Golf

I do not have a membership to Costco but I know someone who does. And when I overheard them say they were going one day I asked if they could pick me up some Kirkland Signature golf balls while they were there because Costco is typically the only place you can buy them unless they are trying to move excess inventory online.

You may know by now that the Kirkland Signature golf ball has a bit of a past. Titleist accused Kirkland of stealing a few patents from the ProV1 design and slapping their name on it. Much of this happened in 2017 and it appears a settlement was reached between the two companies.

But that is not what I’m concerned about. Its all about finding out what the best golf ball is. And thats what I did.

Rackham Golf Course. 9-5-19. 78 degrees. Light breeze. Sunny.

Driver – Not impressed. I was a good 10 – 20 yards back from my average landing spots on the golf course. No draws. Felt like I had to hit it perfect to get anything on it.

My drive on the 299 yard Par 4 17th hole is a great example of how much shorter the Kirkland Signature is than other golf balls off the tee. My tee shot is usually in line with the tree you see on the right in the photo below. I’m a good 25 yards short of where I hit the Bandit SB and Titleist AVX.

Fairway Woods – Impressed. What I was not able to get in distance with the driver I was able to make up with my 3 wood. Almost made it to the green side front bunker in two on the Par 5 515 yard 1st hole.

Sent a missile from 215 yards out on the 431 yard Par 4 18th hole which ended up 10 feet above the hole. The shot plays 235 yards as its uphill from 75 yards out. Had to hit 3 wood instead of 5 wood in every situation due to being 15 yards back from my normal landing spot with driver.

It was pretty sweet watching it go. I was about 15 yards off the right side of the fairway and watched it hook back from the left side of the fairway all the way across the green. It had some serious side spin.

Irons – Not impressed. Did not have that nice compression feeling you get with a Pro V1. The Kirkland felt a little clunky. Outside of the best 5 iron I’ve ever hit out a fairway bunker on the 9th hole from 160 yards which landed 10 feet from the hole there wasn’t that much to talk about. Out of my 4 Greens In Regulation, the 5 iron was the only one where I took a full swing with an iron.

Wedges – Chipping was pretty good. Did not have a lot of GIR with the irons which left me with a lot of chips. Only had one chip that checked up and the rest rolled out.

Distance was good and the Kirkland did what I wanted it to do. That is, except for getting out of the bunker on the 8th hole. Caught it clean and sent it over the green into another bunker.

Putting – Excellent – 7 one putts and 1 three putt. I was rolling everything in. The Kirkland didnt feel soft at impact but rolled with purpose.

Durability – Still in pretty good shape after one round and thats not bad seeing how I hit from the bunker a few times and even the cart path. Like I said above, the Kirkland and irons did not like hitting greens.

Barely a scuff mark on the Kirkland Signature. I could definitely get more rounds out of it.

Score – 87. GIR – 4. Putts – 30. Fairways – 3

As my round continued I just kept thinking that the Kirkland Signature was not living up to the hype. They were not bad but not great either. The Titleist NXT Tour comes to mind as something comparable.

While I was putting this review together I found out that Kirkland moved manufacturers from a place in South Korea to China. Looks like a lot changed during that process and the latest design is a lot different from the original. More than likely the new Kirkland Signature golf balls have lost their performance.

I also found out that Kirkland makes two golf balls. A Three-Piece and a Four-Piece. I thought all along they made just one. I played the Three-Piece and its the Four-Piece that is said to be similar to the ProV1. I’ve been duped!

Still, at $1 per ball you are probably not going to find a better deal on a decent Three-Piece golf ball. I have two dozen of them now due to Costco only selling them that way and its probably the only time I’ll ever buy this golf ball.

Even at that price I’m still sticking with the ProV1. Its just that much better than the Kirkland Signature 3-Piece. Hopefully I’ll be able to get my hands on the Four-Piece and give it a try.

It’s been 15 months since I made one of the most insanely idiotic and dangerous decisions of my life. I’ve only told this story a few times to close friends but recently had pictures I took from that dreaded day pop up on my iMac’s Photos App which led me to reliving it one more time.

We live in Michigan. Cold half the year. Warm half the year. With bits of hoodie and shorts weather the other times. It’s important to take advantage of those warm months.

But I ended up in Florida in July last year because I did not speak up when it was proposed we go down to see Andrea’s brothers family in Indialantic, Florida along with her other brothers family who still lives in Michigan.

I won’t go into all of it but a few weeks after it was mentioned she pulled out the Delta SkyMiles credit card and said she was buying the plane tickets to Florida. I might have said something like “What?”.

Basically, an entire weeks long trip had been planned in the previous weeks and I was going. Along with our nearly 2 and nearly 3 year olds. Who had never been on a plane yet.

“Fine. Fine. I’ll go to Florida and sweat my balls off. Fine. But I get to go golfing once.” Those were my only demands. And she agreed.

Hello Florida!!!

As we drove our rental car from the Orlando airport, to Melbourne, over the causeway bridge, through Indialantic, and towards our rental house in southern Melbourne Beach we passed a golf course two miles from the house we rented with her brothers family. “That’ll do”.

We get settled in the first two days and start sweating our balls off. Correction. Balls began sweating the quarter second it took me to step from the air conditioned airplane to the air conditioned jet bridge.

Pool water was 85 degrees. Had a beach day where the sand was so hot you couldn’t step on it. Thankfully a canopy was brought. Ok. I’ve been a team player. Its me time. I’m going golfing.

Its Golf Time

I pulled up my GolfNow app the night before and searched for the golf course we passed on the drive in. What popped up was Spessard Holland.

They didn’t have any Hot Deals and since I needed rental clubs I decided to call when I woke up knowing I’d have to get out early to beat the heat.

And that’s what I did by 8 am the next morning. Got a tee time for 9am with cart and had to pay a few extra bucks for clubs. Ten minutes prior to me leaving Andrea told me her brother (the one who lives in Florida) wanted to play. Told him to meet me there at 9 which he did. We had never golfed together before and he plays maybe once a year.

Furthering my idiocracy I did not bring any golf balls. Stupid me. And for some reason I decided to buy a dozen recycled Titleist Pro V1’s (which sucked). Didn’t want to spend big money on real ones and I didn’t want to buy the cheap Bridgestone’s (should of) the pro shop had available.

Took a brief look at the course before heading into the pro shop and saw water everywhere. Mostly small ponds and creeks. But just about every hole had water. Since I’ve never played there before I was probably going to find a water hazard or two or three during the round.

And most importantly with it being Florida there were probably gators in every one of them. So I’m not going near those ponds trying to fish out a golf ball.

Holy Sweat Box

It became apparent on the putting green it was going to be the hottest round of golf I’ve ever played. For some dumb reason the only golf shirt I packed was my wanna be Tiger Woods red Nike Dri-Fit when I should have packed a white one. You think I’d know better at the age of 37 that dark colors are not the best to wear when the sun is blazing like 400 degrees.

Weather at 9am was 84 degrees with 76% humidity. Barely a breeze from the ocean. By the end of our round the temperature hit 91 degrees with humidity at 57%. Basically miserable.

The thought of “I should not be out here” hit me before we even teed off. And the 2 liter Sunkist bottle I filled with water the night before, put in the freezer, and was still a block of ice when I pulled into the parking lot was now all water. It had been in the golf cart for 10 minutes.

On The Tee From Huntington Woods, MI

Is what nobody said as I looked down the first fairway. And for good reason. There were no other ass hats out there golfing. The course was basically to ourselves. I wonder why?

My tee shot on the first hole was a harbinger for how the round was to go. As I made my down swing I could feel my hand start to slip off the grip resulting in me slicing way right and almost losing the club on the follow through. Ridiculous.

Thankfully I brought my golf glove which helped a little but I really needed two. And by the end of the 4th hole the glove was soaked. I needed a backup which I did not have.

By the 7th hole I had to ditch the golf glove as my hand was swimming in it. Thankfully the rental clubs came with a towel on the bag which I had to use before every shot. Again, ridiculous.

