Technology vs Range Balls

As an assistant one of my positions was working for one of the first Master Professionals that had been an assistant at Augusta National.  He told me an interesting story about Ben Hogan.

Starting in 1942 rubber was rationed so it became difficult to find quality golf balls.  Hogan handed him his practice bag and asked him to watch over it.  He said that in some cases his practice balls were better than what he played with.  He added that practicing with anything other than quality golf balls was a waste of time.  At his level that statement is true, for a beginner not so much.

Technology

That started me thinking about range balls which are very inconsistent and therefore the accuracy of any data obtained while hitting them is questionable.  I understand that with a launch monitor the club data such as AOA, path, club face, etc. would still be accurate but not the ball data.

When launch monitors are used for club fitting are quality balls also being used?

I understand that in a closed environment, like a hitting bay, the quality of the ball can be easily controlled but a green grass driving range is a different story.

All major brands of golf balls have different models and each model has different spin rates, trajectory, and ball speed.  The variance in range balls is much greater than that, even with new range balls.  It gets even worse as they get some age on them.

For the full report from Golf Digest CLICK HERE.

I know that some launch monitors have an algorithm that is supposed to compensate for range balls but that would only work if range balls were consistent which they aren’t.

Conclusion

The bottom line is that you can get a rough idea of solid contact, curvature and trajectory with range balls but that is about it.  If you are using a launch monitor to obtain accurate ball information or club fitting it would seem that it needs to be in conjunction with quality golf balls.

For the average golfer trying to obtain accurate yardage information on how far each club goes range balls are not going to get the job done.

The easiest way to accurately check your yardages is with a GPS device or a range finder on a relatively flat area of the golf course using the balls you normally play with.