mpbachman Posted May 24, 2015 Report Share Posted May 24, 2015 LOL! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mpbachman Posted May 24, 2015 Report Share Posted May 24, 2015 D, absolutely! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sundowner Posted May 30, 2015 Report Share Posted May 30, 2015 (edited) Bought 2 weeks ago the Vice Tour, as the compression is lower then Vice Pro. Compared the ball to Hex Chrome, Hex Chrome Soft, Bridgestone RX/RXS, E7, Gamer V2 and others. Long game: One of the longest balls with tight dispersion. Higher trajectory. really great. Short game: A little bit firm feel - no worry about, and very tight dispersion too. Not the check off Pro V1, but easy to adjust. Putter: With the ball I´m too short at the moment (very slow greens..). Try to adjust.. Great ball!! If I can adjust with the putter, it´s my new gamer...(on fast greens - it´s my new gamer..)-) Edited May 30, 2015 by sundowner Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+TourSpecGolfer Posted May 30, 2015 Report Share Posted May 30, 2015 Just for fun I'd love a Vice black ball with a red seven logo on it for alignment. I gotta say there is absolutely no doubt from a design, manufacturing, and technology standpoint that Titleist, Bridgestone, Callaway, and Srixon make the best balls in the world this is based on hard numbers from the world's 2 biggest factories. Now between those 4 brands it's about selecting the ball that is best for your swing/spin/trajectory/course conditions and weather. Ya it's not very fun or cool because these are not new boutique brands but it's known as fact from what I have seen and have had explained to me. This Taiwan factory who is getting everyone in trouble by infringing on Titleist's patients has caused a big mess and because they didn't do their due diligence some brands are going under, others will get stomped in court and that includes Vice unfortunately. For most it's very hard to tell what a good ball is there is a level of consistency with ball striking and skills required to really split what is the ball vs what is the club or swing or day, I personally am not at this level either and I won't say any brand names but some of the cheapest made worse performing Chinese balls have gotten rave reviews on this site, and many of the big USDM websites and from an insider perspective it leaves me scratching my head. Good balls do make a big big difference at any level but knowing what performance is coming from the ball, vs the swing, vs the club is not an easy thing to do. Same as testing clubs and shafts, for a while I would shaft, hit & review in 1 round on my own I could do a review a day but it's not the way to go as the next round was totally different or a few rounds later. I've realized It's an average of good & bad days over time and allowing others to hit it then changing the shaft and trying again and looking for a general theme. This game is nuts and this very same thing relates to why many of us buy and sell clubs so frequently one of the most common things I see is not giving a new club enough time, the second is not really breaking down the WHY it's doing what it does for us, then the shaft and build. I see some buy a driver with a shaft it doesn't work in 1-2 rounds so it's off to the B/S/T where as IFthey gave it time, tinkered and took a more analytical approach to it they may find its a great club, sometimes if I want to love a club and I end up not being able to hit it I see my coach on the LM to find out why. This is a $$$ saver too because understand what works or doesn't work makes our next purchase better thought out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nobmontana Posted May 30, 2015 Report Share Posted May 30, 2015 (edited) While we are on subject of balls. Two weeks ago, the local pro who has some inside connection to the tour told me that Bridgestone is the only major ball manufacturer where the balls they retail are from exactly the same batch as the ones used by their Tour pros. Other companies have special handpicking process for their Tour Pros and general consumers essentially buy their second tier quality balls. In other words, Matt Kuchar can walk into a d**ks Sporting goods store and buy a dozen of B330S to use in his next tournament and not see a difference with balls given from his tour van. I switched to Bridgestone at that point. No more V1 for me. Still testing between S, RX and RXS and leaning more towards S but want to give some more play time with the other two. One thing I noticed that is significantly different between V1 or V1X is that full wedge shots don't scuff up the Bridgestones at all compared to V1. Used the same ball for four 9 hole rounds and didn't see any scuffs. Then I shot it in the pond yesterday. :( but I also had my best 9 hole ever this week at even par! coincidence?! Yah, probably... :) Another notable is that it seems my approach shots are actually stopping now. Maybe I just wasn't paying much attention before but sure seems that way. These smaller company balls are certainly intriguing especially the Vice and Snell but gonna focus on Bridgestone