I squeezed the club so fricking hard on every shot after that. Outside of obvious reasons I really didn’t want to see a 6 iron fly from my hands and into one of those gator infested ponds (I didn’t see a gator. But its the gator you don’t see that gets you) and then have to pay for it.

Making The Turn

We went inside to take a quick break from the heat and for me to fill up on some water. As I stood in the pro shops air conditioning I started to think things like:

• “Don’t go back out there Brad.”
• “What are the signs of heat stroke?”
• “Its just golf you big dummy.”

Up to this point in my life I’ve played golf in 38 degrees weather where there is a dusting of snow on the fairways and greens (that happens in Michigan), the occasional passing thunderstorm, rain and 44 degrees, and temps so frigid that you have to wear Under Armour and bring your own portable golf cart cover to block the wind.

I didn’t quit during those rounds so I’m sure as hell not quitting now.

So I filled up my 2 liter with water and headed out to the 10th tee. That’s right, I drank an entire 2 liter of water on the front nine.

As I sat there waiting for Chris to come out of the clubhouse I see he bought a Coke. What a fucking savage. I’m dying over here and he buys something that will dehydrate you even more. You haven’t been living in Florida that long broseph.

New Rules

After he jumps in the cart and I explain to him he is a savage for buying the Coke I tell him the goal for the back nine is to not die.

To do that there will be no practice swings and no club changes. Thought the pitching wedge was the club for the shot but realized you needed a hybrid to punch it out? Too bad. No going back to the cart. You use the fucking pitching wedge.

This worked so well as we cruised through holes. It helped that no one was on the course either. And when we caught up to a threesome which included a Father and his seven year old son with another guy I politely asked them if we could play through because I was dying from the heat. They laughed and let us through.

Drama On 18

Of course we would catch up to a foursome on the last hole whom was moving very slow. And to make matters worse it was a drivable 258 yard Par 4.

These people were in the fairway some 100 yards out from the green when we rolled up to the tee box. Six minutes went by before they were all on the green.

I’m standing on the tee box thinking I could possibly hit them on the green. Since the fairway went to the left and back to the green it made the hole shorter if you went as the crow flies. I’m guessing to clear the front bunker and hit the green you’d have to carry the tee shot 240 yards. Which is doable for me.

So I waited. Dripping in sweat. I haven’t had a good drive all day with these rental clubs but I don’t want to chance it, connect on one, and hit these people. Chris decided to tee off and hit a palm tree 200 yards down the fairway.

These people are still on the green. I couldn’t take it any longer.

SENDING DRIVER!!!!!

Of course I’d save my best drive for the last hole. I caught it perfectly and as I turned through my follow through I saw it heading right for the green. Oh Shit!!

Chris is saying “You might him them” and I’m all like “No shit.”

As the golf ball is making its descent from the clouds it disappears from sight. Chris and I look at each other like what happened.

No one on the green turned to look back at us while extending their middle fingers.

It can only be assumed I did not hit anyone but none of them even flinched as the golf ball must have landed somewhere near by.

As we drove up to Chris’s ball they finally left the green. We could not see my ball yet. He played his shot near the green and we drove up.

There was my ball in the bunker. With a line in the sand from it falling back into the bunker. I cleared the bunker by 2 feet but it hit the downslope on the grass, hopped straight up, hit the slope again, and rolled back into the bunker. Six more inches and its on the green.

I still don’t know how they didn’t flinch as it landed no more than ten feet from where they were standing. It must have made a sound.

Anyways, your boy got up and down for par.

Après Golf

Turned my clubs in. Confirmed dinner plans with Chris and our families for later on and darted to my rental car. Made it back to our rental house before the A/C really even kicked in. I was so glad to be back at the house.

A full body detox is the best way to describe what happened out there. And all of it stuck to my shirt and shorts. In all of my years on Earth I cannot remember a time where my clothes stank like that. It was gross.

I filled up my 2 liter for the 3rd time and sat on the couch for two hours. Thats how long it took me to get back to feeling like a human being again. I was so over-heated and drained.

Good thing Spessard Holland was a short course. Any longer and I think I would have stopped at the turn. It’s too bad because I liked the course. It’s a really good practice course.

Par was 67 and there was only one Par 5. Par 4’s are just long enough where you can hit driver but it also forces you to hit a lot of irons and wedges. Which is where the better players distance themselves. There was water on 10 holes with thick vegetation off the fairway. And with it being short you could probably play in less than 4 hours even when its busy.

I shot an 88 with 5 penalty strokes. Seeing how I felt like death the entire round, played with recycled ProV1’s, rental clubs, and dealt with my hand slipping on every shot I’d say I played ok. Chris shot a 99.

Never Again

Two weeks prior to me posting this we went to Florida without our kids to see Chris and his family again. October in Florida is way better than July. I brought some golf balls and two golf gloves on the trip with the thought of tackling Spessard Holland when its not death outside. But I didn’t make it out there. Actually enjoyed the beach and did other Florida type things like an air boat ride.

I don’t know how people live in Florida in the summer months. Give me the gray Michigan winters over the heat anytime. At 38 years old I now hate Michigan winters. That’s how bad the sun, heat, and humidity made me feel down there.

I will tell you this.

I will never visit Florida in July ever again. If you see me there it’s because I was forced by gun point.

When I heard daily fantasy golf was a thing I wanted in. What could be more exciting than watching golf besides now having a reason to watch golf.

Here’s the thing. I’ve been playing daily fantasy golf since 2016 and I don’t know if its something I should be doing. I win sometimes (nothing big) and lose more of the times. The “its fun” justification might be costing me a fair amount of money which is not fun.

So this is what I am doing for the 2018 PGA Tour golf season. I am going to submit one entry each week on DraftKings and FanDuel to one of their featured tournaments under $10 and post the results here.

If I make more money (even $1 more) than my entry fees at the end of the 2018 PGA Tour season (Starting in Jan 2018 to the 2018 Tour Championship) than I will play in 2019. If I do not than I will quit playing daily fantasy golf every week. I will allow myself to play in the four Majors plus the Players Championship. But that’s it.

I will play my “Bro Bros” strategy on DraftKings and “Course Horses” strategy on FanDuel and keep track of them in reverse chronological order with the most recent tournament at top.

**Oct 1 Update** – 2018 PGA Tour Season is officially over. Check out my results and thoughts below. Everything above is from my original post in Jan 2018.

2018 Tournament	FanDuel	DraftKings	Fees	Won
TOUR			$21	$0
BMW			$17	$9
Dell			$17	$0
Northern Trust			$25.54	$10
Wyndham			$25.54	$0
PGA			$105	$80
Bridgestone			$25.54	$0
RBC Open			$25.54	$0
The Open			$105	$0
John Deere			$25.54	$0
Greenbrier			$25.54	$0
Quicken Loans			$25.54	$0
Travelers			$25.54	$0
US Open			$96	$130
St. Jude			$11	$0
Memorial			$53	$0
Fort Worth			$11.77	$23.57
Byron Nelson			$11.77	$7
Players			$14	$0
Wells Fargo			$13	$6
Valero			$10	$0
RBC Heritage			$12	$0
The Masters			$78	$118
Houston			$9.55	$0
	Corales Puntacana	WGC Dell Match Play	$9.44	$0
API			$9.55	$0
Valspar			$13.55	$0
WGC Mexico			$9.55	$10
Honda			$9.55	$0
Genesis			$9.55	$0
Pebble Beach			$8.44	$0
WM Phoenix			$4	$0
Farmers			$8	$0
CareerBuilder			$7	$5
Sony Open			$7	$6
Sentry			$11	$0
Totals			$896.04	$404.57

** Waste Management Phoenix Open started when I was on vacation in Cancun, Mexico where DraftKings and FanDuel are blocked. I was able to submit two weekend contests on DraftKings as I returned home on Friday.**

Results: $896.04 entry fees – $404.57 in winnings = $491.47 lost

Wow! I suck at playing daily fantasy golf.

