- 10 months ago
In this Cheap Vs Expensive Golf Balls Test, Neil Tappin puts the Kirkland Signature 2.0 up against the Callaway Chrome Soft X to see how they compare.
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00:00Now for many golfers their number one priority when searching for a golf ball is something with
00:14a urethane cover. They understand that urethane cover provides them with the spin and the feel
00:20they're looking for in the short game and it also allows the manufacturers to build in some of those
00:23design elements that give them distance in the long game. And if you're going to go down the
00:28route of a urethane golf ball you've got three options broadly speaking. You've got the tour
00:33plane models by the premium brands but they are likely to set you back somewhere in the region of
00:38about £50 per dozen. And then you've got a new band of golf balls that are sort of mid-priced urethane
00:44offerings again from the the top brands but they will still come in at around about £30 per dozen.
00:51If you don't want to pay that much your next option is something like this. This is the Kirkland
00:56Signature 2.0. It's a urethane covered ball and it costs just over £1 per golf ball. Now we wanted
01:04to find out what you give up on if you were to go for something like this. So we're going to put it
01:10through its paces in a series of head-to-head challenges up against a tour premium urethane
01:16covered golf ball, the Callaway Chrome Soft X. We're going to find out how these two golf balls compare
01:21to each other on a series of challenges out on the golf course and then I've also already hit
01:26them both on a launch monitor and I'll show you that data as well. It's very interesting.
01:31Right, we're here at the London Club. Let's get started.
01:45Okay, so for the first of my three challenges I've come down here to the 11th hole on the heritage
02:03course at the London Club and I'm going to hit three shots with each golf ball starting with the
02:08Callaway. Now this is a tough hole. It's playing about 165 yards. It's into quite a strong breeze
02:14but it's downhill. I'm going to hit a seven iron and we'll see how I get on with both of these golf balls.
02:25Skinny. Pin high.
02:28Right, six golf balls safely on board. Let's go and find out which one's closest.
02:44Okay, so we've come down here to the green to find out how each of those six shots has done. Hopefully
02:49you can see all the shots that I hit. And the one that's closest to the flag is this one right in
02:54front of me here. And that, hopefully you can see that, is the Kirkland signature. And it's about
03:0025 feet short. So not bad. Now the others, the three Callaway shots are here, one, here,
03:11two, and the one up there that's to my left, to your right, that's probably the one I hit the furthest.
03:17So that means the shortest one was the Kirkland. And there's one in the middle there that was also
03:22a Kirkland. So I'd say in terms of performance from that little test, there's not an awful lot
03:27to choose between them. The Kirkland actually did pretty well. The last thing I will say though,
03:33is that I probably, the shots I hit with the Kirkland ball, I probably hit them a little bit
03:38better than the ones that I hit with the Callaway. But all in all, I'd say both golf balls gave me
03:42pretty good performance in pretty tricky weather conditions.
03:56Right, time for some bunker shots. And to see just how well both of these golf balls spin,
04:02how much control I'm able to get around the green. Again, I'm going to hit three shots with each
04:06golf ball. And you'll hopefully be able to see just how much spin control I'm getting when hitting
04:11a shot like this. I'm going to start with the Kirkland and then move on to the Callaway.
04:41So, all six shots played, I'd say I got pretty good
05:11good spin control with both golf balls. If it was a blind test, I'm not sure I really would have
05:15been able to tell much of a difference between the two. That's a Kirkland Signature, the one that's
05:20closest to the hole. That one is a Callaway and I'd say that one, I don't know. I felt as if that
05:26one spun the most of the shots that I hit. But all round, I'd say the performance from the bunker
05:31was very good. And it's kind of what I would expect from a good quality premium urethane golf ball.
05:37So, so far with the Kirkland Signature, so good.
05:56Right, time to find out how good these golf balls are off the tee with a driver. And I've come to the
06:0214th hole, which is a good opportunity to test them out because it's just over 400 yards and it's a
06:08dog leg right to left. And there are some bunkers on the corner of the dog leg, which I feel like
06:12I should be able to make it over those bunkers fairly easily. It is into the wind, but I feel
06:16like I should make that carry quite easily. So I'm going to hit three with the Kirkland,
06:20three with the Callaway. We'll see how we get on.
06:30Let's give the Callaway a go.
06:48Right, six shots hit. Let's find out where they are.
06:52Okay, so some interesting findings here. Now, the longest shot I hit was with the Callaway. That's
06:57the Callaway Chrome Soft X up there. That's also a Callaway there. And there's one just in the rough
07:03over here, which is down the left-hand side of this hole. They're all very similar distance,
07:07actually, up the hole. This one here leaves me about 130 yards in, so it's got about 270 yards,
07:12which I'm very pleased with, into the wind. Now, the best shot I hit with the Kirkland
07:17is sitting right here. I'd be very pleased with this, but this was by far and away the best shot I hit
07:23with the Kirkland. Because the other two, which weren't too bad, one you can see is in the foreground
07:28of the shot. The other one is even shorter down here on the left-hand side. And I've paced it out
07:33from the ball that's shortest to the ball that's longest is 24 yards, which is not insignificant.