for now. Oh and Bridestone has not released a 2015 version of their 330 balls. The Pro answered , "Why change what's working?!" LOL The sporting goods store name got masked! Edited May 30, 2015 by nobmontana Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nobmontana Posted May 30, 2015 Report Share Posted May 30, 2015 This game is nuts and this very same thing relates to why many of us buy and sell clubs so frequently one of the most common things I see is not giving a new club enough time, the second is not really breaking down the WHY it's doing what it does for us, then the shaft and build. I see some buy a driver with a shaft it doesn't work in 1-2 rounds so it's off to the B/S/T where as IFthey gave it time, tinkered and took a more analytical approach to it they may find its a great club, sometimes if I want to love a club and I end up not being able to hit it I see my coach on the LM to find out why. This is a $$$ saver too because understand what works or doesn't work makes our next purchase better thought out. My ears are hurting! :) You just described me of recent days! but I did try at least several shafts before I gave up on some heads. While I understand its not economical or effective to change equipment so frequently, for us club horders, it's defintely a pretty big part of the fun too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mpbachman Posted May 30, 2015 Report Share Posted May 30, 2015 (edited) Nob, the pro ball vs retail was a discussion I was just having with a former Korean Pro that plays Volvik. We discussed the difference in compression that he wanted for his s3 compared to retail. Golf Digest has a great spin chart that shows driver vs wedge spin that is helpful, not sure if there is a new one for 2015. I personally enjoyed the Vice balls and always root for the smaller company (ie Modart, etc). I can't say that they are absolutely better than a Z Star XV or 330S (which are my other favorites). The XV longer, the S the only ball I can spin back. Do any of the big 4 share manufacturing centers? Edited May 30, 2015 by mpbachman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+TourSpecGolfer Posted May 30, 2015 Report Share Posted May 30, 2015 I like the branding and image of Vice, very cool. I contacted yesterday to do a group buy of 48-100doz. MP which balls from the line up do you consider closest to the ProV & X? gotta have Bill Murray and Chuck on them :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+TourSpecGolfer Posted May 30, 2015 Report Share Posted May 30, 2015 Or better yet why don't we go directly to the factory and produce the load of balls of their best stuff that TSG members can have them at cost + expenses? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mpbachman Posted May 30, 2015 Report Share Posted May 30, 2015 The Pro+ and Pro are their top of the line balls. I think they probably are around 100 and 90 in compression each (Pro+ a four piece and Pro a three piece though it gets out there distance-wise too). Both don't spin a ton on the driver and are good around the greens (no Z Star but better than that off the driver). I don't think there is a ton of good resources or knowledge out there in terms of cover materials, core design, four piece v three piece, compression for your swing, etc. At least the majority of folks I play with use Titleist because everyone else does but they really don't understand that a ProV1/X are pretty high-compression balls (and are scared off of the - say - 330 b/c it says 105mph+ but is typically around the same compression as well). There could be a lot of opportunity in really getting folks to order balls based on the compression they are looking for, 3/4 piece, various core material, etc based on what they want to change with their ball flight (higher/lower, side spin reduction, more spin on greens, softer/harder feel, etc). I would be down grabbing some balls straight from the factory :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mpbachman Posted May 30, 2015 Report Share Posted May 30, 2015 Also, a comparison I love to do is grabbing two of the same balls and rubbing them against each other to feel the friction of the coating/cover. You can really tell a difference between surlyn and urethane as well as even different urethane balls and their coating (Vice in this regard feel very sticky which is great, next the new Z Stars followed along by the 330s and ProV1s for me...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RLL33 Posted May 30, 2015 Report Share Posted May 30, 2015 I like the stickiness of the Pro+ in particular coupled with great distance. Putts well too on fast greens. Used it all week and ordered a few dozen with company logo on it. Really nice guy checked in with me on sizing of the logo and text as well. This is a good group of guys, would hate to see them pushed out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mpbachman Posted May 30, 2015 Report Share Posted May 30, 2015 Agreed! Go little guy! Love the start-up story :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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