Let’s side step the money that I lost and look at the amount of times I cashed in. Out of 107 entries I cashed in 16 times. Thats a winning percentage of 15%. No bueno.

Looking into it further I cashed in just 4 times at FanDuel with 12 wins at DraftKings. For some reason it was harder to win at FanDuel versus DraftKings. And that doesn’t count the number of times I finished a few points out of the money on DraftKings.

My Plan Went Bye Bye

For the most part I stuck to my plan of playing my “Bro Bros” on DraftKings and “Course Horses” on FanDuel. It wasn’t until the last month that I abandoned the “Course Horses” and went with the free lineup tool on RotoGrinders.

I still didn’t win with the tool but the Course Horses wasn’t working and I got tired of looking up all the stats. Figured the tool took all the stats and previous results into play anyways so why not.

And I started to submit more than one entry halfway through. Kind of got bored watching one entry.

Got Screwed Just Once

Out of all the lineups I submitted I had only one player withdraw during a tournament or prior to his tee time. And that was Louis Oosthuizen at the PGA Championship which “tee’d me off”.

I checked his status an hour before lineups were to lock and there was nothing saying he was “questionable” so I kept him in. At 2:00 pm he decides to withdraw from the tournament for a back injury that was not in his report.

Why this sucks is DraftKings has a rule where lineups lock when the first player tees off at 7:20 am. I could not replace him. Not even with any of the 40 or so guys who had not teed off yet. He was in one of the last groups to tee off so my choices would have been limited.

I contacted customer service at DraftKings and explained to them what happened. Let’s just say they said “sorry about your $20 entry” over three email exchanges. And they would not refund me because I had this happen a year prior and used my one time refund. Basically, I should have known Louis was going to withdraw.

The entry did not come close to cashing but it would have been nice to replace him with whomever I could have with the salary remaining that had not teed off.

Almost Cashed In

There was really only one tournament where I had a chance to win a big prize and that was at the U.S. Open.

After the 3rd Round I had an entry on DraftKings sitting in 35th Place out of 186,746 entries. On FanDuel I had an entry sitting at 15th Place out of 54,419 entries.

All I remember seeing is me being up collectively $3500 before heading to bed.

The difference between 1st and 35th is placing. “If my guys shoot par tomorrow I have a chance” is what I was thinking.

Turns out I would have been right.

Sadly, only 2 of 6 shot par or better on both entries the last day which pushed me back to 2392nd place on DraftKings winning $80 and to 212th place on FanDuel cashing in $50.

It definitely made watching the last day of the U.S Open way more entertaining.

Strategy

You can spend all day researching strategies on how to win at daily fantasy golf. And I’ve tried a number of them with help from the PGA Tour stats.

• Average Salary – Draft guys around the average salary mark.
• Studs & Duds – Draft top two or three guys (studs) and then whomever (duds).
• Highest Points – Draft by points starting at top then with remaining salary.
• Bombs Away – An entire team of long hitters.
• Greens In Regulation – A team determined by the best GIR players.
• Best Putters – A team of the best putters.
• Birdie Makers – A team of guys who lead the PGA Tour in birdies made.
• Country – A team of guys all from the same country.
• Bombers & Putters – A combo of long hitters and the best putters.
• Bro Bros – Draft 8 bros who are good enough to win every week and that you don’t mind watching. And then have other bros on your bench to plug-in when your starters are not all playing in the tournament or because of salary cap reasons.
• Course Horses – Guys who play well on particular courses. Check the tournaments past results and see what guys finished in the top twenty-five the past two years. If you see their name twice then pick them.

Before starting my experiment I tried all of them but none worked. Yes, I have finished in the money a few times but it did not give me an advantage. Why?

Daily fantasy golf is different from other daily fantasy sports in that its the only sport that gives points for where you finish. And it’s because golfers play in tournaments, not games.

There are no matchup advantages. And most golfers don’t get injured during play.

Yes, some golfers withdraw because they put up an 80 in the first round leaving them no chance at making the cut. From time to time a golfer might withdraw during a round because of an injury. But those are rare. Its happened to me three times.

Typically a golfer will withdraw before the tournament or disclose an injury giving you time to pick someone else. Golfers do that sort of thing because golf is a gentlemen’s game.

To win one of the big tournaments you need all of your guys to make the cut. Another reason why daily fantasy golf is awesome. Its like real golf. You suck, you’re out!

Pick	2018 Bro Bros	Why?
Starters
1.	Rickie Fowler	He looks like he likes to party. I like to party. And he’s sponsored by Quicken Loans where a lot of cool people I know work at.
2.	Dustin Johnson	Sending Driver!
3.	Brian Harman	Reminds me of my brother. A short-ish lefty.
4.	Patrick Reed	Very good player who also appears to have a dick side of him. And every team needs a dick.
5.	Phil Mickelson	Reminds me of my Dad. A tall lefty. Similarities end there. Phil can still play.
6.	Brooks Koepka	Every team needs a do it all versatile athlete.
7.	Kevin Kisner	A gamer. Always seems like he has something to prove.
8.	Tony Finau	Every team needs a big man.
Bench
1.	Jonathan Vegas	Viva Las Vegas!
2.	Gary Woodland	Always seems to be lurking while tattooing the ball.
3.	Jason Dufner	He’d be that guy on the softball team batting .800 with every hit being a single. And after reaching 1st base he asks for a runner. There’s always space on the roster for an .800 hitter.
4.	Jason Kokrak	Touch the sky Phil Coke. I mean Kokrak.
5.	Steve Stricker	The adult. Been there done that. Gives zero fucks about your 350 yard drive.
6.	Brian Stuard	Is from Michigan. Went to Oakland University. Close enough to home.
7.	Ryan Brehm	From Mt. Pleasant, MI where my alma mater Central Michigan is. I don’t care that he went to Michigan State.
8.	Adam Hadwin	Since I live 30 minutes from Canada I figured why the hell not.
9.	Kiradech Aphibarnrat	The John Daly of Thailand.
10.	Tiger Woods	Because Tiger Woods.

It’s quite an honor to be selected to the 2018 Bro Bros. Even if you’re riding the bench. On to greatness!

*After 7 tournaments I added one more bench player. Was running into issues where there were not enough guys playing where I could even submit a lineup.

*After 11 tournaments I added another bench player. Mostly because I can.

Scoring

In most golf tournaments the difference between 1st place and 20th place is typically ten strokes. That’s two and a half strokes a day over four days. These guys are good. They all make birdies and eagles. It’s just who can consistently do it better over four days.

All five or six of your guys have to finish in the top 20 to get the points for where they finished. That’s where the difference is in finishing in the money with daily fantasy golf. To show how important this is take a look at the DraftKings daily fantasy golf scoring works.

 

Look at the difference between 1st Place (30 Points) and 20th Place (5 Points). All because of ten strokes over four days of golf. FanDuel golf scoring is basically the same. You need to pick winners.

We all want to pick that long shot to win like in horse racing but it rarely happens with golf. When I check the top ten entries on DraftKings and FanDuel at the end of the tournament I rarely see golfers names I do not know.

Almost all of the golfers picked were owned by 10% or more of all entires. And in those entries there were golfers owned by 20% or more of all entries. What this means is there really aren’t any “sleepers” with daily fantasy golf.

FanDuel vs DraftKings

I don’t feel one is better than the other and it’s because each site now runs their contests the same. Prior to 2018, FanDuel had you draft 8 guys but now they are like DraftKings which allows 6 guys.

DraftKings has more contests with larger cash prizes than FanDuel. DraftKings also has contests for the European Tour which I have entered twice but not again as that’s too many players to get to know.

I don’t prefer one to the other but after finishing my experiment I found to have better odds at DraftKings.

Which Contest?

I prefer to play the tournaments. Theres something about the chance of winning a huge cash prize for $3. If you finish in the top 30% you should at least get your money back.

If you want to have a better chance of making money than play 50/50s or Double Ups. Basically, you enter with $10 and finish in the top 50% than you win $20.

