this myth is I'm not good enough to play a premium golf ball. And I suspect there's
14:57people watching this video that probably will feel a little bit like that. And my theory on this,
15:02Tom, is that it stems a bit from tour because you're watching tour players using premium golf balls
15:07and your equipment setup is quite different to a tour player's setup. So people might automatically
15:11think, well, my golf ball setup needs to be quite different to a tour player's setup.
15:15What are your thoughts on that one?
15:17Yeah, again, it's a big myth. It's a misconception. You know, those golfers are the best golfers in the
15:23world and they're looking to optimise their performance. If they're looking to optimise
15:27their performance, then we should as well, especially given the fact that we're, most of us are striving
15:32to be as good as we can be. And typically when it comes to handicap and ability, a lot of golfers don't
15:38think they're good enough because potentially they just feel like they're losing too many. So it might be
15:42more of a cost thing. Right. Okay. But actually from a performance standpoint, if the golfer is
15:47looking to improve and develop as a player and get as good as they can get, when you're hitting shorter
15:53shots into the green, you could argue that higher handicappers miss more greens. So therefore having
15:59a product that, a premium golf ball, which gives them more spin and more control, makes their target bigger.
16:05So it actually makes the game easier. They're more forgiving golf balls with the shorter shots.
16:10Right.
16:10So it gives the golfer the best opportunity to get the golf ball as close as they can to the hole,
16:16have shorter putts and shoot lower scores. So it's, it is a big myth, but I can kind of understand
16:22potentially from a, from a cost effectiveness point of view.
16:26Yeah. Right. We've been looking at this shot for a time now.
16:29Yeah.
16:30So it's time for you to knock it in.
16:32I should know the read by now. I should knock it.
16:40Oh, I hate to say it, you missed on the amateur side there.
16:43I did. Low side. Not good.
16:46So there you have it. That's our look at golf ball myths. Hopefully you found that useful. Hopefully there's
16:52been some guidance in there about some of the things that you might be thinking were true
16:56about selecting a golf ball that actually either aren't true or actually really aren't that important
17:00when it comes to finding exactly the right golf ball for you. If you do have any questions,
17:06please post them below. We'd love to hear what you think. But for now from West Hill, it's goodbye.