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Join Golf Monthly's Joel Tadman as he breaks down the common mistakes golfers make when choosing a ball. From optimizing driver spin to gaining control on windy days and sinking more putts, this guide will help you match your ball to your game.
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00:00Are you fed up of hitting what you think are good golf shots but not getting the
00:03results that you were hoping for? A lot of golfers will be quick to blame their
00:07swing or the clubs but it could actually be your golf ball that's causing all
00:11your problems. So in this video I'm going to highlight the seven signs that you're
00:15using the wrong golf ball and give you some advice that could really help you
00:19choose the right type of golf ball for your game that should help improve your
00:23results on the golf course. We're here at the amazing La Hacienda Golf Links in
00:27Spain, let's get into it.
00:32Sign number one would be not getting the amount of distance that you were hoping
00:35for with your driver. We all know it's frustrating you go out on the course with
00:40your buddies and you think that you should be hitting it a similar distance to them
00:43but when you get down to the fairway it turns out they're hitting it five ten
00:46yards longer and it's really frustrating but it could be the golf ball that's at
00:50fault and particularly the spin profile of it. We all know that golfers deliver the
00:55club in very different ways in different speeds and as a result there's no spin
00:59number that's going to be right for every type of golfer but it's important
01:02that you get the right spin profile for you to see the optimum ball flight because
01:06what a lot of golfers typically see would be a ball flight where the ball starts
01:10quite low and climbs and that's an obvious sign that the golf ball is
01:13spinning too much for your driver. What you really want with your driver ball
01:17flight is one that sort of launches high and sort of pierces forward on a
01:21boring trajectory so that rainbow ball flight is something you really want to
01:25see with driver you don't want to see it start low and climb up too high because
01:28that if you're hitting into the wind that's going to really rob you of
01:31distance you also don't want to see a trajectory where the ball sort of falls
01:35out of the sky too early that's a sign that your golf ball is not spinning
01:39enough for you so that trajectory is really important to really observe the
01:43flight when you hit a driver you want to see that sort of rainbow ball flight and
01:47that's going to give you the most amount of distance potential for your drive so
01:50hopefully I can sort of demonstrate that one that for you now this is the
01:53golf ball that's fully optimized for my particular swing
02:04yeah I'm pretty happy with that one that's the optimum ball flight for my
02:07particular swing speed and delivery so have a look at your ball flight see if
02:11it's falling out the sky or climbing too much definitely a switch in the spin
02:14profile of the golf ball is going to give you a little bit more distance
02:17but do be careful if you are switching for example into a lower spinning golf ball
02:21there's going to be a bit of trade-off in performance in terms of what you're
02:23experiencing into and around the green so if you can sacrifice a little bit of
02:27short gain control for an added distance off the tee if you prioritize distance you
02:31really want to out drive your friends make that switch it should give you the
02:35potential to get further down the fairway and score a little bit lower
02:43so another sign that you're using the wrong golf ball is a lack of
02:46control in the wind so if you feel like you're hitting good shots but you feel
02:50like the wind is buffeting them too much maybe you hit the ball a little bit too
02:53high and the wind is pushing it one way or the other or maybe it's pushing it
02:56back towards you you're losing a lot of distance or if you generally play on
03:00quite exposed golf courses and you're using quite a high flying golf ball that is
03:04obviously not probably the best way to go so there are some advantages in the
03:09rules of golf you're able to tee up at any type of conforming golf ball on and the start of
03:14any hole in the amateur game
03:15so that's definitely something you can take advantage of if you come to a hole
03:19where it's maybe blowing into the wind and you need to keep the flight down a
03:23changing golf ball would really help it's something I've talked about in other
03:26videos as well so for example I've got a tight list velocity here which is one of
03:30the higher flying golf balls in the tight list range which is fine when you're
03:34hitting downwind but if you do play in quite exposed golf courses that extra
03:38height is going to cause you a bit of a problem so let's just hit one with the
03:42tight list and hopefully you can see how high the ball flight is so that was a
03:50pretty good hit with the tight list you see that sort of right in those clouds
03:53there you'll see from the shot tracer just how high that shot went and so
03:57obviously within the rules of golf you know there's there's a lot of options
03:59available to you I've got here the tight list pro v1 which is a considerably
04:03lower flying golf ball than the tight list velocity in the tight list range you've
04:07got the velocity then you've got the pro v1x then you've got the pro v1 and then if
04:10you wanted something even more extreme than that you might go for the avx which
04:13is a significantly lower spinning lower flying golf ball definitely worth trying
04:17if you play a lot of links golf I'd 100% recommend the avx golf ball it's a really
04:21good ball at keeping the flight down and getting a more penetrating trajectory but
04:25anyway here's the tight list pro v1 which by design is a lower flying golf ball and
04:31obviously you know if there's wind around generally keeping the flight down is
04:34going to mean you get a little bit more control it's not going to be buffeted as