These are not fun to me. What would suck is if you finish in first in one of those. If you entered with $10 and finished in first in a tournament you’d probably win $100,000.

Satellites and Qualifiers seem interesting but as I understand them you play these at a discounted price to win a ticket to one of the larger tournaments. The way I see it is if you have money than why not just enter the larger tournaments?

Refer A Friend

DraftKings – Create an account through my link, deposit more than $5, and get a 25% of the deposit back in DK Dollars which can be used on DraftKings to enter contests.

FanDuel – Create a new account through my link, play $20, and get $10 to play on FanDuel.

Summary

I’m kind of glad this experiment is over. It became kind of a drag as it went on.

My best guess is because I knew I was losing. And while losing $491 isn’t a devastating financial blow to me I could have spent it some where else. Like on actual golf. That’s about 15 rounds at the course I play every week. Which is a lot of golf.

And I hated it when my guys didn’t make the Friday cut. It kind of ruined watching golf on Sunday when the kids would take a nap.

I also hated it when all 6 of my guys would make the cut and I did not cash in.

Only eight entries on FanDuel had it where all six made the cut. Sadly, only three of those times did my entry make money. The other win had five make the cut with players winning the tournament and finishing in the top ten.

What’s odd with DraftKings is of the nine entries that had all six make the cut they all won money. And two entries made money with five players making the cut.

Just like in real golf I am a better feel player versus a stats or technical player. At some point the game is fairways and greens. Everything else is everything else.

And the results of my experiment say I’m better at picking players then a strategy based on stats or an algorithm is. Or at least an algorithm I know how to use.

Maybe the weekend tournaments where you choose from players who did make the cut but there are no points for placing would be better.

In the end, I should not be playing daily fantasy golf every week. The results say I’m not that good at it.

One day I was browsing through the November 2016 issue of Golf Digest I get sent to my house as a part of my Golf Association of Michigan (GAM) membership.

While flipping through the pages I noticed an ad for Vice Golf. Nothing seemed to jump out at me at the time. Just another golf ball.

A couple of weeks go by and its December. I have done zero Christmas shopping. I need ideals. Browsing through the same magazine I notice the ad for Vice Golf again. Beep bop boop and I am on ViceGolf.com.

Wow, those seem like really good prices for golf balls and their kind of cool looking. I get it, their trying to be the un-golf ball maker. Like, a hip golf ball company.

(**Update 4-11-18 – If you want to buy some Vice Golf Balls I suggest comparing prices at the Vice Amazon Store first and then on ViceGolf.com. Things have changed since I first published this article. It really only makes sense to buy directly from Vice if you buy in bulk (discounts kick in at 3 dozen) or if you plan on uploading a photo like I originally did.)

Hmmm, maybe I can buy a dozen golf balls each as a Christmas present for my mom, brother, Uncle, and Aunt (who I had for secret santa). Hmmm, whats this customizer thing? Awesome – my passport photo on a golf ball. Christmas shopping done.

Not entirely done of course. I’m not that cheap. I did get my mom and brother at least one more thing each but my Aunt and Uncle who both play golf were done.

The entire process of selecting which golf ball I wanted to put my face on, to uploading my photo was simple as can be. I went with the Vice Tour as it was the second least expensive ball Vice makes. Don’t judge. I bought five dozen. Four as gifts and one for me. At $16 a dozen plus the $6 (total) for uploading my picture I felt it was very reasonable.

I also bought the Vice Selected Pack which includes four (now five) of the golf balls they make. The Selected pack is for new customers only. Figured it would be a good idea to try them all especially at a big discount. (*Since my order in Dec. 2016 Vice released the Pro Soft)

Turnaround Time Was Impressive

From the moment I completed my order the wheels started turning. Received the confirmation email in minutes. Later in the evening I received a “your order is being processed” email.

The next afternoon I received the “your order has shipped” email which says to expect your order from FedEx in two days…from Munich, Germany.

Two days later there was a box saying Vice Golf sitting on my porch. Impressive, especially since they charge a flat $6.95 shipping fee.

Everything was just as I ordered it but the attention to detail and the little things like putting the invoice in an envelope really stood out. And the graphics on the sleeves themselves were cool. Lions, and Tigers, and such. My face even looked good. Very good to be honest. Was surprised how well they were able to transfer my picture onto the golf ball.

What About Christmas?

These golf balls with my face on it stole Secret Santa. Everybody loved them. Might have helped I wrote a few choice words in permanent maker on the ball coming out of my mouth. My brother was the luckiest of them all. He had three different balls with “Your Fat” , “You’re Fat” , and “You Are Fat” written on them. Had to make sure the grammar was correct on at least one of them. I might have even drew what would resemble a gentlemens sausage with my head being the tip of it. He always said I was a dick head.

Lets Get Into These Golf Balls

Five months these golf balls sat in my basement waiting for their turn to get into the best golf ball challenge. We didn’t even get one of those mild days in March or even April where I could justify going golfing. Was May before I could get out.

The reviews of the golf balls are going to happen in chronological order. After finishing each round I would come home and write everything down as it happened instead of trying to remember it all at the end. I would save the article in my admin area and re-visit the post after my next round trying another Vice Golf Ball. Figured this way would be the best way.

All four of my rounds took place at Rackham Golf Course in Huntington Woods, MI playing from the White Tees. Had good weather each day with a little bit of wind one day.

Vice Tour Golf Ball Review

May 17, 2017 – Temperature – 72 degrees – Sunny

Rackham Golf Course – White Tees

Waited months to smash my face. I mean to play the Vice Tour Golf Ball with my handsome face on it. Used it for my first round of the 2017 golf season so expectations were low.

Tour is the second cheapest of the four Vice Golf balls and is of three piece design.

What I liked most about the Vice Tour was its comfortability. It provided just enough performance to tell you its not the cheapest but do not expect a whole lot.

Sending Driver – Easy breezy off the tee. Found six fairways and at worst was within a couple yards of it most of the day. Not a whole lot of spin with the Vice Tour so if it didn’t go straight it was a slight hook or fade. Typical distance for me off the tee.

Fairway Woods & Hybrids – Felt comfortable hit woods and hybrids from the fairway or rough. Again, little spin meant it either went straight or a slight hook or spin. Did not notice any gains in regards to distance.

Irons – Hit seven greens in regulation which is about regular or a little better. What I liked most about the Vice Tour here was it was about getting yardage right. I knew there was going to be little to no spin when hitting the green so there were no surprises.

Chipping – Got up and down for par twice which is decent for me. With little to no spin it meant making good contact and not expecting it to check up. Felt comfortable chipping all day.

Putting – One putted four times but three putted three times. Could not get a feel for the Vice Tour on the greens.

Durability – Vice tour had no marks on it. Well, my face had a blemish but even that held up pretty well through 18 holes.

Score – 81

GIR – 7

Putts – 35

Penalty Stroke – 0

Fairways – 6

Vice Drive Golf Ball Review

June 2nd, 2017 – Temperature – 78 degrees – Sunny

Rackham Golf Course – White Tees

Through the first 4 holes I was 1 under which is a personal best for me. Things got a little back to normal after that with pars and sadly three double bogeys. Wind picked up on the back nine which it tends to do at Rackham.

Vice Drive is the cheapest of the five golf balls Vice makes and is the only two piece.

What I liked the most about the Vice Drive was its simplicity. Its not designed to spin and promise all that much and I kind of liked it. Less is more is a motto I tend to go by.

Standing over the ball took all the “I’m trying to do this…” or “shape this shot” or “its supposed to check up” right out of the scenarios as I know this ball is not designed to do it AND I am not good at doing those. I’m still trying to shoot in the 70s and that comes with doing the basics, not trying to do too much.

Sending Driver – The Vice Drive was great. It just went. With it being designed to not have a lot of spin I did not hit any big slices. Mostly fades and straight shots. There was a bit of wind today which probably gave me extra yards on a couple of drives. Hit four fairways and three in the first cut. Rackham is an open course.

