The Golf Ball and Your Handicap

For the regular golfer the news on the modern golf ball is all good. The ball doesn't slice or hook anywhere near as much as it did 15 years ago and it goes a lot further. But why hasn't the average club member's handicap dropped. The answer is almost certainly in the golf ball you are teeing up.

Today a solidly hit golf ball doesn't move. The manufacturer's designers have worked the long night hours to make it so. But for most of us the percentage of solidly hit shots hasn't improved that much and the ball, when hit poorly, will deviate from the straight and narrow.

And some balls will deviate more than others. Would you believe that the golf ball a Pro plays with will deviate more than many of the alternatives on the market!

The argument, then, is that most amateur golfers could be playing with a golf ball that will make them straighter but choose not to.

Of course the modern golf ball goes further, by quite some distance, leaving you much closer to the green playing from the rough.

The bad news, for those who pick the ball used by their hero on TV, is that the same golf ball, when hit with a swing speed of only 85mph, isn't going to perform anywhere near its optimum level, leaving you not only further from the Fairway than you'd like, but further from the Green than you could be.

Not the combination that any of us were looking for when we teed up our brand new golf ball and envisioned, in our pre-shot routine, a long, slight draw that leaves us a simple approach from the center of the Fairway.

So, why do less than 20% of regular golfers take the time and trouble to find the golf ball that will marry their swing speed and their requirement for control and feel? Why, when each new golf ball offers a toolbox of technologies all offering different benefits, do we play the golf ball we do?

Spend a little time working out what characteristics your golf ball needs to have to help you enjoy your golf game that little bit more. Be prepared to experiment and remember that you can get qualified advice with your nearest PGA Golf Professional

James Langmead PGA Golf Professional former Callaway Club Fitter of the Year http://www.thegolfshoponline.co.uk