04:37much by that wind in in all directions you see there there's a bit necky but
04:45that was noticeably lower than the velocity and it's running a lot more when
04:49it lands so if you are playing in quite windy conditions definitely consider
04:53switching golf ball into something that's going to fly lower and it should
04:56help you gain a little bit more control over where it's going
05:06now that is another sign that you might be using the wrong golf ball if you
05:10struggle from short range in particular with your alignment and feeling
05:13comfortable over the ball that you're aiming in the right place maybe a change
05:16of golf ball could really help you out because there's lots of visual options on
05:20the golf ball market that will enhance your awareness of where you're aiming the
05:24putter face and there's a few options that I really like and these are two
05:28ones in particular so I've got the tailor-made TP5X stripe and this is the
05:32Callaway Chrome Soft X triple track 360 obviously more recently it's been the
05:37chrome tour 360 this is an older model but you can see the visual impact this will
05:41have on so highlighting exactly where the putter is aiming if you're able to align the
05:47sight lines on your putter with where these lines and graphics are aiming so
05:52it's really simple you just stand behind the ball get it lined up I've got the
05:56Callaway one here you can just check it maybe just use the shaft of your putter
06:00just to check it this is a pretty straight putt so I'm pretty happy with that and
06:04then all you have to do is make sure you get the sight lines on your putter
06:07exactly aligned with where the lines on the ball are aiming and as an added
06:13benefit of this it will definitely help you if your perception of where your
06:17putter is aiming is off it'll give you that visual feedback so I know that I
06:20actually tend to aim right and pull my putts online so as a result even though
06:24I've got this strike pretty much aimed at the hole actually looks like it's aiming
06:27a long way left of the hole so that's going to really help your practice and
06:30ingraining a more neutral stroke and maybe ironing out some of the faults in
06:34your putting stroke that should help you longer term but anyway all you do with
06:38this particular shot get the sight line lined up with the line on the ball and
06:42just focus on matching up when you swing the putter just like that and in it
06:47goes so if you struggle to hold out from short range definitely try something on
06:51the ball obviously a line would work just as well but these ones in particular
06:54are a little bit more vivid and they're going to give you really good visual
06:56feedback on your alignment which should help you hold more short putts
07:04now another sign that you might be using the wrong golf ball is the chip shots
07:14release past the hole a lot more than you're expecting I think a lot of golfers
07:18like playing a distance orientated golf balls off to it gives them more yardage
07:23but around the greens it can lose them a lot of control if you're someone who likes to
07:27be quite aggressive with your landing spots likes to play the the higher shot
07:31chip shots around the green you could really be sacrificing that performance
07:34it's going to help you get up and down so one option to definitely try would be
07:38to switch to a urethane covered golf ball on this sort of partial chip shot
07:42you're not activating any other layer on the golf ball apart from the cover so
07:46urethane cover is going to give you more friction with the clubface and the
07:50grooves going to give you more spin around the greens you'll notice when you chip
07:53with a urethane cover golf ball like I've got here the ball flight is very
07:59different but more importantly how it reacts when it lands on the second and
08:02third bounce is incredibly different
08:07so you can see how much lower that flew how much it stopped to attention quickly
08:11when it bounced so it's very much down to personal preference if you're someone
08:14that likes to play a lot of chip and run shots you prioritize distance off the tee
08:18versus control around the green maybe your short game is fairly one-dimensional
08:21and you're okay with that then you can get away with maybe a non-urethane covered
08:25golf ball a more distance ball that's going to give you more release around the
08:28greens and accept that you might not get up and down a lot of the time if you're
08:31short-sided but if you're something that wants to be a bit more creative around
08:34the greens and wants the opportunity to get up and down in more situations
08:38especially from the rough when you really need that spin to get the ball to
08:41stop switching to a urethane covered golf ball is just going to give you a few
08:44more options around the green it's going to give you a little bit more control when
08:46you're chipping and it might cost you a few more pounds versus a distance ball
08:51but in the long run I think it's probably going to save you a few shots
08:58now another sign you're using the wrong golf ball again relates to distance
09:02especially off the tee but it specifically refers to the compression of
09:06your golf ball a lot of golfers out there are very quick to choose a soft
09:10feeling golf ball because they like the feel of it and maybe they think that gives
09:14them a little bit more control into and around the greens but generally speaking
09:18a softer golf ball is a slower golf ball so for most golfers you may well
09:23experience less distance off the tee with us a low compression golf ball versus a
09:28higher compression golf ball it's gonna be a little bit firmer and give you a
09:31little bit more speed it's not an exact science and compression of golf balls
09:35range from 30 or the way up to something in excess of over a hundred so
09:39there's a whole range of different spectrum of compressions you can choose
09:43slower swing speeds could well benefit from actually having a little bit more
09:47compression in their golf ball where the ball deforms and springs off the face a
