Archives for May 2018

The next golf ball brand up for review are those made by Dunlop. Each and every model of a Dunlop golf ball I review will be found on this post. Keeps things tidy.

As with all of my reviews I play one round of golf at Rackham Golf Course near my house in Huntington Woods from the White Tees.

At the end of the review the golf balls score is added to the leaderboard.

Dunlop DDH Deep Distance Golf Ball Review

Rackham Golf Course

5-25-18. White Tees.

90 Degrees. Some Wind. Sunny.

Before I play a round I do a little research on each golf ball. When I went looking for the DDH Deep Distance I could not find a thing. It appears there are no more Dunlop golf balls.

Sumitomo Rubber Industries bought the Dunlop name and decided to make golf balls under the XXIO and Srixon names. You can find a DDH Deep Distance for sale on the internet as retailers are basically giving them away to move inventory.

And the reason behind that is the DDH Deep Distance has to be at least ten years old. Yes, that means I found another unopened box of golf balls in my Dads old workroom that have been sitting around. If you’ve been reading any of my other reviews you’ll pick up that nearly all of them are “Distance” golf balls.

There is also a picture of 3-Time World Long Drive Champion Sean “The Beast” Fister on the box from when he looks to be in his mid 30s and not him at 53 years old.

So these golf balls are old. But they are new and have never been played which passes the entry test. I remember playing DDH golf balls back in the day when I’d find one so maybe there would be some comfortability.

Dunlop didn’t over market or over promise on what the DDH Deep Distance can do. On the box it claims “The new DDH Deep Distance features a larger, high velocity core as the engine of the golf ball, offering unbeatable distance for players who prefer a firmer feel and who have a medium to high swing speed.”

And that’s really it. Straight to the point and simple. So lets see how we did.

Off The Tee – Hit the fairway six times which is about average. Pushed one drive to the right. Outside of that I’d say it was a very average day of driving the ball. No draws but a lot of straight drives (good thing).

There were no booming drives and was very little roll out. But in almost every situation outside of one there was an opportunity to go at the green from an ideal spot on each hole. And with these golf balls designed for medium to high swing speeds I did not have to over swing.

Trajectory was mid to high in every drive.

Fairway Woods & Hybrids – There was a tendency for the DDH Deep Distance to fly inside out but it did fly. On many shots it made that nice “crack” sound.

Hit an amazing 5 wood from 200 yards out on the Par 5 14th to within 8 feet of the pin. This happened after over swinging and duffing my 3 wood from 250 yards out. Was just setting myself up for the ideal shot of course. Made the birdie putt too!

Didn’t hit a hybrid today but did chip with it.

Irons – The DDH Deep Distance produced 7 Greens In Regulation which is about average. Was read hot on the front nine with 6 GIR’s.

And that front nine was impressive. Put both approach shots to the Par 3’s within 10 feet and just about everything else had makable putts from 25 feet or less.

What surprised me was the staying power and spin created from the DDH Deep Distance. This golf ball was hitting the green, jumping once or twice, and stopping.

Wedges – With me being fairly on with irons on the front nine there were not that many wedge opportunities. On the back nine there was a few including two times hitting out of the sand.

The DDH Deep Distance did not check up once on shots from the sand or within 25 yards of the green. Which was odd because of the spin created on full iron swings. I was thinking there would be at least some spin. Alas, I was wrong.

Putting – And this is where the DDH Deep Distance blew it. It did not have a nice feel coming off the putter face. The scorecard says there were 36 putts which is a couple above average.

What is most disappointing about the DDH Deep Distance is it had the chance to make 6 legitimate birdies on the front nine and did not make one. Heck, it 3 putted twice from 20 feet. It did make one birdie on the back nine but man it could have done so much better.

Durability – Barely a blemish. And that’s after smacking an oak tree on a one hop to the trunk with a 5 wood on the Par 3 13th. Many more rounds of golf could be played with it.

Score – 89. GIR – 7. Putts – 36. Fairways – 6

Seeing how this golf ball is a decade old and not technologically advanced as newer golf balls I’d say it performed ok. In many ways I was most impressed by the spin created with irons and fairway woods.

