Why Do Some Golfers Use A Yellow Ball?

Golf Monthly

Mike Harris test the new Titleist Pro V1... in yellow! To see whether you should be playing a yellow ball.

Transcript

00:00Hello everyone, Mike Harris from Golf Monthly.

00:08You join me here at lovely West Hill Golf Club in Surrey on a very sunny afternoon.

00:14And in this video, I'm going to be asking, should you be playing a yellow golf ball?

00:19The big thing for 2019, the big talking point is that Titleist have finally released a yellow

00:25Pro V1 and Pro V1X.

00:28And we've got different models from, say, all the main manufacturers, Strixson with

00:32their Z-Star, they do a yellow model, Callaway with the Chrome Soft, they do a yellow model

00:38as well.

00:39TaylorMade don't do their TP5 in the UK anyway in yellow, but they do do Project A, which

00:45is their sort of second tier urethane ball.

00:48So these days, if you do want a yellow golf ball, but you want to play a tour golf ball

00:52urethane covered, there are plenty of options out there.

00:56So let's get out on the golf course and see how the yellow balls perform, both on their

01:00own and also in comparison to standard white golf balls.

01:08Okay, so we're going to do a little bit of a live on course test here, got a yellow ball

01:24and a white ball, see if I can see much difference between the two when I hit drives, approaches

01:30and also on the green as well.

01:32I'm going to go traditional first, I'm going to go with the white ball.

01:39Okay, pop that one up a little bit.

01:46Yeah, I've got it through the blue sky fine, but when it started to drop down, I felt I

01:54lost it a little bit there going back down through the tree line.

01:57So next up the yellow ball, wow, I have to say that was a much better drive than the

02:14first one with the white ball, but I really found it very, very easy to track the flight

02:19of the yellow ball there.

02:21At no point when it started dipping from its pink trajectory did I lose it like I did with

02:26the white one.

02:27That was quite interesting to see that, let's see what it's like down on the fairway playing

02:32an approach shot.

02:33Okay, so I just missed the fairway with the white ball, I've got 180 yards, be interesting

02:38to see this through very dappled, you can see through very dappled light there, a lot

02:42of shadows, see how I pick up the flight of this.

02:59Yeah pretty good actually, certainly saw it come down very well, so no issues there with

03:05the white ball as I did have when the flight dropped with the drive.

03:09So let's see how we go with the yellow ball.

03:12Okay, so 15-20 yards further on with the yellow ball, stood over it in the shadow, I actually

03:17really like looking at the yellow ball at address, don't know, it feels, don't know,

03:23possibly look a little bit bigger, a little bit more confidence inspiring, anyway, let's

03:27see how this one goes.

03:35Oh, that's a good shot.

03:37Yeah, very pleased with the outcome, about pin high, but again, really found it easy

03:45to track the flight of the ball there, so at the moment, yellow ball is definitely winning

03:50it for me.

03:51So here we are up at the green, white ball's just made the front edge, left myself, don't

03:56know, 40 foot putt up the hill, one of my impressions behind the ball, well, been looking

04:02at normally a white ball behind a putter head for a long time, it looks good as it

04:08ever did really, got a new black putter, so it's quite nice, that contrast, black and

04:13white.

04:20I've not, I've certainly not given that enough, but yeah, you know, white ball behind the

04:25putter looks very familiar, anyway, let's now see in a much better approach shot with

04:30my yellow ball, let's see how that is.

04:38So probably a 20 footer up the, up the hill here.

04:44Yeah, I really do like it behind the, behind the ball, really nice.

04:48Yes.

04:57I really do like it behind the, behind the ball, really nice.

05:09And a little tap in for par there.

05:11We asked the Golf Monthly social media audience, so on Twitter, on Instagram, would you consider

05:18playing a yellow ball, and it was very interesting, across Instagram and Twitter, it was almost

05:23exactly 60% saying yes and 40% saying no.

