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Balls: How much distance is a pip worth?

• davidbnewell 8 Posts

  Tue, May 17 2011 8:07 PM

  So, in general what's the rule of thumb on how many extra yards can you get off the tee, or with a short iron, with a ball that has 1 pip for distance, 2 pips for distance, 3 pips, or 4 pips for distance compared to a starter ball?

  Assume I'm using a G10 driver/irons. 

  Just trying to figure out some stuff out before I start purchasing...

   

• piztaker 5,743 Posts

  Wed, May 18 2011 6:24 AM

  Only a couple of yards I'd say.

• sdorr 650 Posts

  Wed, May 18 2011 7:49 AM

  piztaker:

  Only a couple of yards I'd say.

  Really, I was thinking more like a couple of feet! LOL. No seriously, he's about right. I remember the first time I purchased some balls that had 2 dots for "extra distance" and thinking OK, I have to be careful here now because I don't want to over shoot the greens.

  What a joke that was. I kept coming up short, so I added a little more, a little more, a little more and still a little more to just get back to hitting the greens. Pretty much like I was doing before I purchased the "better balls".

  Still today with the R9 driver and calloways (3 1/2 dots for distance) I only average 5 to 20 yards more on my drives. Sometimes more if I have a good tail wind. With my G10's it's pretty much what the distance to the flag is strength wise plus or minus a little for wind, back spin, etc.

  I expect others will have different results but the bottom line is YES, you will get a little extra distance.

• DAZZA501 5,972 Posts

  Wed, May 18 2011 10:52 AM

  I'd say you get a couple of extra yards of distance with the driver and 3wood but i've not really noticed any extra yards with irons. I still use the same amount of power as i did with the starter balls but then i suppose the extra spin you get from better balls will counteract any extra distance you may have got. In my opinion you're better off getting balls with extra spin than extra distance.

  Dazza

• zagraniczniak 1,984 Posts

  Wed, May 18 2011 11:24 AM

  The extra distance is particularly noticeable on drives, where 2 dots will generally get me to 280-290 with the G10 driver and neutral winds.

  I don't notice it much with the irons, but in fact with 2 dots of distance I play the irons to their stated distance with full backspin (default mode, under most conditions). When I have occasionally gone back to balls without distance pips, I will come up a few yards short with full backspin.

• sbjorn 41 Posts

  Wed, May 18 2011 1:55 PM

  I've found I do get a few extra yards out of drives, but what is best about good balls is they offer accuracy. Good balls go right where you put them, starter balls are erratic.

  Spin comes in handy many times as well. With starter balls you can rarely stop on a dime. With good balls you can.

  Beware, they wear out after about three rounds and if you lose one, it's lost.

• DarSum 1,440 Posts

  Wed, May 18 2011 9:37 PM

  If you use backspin on your drives to carry bunkers, cut corners, etc that extra 1 1/2 to 2 "pips" is about 10-15 yrds.

  Look under the post "R11 Driver" I posted a few replays of various balls on the same hole to see how far they carry. I'm not talking about how far they GO. I'm talking about how far they CARRY. When they first make contact with the ground.

• JaLaBar 1,254 Posts

  Thu, May 19 2011 10:00 PM

  I was going to say, I think the better the driver, the more difference you notice in the balls.  I couldn't really tell with the level 47 Rapture, but I can with the level 62 R9.  The club lists at 275 and I rarely have a drive under 280 regardless of wind.  I play the i(z).