So you thought that the new golf season got started with no new groundbreaking technology other than a white driver? As a not so young PGA apprentice back in 1995 I had the good fortune to have range duties during the Bellsouth Senior Classic. The event was held at Springhouse Golf Club in Nashville which had a 350 yard double ended driving range. We set up our golf ball washing station on the far end away from the clubhouse. From the middle of the teeing area near the clubhouse to the other end of the range it measured about 325 yards. For a player to hit a drive from the end where the spectator bleachers were located to the other end it took a poke of about 300 yards- in the air. The player also had to carry a 25 foot rise to make it all the way past our ball cleaning station. We noticed that there was only one golf ball flying that far. The Precept EV Extra Spin. The Senior PGA Tour provided the players with just about every premium ball available at the time. Titleist Professional, Top-Flight Strata Tour, Maxfli Tour Balata, and the Bridgestone Ball. Which was then called Precept. One of the benefits of having range duties during the tournament was a nearly unlimited supply of new golf balls to use for the rest of the year. Of course we wanted the longest golf ball available. Not only was the Precept ball longer than any other ball by about 15 yards, it also had a spin rate comparable to all the other wound balls. In those days, the Titliest Professional had a spin rate of over 4,000 rpm’s off of the face of of a touring professionals driver. Probably even more because in those days launch monitor technology wasn’t available to tell us that hitting up 3 to 5 degrees with our driver would help us gain another 15 to 25 yards.
One thing I have known all along is that Bridgestone balls are longer than just about every ball on the market. I remember when everyone would use the Precept Lady to tee off with in a scramble then switch to a tour balata for approach shots and putting. Also, the driver technology caused the ball to spin much more than what today’s drivers do. The average driver spin rate on the tour today is around 3,000 rpm. Some players are under 3,000 rpm. If you have never been fitted on a launch monitor unit, do yourself a favor. For around $100 you can buy another 15 to 20 yards worth of distance. It’s a no brainer. However, one thing people are missing the boat on is golf ball fitting. I see too many average golfers hitting Titleist ProV’s when they should be hitting a ball with a lower spin rate. The ProV is a 4 piece ball that requires over 100 mph of clubhead speed and 150 mph of ball speed to compress all 4 layers. If you can’t compress a premium ball then it is costing you big time distance.
No one has experimented with more different golf balls than I have. Although I have picked up considerable ball and clubhead speed in the last year by using an Overspeed Training program, I have also benefitted by finding the right golf ball for my swing. Until Taylor Made came out with the 5 Piece Penta I couldn’t benefit from a multi-layerd ball. If I wanted to hit it out of my shadow I had to hit the Ttilest NXT Tour or the Bridgestone E6 or E7. But my game also depends on controlling my ball around the greens with as much spin as possible. You don’t get that with a two piece ball-maybe not for much longer. Golf Digest has just revealed the results of their ball testing in it’s May edition. It has revealed that the Bridgestone E5 is the first two-piece urethane covered ball on the market. Meaning that it will fly as far as any mans Pinnacle Extreme yet spin like many of the leading premium balls around the green. Here is the greatest feature about the Bridgestone- It only costs $25 a dozen! Now, the Golf Digest article states that most $25 dollar golf balls don’t fly that much farther than $42 premium balls so I tested them for myself. On average I hit the Bridgestone E5 about 15 yards farther than the ProV1 and 1x. I hit it about 10 to 12 yards farther than the Callaway Tour, Srixon, and the Bridgestone Tour Ball, and about 5 to 8 yards farther than the Taylor Made Penta I had been using. Now this was certainly a very unscientific study , but it was cold and windy as well. I think there would have been an even bigger margin if the air temperature was 30 degrees warmer. But the biggest difference was around the green. The E5 might have felt a little firmer than most tour balls, but it spun every bit as much on half wedge shots and short pitches and chips around the green.
Who Will Benefit the Most?
If you’re in the 85 to 100 mph swing speed category and strike down and compress your wedges, then the Bridgestone E5 could be the ball you have been looking for. Another thing to consider is that amateurs get to use the old square groove wedges for another 10 years. This means you can spin the Bridgestone ball with your wedges almost as much as the tour guy spins his ProV1. I haven’t been looking forward to giving up 50 yards off the tee to most of the IPGA professionals in our section events this year, while not being able to stop it with my wedges. Now maybe I can only give up 30 yards off the tee and keep my ball on the green from 60 yards out ;-)
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