Fairway Woods & Hybrids – Loved the Vice Drive with these. I hit a 5 wood 243 yards on the second hole (duffed the drive – lol) and put it 20 feet behind the hole. Flew dead straight to the front of the green and rolled out.

Had another instance where I took a 4 hybrid from 170 with the wind coming from the side and put it 20 feet from the hole. Since the ball does not have a lot of spin to begin with I knew I just had to put it into the wind and thats what happened.

Irons – Made good contact all day but was pushing them. With the wind today I really didn’t use my irons all that much. It was crush a drive and either fairway wood or wedge to the green.

Chipping – Surprisingly hit them well. Again, since the Vice Drive does not spin much I knew I just had to hit the distance. Zero times did I back spin or check up a ball. Everything rolled out. Had one very good sand save from 20 yards out. The ball did get some crazy side spin and stopped 3 feet from the hole. Don’t know how I did it.

Putting – This is really my only gripe about the Vice Drive. I could not get a good feel off the putter all day. The only putt I made all day was a 50 footer on hole #3 for birdie which is of course skill but of course luck.

The rest of my one putts were because of good chipping. I had 9 GIR and only one birdie. Four of the GIR’s were within 15 feet and I left most of them short. Had three 3 putts too.

Durability – The Vice Drive had no marks on it. You would think it just came out of the sleeve. Would have no problem playing another round with it.

Score – 84

GIR – 9

Putts – 36

Penalty Stroke – 1 (Damn you prickly bush on #15)

Fairways – 4

Vice Pro Golf Ball Review

June 8th, 2017 – Temp 80 degrees – Sunny

Rackham Golf Course – White Tees

The Vice Pro is the second most expensive golf ball Vice makes and is of 3 piece design. First time I pulled one out of the box it instantly reminded me of a Titelist Pro V1. Something about the cover and it had an almost grabby/sticky feel to it.

What I liked most about the Vice Pro was it surprised me more than the Vice Drive and Vice Tours I recently played with.

Over 18 holes I noticed it travel a little farther, would draw off the tee, and check up on approach shots. None of those happened with the Drive and Tour.

Sending Driver – Noticeably farther than the two cheaper balls. When I made good contact you could feel it. Mis-hits still went. Two notable tee shots to discuss. One in which I hit a very nice draw which carried a hill I had never hit over before.

I do set up for a draw but rarely hit one and most of the times it goes straight or a pull to the left. Was shocked to see where it ended up even though it was a dog-leg to the right.

My other tee shot went left down the 9th fairway which has happened before but this time went twenty yards further into some tall grass and I could not find it. Was a bit sad about that. Never had I ever reached those two spots on the course before with any ball I’ve ever played.

On average, the Vice Pro went twenty yards further than the Vice Tour and Vice Drive with the Driver.

Fairway Woods & Hybrids – Distance was longer but spin was higher. Was almost too much spin with these clubs, especially the 4 hybrid. Response from the 3 and 5 woods were smooth. Had very good shots with them. Was tricky with the 4 hybrid as my natural tendency is to hit a cut fade. With the Vice Pro it produced more spin and lost distance with a couple of shots.

Irons – What was different about the Vice Pro versus the two cheaper balls was the feedback from hitting irons. Reminded me of the one time I played with blade irons. When you hit it perfect it felt like cutting through butter. When you missed it, everything felt clunky, even the sound at contact.

There were a number of clunky sounds through out the round but all in all not too bad. What impressed me the most was the Vice Pro’s staying power. There were a number of approach shots where it bounced once and stopped.

Chipping – Found my way into the sand twice and saved par once. The bunkers at Rackham are not kept up all that well so you don’t know what kind of lie you are going to get. In most cases, not good. Around the green the Vice Pro had a nice feel and a few times it checked up. A number of my one putts on the day were due to my chip shots getting into tap in range.

Putting – For the third time in a row using Vice golf balls I could not find a feel for it. Not sure if its my putter or me. Its probably me but I cannot make anything. Had a 4 putt and a number of 3 putts. Outside of a 25 footer for birdie on #6 I could not make anything.

Durability – With me losing a ball on the ninth hole I cannot say for sure how they would hold up for 18 holes. Before I lost it the ball did have one scuff mark and a yellow mark (sand?). The other ball I played with had one small scuff.

Score – 86

GIR – 9

Putts – 38

Penalty Stroke – 1 (Off the tee into tall grass on #9)

Fairways – 3

Vice Pro Plus Golf Ball Review

June 21st, 2017 – Temp 80 degrees – Sunny

Rackham Golf Course – White Tees

The Vice Pro Plus costs the same amount as the Vice Pro but should cost a little bit more. Reason being is it is the best of the Vice Golf Balls.

Maybe its because its the “Plus” or maybe its because of the four pieces of materials it is made out of.

What I liked most about the Vice Pro Plus is it took the best parts of the Vice Pro, Vice Tour, and Vice Drive and wrapped them into it. I cannot think of a better way to describe it than that.

Saved the Vice Pro Plus for last and am glad I did. Even though I struggled on the front 9 I still kept it together and played well on the back 9.

Sending Driver – Noticeably longer than the Drive, Tour, and a little further than the Pro. The sound it made coming off my driver was different than the other three.

Hit two very good draws that day, a number of good old straight shots, and a couple of fades. Remember above how I discussed hitting into tall grass on the 9th with the Vice Pro and losing it? Not on this day.

Scorched one down the fairway twenty yards further than where my Vice Pro was lost. Tee boxes are relatively in the same area from day to day. Maybe ten yards give or take. On average, the Vice Pro Plus went ten yards further than the Vice Pro and twenty to thirty yards further than the Vice Tour and Vice Drive.

Fairway Woods & Hybrids – Distance was noticeably longer than the Vice Pro. It just had a better feeling coming off the club than the Pro. The 16th hole at Rackham is one of the toughest Par 3’s around at 220 yards. Many a golfer hit Driver on this hole. Forget about it if its a windy day as the small green is exposed. Today there was a light breeze so not to much to worry about in the wind department.

Pulled out my 3 wood and hit one 20 feet above the hole. The Vice Pro Plus stuck and spun back a yard. Was the best shot I’ve ever had on #16.

Irons – Have to be honest here for a second. Iron play was very poor until my second shot on the 9th hole. Just could not get it going till the back nine.

Had similar feedback from the Vice Pro Plus as I did the Vice Pro. When it compressed, you felt it. When you missed it, you knew it. But when it hit the green, it stopped.

Chipping – Did not hit a lot of Greens In Regulation today which made for a lot of wedge and chip shots. Was impressed with the control of the Vice Pro Plus. There was not the grabby feeling of the Vice Pro with the Plus. Even in your hands the Plus does not feel sticky. There were no times when it checked up and stopped.

Was in the sand twice and did ok. Forgot my 60 degree wedge at home so I played with my lob wedge instead. Might have made a difference. Did not have any crazy spin coming out of the traps and sadly did not save par on those.

Putting – Out of all the Vice golf balls, the Vice Pro Plus was the only one I felt comfortable putting with. Had 7 one putts and no three putts. A couple of the one putts could have been two putts as I putted from the fringe or just off the green. Technically speaking those count as chips.

Saying that, it showed how much better I putted with the Vice Pro Plus versus the other three. Most of my two putts were finished with a tap in and my one putts were from 5 – 10 feet.

Something I noticed with the Pro Plus and not with the others was the “Keep In Line” or “KIL” putting line during the putt. All it is is the black line on the side of the ball where in white lets it says “Vice Pro Plus.” A number of times I saw it staying straight and on line.

By far, the Vice Pro Plus had the best feel on and around the green of the Vice Golf Balls.

Durability – Almost lost the Vice Pro Plus on my approach shot to the 18th green. That would have been embarrassing. Bounced it into flower bed I never noticed before and thankfully found it. Did have to take an unplayable though.

You would have to look hard at the Vice Pro Plus to notice it played through an entire round of 18 holes. There are no scuff marks on it at all and I hit three trees. A very small brown area is on the outside from the bunkers or dirty crappy not fairway areas at Rackham (best description for the rough I can come up with).

