Still getting strange numbers from Sand Wedge with different balls

[ks-man]

I'm moving this conversation from an earlier different thread to its own one. Here is the other thread and my first post is about hallfway down the first page. It seemed to make sense to start a new topic on this.

I'm seeing some pretty strange differences between balls when using my sand wedge. The two balls used for this test were a Titleist Pro V1 from about 2008 (It was a resort ball I got on my Honeymoon) and a Titleist Tour Distance 90 from about 2001 (it was a gift from my college girlfriend that had my name stamped on it). Neither ball had ever been used. The results from the Tour Distance was similar to what I have been seeing with a Wilson and TaylorMade ball that were each bought a few weeks ago. I can buy some new Pro V1s and other balls if people think that would make a difference.

As you can see from the data summary both balls are behaving pretty similarly until I get to my sand wedge. At that point my launch angle goes much higher and my backspin drops significantly for the Tour Distance vs. the Pro V1. It does seem accurate when I was hitting full sand wedge shots that the ball was hitting my ceiling padding with the Tour Distance and hitting the top of the screen for the Pro V1. So the measured launch angle is believable. I guess my main question is if it is likely that my backspin would plummet with my sand wedge with such a high launch angle or if instead it seems more likely that my GC2 isn't accurately reading the backspin numbers once the launch angle starts exceeding 34 or 35 degrees. Also, any reason why simply changing the ball would have such an impact with the sand wedge yet nowhere near as much with any of the other clubs?

Regarding the data, I did delete shots that were very thin or very fat that would skew the data. Not all of the included shots were perfectly clean strikes but they were similar enough in that there were some solid strikes and some slightly off-center or else thin or fat shots. I've attached all the data in case anybody thinks it would be helpful to see. Here is the summary data table:
.

Club	# of Shots	Ball Speed	Launch Angle	Side Angle	Backspin	Sidespin	Carry
5iron Tour Distance	6	108.6	11.9	1.4 R	3283	48 R	149
5iron Pro V1	9	111.3	11.3	0.4 R	3634	285 R	154
7iron Tour Distance	4	102.5	15.9	1.4 R	4340	186 L	142
7iron Pro V1	5	104	14.9	1.1 R	4357	186 L	143
9iron Tour Distance	6	92.2	19.7	0.0 R	6099	550 L	120
9iron Pro V1	4	92.7	20.3	0.1 R	5842	159 L	121
Sand Wedge TD	7	64.3	39.5	3.1 L	2977	251 L	80
Sand Wedge Pro V1	6	65.8	30.2	0.9 L	8061	148 L	77

.
Thanks for the help.

[goatbarn]

The cover on the ProV1 is much much softer than the surlyn ball. The hard, cheap, ball will likely slid up the face of the sandwedge instead of it's cover gripping the grooves.

This would explain the cheap ball launching higher with less spin.

ProV1 digs into grooves, spins more and launches lower. That's what they're supposed to do.

[ks-man]

The cover on the ProV1 is much much softer than the surlyn ball. The hard, cheap, ball will likely slid up the face of the sandwedge instead of it's cover gripping the grooves.

This would explain the cheap ball launching higher with less spin.

ProV1 digs into grooves, spins more and launches lower. That's what they're supposed to do.

Thanks for the response goatbarn. Would it make sense that the cheaper golf ball spin would be significantly less for the sand wedge as compared to the 9 iron? Is that b/c the ball speed is going down so much?

I typically shoot in the high 80s/low 90s. In the past I would usually just buy cheap golf balls without realizing how much it might be impacting my game, especially around the greens. I'm not a very long hitter as you can see so I never minded the extra roll out however I typically play public courses where you can afford to land it short and roll it up. I'm now starting to wonder if I've been doing my game a disservice and hope to improve my swing and my game with the installation of my new simulator.

Are there any other golf balls beside new Pro V1s I can use that might help my game at maybe a little less cost than the Pro V1s? I realize that paying $15/dozen might not be possible but would also prefer not to spend $40-50/dozen. I don't mind it so much for the indoor simulator use but I can often lose 3-4 balls a round on the course (or more if my swing is off) and another one or two might get scratched up due to cart paths or trees. When I'm only paying $40-50/round adding another $20 in golf balls will start to add up over the season. I'd prefer to practice in my simulator with similar or the same balls I'd use on the course.

Thanks for the thoughts.

[wbond]

ks-man check out mggolf . com. Look up the c4 ball, compares pretty well with prov1 for a lot less.

http://www.mggolf.com/balls.asp?ru=0#C4

[Gamble Gamble]

TGW is selling last years project As and TM Tour Preferred for $20 and $30 respectively. Both are great and the Tour Preferred decimates the proVs in the wind due to its dimple pattern

[goatbarn]

I use used ProV1s I buy off ebay. I usually buy about 100 balls for around $70-75 shipped.

If I am just hitting balls on the range, practicing for shot shape, I'll use a surlyn ball. But when I'm practicing for carry or playing a round on the sim I use one of these used prov1s.

Remember you'll never lose a prov1 in your sim, but you will crack it/wear down the dimples. So it's like 1 prov1 every 200-300 full speed hits. Depends on your usage how many balls you'll go through.

[ks-man]

Been reading about golf balls all morning. I never realized just how big a difference they made since I typically play with cheap balls and obviously don't use a launch monitor on the course. I'm not a great golfer but considering I do shoot in the 80s on some of my rounds and can even put up an 85 or 86 if the swing is clicking. It really seems I've been doing my game an injustice by essentially playing the cheapest balls I could find. I figured since the Amazon ratings were good then I might as well save my money. I always plan for a lot of roll on my shots when pitching around the greens but just assumed that had to do with the way I swing rather than the ball I was using.

I'm probably going to buy a bunch of sleeves of different brand golf balls and see what I think on the simulator. Then it appears lostgolfballs.com is a good place to buy decent balls at a discount. I might get a couple of their sample packs too. I think part of the reason this is rearing its head on the simulator is because many of the courses in TGC have firm greens so when I pitch or flop the ball on the green I'm getting a lot more roll then I do in real life even with the low spin numbers. Still for my game I'd rather spend a little more money on balls if it will mean I'll have better control on the greens.

One question I still have is why this phenomenon seems to really only show itself on my sand wedge. My spin numbers are very similar for the two balls on my other clubs. These were full sand wedge shots but I think I see the same things when pitching with my sand wedge too.

Thanks.

[Gamble Gamble]

the only reason I bought off of TGW was because it was the same price as lostgolfballs.com but for every ball purchase I use them and they are great.