Welcome to the most important leaderboard in golf. A leaderboard so important that to get on it you only have to try once.
In what could be the most scientificy science testing of golf balls I will try to find the best golf ball out there.
And how I’m going to do that it thus. I will buy a sleeve of brand new (never played) golf balls and play 18 holes at Rackham Golf Course in Huntington Woods, MI (my local course) from the white tees which I typically do once a week during the summer.
I call it the Super Bowl Testing Method. Much like the Super Bowl, each golf ball gets one shot to win the title. All the variables which can be controlled (course, clubs) are the same. But like in the Super Bowl you cannot control the weather, energy levels, if I partied the night before, etc.
If the golf ball truly wants to be the winner than it will need to overcome those factors which cannot be controlled in some silly testing facility. This is the real world and this is sciencey science.
Lowest score wins the title of best golf ball. Thats it. That’s all that matters anyways, right?
We must now find out how good these golf balls are which means we must hand the golf balls over to our tamed golf ball driver.
Some say that when he has a kick in birdie his leg grows. And that when any cart girl sees him her leg shrinks. All we know is that he’s called the Brad Gibala.
Leaderboard
| Rank | Score | Golf Ball | GIR | Putts | Fairways | Date | Review |
| 1. | 76 | Dixon Spirit | 8 | 29 | 4 | 8-23-18 | Dixon Spirit Review |
| 2. | 77 | Titleist DT Wound 100 | 10 | 29 | 3 | 9-28-17 | Titleist DT Wound 100 Review |
| 3. | 78 | FLOATER | 7 | 30 | 5 | 6-1-18 | FLOATER Review |
| 4. | 80 | Vice Pro Plus | 6 | 29 | 7 | 6-21-17 | Vice Pro Plus Review |
| 5. | 81 |
8 |
31 | 4 |
7-28-17 |
||
| 6. | 81 |
7 |
32 | 6 |
8-24-18 |
||
| 7. | 81 | 7 | 35 | 6 |
5-17-17 |
||
| 8. | 81 | 7 | 35 | 4 |
9-22-17 |
||
| 9. | 82 | 6 | 30 | 7 |
6-21-18 |
||
| 10. | 82 |
4 |
32 | 5 |
9-5-17 |
||
| 11. | 83 |
9 |
39 | 4 |
10-13-17 |
||
| 12. | 84 | Vice Drive | 9 | 36 | 4 | 6-2-17 | Vice Drive Review |
| 13. | 84 | Bridgestone Tour B330S | 5 | 32 | 5 | 10-19-17 | Tour B330S Review |
| 14. | 84 | Bandit MD | 4 | 29 | 3 | 6-28-18 | Bandit MD Review |
| 15. | 85 |
7 |
37 | 6 |
8-4-17 |
||
| 16. | 85 |
6 |
32 | 7 |
5-23-18 |
||
| 17. | 85 | 6 | 33 | 3 |
7-21-17 |
||
| 18. | 85 | 5 | 33 | 5 |
8-25-17 |
||
| 19. | 85 | 2 | 30 | 4 |
7-6-18 |
||
| 20. | 86 | Vice Pro | 9 | 38 | 3 | 6-8-17 | Vice Pro Review |
| 21. | 86 | Titleist Velocity | 8 | 32 | 6 | 9-1-17 | Titleist Velocity Review |
| 22. | 86 | Nike PD Long | 6 | 35 | 10 | 9-8-17 | Nike PD Long Review |
| 23. | 86 | XXIO Aero-Drive | 6 | 37 | 1 | 9-15-17 | XXIO Aero-Drive Review |
| 24. | 86 | Dixon Fire | 4 | 35 | 6 | 8-2-18 | Dixon Fire Review |
| 25. | 87 | TaylorMade TP5x | 7 | 37 | 4 | 9-14-17 | TaylorMade TP5x Review |
| 26. | 87 | Srixon Z-Star | 5 | 32 | 4 | 6-8-18 | Srixon Z-Star Review |
| 27. | 87 | Wilson TC2 Tour | 5 | 34 | 6 | 5-17-18 | Wilson TC2 Tour Review |
| 28. | 87 | Schwetty | 4 | 32 | 4 | 5-1-18 | Schwetty Balls Review |
| 29. | 88 | Bridgestone Tour B330RX | 5 | 34 | 5 | 8-11-17 | Tour B330RX Review |
| 30. | 89 | Dunlop DDH Deep Distance | 7 | 36 | 6 | 5-25-18 | DDH Deep Distance Review |
| 31. | 89 | Titleist AVX | 5 | 35 | 5 | 6-6-18 | Titleist AVX Review |
| 32. | 89 | Bridgestone e6 Soft | 4 | 34 | 7 | 8-18-17 | e6 Soft Review |
| 33. | 91 | Dixon Wind | 6 | 33 | 5 | 7-26-18 | Dixon Wind Review |
| 34. | 91 | Pinnacle Gold Long Drive | 4 | 37 | 4 | 5-8-18 | Pinnacle Gold Long Drive Review |
| 35. | MDF | Dixon Earth | N/A | N/A | N/A | 7-20-18 | Dixon Earth Review |
Tiebreakers are determined by Greens In Regulation (GIR) then Putts, and finally Fairways Hit.
