Hi Kermitt,

When it comes to finding the best ball for your game, it really comes down to finding the ball that is going to help you shoot lower scores. The best way to do this is to conduct an on-course evaluation where you compare two models side-by-side. We recommend fitting from green-to-tee to really see how the different golf balls perform on your scoring shots. 

Hit some different types of shots into the green (chips, pitches, bunker shots) and see how each shot performs keeping an eye on trajectory and spin. Then work your way back to hitting full swing shots with long irons, hybrids and fairway metals. Then finish with shots from off the tee. At the end, review the performance of each ball across all of the different shots and see which golf  is best for your game.

You can also play 9 holes with one model and then 9 holes with the other model and go through the same evaluation. It's a fun process and at the end, you'll have more confidence in knowing you have the best golf ball for your game.

We have a lot of great info on our golf ball fitting page that you might want to check out as well.

http://www.titleist.com/golf-ball-fitting/

I hope this helps!

- Mike

Thanks for the strategy advice.  At my club, it's often not busy on weekday afternoons.  We have a long par 4 behind the practice area, so I'll try the green-to-tee analysis a few different days to see what I can learn.

Mike,

One follow-up question.  Periodically I have been given some NXT Extreme balls.  I'm not familiar with them and don't find information about them.  How do they compare to the other more prevalent Titleist balls?  Thanks.

Here is a link to an old article from our archives that might help give you some more background information:

http://www.titleist.com/news-archive/story/995/Titleist%20Advances%20Technology%20Leadership%20Position%20with%20Introductions%20of%20New%20NXT%20Tour%20and%20NXT%20Extreme%20Golf%20Balls.aspx

In terms of comparison to current model golf balls, I would look at our family of surlyn covered golf balls - NXT Tour, NXT Tour S, Velocity and DT SoLo - if there are specific performance attributes that you prefer in the NXT Extreme.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the input.

I live in the PNW and the Fall/Winter/Spring golf around here is pretty wet and cooler. I'd recommend experimenting with a few models. I use the ProV1x during the summer when the fairways and greens are harder, then switch to the NXT Tour S during the other months. That way I'm consistently getting great distance off the tee, and able to get the ball to stop on the greens. 

That was a recommendation from my PGA professional at my local course and I've found it to be good advice. Good luck with your search. 

Kermit,

A lot of thought should go into your choice of ball.  I will share my opinions.  I am 65 yrs. old and play to a 12 hdcp. I use the DT SoLo mainly due to the price.  But, I also looked at performance.  On the web sight under the Golf ball heading is an area that goes through the need and process of fitting the ball.  When I looked at that info, I noticed that all of the Titleist balls are within 4-5 yds. of each other off of the driver, and that the DT is the lowest spinning ball off of the driver.  Titleist says that lower spin is better for distance and accuracy off of the tee.  It also says that spin off of the short clubs is good around and into the green and the DT has a pretty fair amount of spin (not as much as the Pro v's, but pretty good anyway).  So I figured that there was no outstanding reason for me, at my level of play, to be spending $45-$50 per dozen when I can get almost as much performance from the $20 per dozen model.

Other thoughts.  I don't especially like the idea of "backing" the ball up on the green, I'd rather have it land a little short and release a bit. So playing a ball with a lot of spin is not real important for me.  I also like the ball to have a soft feel (which the DT does). I also use a 909 D Comp driver and my tee shots are about 225-230 yds.  I recently played a few rounds using the NXT Tour S and did not notice any difference in the distance, but the NXT's did feel just a bit harder to me.

So in case you haven't noticed, the DT is the ball for me at the level I play at now.  If I suddenly get good, then I'll re-think things, but for now I'm set.  Hope this helped some.  Fairways and greens.

  Mark F

Isn't golf a wonderful game?  Play tennis, baseball, football, etc. etc. easy choices for balls.  Play golf and there are endless choices and combinations in clubs and balls.  There's some great advice by others so I'll just add my personal approach to ball selection.  Last spring when I replaced my set of clubs with Titleist woods. irons, and wedges.  I bought two sleeves each of Pro V1, Pro V1x, and the NXTs.  My best distances to hit the green are from 60(LW), 100(PW) and 150(8I) yards so I did a lot of evaluation at those shots.   All three balls performed well enough to get me where I wanted for the second shot, I did get a little better distance from the NXT ball from the tees.  But the missed greens is where I found the Pro V1 to stand out, it just felt easy to make a good run for the hole from off the green, it feels good off the putter as well.  For me the Pro V1 also stopped a little better on the green, more predictable let's say.  After a few weeks of daily play, with several 36 hole days, I looked at my scorecards with each ball and surprisingly the scores actually averaged out about the same.  It was a tough choice but I did want to go with just one ball.  Been playing the Pro V1 since as it just feels better for me on the short game, and since then I have gradually improved my game with the new clubs and a ball that I think performs well for me and the courses I play.   Have fun with it ...