 Bridgestone says it's using customer feedback to develop new golf balls for next year. Give us your feedback on what you're currently using and why. Is your choice based on performance, brand preference, price or other considerations?
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Something cheap that doesn't get me laughed at! I'm honestly not good enough to worry about that at the moment!
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 I use either Srixon AD333's or old Titleist So-Lo's (model before the current Carry/Roll versions). I like a soft feeling ball that launches fairly high. Both of these balls give me the feel and sound that I like. I also like to keep the cost fairly low and they both achive this too. I also like the fact that I can happily use them all year round. I don't generate huge amounts of spin, so I am happy with playing shots to allow for the ball rolling up to the pin in summer. I winter, I am happy to adjust to carry the ball to the pin and find that I can stop the ball quickly enough, with a little back-spin. The premium balls I have tried tend to spin too much in such conditions, especially the Pro-V1's which are the only ones I've tried that feel and sound right to me. My son Ben is different and loves the Callaway HX Tour 56's and Tour i's (trust him to have expensive tastes). He loves their firmer feel and resultant slightly clickier sound off the face. He is able to vary his ball-flight much better than I can and believes that these balls help him to shape shots better. They are as long as anything he has tried and his touch around greens is something to envy, as he can stop the ball on a sixpence when required and can also allow shots to run out. They are not as durable as the balls I use, but he uses older ones for practice rounds and he usually has enough credit in the pro-shop to save me from having to buy too many!
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 At the moment I am using the Taylormade TP Black and Red LDP, best balls I have hit in windy conditions.
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Up Until the last two weeks or so i used the pro.v1 because of it's perfromance then a mate of mine gave me a srixon zur(s) and i must say they are absolutly fine very,very comparable to the pro.v 1. During the winter i will use something comparable to the nxt as the softness of the course/greens tends to compensate the hardness of the ball
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Titleist NXTs for me at the moment.
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 I use the Srixon Soft Feel, very comparable to the Pro V1 but at a third of the price 
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 I use Dunlop Loco's 24 for £8 at Chav sports - might move to something a bit softer next summer but they are fine for soft winter conditions (all year round then).
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 I mostly use Srixon Trispeeds in firm conditions, Pinnacle Exceptions in soft (so I'm getting through a lot of my stockpile this summer!). Reasons for the Srixons being my favourite: - Price: I can justify something around £20 a dozen to myself - couldn't pay £3 a ball for eg ProV1s (and probably couldn't compress them enough to get optimum performance out of them).
- Spin: I do feel the 3-piece construction gives me a bit more "stop" than even a soft 2-piece like the Pinnacles or AD333s/SoftFeels (though they're all perfectly decent balls).
- Straightness: they don't seem to fade/slice as badly for me as Titleist NXT Tours (though that's a superb ball around the green).
- Feel: I just like the way the ball comes off the putter.
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 The new Bridgestones are apparently based on an offering already available & hugely successful in Japan, the Tourstage X01S3. Looking forward to trying these as I really like the B330 S but wouldn't grumble at a bit of extra distance with my 95mph swing speed. For me how a ball feels when chipping and putting is the most important thing, I am amazed at how much praise the Srixon Soft Feel gets as I think it is like putting with a pebble despite the name. I love Srixon balls, playing the ZURs at the moment and often use the AD333, expecially in winter, just think the Soft Feel is there worst offering by far. For me all the top balls, Pro V1, TM TP Red, Bridgestone etc play very similar in terms of feel, distance and spin, the TM just cuts up too quickly.
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Usually play prov1's but found a nike one black yesterday. Everythime i hit the dancefloor i spun it back! I didn't realise they were super spinning balls. Sometimes get a bit of 'backy' with the prov's but the nike was better for me.
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I use Bridgestone 330s but can only get from a friend in the states, you can buy them on the internet but you have to buy 3 dozon to make it worth while Frank
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 Dunlop loco's,very cheap and do the job.
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Srixon AD333s or Titleist NXT in the summer; Pinnacle Gold or Exception in the winter
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"For me how a ball feels when chipping and putting is the most important thing, I am amazed at how much praise the Srixon Soft Feel gets as I think it is like putting with a pebble despite the name. I love Srixon balls, playing the ZURs at the moment and often use the AD333, expecially in winter, just think the Soft Feel is there worst offering by far." Sorry James but I couldn't disagree more, the Soft Feel for my money is as soft as a Pro V1 - I think the ZUR's are a disappointment But there you go, one man's soft ball is another man's hard rock 
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I use Titleist NXT Tour for general play coz they r cheaper than Pro V1 and V1x's which I use only for competitions. Im considering changing to Taylor Made TP RED and BLACK as all my gear is Taylor Made but im not sure of their performance yet!
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| Edited: 10/09/08 16:17 |
The Srixon soft feel has got to be one of the softest feeling balls I have ever tried
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Long & Straight, if you're looking for a TM equivalent of the NXT Tours, try the Burner TPs. Also 3-piece, £20 a dozen (available at JJB if you can find them in stock), perhaps not quite as soft as the Tour but fly a bit straighter to make up for it.
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I've recently changed from the Wilson Staff soft feel ball to the Srizon AD333. I'm not good enough a golfer to accurately rate ball performance, but I would say that the Srixons give a bit more back spin around the green, without any noticeable loss of distance. Additionally, they seem to be a little more reilient than the Wilson Staffs, which tend to become alittle discoloured quite quickly. I must try the Srixon 'Softfeels' - even if only to see who was right about it !!
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