2006 Golf Ball Review
by Chuck Quinton

Are you as confused and bewildered about the assortment of high-priced golf balls out there as I am? Three layers, four layers, soft core, firm core; and now even high launch golf balls. How does a golf ball launch high? Isn't that the affect of the clubface loft at impact? Anyways, I've had ENOUGH! I want to know, REALLY know what kind of difference there is between all the golf balls. Is any golf ball worth $50 per dozen? Is a $15 per dozen ball complete junk? And what constitutes complete junk? I set out to find the answers and am pleased to present my first set of results.

In the first wave of tests, I decided to review a wide array of golf balls, a mixture of high end and low end balls ranging from $8 a dozen on sale (Top Flites) to $50 a dozen (Nike One). My tests consisted of the following areas: driving distance and workability, iron ball flight with an 8 iron, full 60 degree wedges, half wedge shots at 60 yards, chipping with a 60 degree wedge, putting and playing one full round of 18 holes with each ball. Below is a breakdown of performance and notes for each ball.

 

Driving Distance

Rank	Golf Ball	Driving Distance	Price Paid	Price Per Ball
1	Pinnacle Gold Long Drive	299.67 yards	$15 / 15 balls	$1
2	MaxFli Black Max	285.5 yards	$29 / 12 balls	$2.41
3	Titleist Pro V1x	285 yards	$44 / 12 balls	$3.66
4	Top Flite Straight	284 yards	$8 on sale / 15 balls	$ .53
5	Nike One Platinum	284 yards	$39 / 12 balls	$3.25
6	Hogan Hawk	280 yards	$25 / 12 balls	$2.08

 

*Notes: All prices were taken from the price paid at GolfSmith. Driving distance was averaged over all drives (20 per ball), throwing out the the extreme highs and lows and clubhead speed was measured and kept constant plus or minus 2 mph on each shot using a swing speed radar device. All shots were hit to the same flat fairway under windless conditions.

 

The Winner! Pinnacle Gold Long Drive
The beast is alllliiiiiiiiiivvveee..... This ball is LONG and STRAIGHT. The longest drive with this ball was 310 yards, more than 20 yards longer than any other ball, and that one was thrown out of the averages! This ball was truly, consistently 15 yards longer than every other ball in the test and had the most awe-inspiring straightest flight of them all. It felt fine off the driver, a little firmer than the others, but not much. It had a good overall feel that you certainly wouldn't mind off every tee shot and is very playable. I had no trouble working the ball whatsoever with the driver. In fact, the ball was very controlled when moving it both ways and was the easiest to control over all the golf balls because misses turned out just fine and good shots moved just the right amount. There was a large margin of "operator error" built into this ball, sort of like a "Golf Ball for Dummies". I felt confident that I could move it in either direction with no fear of ever losing it by over cutting it or hitting a bad hook. I literally can't say a single bad thing about this ball off the tee.

 

Second Place - MaxFli Black Max
At this point, every single ball just becomes a blur. While the MaxFli did go a touch further, it was not statistically significant over any other ball except for the Hogan Hawk, and even that is really negligible. The Black Max did spin a little less than some of the other balls, making it easier to keep in play on misses and was easier to work than the Pinnacle, but with that came a price. That price was that misses were far more penalizing than with the Pinnacle. If I over cut it on a shot, I would lose several more yards and it would be more off line, enough to end up in the rough or in trouble off the fairway. While I didn't have to work as hard to hit cut shots and hooks, they did require a finer touch for more control. With the Pinnacle, you could do pretty much hit it like a gorilla and it would only move a few extra yards. The Black Max is a fine ball off the tee and its performance was nearly identical to all the other balls in the list that scored lower.

 

Third through Sixth - Everyone Else
I kid you not when I say that everything started looking the same. Each ball flew the same distance, rolled the same distance, turned over the same, etc. There was a difference in feel in the balls, but all of them felt good and solid except for one - the Top Flite. This ball feels TERRIBLE! The best way to describe hitting this ball is it's like hitting a hard boiled egg. It just seems to absorb the blow, feels soft and slow off the face and doesn't excite you in any form or fashion when hitting really solid shots. On bad shots, it flew offline just like the others and didn't have any problem with hitting poor shots that were very penalizing on mishits. But hey, it was only $8 and in this case, you actually DO get what you pay for.