A comparable newer golf ball to the Dunlop DDH Deep Distance would be the Titleist NXT Tour. Both are rather ho-hum and since you cannot buy Dunlop golf balls anymore you’d have to go the NXT Tour or stay within the Sumitomo family with an XXIO or Srixon.

My guess is I’ll never play another Dunlop golf ball again.

Up for review are Top Flite golf balls. Every time I play a Top Flite golf ball I will write my review here and add the results to the golf ball leaderboard.

I used to play Top Flites a lot when I was growing up in the 90s. Wasn’t that when they were really popular? It seemed to be the brand of golf ball my parents would buy and my brother and I would take a sleeve when needed.

Just as I do with all of my reviews I will play one 18 hole round at Rackham Golf Course in Huntington Woods, MI near my house.

Top Flite XL 3000 Super Long Golf Ball Review

Rackham Golf Course

5-24-18 – White Tees

80 Degrees. No wind. Sunny.

Why on Earth am I playing a ten year old golf ball? Well, if you’ve been reading some of my reviews you’ll notice I’ve been working through many different golf balls I found lying around in my dads old workshop.

These Top Flite XL 3000 Super Longs have been sitting around for at least a decade and were unopened still in the wrapping. After talking to Mom this past weekend we believe Dad won these and other golf balls at outings. Ending the thinking that he liked buying distance golf balls. I swear, every single golf ball I found has “distance” or “long” in its name or slogan.

I do not remember playing the XL 3000 Super Long as when they came out I think I was in a Callaway and Slazenger phase. There was something about the Top Flite logo and font that I did not like. It looked cheap in a way.

Top Flite really sticks behind their golf ball. There is a “100% Satisfaction Guarantee” on the box stating “If you are not completely satisfied with the them to return the unused golf balls, package, and receipt for a full refund.” Now that’s some marketing.

The XL 3000 Super Long is a two piece golf ball built around its “Revolutionary S.O.A.R (Scientifically Optimized Aerodynamic Reaction) Dimple Technologies Generate More Surface Turbulence To Reduce Drag And Improve Aerodynamic Efficiency.”

Umm…ok.

And the XL 3000 Super Long is able to do all of those things with its Beta Titanium Cover and Tungsten Core. Beta Titanium is of course, added to the cover for superior distance. And the Tungsten Core is of course, a very dense material which minimizes the need for fillers and provides a soft, responsive feel.

Dont you just love Marketing? All of that is hilarious. But what if their right? Let’s find out.

Off The Tee – Hit 7 fairways with driver. This was a very good ball to hit driver with. Outside of two drives that sprayed to the right I hit the XL 3000 Super Long dead straight or a baby draw with very good distance.

There were no “Super Long” drives. And the ball didn’t roll out either. What I did experience just about every time I hit a good drive was my typical high launch angle (which Top Flite says will happen with the XL 3000 on the box) resulting in one or two hops and a stop. In some cases I was even getting backspin with the driver.

Fairway Woods & Hybrids – Just great. I was picking the XL 3000 clean off the fairway and rough with these clubs. What was most surprising is the height and spin I was able to create with the 5 wood.

On #11 I hit a towering approach from 200 yards with my 5 wood hitting the green and backspinning a foot. And then with the 3 wood it flew at mid height trajectory with little spin.

There was just a comfortability hitting fairway woods with the XL 3000. Did not use my hybrid.

Irons – Started hot and fizzled out on the back 9 with the irons. The XL 3000 Super Long surprisingly had very good control even though it is a distance ball. Had two above average tee shots on both far 3’s on the front nine.

One landed four feet from the hole and backspun. The other landed fifteen feet from the hole bounced once and stopped ten feet from the hole.

Distance did not feel any longer with the irons but contact felt above average which was unexpected.

Wedges – And this is where the XL 3000 Super Long started to go down hill. It blew a number of easy approach shots from 70 yards out. Hit two very good but went over and two others that came up way short.

There was no spin nor did the XL 3000 check up once from shots around the green. Which I guess was to be expected.

Putting – The scorecard says there was 32 putts which is decent. Unfortunately none of those five 1 putts were for birdie or even to save par. There was one 3 putt which was just sad.