09:52little bit more but that point of diminishing returns comes quite quick
09:55pretty quickly as you move up the scale of compression so my advice to you on this
10:00would be to try out different compressions of golf ball normally it's
10:04listed on the box somewhere try a soft feeling golf ball try a firm feeling golf ball
10:09try something in the middle and see exactly what your ball speed and your
10:12carry distance is like but I'd say generally speaking a lot of golfers would
10:16be probably playing a ball that is a little bit too soft for them and if you
10:20want to hit the ball further maybe switching into a slightly firmer golf ball
10:24would be the way to go now some manufacturers obviously will offer
10:28ball fittings and some other manufacturers will offer recommendations for
10:32golf ball based on driver swing speed all I would say on that is just be a
10:36little bit careful because obviously when you're hitting a golf ball you're not
10:39just hitting it with driver you're hitting with lots of different clubs
10:41where you're delivering the club at lots of different speeds so it's not an
10:45exact science to be able to recommend a particular type of golf ball based on
10:48your driver swing speed but as a rough guide it could well be helpful in terms of
10:53determining which compression of golf ball would be right for your game
11:07yeah that's another common mistake and a real sign that you're using the wrong
11:11golf ball is if your iron shots are flying too high especially in this
11:15situation a lot of trouble short a little bit wind into you really don't want to
11:19be hitting your iron shots too high and coming up short of the pin so and that
11:24often happens when you use a distance orientated golf ball because you're not
11:27getting that friction with the ball on the face like you typically would with a
11:32golf ball that has a urethane cover a premium golf ball you typically with a
11:35firm golf ball it would slide up the face a little bit more launch a little bit
11:39higher and that's when you get those trajectories that go quite high obviously
11:42you do get a slightly lower spin as well with a sort of firmer maybe like a
11:46two-piece serling golf ball but generally speaking if your iron shots are going too
11:51high it's a sign that you might need to make a switch into something that's going to
11:54give you a slightly lower trajectory a bit more control and maybe a urethane covered
11:59golf ball you spend a little bit more you get a little bit more control over
12:03your ball flight and that's going to help you find a few more greens and lower your
12:07scores
12:11so another sign that you're using the wrong golf ball is that if you struggle to
12:14really see it or track the trajectory of it whether that's through the air or
12:18even when you get down to the hole the fairway or more likely the rough and you
12:22struggle to see where the ball's finished it could be that you a changing
12:26golf ball actually help you see the ball through the air or on the ground
12:29a little bit better and there are plenty of options out there in terms of the
12:32visual tech available on golf balls that might help you see golf balls a little
12:36bit clearly so I've just brought a few here from home this is the tailor-made
12:40TP5 picks with its sort of triangle patterns on it that's going to definitely
12:44make it easy to see you can switch to a yellow golf ball I've got the the yellow
12:47Pro V1X here from Titleist again definitely going to help you pick out a
12:52golf ball you know when you've got a maybe not today I can see here at La Hathienda
12:56we've got a lovely bright blue sky but if there's a white milky sky white golf
13:00ball against a white sky it's going to be difficult to see so yellow golf ball
13:03would definitely help or one thing I really like which I'm the one I'm going
13:07to sort of demonstrate for you now is the the Srixon this is the Q star tour
13:11divide you can get Z star divides as well you can see this is a sort of split
13:16golf ball with yellow on one side red on the other great for alignment you can use
13:20it on on the golf course it's conforming to the rules of golf so great for
13:22alignment when you're putting you can obviously peg it up like that to help
13:26you with the line with the driving but what thing you can do with this
13:29particular golf ball if you do struggle to track where it goes through the air
13:32maybe your your eyesight is not as good as it used to be if you tee up this way
13:37so with the the divide sort of pointing away from me so perpendicular to the
13:41target when you hit a drive obviously the ball will spin backwards it creates
13:46like a strobe effect it's very easy to spot through the air so definitely
13:51where we're trying if you if you struggle to see golf balls so let's
13:54demonstrate with that for you now and you can hopefully see how much easier it
13:58is to pick out
14:04so we have you could definitely see that sort of strobe effect with the ball
14:06spinning in the different colors appearing as it was rotating which
14:09definitely made it easier to see down that hole so if you are someone that
14:13struggles to see where your balls go let's face it no one knows no one likes
14:16that person who constantly asks the other people oh did you see that where did that go
14:20maybe you're switching to any of these type of golf balls but it's especially
14:23that that divide option from friction could help you see the ball a little bit
14:27better so have you recognized any of the signs I've talked about in this video
14:31well in that case some new golf balls could well be on the cards do your
14:34research invest in maybe a sleeve of three give them a try and see how they
14:39compared to what you played before and hopefully if with the advice that I've
14:42given you you should better make a change for the better and it might even
14:45help you improve your scores that's all for me here
14:48a lot at the end golf links in Spain I'll see you next time
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