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Japan Ball Test 2004


jick

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Taken from Japanese Weekly Golf Digest No. 8, 2004, with Michelle Wie on the cover. Player A is a professional with a 49 m/s clubhead speed (or 110 mph) and uses a Taylor Made R580 driver. Player B's clubhead speed is 45 m/s (or 101 mph) and he uses a 360cc driver - not sure what brand.

I cannot understand Japanese so I didn't quite get all the parameters of the test (such as wind speed, if the distance is just carry or with roll, how many tries did the tester get, etc.). I start with the player (A or B) then the first succeeding column is driver feel rated from 1 to 5. The second column is driver trajectory rated from 1 to 5. The third column is driver distance downwind (with the wind). The fourth column is driver distance upwind (against the wind). The fifth column is wedge feel on a scale of 1 to 5, and the sixth colum is wedge spin on a scale of 1 to 5.

I personally find this data quite useful because there are really numbers involved, especially the downwind and upwind distances. There were other balls in the test but they were only Japan-only balls so I didn't include them, except for the Tourstage models which the Japanese players in the US Tour use.

NIKE TA2|LNG

A-4-4-286-255-3-4

B-3-3-250-223-3-4

TITLEIST PRO V1 392

A-5-4-283-256-5-4

B-4-4-242-225-5-3

TITLEIST PRO V1X 332

A-5-5-280-236-4-5

B-4-4-266-227-4-5

CALLAWAY HX TOUR

A-5-3-296-254-4-4

B-2-2-258-217-3-4

SRIXON UR-X

A-5-4-303-261-5-4

B-4-4-265-248-4-4

TOURSTAGE X-01

A-3-5-294-258-4-4

B-3-4-251-230-3-4

TOURSTAGE X-01S

A-4-4-295-250-4-4

B-4-4-270-228-5-4

To me, some figures are quite improbable and there are major discrepancies from ball-to-ball. I am not sure about the accuracy or methodology used, but I am sure that the magazine is tied up with the US Golf Digest so they are of high reputation in Japan. And the Japanese are usually perfectionists with great meticulous precision, so I don't think the results here are total trash. After all, the did publish it in a magazine and it has actual numbers (unlike US Golf Magazine or Golf Digest which just aims to please all subscribers).

So just take this info for what it is and hope it can help you guys in finding the ideal ball for you.

Jovi

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thanks for the info it looks to me the UR-X looks like the best x01s and pro v 1x close on its heels.JMO

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i think the first distance is total drive and the second distance listed is carry yards......

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