Out of the 6 GIR’s there were 4 legit birdie putts which missed by enough that they weren’t close. Did tap in for par on those but the story really is that the wedge game wasn’t great resulted in shots from the fringe or just off with the putter. I used putter from off the green at least five times.

The XL 3000 Super Long was just not a great ball to putt with. It was average all around.

Durability – Did I hit a tree or two? Yes. But the tree did not leave a mark on the ball. What did leave a mark on the ball was it hitting the cart path after being thrown by the guy I was golfing with.

Yes, the guy I played with picked up my ball from the green and threw it some 20 yards to the next tee box but it came up short and bounced off the cart path twice.

He had played two balls on the 17th hole after duffing his approach shot. He played another one and sculled it over the green. Being the gentlemen I am I went and picked up his sculled ball over the green as mine was just over the green too. I rolled it near his ball he played onto the green which he did not see me do. While he was walking up I putted the XL 3000 Super Long near the flag.

He had a brain fart. Picked mine up and chucked it in discust thinking it was his sculled ball. It was quite funny.

Score – 85. GIR – 6. Putts – 32. Fairways – 7

Doing some preliminary research for the Top Flite XL 3000 Super Long I found out the Top Flite brand had been sold to Dicks Sporting Goods. Which I thought to be odd. But sure enough there was no TopFlite.com. Everything points to Dicks now.

Seeing how this golf ball is at least ten years old I know it doesn’t have the performance of newer golf balls. But it was still a pretty good golf ball.

It might have been “Super Long” a decade ago but it’s very average now. Possibly below average in some aspects. I still can’t get over the logo and font.

A comparable newer golf ball to the XL 3000 Super Long would be something like the Titleist Velocity.

Luckily for the XL 3000 Super Long the course was playing better than the Schwetty and Pinnacle Long Drive I played the previous two weeks and it benefitted from it.

Wilson golf balls are the next brand to be entered into my quest to find the best golf ball. Whenever I play a golf ball from Wilson I will post my review here.

Just as I do with all of my reviews I play one round at Rackham Golf Course near my house in Huntington Woods, Michigan.

I will admit up front to never buying Wilson golf balls in my golfing career. Maybe I’d play one I found but never had I bought some.

Wilson TC2 Tour Golf Ball Review

Rackham Golf Course

5-17-18 – White Tees

72 Degrees. Sunny. Light Breeze.

The Wilson TC2 Tour is another golf ball my dad had laying around his workshop. And again, its a ball made for Maximum Distance and Maximum Control. We know from my dads other five golf balls I’ve tested so far that he has a thing for distance golf balls.

I don’t know if he bought these as there is a Mt. Clemens Lions Club logo on them in recognition of their annual golf outing. My guess is he played in it and won these at the banquet or as a door prize.

Saying that, it should be noted that the TC2 Tour golf ball was last produced over a decade ago. That means dad never thought about putting these into play and probably should have walked to the river behind their house and dumped them in.

I mean, there are 15 brand new golf balls sitting here. And he never thought about using one ever. There is no manufacturing date on them and after doing some searching the last mention of the TC2 Tour on the internet is in 2010. So lets say these were made in 2008. Making them a decade old when I put them into play.

Onto this two piece golf ball. The Wilson TC2 Tour has a “Resilient, cut proof ionomer cover (Really? Great!!) with a high powered core for maximum distance with optimum spin for maximum control.” YIPPEE!

Off The Tee – I thoroughly enjoyed hitting driver with the TC2 Tour. Distance was very good when I made solid contact and ok on mis-hits. Hit 6 fairways which average. What I liked is I was able to hit my subtle draw with it. It really seemed to work well with my swing speed.

On my mis-hits I did push the ball leaving me in some precarious spots. Had to punch out three times. Ball flight was mid trajectory which is a nice change of pace as I normally hit high.

Fairway Woods & Hybrids – Accuracy was not great but it made one hell of a cracking sound. Used my 3 and 5 wood a number of times due to the slight breeze and the course being wet limiting balls rolling out.

Distance was good. Had a green in regulation on the Par 3 13th hitting a towering 5 wood onto the green. The TC2 Tour had a very comfortable ball flight with the fairway woods. Didn’t have any full swings with hybrid, only punch outs.