Value
To figure this out I will take the price per ball (assuming a dozen golf balls bought without a quantity discount) divided by the amount of strokes.
| Rank | Golf Ball | Price Per Ball | Strokes | Cost Per Stroke |
| 1. | Vice Drive | $1.24 | 84 | $.014 |
| 2. | Slazenger Raw Distance | $1.50 | 83 | $.018 |
| 3. |
Wilson TC2 Tour Schwetty Bandit MD |
$1.66 $1.66 $1.66 |
87 87 84 |
$.019
$.0197 |
| 4. | Pinnacle Gold Long Drive | $1.83 | 91 | $.020 |
| 5. |
Dixon Wind Vice Tour |
$2.08 $1.82 |
91 81 |
$.022 |
| 6. |
Top Flite XL 3000 Super Long Dunlop DDH Deep Distance |
$2.00 $2.05 |
85 89 |
$.023 |
| 7. | Nike Mojo | $2.06 | 85 | $.024 |
| 8. |
FLOATER Srixon Q-STAR |
$2.00 $2.08 |
78 81 |
$.025 |
| 9. |
Titleist Velocity Srixon Z-STAR |
$2.25 $2.33 |
86 87 |
$.026 |
| 10. |
Nike Crush Extreme Bridgestone e6 Soft |
$2.25 $2.41 |
82 89 |
$.027 |
| 11. | Nike PD Long | $2.50 | 86 | $.029 |
| 12. |
Volvik Vivid Bandit SB Bridgestone Tour B330 RX |
$2.50 $2.50 $2.66 |
81 82 88 |
$.030 |
| 13. |
Dixon Spirit FOO-KING-LONG |
$2.50 $2.75 |
76 85 |
$.032 |
| 14. |
Vice Pro Bridgestone Tour B330S |
$2.91 $2.81 |
86 84 |
$.033 |
| 15. | Titleist NXT Tour | $2.91 | 85 | $.034 |
| 16. |
Titleist DT Wound 100 Vice Pro Plus |
$2.83 $2.91 |
77 80 |
$.036 |
| 17. | TaylorMade TP5x | $3.75 | 87 | $.043 |
| 18. | Titleist AVX | $3.99 | 89 | $.044 |
| 19. | Titleist Pro V1x | $3.99 | 85 | $.046 |
| 20. | Titleist Pro V1 | $3.99 | 81 | $.049 |
| 21. | XXIO Aero-Drive | $5 | 86 | $.058 |
| 22. | Dixon Fire | $6.25 | 86 | $.072 |
| 23. | Dixon Earth | $3.33 | N/A | N/A |
Check out the value with the Vice Tour vs the Titleist Pro V1. Same score for half the price. What a deal!!
Distance
No testing facility needed for this critical piece of information. Going 100% off how I remember driving, hitting fairway woods, and hitting irons with the ball that day. And that’s whats important.
| Rank | Golf Ball |
| 1. |
Nike PD Long Bandit SB |
| 2. |
FOO-KING-LONG Slazenger Raw Distance |
| 3. |
Bridgestone e6 Soft Titleist Velocity Bandit MD Dixon Earth |
| 4. |
TaylorMade TP5x Dixon Wind XXIO Aero-Drive Dixon Fire Pinnacle Gold Long Drive Titleist Pro V1 Srixon Q-STAR Titleist AVX Vice Pro Plus Dixon Spirit FLOATER Srixon Z-STAR Wilson TC2 Tour |
| 5. |
Titleist Pro V1x Top Flite XL 3000 Super Long Vice Tour Schwetty |
| 6. |
Titleist NXT Tour Nike Crush Extreme Vice Pro Nike Mojo Dunlop DDH Deep Distance Volvik Vivid |
| 7. |
Vice Drive Bridgestone Tour B330 RX Bridgestone Tour B330S Titleist DT Wound 100 |
There were some ties but what the chart above tells me is the balls designed mostly for distance do just that. They go. The premium golf balls like the Titleist Pro V1 and Vice Pro Plus are just barely behind in distance but excel in other areas.
But if none of those other things matter to you and all you care about is hitting bombs then buy the golf balls in the #1 spot.
Favorites
Sometimes the score doesn’t tell the complete story. If I had to make a list of my top 5 favorite golf balls with only how I liked it taken into consideration than this would be the list.
| Rank | Name | Why? |
| 1. | Vice Pro Plus | A complete golf ball at half the price. |
| 2. | Titleist Pro V1 | The original complete golf ball. |
| 3. | Bandit SB | Can’t tell you why. |
| 4. | FLOATER | Yes. A floating golf ball. |
| 5. | Dixon Spirit | A golf ball made for her but for him. |
| 6. | Volvik Vivid | A very durable and forgiving golf ball. |
| 7. | Nike PD Long | Hitting bombs. |
| 8. | XXIO Aero-Drive | Because its a tank of a golf ball. |
Summary
There is no rhyme or reason as to what golf balls I buy before heading out to play. Once or twice a year I head to the golf store near my house and buy a bunch of different sleeves of golf balls. When I go through those I go back and repeat the process.
I play enough golf outside of my weekly round to use up the golf balls. Sadly, I do lose a golf ball from time to time in my testing which I outline in each individual golf ball review.
If I truly hate a golf ball I will use it on my backyard target green I built as I hit those quite a bit when I’m back there with the kids.
Hopefully all of this un-science will help you in picking the best golf ball for your game.
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