The Pro V1x and Nike One both feel very good off the driver, with the Nike having a really nice pop at impact. It is not hard to compress the ball but does play fairly firm. Both balls are top quality and I have nothing to say bad about them except that, like every other ball other than the Pinnacle, bad shots will punish you. These balls will spin more off the driver and mishits can be very severe, especially by a high handicap golfer.

The last ball was the Hogan Hawk and didn't fair well in this category. It didn't have much zip off the face and felt pretty soft at impact. The ball is easy to work both directions as it spins very well off the face but will punish mis-struck shots.

 

Conclusion
I can honestly not recommend any ball over the other except for the Pinnacle. That ball simply out performed every other ball off the tee, period. Mishits weren't nearly as bad and still very long, much longer than the others. The distance gap on average shots is just mind blowing and I can't see any reason whatsoever for anyone not to put this ball in play immediately from a pure driving perspective. It is very long, and most importantly very STRAIGHT off the tee. Of course, it's not just about driving, so what about the irons?

8 Iron - 156 yards

For the next test, I setup to hit full shots into a green from 156 yards hitting a full 8 iron with each ball to test trajectory, workability and stopping power. Once again, the Pinnacle Gold Long Distance surprised everyone.

Rank	Golf Ball	Feel	Workability out of 10	Cover Durabiltiy out of 10
1	Pinnacle Gold Long Drive	8	9	10
2	Nike One Platinum	9	9	9
3	Titleist Pro V1x	9.5	10	7.5
4	Hogan Hawk	10	9.5	8
5	MaxFli Black Max	9	10	7.5
6	Top Flite Straight	6	7	9.5

 

Winner! Pinnacle Once Again!

This was a tough category to score so we spent a great deal of time hitting a lot of shots from this position to try and find statistical discernible data and there just wasn't much. So, the final rankings are based on my overall subjective rating of playability and feel. Once again, every single ball performed basically exactly the same. The trajectories were the same, they all hit and stopped and went the exact same distance, literally. We couldn't even figure out an average difference between all the balls except for the Pinnacle, which was 6.5 yards longer on average than every other ball. That's not necessarily a benefit, but it is statistically significant.

 

I hit twenty shots with each ball and worked the ball both ways with each one. Once again, the Pinnacle was much easier to control and didn't want to get away from you when you accidentally hit a "going hook" or wiped cut. It just sort of went about its business, turned a little more and then sat down. It was sort of hard to screw up a shot, especially when compared to the other higher spinning balls. The ball didn't have any trouble stopping either, it landed, bounced, and then trickled back a couple inches, just the same as every other ball. During the test, the greens were not overly fast or firm, so I would expect this to be different on really hard, fast greens, but could only speculate. Because the balls were all launched the same, they all behaved the same on the green and sat quickly upon landing.

 

Everyone Else

There was no real difference between any of the other balls except for the Top Flite again, which felt so, just, weird and wrong that I couldn't stand it. I can't say anything nice about it so I won't say anything at all. All the balls performed well and similarly and really only differed in feel and durability. The Hogan Hawk was the only ball that did seem to fly a bit lower than the others and with a little more spin, which I liked and this showed up in the Wedge Test as well. It feels best off the irons and wedges, but didn't perform well off the driver. I guess that is the compromise. The Nike One felt much more firm off the 8 iron but flew very true. It didn't seem to want to go off line much but the firmer feel was noticable. A good ball for very good ball strikers who like to finesse the ball and hit hard. The Black Max lived up to its hype and plays very well, although, like the Pro V1x, you can easily go through a ball every couple holes as the cover is easy to chew through with a properly struck iron shot. Because of that, they lose favor in my eyes. I've played several tournaments with Pro V1x and end up having to switch balls after almost every wedge shot and I'm certain the Black Max would be no different.

Wedge Test

When it comes to choosing a golf ball, how it plays off the wedges must be one of your top priorities so I spent a lot of time hitting a lot of shots for this test. The test was performed with a full 60 degree lob wedge from the middle of the fairway at 85 yards out hit to the center of the green. Once again, the golf balls performed nearly identically.