Irons – I was thoroughly surprised with the distance and accuracy I was getting with the TC2 Tour. I do not know if I was making better contact then normal but if I wasn’t on the green with my approach shots then I was just off. Had 5 greens in regulation with at least five other approach shots landing a foot off the green.

Spin was non-existent. Not once did I see it check up. There was a considerable amount of rollout. But contact felt great.

I typically share pictures of divots and where the ball ends up. And I did take a few pictures but this one says it all. The TC2 Tour hit pin high from 120 yards and rolled out 30 feet. Kind of sums up how it went all day. And that shot was with a 9 iron.

Wedges – Not bad actually. With spin being next to null I had to play a bump and run on every shot. And thats what I prefer to do in most cases. Outside of one bad approach shot on #17 (short par 4) I’d say the short game wasn’t all that bad.

Putting – And this is where the TC2 Tour struggled. One four putt. Two three putts. It did have six one putts which might sound great but I used my putter from just off the fringe, on the fringe, or from the fairway six times. I had 34 total putts but you could say I used the putter at least 40 times.

And the TC2 Tour had a good feel as it left the putter face. Which kind of surprised me since this is not a premium golf ball even for mid 2000s standards.

Durability -There are two small scuff marks which might be from the one tree I hit. Otherwise it is good for another couple of rounds.

Score – 87. GIR – 5. Putts – 34. Fairways – 6.

I actually liked the TC2 Tour. The font has a Terminator 2 look to it. Putting line with Wilson in it is simple. Not once did I think the TC2 Tour was a piece of crap. It was a decent all around golf ball.

Its too bad that Rackham still had water everywhere from rains a couple of days prior. And that they had not cut the rough yet which made getting out harder than normal. The greens were extremely slow. Like, really slow.

The morning of was the first time they cut the fairways this year. It made so much more of a difference then when I played the Schwetty and Pinnacle Gold Long Drive the two weeks prior. Its mid-May. Says a thing or two about the weather we’ve had in Michigan so far in 2018.

Who knows, maybe in mid-July the TC2 Tour could put up a better score. And we will never know. Because that’s not how this works.

I would play the TC2 Tour again though. It reminded me of the Vice Tour. A well rounded golf ball for a decent price. Correction, I don’t know how much they cost. Their 10+ years old!

Pinnacle will be another brand added to the best golf ball leaderboard. Being upfront here I have never bought Pinnacles.

I’ve played them over the years if I found them on the course or in the Clinton River behind the house I grew up in (Rammler Golf Course was on the other side of the river from my house). So there will probably be some sort of back story for each Pinnacle I play.

And I write all of my reviews for the brand here instead of separate posts. Like with all of my reviews I play one 18 hole round at Rackham Golf Course near my house in Huntington Woods. All of the golf balls played are either brand new or never been played.

Pinnacle Gold Long Drive Golf Ball Review

Rackham Golf Course

5-8-18 – White Tees

70 Degrees. Sunny. Breezy.

I’m really starting to learn a thing or two about my dad and his thought process of buying golf balls. The Pinnacle Gold Long Drive is probably the fifth golf ball of his I’ve played that is designed for distance. My dad was a big guy (6′ 3″ – 240 lbs) and didn’t need the distance. What he needed was a game.

If you’ve been following along with my reviews you’d pick up by now that I found a number of brand new (never played) golf balls in my dads workshop and have been putting them to the test. And that brings us to the Pinnacle Gold Long Drive.

There is no manufacturing date on the date box so I cannot say for sure how old these are. But after doing some searching it appears they were discontinued in 2007. That means these fifteen golf balls have been sitting around unused for 11 years.

The first thing I notice on the box is 10 thick dudes wearing the same shirts. It’s because the Gold Long Drive is the official ball of the Pinnacle Distance Team. It also the ball they used for the RE/MAX World Long Drive Championship. That’s how you know these golf balls are old as RE/MAX no longer sponsors the World Long Drive Championship. That goes to Volvik now.

Right from the get go my expectations are a bit hampered because experience tells me that distance balls are fun to hit if you can swing really fast. I don’t. And that they really aren’t that great of a ball to play.

Reading the rest of its stats it claims to have a “Soft, high velocity core. Resilient, low spin Surlyn cover. 330 Icosahedral dimple design (whatever the hell that is).

