Hit the greens at your local public course and there’s a good chance you’ll find an abundance of yellow golf balls. The range serves a purpose for players who need to knock off the rust before a round or simply have time to kill on a Friday afternoon. Here you go to find some answers in the dirt. Just don’t expect these answers to help you determine whether Club A is better than Club B in a head-to-head test match.
In the last episode of waves Fully featured podcastcrew discussed the role range balls play in the practice experience. Yes, they can help you work with pace, adjust your movement and improve interaction with the terrain. These are important aspects of the swing that can take your game to the next level.
Where range balls fall short is in overall consistency, which is why they shouldn’t be used to check out new clubs or perform thorough testing on the range. During the test performed with golf labs’ swinging robot, the results revealed a large gap in carry distance from one beam ball to another when compared to a premium multi-layer offering.
There was one with the driver 12-yard touchdown ranged at 95 and 105 mph with the range ball compared to a premium version. The beam cannon also had twice the lateral spread of the driver—a number that also reinforces why you should never rely on a spent beam cannon unless you have enough ammo for a round.
Even more amazing? The drop of 12 meters in distance was the average of 10 shots hit by the robot. In some cases, the loss of carry distance from one ball to another was 25 yards. For others, it was a narrow 2 or 3 meters.
“The deflection was triple to quadruple what it was with the premium ball,” Parente said. “The robot hits it perfectly straight every time, so it’s the golf ball that’s the problem.”
A similar situation developed with the 5-iron, where the ball was located 8 meters shorter but it also had four times the radius of the premium ball, meaning it had a wider range of distance. With the pitching wedge, the radius ball ended up being 4 meters longer than the premium due to a significant drop in spin – the spin speed of the distance ball was half that of the premium – resulting in a lower launch and more distance.
The thick cover and rubber core found on most range balls doesn’t hold a candle to the multi-layer construction found on premium offerings. Manufacturing tolerances are significantly wider on a radius ball, which matches the inconsistent launch and spin results seen from ball to ball on the robot.
If your range doesn’t have access to premium urethane golf balls, it’s time to stop pouring over yards during a range testing session. Putting any weight on how a club performs with a yellow ray ball is a fool’s errand. If you need serious club work done, look for a certified club fitter and test drive with them your golf ball of choice.
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