You can't really pay any attention to manufacturer's claims when it comes to golf balls. They all say they're faster, longer, and have great greenside control. I'm 47 and a 4 Handicap at the moment, playing from the regular men's tees. My driver swing speed is around 92-95 mph, creeping down to the high 80s when the back is acting up. In other words, exactly at the average male swing speed with driver. This usually means roughly 205-215 carry with a decent strike, and totals that range widely from 210 to 245. At this speed and below, golf balls go pretty much the same distance with the driver. The only distance gains I've had in golf (or seen anyone else have) have been through improving technique. Unless you're playing a 15-year old driver. In which case you should really get one of these new drivers, because they are amazing.
Low-compression surlyn golf balls like the Supersoft spin less and they go a little straighter and carry further with IRONS. Again: at 93 mph and down, all golf balls go pretty much the same distance with driver. Given the standard deviation in most tests – it's a wash. You will not see a benefit from a firm, fast ball until you're pushing 100 mph and up. The ball speed might be slightly higher for us with firmer balls, but at 90 mph, that TP5x is not carrying further off the tee. What it WILL do is come up 5-7 yards short with your irons. But with driver – all the same. All the time in reviews I see people writing, "I picked up 10-20 yards when I switched to such-and-such ball!" No. They did not. These people are either lying, or delusional, or have highly selective memories.
Basically, the fast swinger has a conundrum: he (or she – looking at you, Jessica Korda) wants a ball that spins super low with driver, then spins a reasonable amount with mid-irons without flying too high, and is SUPER spinny around the greens. This means a three, four, or five-piece ball that's expensive and difficult to engineer and manufacture, and one with an expensive cast urethane cover. Fortunately for them, many of these people are pros and don't have to pay for golf balls.
All the SLOW swinger needs, on the other hand, is a ball that is low-spinning and high flying on pretty much every shot. We want low spin with driver for carry and roll. We want low spin with irons to get more carry. Also, the average slicer (we'll call it a fade) is already ADDING too much spin to their iron shots, making them go offline and end up short. And around the greens? Nope, we really don't need spin there either. We need to be bumping and running and getting the ball close by controlling trajectory. And stop hitting flop shots from three feet off the green and trying to carry everything right to the flag. For the love of God, I beg you, sell that 60º wedge and learn to use a pitching wedge and a putter around the greens.
And the good news is that such a ball is not only cheap to design and produce, it's also more consistent from ball to ball. I've played the Supersoft for about a year, and I know what it's going to do. No surprises. This new ball feels the same and the performance is the same through the bag. And it feels really good. I'll play a Prov1 or a TP5 from time to time, and they feel just fine. But the "X" tour balls feel like rocks to me. Unless I hit it in the middle. Every ball is soft when you hit the middle.
I'd like to dispel another common myth that gets passed around. Ionomer/Surlyn balls are NOT more durable than urethane balls. The ionomer used for golf ball covers is hard. When it gets scuffed, it gets scuffed badly. And it stays scuffed. Because urethane is softer and more resilient, it absorbs a lot of the impact from trees, wedges with new grooves, and even cart paths. I've had urethane balls that hit a cart path HARD and I could barely tell where it had hit. But then they really ought to be durable for $48 a dozen.
So in a nutshell, the new Supersoft feels great, does what it's supposed to do, and it's cheap. And I think the new logo/alignment graphic looks pretty cool.