And because of those the benefits you should receive are “High initial velocity for the longest distance possible. Low spin for straight ball flight. Long distance trajectory.”

Sounds great. Lets see what it can do.

Off The Tee – Hit 4 fairways. Hit zero draws. And for the first time in a while I sliced the ball. When I did hit it straight it got up in the air. I hit a high trajectory drive as is but the Gold Long Drives were noticeably higher.

Distance was average on the holes where I did not slice. Maybe one drive here or there ended up further down the fairway than normal.

After a couple of drives it became clear that I do not swing fast enough foe these. It sounds silly but I believe it to be true. I know this to be true because I drove the 8th green which would have been great but I was playing the second hole. FORE RIGHT!!!!

Fairway Woods & Hybrids – Same thing here. Just about every shot sliced which is not normal. I was just not generating enough speed to get the most out of the golf ball. It started to become comical.

Irons – Had 4 Greens In Regulation which is way under average. And I believe it starts with the driver. Due to my slices I had a couple of times where I had to punch out into the fairway.

But again, I do not generate enough club head speed to control them. Whats funny is I did hit both of the Par 3’s on the front nine which I rarely do. Not sure I was pissed off and swung harder as both went straight and did have a bit of spin on them.

Outside of those shots I found the Pinnacle Gold Long Drive much harder to hit with irons and control to be minimal. On almost every iron shot I was thinking “wonder where this ones gonna end up?”

Wedges – LOL. Just rolled off the back of the green. Never checked up. No spin. Did have one nice bunker shot with a lot of green to play with. It was a guessing game the entire day. To be fair, the course was not in great condition including the greens. They’re still brown-ish.

Putting – Crappy. 37 putts. Ridiculous. It was a horrible golf ball to putt with. Zero feel. Again, the greens were not great but that might have been my worst day of putting ever. Three 3 putts and two 1 putts.

Durability – Exceptional. I think I hit two trees and there is barely a blemish on it. It still looks brand new.

Score –  91. GIR – 4. Putts – 37. Fairways – 4

On the cover of the box it says “Distance Doesnt Have To Be Hard”. They’re right. You just have to have a swing speed of like 200 mph. That’s what it felt like to me. I had to swing so much harder to take control of the ball.

And that’s just not what I do. The one time I tried I duffed it 50 yards. Who knows, maybe if I could swing much faster the results would have been better.

But man, a 91. That is my worst score since I started reviewing all these golf balls. It might be the first time I’ve shot in the 90s in years. And I was feeling ok. Even worked out in the morning.

It’s hard to compare the Pinnacle Gold Long Drive to another golf ball because of how it’s designed. Best one I can think of is a less technical XXIO golf ball.

Maybe I’ll take a sleeve of these with me to one of the golf scrambles I play in the summer and let my buddy who swings very fast have a go with it on the long drive holes. For me, I see no reason to ever play this ball again.

Continuing on with my very scientific experiment to find the best golf ball I will put Schwetty golf balls into the mix. Currently there is only one Schwetty Ball but if they make a different type I will update it here. Like if they make a “Soft Schwetty Ball”.

Just like with all of my reviews I will play one round from the white tees at Rackham Golf Course near my house in Huntington Woods, MI.

Schwetty Balls Review

Rackham Golf Course

5-1-18 – White Tees

75 Degrees. Sunny. Windy

Lets get this out of the way right now. I played with my dads old Schwetty Balls.

Laugh it up clowns. But for real. I did. His right Schwetty Ball to be exact.

These golf balls are apart of a random collection I found in my dads workshop that I’ve been putting to the test. I am not sure if he bought them or was given them as a gag gift from one of the various leagues he played in over the years.

What I do know is these Schwetty Balls are at least 10 years old but probably closer to 15. There is no manufacturing date on the sleeve so I cannot tell for sure. But they are new (never played) so they are worthy of being tested.

My balls say Schwetty R (Right ball) or L (Left ball). And they have <— Stroke It —> to help for alignment when putting. New balls have that plus a…well…ball sack. Plus the new ones come in pink or blue. That’s right, you can buy blue balls. And even a ball sack for your balls. They’ve thought of everything.