 

It was hard to determine a clear winner hitting a full wedge shot, with half wedges, it would be easier. Each ball flew on an identical trajectory, hit and stopped immediately. Again, our greens are running slow, about an 8 on the Stimpmeter, because of the transition from rye to bermuda for the summer. I am certain on hard, fast greens there would be a difference in how the balls behaved on the green, but under these conditions, there was nothing. The only difference was that, once again, the Hogan Hawk flew a little lower with a flatter ball flight. The Hawk, Pro V1, and Black Max all felt similar off the wedge; pretty soft with good feedback. The Nike ball was definitely firmer feeling off the wedge and this was consistent with the findings when struck with the 8 iron. This ball feels much firmer when not struck at high speeds but still spins plenty. The Top Flite, again, felt terrible, like a cheap ball worth about 53 cents per ball. Surpisingly, the Pinnacle Gold flew the same as every other ball, did not feel overly firm and stopped on the green just like the rest. When hitting a full shot with the Pinnacle, very little is lost over a much more expensive ball and I am absolutely certain that only a small percentage of golfers would not find the Pinnacle just as playable as any other ball on the market when hitting full shots with any club.

Half Wedges

Now the story begins to unfold a little more definitively. I did these tests in the order that they are presented here and have to say, I was about to call Pinnacle up and ask for a sponsorship deal. The balls were just so good all around that it was tough to justify the lost distance and control on bad shots with the pricier high-end golf balls. But, when it come to hitting the half wedge shots, the Gold fell from its pinnacle.

I set up hitting 60 yard shots with a 60 degree wedge into a fairly sloped green from back to front from a fairway lie. Whereas in the other tests there was very little to distinguish the balls apart, from these shots there was no comparison. In fact, it was actually quite incredible the difference in flight, feel and spin. Interestingly, the ball that performed the worst off the tee was the best on half shots.

 

Rank	Golf Ball	Feel	Spin	Cover Durabiltiy out of 10
1	Hogan Hawk	10	10	9
2	MaxFli Black Max	9.5	9.5	7
3	Nike One Platinum	8.5	9	9.5
4	Titleist Pro V1x	8.5	9	7.5
5	Top Flite Straight	5	5	9
6	Pinnacle Gold Long Drive	3	3	10

Note* Spin was measured by how much the ball backed up on the green or far it released past its pitch mark.

 

Winner! Hogan Hawk

What was interesting and nice to see was that my suspicions about how the Hawk flew during the full wedge test carried over to the half wedge shots. The Hawk uncannily flew significantly lower with a great deal of spin on each shot. It was so much so that I couldn't believe it at first and kept hitting shot after shot with it while mixing in the other balls as well. Each time, the Hawk flew like a hawk on a perfect flat trajectory and spun. The spin wasn't out of control on our greens which were running a little slow, but I can imagine this ball backing off the front of a green on a fast and firm green with no problem whatsoever. From a feel perspective, it feels incredible on these shots. Very soft, yet respsonsive; not mushy or cheap feeling. Even better is the fact that the cover is very durable without a single scuff or tear during the test. It was a hands down winner for the half wedge test.

 

Second Place - MaxFli Black Max
The Black Max is a newer ball that has incredible feel around the greens and on these half shots. Very similar to the Hogan, although the slightly firmer feeling ball causes a little higher launch and overall ball flight. The spins more than anyone could ever really need. Like the Hogan, it's almost too much spin unless you like to fly the ball 10 yards past every pin and spin it back. But the cover durability is poor and each ball had enough of a scuff to warrant taking it out of play after the test.

 

Third Place - Nike One Platinum
This ball is interesting. It truly does seem to almost be the perfect compromise of all things a golf ball should be, although it is perfect at none. It was very close in the driving distance and had good feel off the 8 iron and played very well off the half wedge shot. You definitely still notice the firmer feel on the half shots but the ball still spins very well, just about a perfect amount to hit and stop without sucking back 10 feet. While the Hogan and MaxFli both had a softer feel that was nice, with the Nike, it was easier to control the spin and release. It flew slightly higher, presumably because the firmer cover or one of the firmer inner layers, but had a very durable cover that held up exceptionally well during the tests, unlike our next ball.

 

Fourth Place - Titleist Pro V1x
There is very little difference in this category between the Nike and Pro V1, except for the cover of the Titleist ball. The covers on Pro V1x balls tear up so easy that you need to carry a full dozen just to complete one round of golf with a good ball. One full wedge shot and the ball is toast. The Hogan ball demonstrated that you don't need a paper soft cover to produce good spin and I wish Titleist would take a page from their book with their next iteration of this ball. But then again, maybe they WANT you to tear up the balls so you have to buy more of them, after all, it was the Pro V1 that started the ultra expensive ball craze in the first place. Hmmm.... Just food for thought.

 

Fifth Place - Top Flite Straight
Once again, the feel of this ball is just off. There is just something not right, dead, strange, just weird. Like the Pinnacle, this ball flew very high and landed with very little spin. It was more difficult to control this ball with spin, it just came off the face too quickly and didn't compress well. Once again, I can't say anything positive about the ball.