07:40And I will come on and I will talk about the launch monitor data in this video. But certainly,
07:45the findings that I've had on this test, while I was playing it out on the golf course,
07:49and from the launch monitor, would say that the Callaway Chrome Soft X does provide me,
07:54certainly at my club head speed, with that bit of extra distance. And you can see what that means,
07:59actually, when you're out on the golf course. So I'm going to hit one of these. I think I'll hit this one.
08:11So at the start of this video, I said we'd take a look at the launch monitor data, and I'll show you
08:15that now. But it's also worth saying I also tested both of these over nine holes here at the London
08:21Club in what can only be described as some dreadful weather conditions. So I do have a pretty good feel
08:26for how both of these golf balls perform in all areas of the game. Now, I'm going to start by talking
08:32about this 50-yard pitch I hit on the launch monitor. And as you can see from the data, the Callaway did
08:38spin more. So I was getting 6991 RPM of spin with the Callaway, which is very good. It was offering
08:44plenty of control. But that number for Kirkland is also very good. And it's something that I noticed
08:50probably even more when I was out on the golf course, to be honest with you, hitting shots around the
08:53greens, just how well this spins. It does offer really good short game spin control. But then when
09:00you also add in the fact that it's also got a lovely soft feel off the putter face, I think the short
09:04game is where you really see the benefit of this golf ball. It performs really well. But how does
09:10it perform further out? Well, let's take a look at the seven iron data. So as you can see, the Callaway
09:16was offering me more ball speed. So there's a jump in ball speed for me from the Callaway of five miles
09:21per hour. The launch angle was the same. And it was a little bit lower spinning the Callaway than the
09:27Kirkland. So I was getting more distance with that Callaway Chrome Soft X. Now, I think it's important
09:33here to say that when I tested the Callaway golf ball for the first time, I was really impressed
09:38with this Callaway Chrome Soft X. It provided excellent distance in the long game and good
09:43control in the short game. And that's why I chose it for this particular video. Because if you are
09:49thinking about going for a cheaper urethane golf ball, this is your one option with Kirkland. But with
09:55Callaway, you've got three options where you can choose something that's going to really sort of fit your
09:58game. That's why I chose the Chrome Soft X. And you can see from that number, those numbers
10:02there, just how well it does suit my game. And the same was true off the tee. So take a look at
10:08it. That jump in ball speed in particular with the driver. So 164 versus 158. The Callaway also
10:17launching a fraction higher but spinning less and providing quite significant extra distance gain.
10:22And I think when you saw the driver comparison I did out on the golf course, the challenge that I did,
10:28the Callaway golf balls were all longer than the Kirkland golf balls. But actually,
10:33it was during my on-course testing, both today and I've also tested this Kirkland ball before, where
10:39I just feel like if you're giving up something, for me, it's off the tee. It's a little bit of
10:44distance off the tee. It's not drastic. You're not losing 50 yards, but you might on certain shots lose
10:5220 or 30 yards. For me, that was certainly the case. Whilst I was getting great spin control from the
10:56Kirkland around the greens, I was also getting a bit more spin off the tee. And I think that goes to
11:01talk to exactly what you get if you invest in a premium ball. You get that separation in spin
11:09performance between the long game and the short game. You get an all-rounder, something that works
11:15really well in every department of the game. This Kirkland ball is very impressive, but it's better
11:21around the green than it is off the tee. Okay, so there you have it. That's my look at the Kirkland
11:27Signature 2.0 golf ball. And I think, had I been testing this on its own, I'd have been really
11:33impressed with it. I was really impressed with it because it offers fantastic short game performance.
11:38So really lovely feel off the putter face and fantastic spin control when you're hitting bunker
11:42shots, chip shots, pitch shots. It performs fantastically well, especially when you consider the price.
11:50But for me, as I started to move further away from the green, I felt as if this was spinning
11:56a little bit too much for me. And that's where the Callaway Chrome Soft sort of separated itself
12:01in terms of performance, because it still offered all those same attributes around the green,
12:06meant that if I was choosing, I think I'd probably choose to pay the extra and go for the Callaway
12:11Chrome Soft. But that doesn't necessarily mean that's the right thing for everyone out there. I think
12:15it's a good idea to figure out what your budget is for a golf ball and then make your choice
12:20accordingly. And if you don't want to stretch to those premium level golf balls, then the Kirkland
12:25Signature 2.0 is a fantastic option that will perform very well, but it's worth just knowing
12:32exactly what you are giving up on. That's it. If you've enjoyed the video, please do hit the like button.
12:39But that's it for now from the London Club. We'll see you next time.
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