Back to the Schwetty Balls. Expectations were low as these are gag gift golf balls. And their a decade old. But on the sleeve they claim the Schwetty Balls to be “The Perfect Feel In A Titanium Ball”. I cannot remember the last time I played a titanium golf ball. If ever. And also to be “The Hottest Balls In Golf!”. LOL.

The back of the sleeve reads like a baseball card. Dimple Pattern: 432. Compression: 85. Trajectory: Mid-High. Cover: Mixed Surlyn. Ball Size: 42.7mm. Ball Weight: 45.66g.

Enough about the stats and hilarity of the Schwetty Balls. Lets get into the review.

Off The Tee – Hit 4 fairways. Hit zero draws or slices. Pretty much hit the Schwetty Ball straight or with a slight fade all day. Ball flight was in the Mid-High range on the 13 times I hit driver.

But man, the Schwetty Balls flew.

To be fair the winds were gusting up to 20 mph and on the holes where I had the wind at my back resulted in some booming drives. And I’ve been battling some sinus stuff resulting in me missing over a month of working out. I have not been feeling all that strong lately.

So when I’d walk up to the ball and see it in a spot further down the fairway or about where I normally end up with the other balls I’ve tested says this thing is built for distance.

Fairway Woods & Hybrids – Hit one of the better 3 woods of my life on the long Par 4 10th hole. Was 235 yards out into the wind after a very good drive. Played it into the left to right wind and magically bounced it up onto the green.

The Schwetty Ball had a very stable flight with fairway woods (did not hit hybrid this day). I can’t think of one bad shot I hit with these clubs and distance was ok too.

Irons – And this is where things start going downhill with the Schwetty Ball. This might be the worst golf ball I’ve ever hit with irons. There was no feel. No feedback. No spin.

Every shot felt clunky. Distances were all over the place. Only had 4 Greens In Regulation which is well below averages.

Again, to be fair to the Schwetty Ball. The wind was howling. And the greens were basically dead.

Typically I post photos of the divots my approach shots make but there were zero divots. Same thing from the other 3 guys I played with.

Greens were just not friendly. Nothing was holding.

But man, you’d expect some sort of stopping power with a nine iron landing on the green. Not today. The Schwetty Ball bounced right off the back of the green at least six times.

Wedges – Deplorable. Outside of one very good chip shot on #2 (bounced through everything ending ten feet from the hole) the Schwetty Ball was impossible to chip.

No spin. Not even one “check up”. It was brutal.

Putting –  Sloppy. Had 32 putts which is about average for me. 1 three putt and 4 one putts. It was one of those days where I said “of course I’d make that putt” six times after messing everything up before that putt.

The Schwetty Ball was really clunky coming off the putter.

Durability – Not good. It started showing wear and tear around the 8th hole. Text started wearing off and the seam showed up. Once I noticed the seam (two piece ball) I began to worry it might explode.

Score – 87 GIR – 4 Putts – 32 Fairways – 4

Was it funny when each of the guys I was paired up with looked at the ball and said “Are you playing a Schwetty….(insert laugh)”? Yes, it was.

Was it also funny reminding them I was beating them with a Schwetty Ball versus the ProV1 and Bridgestones they were playing? A little. I was just a little bit better than them so it wouldn’t have mattered what ball I was playing.

But man, the Schwetty Ball sucks. It just does.

Around the 14th hole it felt like it was starting to die. It was like it lost a gear. My favorite hole on the course is the Par 5 14th which I occasionally reach in two.

With a 20 mph wind behind me I’m thinking I’ve got a very good chance to get on in two as long as I put my tee shot in the fairway which I did. I was still 260 yards away. Usually I’m about 230 out.

Took out 3 wood and smoked my second shot. It came up 45 yards short. Disappointed to say the least especially with the wind behind my back.

Again, I did not feel my best and the greens were not in good shape. Still, it was noticeable how much different the Schwetty Ball reacted to shots. Best ball I can compare it to is a poorly built Nike Mojo.

So yah, I’ll probably never play the Schwetty Ball ever again. If somebody buys the new ones for me as a gag gift then fine. Who knows, maybe the newer balls are better than these ten year old ones.