Score – 80

GIR – 6

Putts – 29

Penalty Stroke – 1 (Unplayable on 18 because of flower bed. Dammit! Almost broke 80)

Fairways – 7

Vice Pro Soft Golf Ball Review

8-30-18. Rackham Golf Course. 77 Degrees. Sunny. Light Breeze.

Over a year has passed since I played a Vice golf ball. A month after I tested the other four golf balls they came out with the Vice Pro Soft.

Of course they would. I spent all this time testing and writing to find out I’d have to re-address this post at a future date. I put Vice in timeout and tested 20+ other golf balls over the past year instead.

Enough time passed and I was ready to get the Vice Pro Soft. Didn’t even look at the specs. Just ordered them.

After being delivered I decided to open the box and a sleeve to take a look at this golf ball. My first reaction was this might be the coolest golf ball ever made.

“I didn’t know it had a matte finish” is exactly what I said. If I would have spent one second reading the product description I would have known.

The Vice Pro Soft is classy. Has the sort of matte finish you’d see people use to do custom paint jobs on cars. Its that good.

Outside of a few more or a few less dimples the Pro Soft is similar to the Pro and Tour models as all are three piece golf balls. The only real difference is the matte finish which must give it that softer feel.

My only other experience playing a matte finish golf ball was the Volvik Vivid and the softness was noticeable. That ball became a favorite of mine because of its control. Now I’m intrigued.

Its golf time.

Sending Driver – That “smoosh” feeling you get when hitting matte finish golf balls became evident on my first shot of the day. You feel it compress the matte outer layer followed by a “crack” sound as it explodes through the inner layers.

Sent this one right down the middle of the fairway around 250 yards. A drive near the drainage ditch up ahead is at the reach of my distance.

Just missed the fairway on my next few drives but found it again on the Par 5 7th Hole with this drive to around 250 yards right down the middle of the fairway.

Found the fairway on the 299 yard Par 4 17th hole but its a good 20 yards behind my regular landing area.

Found the fairway on the very long Par 4 18th hole with a decent drive but a good 10 yards behind where I normally land. And yes, I bought a Vice Golf hat when I placed my order for the golf balls.

I’m sure you are eager to see more pictures of the Vice Pro Soft chilling in the middle of the fairway after a super most premium excellent drive but there will be none of that.

Only found the fairway four times because for some reason the Vice Pro Soft started slicing and hooking. Like, a lot of slicing and hooking. It was ridiculous.

For a golf ball that is supposed to be soft it sure reminded me of one where I needed to swing much faster to keep it under control when hitting driver.

Fairway Woods – Again, with the slicing and hooking. If I didn’t catch it perfect, the Vice Pro Soft wouldn’t stay straight. Distance was a little less than I’m used to.

For some reason I could not pick it clean with my 3 or 5 wood and thats usually one of my strengths. Pretty sure I duffed 3 shots with those clubs which is an embarrassment to the game of golf.

One of the selling features of matte golf balls is they are “anti-glare” which should help in keeping your eye on the ball. Would it be best if I didn’t wear sunglasses so I’m not doubling down on the anti-glare? Do you need some glare?

Sadly I have zero shots to talk about here.

Irons – Hitting a matte finish golf ball with irons is a unique experience because you can feel it compress in the grooves. Well, at least I think you can.

I was curious to see if the Vice Pro Soft would do a “Figure 8” like the Volvik Vivid did with irons. Basically, the shot looks like it could write an 8 in the sky with the spin always coming back to center.

And that’s what it did on the Par 4 315 yard 2nd Hole when I hit an 8 iron 145 yards away from a horrible lie to the middle of the green. I smiled.

Took a chunk out of the green on the Par 4 3rd hole with a 5 iron from 160 yards.

Hit a very nice 8 iron 145 yards into the Par 4 4th green from the thick rough.

Backed this one off the Par 3 5th Hole green with a 7 iron.

Even though I hooked my tee shot left on the 311 yard Par 4 6th Hole it actually put me into a good spot to hit a light Pitching Wedge from 40 yards away. Almost dunked it in.

And a very nice 6 iron into the 150 yard Par 3 8th green.

Sadly, thats where the fun and games ended when hitting the Vice Pro Soft with irons. All 5 Greens In Regulation happened on the front nine.

Slicing the ball off the tee and not making good contact with fairway woods left almost zero chances for a GIR on the back nine.

Distance was good. As was compression and control. Every iron shot had a medium trajectory and landed softly.

Chipping – Did a lot of this with the Vice Pro Soft scrambling for par twice. It did spin a little but never saw it check up which surprised me.

With the matte finish I’d expect it to be a bit more “grabby” on the greens and not roll out. It did not do that. Every shot rolled out more than expected.

Putting – Zero 3 putts and four 1 putts for 32 total putts. Not a bad day of putting. Sadly I did not make any birdie putts which is just ridiculous.

I gave the Vice Pro Soft a little bit more “oomph” when putting because I remembered having to do that with the Volvik Vivid. This worked and it left me very makable tap ins.

Durability – I have to admit to losing one golf ball on the 10th hole. What you’re seeing has 7.5 holes on it. Which include hitting two trees and one bunker shot. Matte finishes hide the blemishes well. Basically looks brand new.

Score – 84. GIR – 5. Putts – 32. Fairways – 4. Penalty Stroke – 1.

Duffed 3 fairway woods and 2 approach shots. A penalty stroke. No birdies. And a bland back nine. Yet somehow shot 84. Take out the duffs and this is an entirely different round.

Lasting impression of the Vice Pro Soft is average distance with all clubs. Full iron shots land soft. Around the green is average. And you have to be ok with hitting your putts a little harder than other golf balls because of the matte finish.

I still prefer the Pro Plus over the Pro Soft but it sure is cool looking.

Where To Buy Vice Golf Balls

Things have changed a little since I published this article. I recommend checking out the Vice Amazon Store first and then comparing prices on ViceGolf.com.

Reason being is you only get a discount buying directly from Vice if you buy in bulk. Discounts start at 3 dozen and really kick in at 5 dozen. So if you only want one or two dozen then you’ll probably save money at Amazon because of free shipping. There is no bulk discount on Amazon.

Vice did not have a store on Amazon when I bought the golf balls in 2016. If you want to upload a photo like I did then buy directly from Vice. Its the only way and was effortless.

Vice Golf Promo Code

The fine people at Vice have given me a quasi promo code to give to friends, fellow golfers, and overall awesome people.

Follow any link on my website to ViceGolf.com. Embedded in the links are my promo code.

Select the golf balls you want.

Go to checkout and you will see a free sleeve of golf balls added to your order. It will say “Quantity: .25, Unit: USD $0, Total: USD $0”.

If that doesn’t work than fill out the form on my contact page and ask for the Vice Promo Code. I have a separate code the people at Vice gave me but per their terms I can’t post it online. The links should work though.

Summary

What started as a last minute Christmas gift idea turned into a little insight into the golf ball industry and a conversation starter on the course.

I should have been recording my family members faces when they opened the boxes up. Since Christmas in 2016 I would get random texts saying they’re using “my face” on the course.

People I have golfed with have cracked up when I told them the story about buying them. Had an instance where I hit one with my face on it over the green and a guy was looking for his ball in the same area as the next fairway is behind the green. He rolls up to my ball, looks at it, looks at me, and says “Are you hitting…well thats you.”

With my Christmas gift in 2016 being such a big hit you knew paybacks were coming. My Uncle Larry decided to “get me” with a Christmas gift of his own in 2017.

And with our kids finally being old enough (3 and 2) to bring to my parents timeshare in Cancun my brother and I were able to get two rounds of golf in at the Iberostar Cancun Golf Club using some “Larrys” and “Brads”.

Pro Plus is my favorite followed by Tour, Pro Soft, Pro, and Drive. There was just a little bit more comfortability with the Plus versus the other golf balls for me. Pro Soft would be good for short courses. Tour had a simplicity which I enjoyed. Drive felt a little too simple.

