Custom Fitting for Golf Ball Selection, Golf (Video) - by Pete Styles
Custom Fitting for Golf Ball Selection, Golf (Video) - by Pete Styles

So if we’re looking at assessing your equipment, there’s one massive thing the game that a lot of people don’t really consider to be equipment and that’s the golf ball. They just think that’s the thing you wack around the golf course with the really expensive stuff. But actually the golf ball is a massive part of how you can play. It’s the one thing that you got the feedback from when you hit it. Whether you’re hitting with a driver or you’re hitting with a putter.

And like I say, it’s under rated really; a lot of people just play with whatever they find. If it’s white and shiny and brand new and it’s got a name written down the side of it, they’ll play with it. But one thing they’re not really considering is the fact that each golf ball will feel different, will fly different, spin differently. Particularly when you get to putting, it will roll differently all across the green when it’s been hit by the putter.

Now there’s quite a little science goes into making sure that you get the right ball fitted to you. The first thing I would suggest is start trying to play with one type of golf ball. So don’t just use whatever you find on the golf course but try and buy a good selection of the one type of ball that you want to play. If you do find golf balls on the course but they’re not your brand, maybe it speaks you’re playing partners and so well, “Hey guys, I’ve got brand A here and I don’t play with brand A, if you’ve got any brand B that I do play with and I’ll swap you for brand A.” Maybe have a little swap around with your playing partners so that you end up with the right balls and they end up with the right golf balls rather than just playing with any random assortment.

And if you’ve used a golf ball for a round or two and it started to show a little bit of wear and tear, put it in a practice bag so that when you got a nice quality practice bag, it should have ten or 20 golf balls all at the same type and brand in there. Maybe a bit scruffy and a bit old but they’re all the same type. That way when you go on practice you can chip and pitch and put with the same type of golf ball that you play with on the golf course.

The next thing is making sure that that type and brand of golf ball is exactly right for you. There’s two processes that you can do it, you can actually have them personally custom fit for you so you’d maybe go and hit some golf balls with a technician and the launch monitor. And they will advise you that your spin rate, your trajectory, your distance isn’t quite right and you can fit and tune tailor made, that sort of flight distance and spin pattern to your preferred shot and game. The only thing is you could probably fill out an online form on a bridge tone or a titlist or something like that. Their websites will often have categories of golf ball that’s better for handicapped ranges, swing speed ranges and sort of spin patterns.

So if you’re players that like to see a lot of spin on the shots then you can choose one particular brand of golf ball. The other thing is probably price. If you’re in the habit of losing three or four balls in a round of golf, maybe it’s not realistic to spend three, four, five dollars up per ball. You know I’ve been looking for a little bit of a cheaper, more value belt ball. But try and work on the principle of getting the balls fitted for yourself and make sure you try and play with the same golf ball all the time and to practice with the same type of golf ball. Particularly when you’re chipping, pitching and putting onto the green, try and use the same ball all the time and I hope that works well for you.

 2012-06-06

So if we’re looking at assessing your equipment, there’s one massive thing the game that a lot of people don’t really consider to be equipment and that’s the golf ball. They just think that’s the thing you wack around the golf course with the really expensive stuff. But actually the golf ball is a massive part of how you can play. It’s the one thing that you got the feedback from when you hit it. Whether you’re hitting with a driver or you’re hitting with a putter.

And like I say, it’s under rated really; a lot of people just play with whatever they find. If it’s white and shiny and brand new and it’s got a name written down the side of it, they’ll play with it. But one thing they’re not really considering is the fact that each golf ball will feel different, will fly different, spin differently. Particularly when you get to putting, it will roll differently all across the green when it’s been hit by the putter.

Now there’s quite a little science goes into making sure that you get the right ball fitted to you. The first thing I would suggest is start trying to play with one type of golf ball. So don’t just use whatever you find on the golf course but try and buy a good selection of the one type of ball that you want to play. If you do find golf balls on the course but they’re not your brand, maybe it speaks you’re playing partners and so well, “Hey guys, I’ve got brand A here and I don’t play with brand A, if you’ve got any brand B that I do play with and I’ll swap you for brand A.” Maybe have a little swap around with your playing partners so that you end up with the right balls and they end up with the right golf balls rather than just playing with any random assortment.

And if you’ve used a golf ball for a round or two and it started to show a little bit of wear and tear, put it in a practice bag so that when you got a nice quality practice bag, it should have ten or 20 golf balls all at the same type and brand in there. Maybe a bit scruffy and a bit old but they’re all the same type. That way when you go on practice you can chip and pitch and put with the same type of golf ball that you play with on the golf course.

The next thing is making sure that that type and brand of golf ball is exactly right for you. There’s two processes that you can do it, you can actually have them personally custom fit for you so you’d maybe go and hit some golf balls with a technician and the launch monitor. And they will advise you that your spin rate, your trajectory, your distance isn’t quite right and you can fit and tune tailor made, that sort of flight distance and spin pattern to your preferred shot and game. The only thing is you could probably fill out an online form on a bridge tone or a titlist or something like that. Their websites will often have categories of golf ball that’s better for handicapped ranges, swing speed ranges and sort of spin patterns.

So if you’re players that like to see a lot of spin on the shots then you can choose one particular brand of golf ball. The other thing is probably price. If you’re in the habit of losing three or four balls in a round of golf, maybe it’s not realistic to spend three, four, five dollars up per ball. You know I’ve been looking for a little bit of a cheaper, more value belt ball. But try and work on the principle of getting the balls fitted for yourself and make sure you try and play with the same golf ball all the time and to practice with the same type of golf ball. Particularly when you’re chipping, pitching and putting onto the green, try and use the same ball all the time and I hope that works well for you.