 

Sixth Place - Pinnacle Gold Long Drive
The honeymoon is over, back to reality. I had such big hopes and dreams for this ball, it just performed so well in all the other tests, but here, it limped into dead last place. Obviously, Pinnacle built this ball for one purpose and it serves that purpose better than anyone else in the business, but off the wedges it's just plain hard. The ball doesn't spin much at all from this distance and released forward several feet after each shot. It was sort of like tossing a bowling ball at the pin. It also flew the highest of all the balls tested. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted.

Putting

When choosing the right ball for your game, it inevitably becomes a compromise of distance, control, spin and feel. One of the most important aspects of feel is how a ball feels when struck with the putter because the putter is the only club in the bag that is never used at a set distance or yardage. Every single stroke is taken from a different distance on a different slope. As such, feel becomes extremely important when putting to gauge distance and since more strokes are taken with the putter than any other club in the bag, you must heavily consider how a ball feels to you when putting in making your final decision of what ball to play.

 

Just like the Half Wedge Test, the differences in the golf balls really came alive when putting. The differences in the cover firmness became obvious and the sound each ball makes when struck is very different in pitch and loudness. For the most part, each ball performed very similarly to how they did in the Half Wedge Test.

 

Rank	Golf Ball	Feel	Sound
1	Titleist Pro V1x	9.5	9.5
2	Hogan Hawk	9	9
3	MaxFli Black Max	9	8.5
4	Nike One Platinum	8.5	7.5
5	Top Flite Straight	4	3
6	Pinnacle Gold Long Drive	3	2

 

Feel and sound are things that are pretty subjective and will differ from golfer to golfer. I ranked this balls on how they felt when struck based on my preferences which are a slightly softer ball that compresses slightly more. I don't like a ball that springs off the face when struck, nor do I like a ball that has a high pitched tone at impact which is what a harder ball sounds like at impact. Because of this, the Pro V1x ranked highest. The Hogan Hawk was a close second but it was at the point of feeling to soft and the sound too muted. The Black Max felt a littler firmer off the putter than I expected and had a higher pitch to it as well. The Nike One cover is quite firm off the putter and has a higher pitch as well. The Top Flite and Pinnacle balls are just terrible, feeling more like marbles than golf balls.

 

Of interesting note, however, was that through the course of doing the playing reviews, my home course greens were running slow and I actually putted better with the firmer balls because they actually made it to the hole

.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, I definitely learned a lot about each ball and feel that I can make sound recommendations on which ball is better for different players and provide reasons why. For 95% of the golf world out there, I can't justify for one second the pricier golf balls such as the Nike One or Titleist ball. The double digit handicapper will gain nothing by playing these golf balls apart from slightly better performance on chips and half wedge shots. But the truth of the matter is, this is one of the areas where most higher handicap golfers struggle the most and come up short most of the time. Thus, more spin is the absolute last thing they need. I honestly couldn't sleep at night with a clear conscious and tell anyone who isn't at least a single digit handicap that they will gain a single thing over playing a Pinnacle or even Top Flite ball which costs a fraction of the price. The Top Flite balls for this test cost $8 on sale for 15 balls and I shot a 68 with them during the 18 hole playing test.

 

For the better golfer, there begins to be tradeoffs in performance around the greens. Getting a feel for putting or chipping with a firmer ball would take some getting used to. If your home course has very firm and fast greens, it would likely be a disadvantage to play a firmer ball such as the Top Flite, so you have to determine where you need the most help. Undoubtedly, the Pinnacle is the straightest golf ball I've ever hit off any club in the bag, but goes straight up in the air on wedge shots with no spin. If you struggle more with full shots going off line or need more distance, consider going with one of the less expensive golf balls. If you have no trouble controlling your golf shots and want more feel and control around the greens, the Nike ball may be the best compromise. Its cover is durable and it spins less off the driver and irons but is still completely maneuverable and spins enough on half shots.

 

The key to choosing the right golf ball is to understand your game and determine where you need the most help. From there, you can make an educated decision on what ball will play the best for you.

Below I have links to my playing review of each ball. I have been playing 18 holes with each ball and writing a review of how each one played throughout an entire round of golf, not just in individual tests.

 

Review of the Top Flite Straight

Review of the Hogan Hawk

Review of the Pinnacle Gold Long Drive

Review of the Maxfli Black Max

 

copyright 2006 Quinton Holdings