With these golf balls costing half as much and the performance being similar to a Titleist Pro V1 you might as well get the Vice Pro Plus.

The people at Vice are onto something with their business model. Top of the line golf balls like the Pro V1 are expensive. How many times have you played a hole with water everywhere and decided to not play it and took out a cheap ball?

With Vice Golf Balls you will only feel bad about hitting one into the water and not about losing a $4 golf ball. I wonder how many more golf ball manufacturers will embrace the direct to consumer business model.

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	Titleist Pro V1	8	31	4	7-28-17	Titleist Pro V1 Review
6.	81	Srixon Q-STAR	7	32	6	8-24-18	Q-STAR Review
7.	81	Vice Tour	7	35	6	5-17-17	Vice Tour Review
8.	81	Volvik Vivid	7	35	4	9-22-17	Volvik Vivid Review
9.	82	Bandit SB	6	30	7	6-21-18	Bandit SB Review
10.	82	Nike Crush Extreme	4	32	5	9-5-17	Nike Crush Extreme Review
11.	83	Slazenger Raw Distance	9	39	4	10-13-17	Slazenger Raw Distance Review
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	Nike Mojo	7	37	6	8-4-17	Nike Mojo Review
16.	85	Top Flite XL 3000 Super Long	6	32	7	5-23-18	XL 3000 SL Review
17.	85	Titleist Pro V1x	6	33	3	7-21-17	Titleist Pro V1x Review
18.	85	Titleist NXT Tour	5	33	5	8-25-17	Titleist NXT Tour Review
19.	85	FOO-KING-LONG	2	30	4	7-6-18	FOO-KING-LONG Review
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	Kirkland Signature 3-Piece	4	30	3	9-5-19	Kirkland Signature Review
29.	87	Schwetty	4	32	4	5-1-18	Schwetty Balls Review
30.	88	Bridgestone Tour B330RX	5	34	5	8-11-17	Tour B330RX Review
31.	89	Dunlop DDH Deep Distance	7	36	6	5-25-18	DDH Deep Distance Review
32.	89	Titleist AVX	5	35	5	6-6-18	Titleist AVX Review
33.	89	Bridgestone e6 Soft	4	34	7	8-18-17	e6 Soft Review
34.	91	Dixon Wind	6	33	5	7-26-18	Dixon Wind Review
35.	91	Pinnacle Gold Long Drive	4	37	4	5-8-18	Pinnacle Gold Long Drive Review
36.	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.	Kirkland Signature 3-Piece	$1.00	87	$.011
2.	Vice Drive	$1.24	84	$.014
3.	Slazenger Raw Distance	$1.50	83	$.018
4.	Wilson TC2 Tour Schwetty Bandit MD	$1.66 $1.66 $1.66	87 87 84	$.019   $.0197
5.	Pinnacle Gold Long Drive	$1.83	91	$.020
6.	Dixon Wind Vice Tour	$2.08 $1.82	91 81	$.022
7.	Top Flite XL 3000 Super Long Dunlop DDH Deep Distance	$2.00 $2.05	85 89	$.023
8.	Nike Mojo	$2.06	85	$.024
9.	FLOATER Srixon Q-STAR	$2.00 $2.08	78 81	$.025
10.	Titleist Velocity Srixon Z-STAR	$2.25 $2.33	86 87	$.026
11.	Nike Crush Extreme Bridgestone e6 Soft	$2.25 $2.41	82 89	$.027
12.	Nike PD Long	$2.50	86	$.029
13.	Volvik Vivid Bandit SB Bridgestone Tour B330 RX	$2.50 $2.50 $2.66	81 82 88	$.030
14.	Dixon Spirit FOO-KING-LONG	$2.50 $2.75	76 85	$.032
15.	Vice Pro Bridgestone Tour B330S	$2.91 $2.81	86 84	$.033
16.	Titleist NXT Tour	$2.91	85	$.034
17.	Titleist DT Wound 100 Vice Pro Plus	$2.83 $2.91	77 80	$.036
18.	TaylorMade TP5x	$3.75	87	$.043
19.	Titleist AVX	$3.99	89	$.044
20.	Titleist Pro V1x	$3.99	85	$.046
21.	Titleist Pro V1	$3.99	81	$.049
22.	XXIO Aero-Drive	$5	86	$.058
23.	Dixon Fire	$6.25	86	$.072
24.	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 Titleist ProV1 Titleist ProV1x
3.	Bridgestone e6 Soft Titleist Velocity Bandit MD Dixon Earth
4.	TaylorMade TP5x Dixon Wind XXIO Aero-Drive Dixon Fire Pinnacle Gold Long Drive Srixon Q-STAR Titleist AVX Vice Pro Plus Dixon Spirit FLOATER Srixon Z-STAR Wilson TC2 Tour
5.	Kirkland Signature 3-Piece 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.

Up next in my search for the best golf ball are those from Srixon. Only once have I ever bought Srixon’s before and that was when I went to Arizona in 2007 to visit a friend. We played a very fancy course and Srixon’s were the cheapest balls available to buy at the course. So I bought a dozen and actually enjoyed them.

That was over a decade ago and I have not bought Srixon’s since. Nor can I remember playing one that I found. But who knows. Maybe I will rekindle that time I played a Srixon from a decade ago.

Just like I do with all of my reviews I play one 18 hole round at Rackham Golf Course near my house in Huntington Woods, MI. And to keep my reviews nice and tidy I will update this post with the different Srixon golf balls I play.

Srixon Z-STAR Golf Ball Review

Rackham Golf Course. 6-8-18. White Tees. 85 Degrees. Sunny. Very light breeze.

Heading to the golf course I knew I was gonna have to buy a sleeve of golf balls at the clubhouse as I was not prepared. They don’t keep that many golf balls stocked and I’ve played most of them so that left me with the Srixon Z-Star.

A decade has past since I played a Srixon. And my lasting impression of them was a good one. Going into the round I had expectations of a very well performing golf ball.

You don’t see that many pros playing Srixon nor average schlubs like me. They’re just not sexy.

The packaging was fancy and I liked the font but after those initial impressions it looked and felt like a decent golf ball. Nothing more, nothing less.

Everything the Z Star claims should be a golf ball built for me. My swing speed is probably in that 88-108 mph zone. I love me some Spin Skin and a good Speed Dimple. Mmmmm. Don’t even get me going on an Enhanced Energetic Gradient Growth Core.

What is concerning is the warning of “Do Not Leave Near Extreme Heat Or In The Trunk/Boot Of A Car In The Summer.” What happens if I do? Will an authority figure have to be notified?

You know what STAR stands for? No? I’ll tell you.

Spin, Trajectory, Acceleration, and Responsiveness.

So now you know.

And with that lets see what the Z-Star’s got.

Sending Driver – All sorts of average distance for most of the day. And all sorts of below accuracy. Hit the fairway 4 times which is well below average. Was not put into any positions where I could not go for the green or take a full swing on the next shot. Would either push it to the right or send a line drive to the left.

And just when I think the Z-Star is a very average sort of distance golf ball I end up hitting the furthest drive I have ever hit on the Par 4 15th. It’s a deceiving drive as the fairway starts behind a very large bunker up a hill about 150 yards from the tee on an angle. It’s tricky because you don’t aim straight off the box. You need to aim right.

I smoke the Z-Star with the elusive draw that I try to hit on every drive. It felt awesome the second it left the club.

As I made my way up the hill looking for the 150 yard marker I notice the Z-Star to not be there. This is where my typical good drives end up. Not the Z-Star. It was up ahead near the 100 yard marker in the fairway. That puts this drive around 270 yards. That’s a big poke for your boy. And it was uphill. And in a blizzard. And a hurricane. A blizzard hurricane.

Fairway Woods & Hybrids – I hit my normal amounts of 3 and 5 woods today with not so many eye-popping results. Distance was ok but it didn’t make that nice “cracking” sound I get with premium golf balls.