05:27On Twitter, we had over 3,000 respondents in a 24 hour period to the poll, very interesting

05:34to read some of the comments there about why you would or wouldn't play a yellow golf ball,

05:39I think perhaps there's been a bit of a stigma that yellow golf balls are for higher handicappers

05:44who are worried about losing golf balls, or maybe for golfers who are older, whose eyesight

05:49isn't as good.

05:50So we've come down to the fourth tee here at West Hill, lovely par three, quite pretty

05:55tricky, and it certainly is right into the sun, as you can sort of see when I turn this

06:00way, I've got the sun really in my face, so going to see if there's any difference between

06:04picking up the flight of the white ball or yellow ball.

06:06Interestingly, we were just chatting to a couple of golfers out here who were asking

06:10what we were doing, said we were doing a little yellow ball versus white ball test, and I

06:14asked one of the guys, would you ever play a yellow ball?

06:16He was a decent golfer, watched him hit a couple of shots, I would say single-finger

06:21golfer, and he said, definitely not.

06:24I guess the information was that yellow balls were not for better golfers, but he did acknowledge

06:32that he'd seen Bubba using it at the Waste Management, the yellow Pro V1, so, I don't

06:37know, it might be that perceptions might change after a while if you see guys on tour using

06:43it.

06:44Yeah, actually found that was a white ball, found that pretty easy to see, I didn't hit

07:07it, it wasn't directly into the sun.

07:10Right-hand side of the green, I would think, when we get up there.

07:28Yeah, I definitely think the yellow ball is easier to see, I think when it goes into the

07:33sun it almost turns black, so again, it makes it a little bit easier to pick up the flight

07:39of, but I'd be very happy with those shots with a card in my hand.

07:44So, that was a really interesting experiment, playing a yellow golf ball against a white

07:48ball, seeing how it looked down at address, and also seeing the flight of it.

07:53What do you think?

07:54Let us know, put a comment below, let us know, have you played a yellow golf ball before?

07:59Would you play a yellow golf ball now?

08:01Any particular, will you be trying out Titleist's new yellow Pro V1 this year?

08:06I'll pick a comment at random and I'll send you a dozen yellow golf balls, just so you

08:10can do a bit of product validation yourself.

08:14If you enjoyed this video, if you find it useful, give us a thumbs up, let us know what

08:17other sort of gear videos you'd like us to have a look at.

08:21Remember, do subscribe to the channel if you don't already, and hit notifications so you

08:25see whenever we release one of our new gear videos.

08:29But, what about the verdict?

08:30Well, as I said earlier at the start of the video, my eyesight's not as good as it was

08:35when I was maybe in my sort of twenties, even with glasses on.

08:38And I have to say, I definitely find yellow golf ball easier to pick out in the flight

08:44of the ball.

08:45Particularly, I've found, today's obviously a lovely sunny day, but in flat light, I definitely

08:50find a yellow ball easier to pick out there when it's sort of dropping out of the sky

08:55at the top of its flight.

08:57I quite like it at address.

08:58You know, a lot of the modern clubs, I've got a black headed driver and also a black

09:02headed putter.

09:03So, I quite like that contrast between the yellow and the black at address.

09:07Don't find it off-putting at all.

09:09I know some people are not keen on the look, and there are lots of different finishes of

09:14the different, you know, yellow golf balls.

09:16Some are sort of more of that sort of chalky matte finish.

09:19Some are really sort of bright, almost sort of pearlescent.

09:22But, I definitely think that if you are looking for something a little bit different to help

09:28pick up the flight of the golf ball, that a yellow golf ball is certainly worth trying.

09:33So, Bubba Watson's been trying them out on tour.

09:35I know that Bubba's quite a quirky guy.

09:37Tries different things.

09:38But, I'm certainly, I think, going to be playing a few rounds with the yellow Titleist ProV1X.

09:44ProV1X is a ball that I normally use.

09:46So, I'm looking forward to putting that in play this season and seeing how I go with

09:50it.

09:51But, for now, from West Hill, it's goodbye.

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