Japanese Golf Balls

[bk24bk]

Question for you folks more knowledgeable than I......why are the golf balls so expensive? I happened across some Titleist VG3 balls and they reminded me of the NXT. Why are XXIO balls and others $100 a dozen?

Just curious. thanks

[Eca]

Forged balls :) .. sorry couldn't help it.

[+TourSpecGolfer]

Newer and different technology with balls geared to more specific segments where as in the states the balls are more generalized for soft/distance/spin.

In Japan they are the masters of rubber, the technology behind the ProV1 and ProV1x came from Bridgestone not Titleist. It's also got to do with pushing the envelope, in the states they stick with what works and sells and have much slimmer margins, the cost of R&D is not cheap and adding new tech 1-2 times a year isn't either which is what Japan does.

You also see a lot of balls in Japan that are for normal players in which driver spin increase is a good thing. The emphasis on Tour or marketing to the wannabe Tour like player isn't as powerful in Japan as it is in the states.

We should see the selection get smaller as with Bridgestone eliminating many TourStage balls, same with Srixon with other brands to follow, golfers not the brands imo are to blame, these companies have statistics on what people purchase, survey's, and other analytics that lead them to make what the masses want. If the segment of discerning golfers willing to spend more for products that continue to push the envelope grows then the data would support a direction of better quality materials and new technologies.

[bk24bk]

so, the benchmark in the US tends to be the Pro V1. How do these balls compare? Have you played them? thanks for the info!