And it didn’t produce great feedback either. I’m usually good for at least one GIR with a fairway wood but that did not happen today.

Similarly with the Driver the Z-Star did have two very nice shots with 3 wood on the Par 5 7th and 14th which let me get into position to have a GIR.

Irons – Only 5 Greens In Regulation which is pitiful. Distance was not there with the Z-Star here. Kept coming up short on most of my approach shots.

Feedback was lacking and when I mis hit it was off. The Z-Star did not have that piercing ball flight you want coming off the irons.

All 5 of my GIR’s were done using a 9 Iron or Pitching Wedge. Sad to say the least. Taking full swings with those clubs resulted in very consistent high trajectory ball flight.

In most cases the Z-Star took a hop or two and stopped. No crazy back or side spin.

Chipping – And since the Z-Star kept coming up short on approach shots it left me with many chip shots into the green. Which is where I didn’t mind the Z-Star.

Except for the first hole. That was a disaster with every wedge in the bag. For some reason the Z-Star wanted to fly the green with a Pitching Wedge. Then come up short with the Sand Wedge. Then come up short again with the 60 Degree. That’s how you start your day with a 9.

Got up and down for par twice…which is nice. Damn you first hole. DAMN YOU!!!

Putting – Had 32 putts which is very good. We have to acknowledge my lack of Greens In Regulation which put me in many situations to chip from off the green and get it close.

In many cases I was 5 or 10 yards off resulting in long chip shots. A few yards closer and they would be long putts.

My only three putt on the day came on a hole where I of course was initially putting for birdie. And I had five 1 putts which is quite good. Two of which were birdie putts I made from around 15 feet out.

The Z-Star didn’t have that soft feel coming off the putter or that “clink” sound you get with a ProV1 but was otherwise ok.

Stated differently. The Z-Star did not suck to putt with.

Durability – Surprisingly there were some scuff marks on the Z-Star. And I did not hit any trees or go into any sand traps. The cover still feels like new but the marks were unexpected.

Score – 87. GIR – 5. Putts – 32. Fairways – 4.

I don’t see myself buying the Srixon Z-Star again. It’s a decent ball. But it does not have all the features I want in a golf ball. Mostly feedback and consistency. And it did not score well which is whats most important.

Srixon Q-Star Golf Ball Review

8-24-18. Rackham Golf Course. Sunny. 82 Degrees. Breezy.

I did it again. I showed up to the golf course without a golf ball ready to play. And since I’ve done this a couple of times now I knew I’d be taking a risk as to what they had available for me to buy.

Out of the dozen or so different golf balls I could choose from I was left with two I haven’t played yet. And one of those was the Srixon Q-Star.

Its been a couple of months since I played a Srixon and I wasn’t overly impressed with the Z-Star. Plus, due to special packaging (Super Sleeve) I had to buy six Q-Star’s when I only wanted the normal three.

Even though the Q-Star is a two piece golf ball I was intrigued with what it could do as it had a lower compression of 75. I’ve been noticing I play better with lower compression golf balls so maybe I could do something with it.

Everything in Srixon’s description of the Q-Star says it should match up well with my game. Soft Feel, Super Long Distance (LOL), Excellent Greenside Control, and a Mid-High Trajectory.

Expectations are a little low as this is a two piece golf ball. My testing so far says these types of golf balls are good until you start having to take half swings and chip shots.

Lets see what it can do. Its golf time.

Sending Driver – Got things going on the Par 4 315 yard 2nd Hole with a super most premium excellent drive. Straight as an arrow and 250 yards down the fairway.

Hit it straight just not in the fairway on the Par 4 365 yard 3rd Hole. An average drive and landing spot for me on this hole.

Sent an excellent 245 yard drive on the Par 4 348 yard 4th Hole to make the right dogleg. Not nearly as far as the drive I hit with the Dixon Earth a month prior that was to the left of the sand trap but in a perfect spot for a 9 iron.

Hit it through the fairway on the dogleg left 311 yard Par 4 6th Hole. Got as close as I could to the trees which guard the left side of the fairway and bounced it here. Another 250 yard drive.

A super most premium excellent drive on the 387 yard Par 4 9th hole too. The 150 yard marker is to my right and ten yards behind. This is a little above average drive for me on this hole.

Didn’t get all of this one on the 418 yard Par 4 11th Hole but its right in the middle of the fairway. Can’t be mad at that.

And my last fairway hit of the day came on the 299 yard Par 4 17th Hole. Didn’t get all of it and probably only put it out there 235 yards but its in the fairway. All good with me.

I was impressed with the Q-Star off the tee. Hit 6 fairways which is about average and if I was in the rough I was just barely off. Had an unobstructed second shot on every hole.

Distance was very good. Didn’t hit any draws or slices. Everything went straight. Compression was top-notch. I could feel it at impact.

Fairway Woods – With me getting good distance and accuracy with the driver I hit more irons with approach shots than normal.

And the Q-Star performed quite well here too. Damn thing came out hot off the club face with a low to medium trajectory. Piercing ball flight if you will.

Was left with a 50 yard chip shot on the 502 yard Par 5 7th Hole after a solid 215 yard 3 wood. There is going to be more about the 7th Hole later on and the upcoming shot.

For the most part it was merely about advancing the Q-Star with fairway woods.

Irons – Hitting good drives gave the Q-Star an opportunity to hit good approach shots and that’s what it did. Had 6 Greens In Regulation on the front nine all with irons.

Like this 5 iron struck from 160 yards into the Par 4 3rd Hole that stopped 25 feet from the cup. I don’t know how it stopped like that.

And the 9 iron that was hit from 115 yards into the Par 4 4th Hole. Q-Star wanted to be dancing.

Then there’s this 7 iron hit into the 150 yard Par 3 8th Hole. It didn’t want to be closer to the cup on this hole for some reason. Fine – I say.

And a 75 yard Pitching Wedge into the 299 yard Par 4 17th Hole.

Seven Greens In Regulation all together which is average. What stood out most to me was the proximity to the hole. Was getting the right distance on a lot of iron shots.

The Q-Star performed quite well anytime I took a full swing. Trajectory was medium and distance was good. Compression was great.

Chipping – Was only able to scramble for par once. Just could not get a feel for it around the greens. Little to zero checking up or stopping on the green.

I don’t know if you could call a shot from 50 yards away (Par 5 7th Hole approach shot) a chip shot but I will in this instance. Took a half swing with Pitching Wedge and landed it on the front of the green.

And watched it bounce, and bounce, and bounce, and then roll ten more yards ending up over the back of the green. Between where it landed and ended up was 25 yards. Insane. I was like WTF.

I hit the Q-Star perfectly and at no point did it want to check up once. And that’s with it going uphill a little.

Putting – One 3 putt and five 1 putts. 32 total putts which is ok.

I liked the Q-Star when putting. Had a firm feel at contact and rolled with pace. Rolled in 3 birdie putts including a bender from 25 feet on the 3rd Hole.

Durability – The good news is I did not lose one. And seeing how I didn’t hit any trees, sand traps, or cart paths you would expect it to be in like new condition. Which it is.

Score – 81. GIR – 7. Putts – 32. Fairways – 6

I’m a tad bit butt hurt about an 81. I rattled off 3 birdies in the first six holes to go 2 under par. Not once had I been 2 under through 6 holes.

And then that 50 yard chip shot on #7 bounces and rolls over the back of the green. As soon as I hit it I’m thinking it’s going to be 5 feet from the hole and I’m putting for birdie.

Nope. Had a chance to save par with a 6 footer but missed. Followed that up with 3 putting on the 8th hole. The steam slowly let out after that and it became a struggle to get the Q-Star home.

Too bad because the day before I shot the best round of my life with the Dixon Spirit and I thought I was on to matching or besting that until the ball bounced over the back.

I liked everything about the Srixon Q-Star except for chipping. I’d say I’d buy them again but I still have five left from that six-pack of golf balls I was forced to buy. Damn you Srixon.