In a technology where maximum professional golfers alternate golfing balls at least a handful of instances in step with spherical, 25-yr-vintage, Alex Chiarella did something first-rate on the Lethbridge Paradise Canyon Open. At the same time, he opted to play the identical Titleist Pro V1x for all 72 holes in direction to his first Mackenzie Tour victory. For the average golfer, making it through 18 holes unscathed without dropping the ball is a reason for the birthday party. Wayward tee pictures and the occasional awful leap make it not unusual to lose at least one shot in line with a round; that is why it’s usually beneficial to have a few extra pellets inside the bag, only in case.
Even professionals bring more great balls — somewhere in the community of 7 to 12 — however, their motives fluctuate slightly regarding setting a brand new sphere in play. Some believe there’s a performance advantage available through the usage of, as a minimum, a few new balls in keeping with spherical, while others, like 2019 U.S. Open winner Gary Woodland, are superstitious and prefer to exchange shots while a rectangular is going on the card. But with the best four bogeys at some stage in the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, Woodland went extended stretches with the identical ball in play, in no way as soon as thinking about the notion of swapping for a freshie.
“I love the durability,” said Woodland, who plays the Pro V1. “I best switch balls after I make bogeys, so I handiest took four balls out of play at the U.S. Open. So, I performed with the identical ball plenty, which was pleasant. But, the large deal is consistency and no surprises, and I didn’t have any of those.” Given the prolonged stretches Chiarella and Woodland have long gone these days without converting balls, it begs the question: How long can a golfer go along with using the equal ball earlier than noticing an overall performance drop-off? According to a Titleist consultant, “They’ve good-sized communique with ‘normal’ golfers as nicely who will write us about the durability and performance of our golfing balls with snapshots of the golfing ball having played over 120 consecutive holes with the equal ball.”
In different phrases, the average golfer doesn’t see a performance drop if the ball takes on put-on all through the regular course of play. However, that changes when the ball, for example, catches the cart’s direction or ricochets off a tree and incurs a scuff larger than a dime. “Our normal rule of thumb for normal golfers is as long as paint loss, a scuff or defacement of the golf ball is much less than the dimensions of a dime, it has to be properly to go,” the representative stated.
With enormous enhancements to the overall sturdiness of the elastomer cover, there is no demand to rotate balls as it was at some point in the heyday of the liquid-filled balata. If Alex Chiarella can use the equal ball for seventy-two holes in a competitive event, you can do the identical aspect without sweating performance. That’s assuming, of course, you could hold it in play for 4-plus rounds.
