Balls!

Circumstances conspired against me yet again last weekend, meaning I've now missed two weeks in a row. Most frustrating to have that follow my best round for months. Hopefully I don't forget what I learned that weekend, or I'll be very annoyed!

In the meantime however, I thought I'd write about balls. Like you do.

I've got into the habit of buying a new box of balls every week or so. Yes, I lose that many. My nasty slice and inaccuracy combined with the large amount of water on the course I play is a combination made for high ball consumption. I do of course plan to reduce this ball turnover, but it's a fact I have to deal with at the moment.

It therefore goes without saying that I don't buy expensive balls, but I think that is advice that any high handicapper should take onboard anyway. I was given some nice Titleist balls for Christmas which I've been carefully using only on those holes with the lowest risk of ball loss (and I've still managed to lose half of them). I honestly can't tell any different between them and the cheap and cheerful Top Flite balls I normally buy. My ball striking is simply too inconsistent to be able to notice any change in 'feel' or control.

My advice is to not go as cheap as you possibly can, or you'll have problems with overly bad balancing, a case that can't take more than a couple of hits or a core that doesn't provide enough go to reach the fairway. But also don't go too expensive, as it's just not worth it.

That said, it's always nice to get a good ball for a good price. As I say I normally buy TopFlite balls that cost me about $13 for 15. The other day I saw a box of Noodles that was marked 'Practice Balls' for about $12 for 24. I had a look and these look just like normal Noodles, that normally go for something like $20 for 12. I decided that it was worth a flutter, and so I bought them.

I've compared them with the noodle I have left from a previous purchase and they appear to be identical. The box says they're "X-Outs, Overruns and Logo Overruns". Having researched this a little it seems that these are balls that either were printed with some company's logo but never sold, or had a printing error or some other minor cosmetic error. Doesn't sound like something that will really affect my game, so I'll have me some of those.

I'll give them a go this weekend and see how it goes. In the meantime, if not not a low handicapper and you see any (I got mine at WalMART) I suggest you pick them up.