Why Do Some Golfers Use A Yellow Ball?

Golf Monthly

Mike Harris test the new Titleist Pro V1... in yellow! To see whether you should be playing a yellow ball.

Transcript

00:00Hello everyone, Mike Harris from Golf Monthly.

00:08You join me here at lovely West Hill Golf Club in Surrey on a very sunny afternoon.

00:14And in this video, I'm going to be asking, should you be playing a yellow golf ball?

00:19The big thing for 2019, the big talking point is that Titleist have finally released a yellow

00:25Pro V1 and Pro V1X.

00:28And we've got different models from, say, all the main manufacturers, Strixson with

00:32their Z-Star, they do a yellow model, Callaway with the Chrome Soft, they do a yellow model

00:38as well.

00:39TaylorMade don't do their TP5 in the UK anyway in yellow, but they do do Project A, which

00:45is their sort of second tier urethane ball.

00:48So these days, if you do want a yellow golf ball, but you want to play a tour golf ball

00:52urethane covered, there are plenty of options out there.

00:56So let's get out on the golf course and see how the yellow balls perform, both on their

01:00own and also in comparison to standard white golf balls.

01:08Okay, so we're going to do a little bit of a live on course test here, got a yellow ball

01:24and a white ball, see if I can see much difference between the two when I hit drives, approaches

01:30and also on the green as well.

01:32I'm going to go traditional first, I'm going to go with the white ball.

01:39Okay, pop that one up a little bit.

01:46Yeah, I've got it through the blue sky fine, but when it started to drop down, I felt I

01:54lost it a little bit there going back down through the tree line.

01:57So next up the yellow ball, wow, I have to say that was a much better drive than the

02:14first one with the white ball, but I really found it very, very easy to track the flight

02:19of the yellow ball there.

02:21At no point when it started dipping from its pink trajectory did I lose it like I did with

02:26the white one.

02:27That was quite interesting to see that, let's see what it's like down on the fairway playing

02:32an approach shot.

02:33Okay, so I just missed the fairway with the white ball, I've got 180 yards, be interesting

02:38to see this through very dappled, you can see through very dappled light there, a lot

02:42of shadows, see how I pick up the flight of this.

02:59Yeah pretty good actually, certainly saw it come down very well, so no issues there with

03:05the white ball as I did have when the flight dropped with the drive.

03:09So let's see how we go with the yellow ball.

03:12Okay, so 15-20 yards further on with the yellow ball, stood over it in the shadow, I actually

03:17really like looking at the yellow ball at address, don't know, it feels, don't know,

03:23possibly look a little bit bigger, a little bit more confidence inspiring, anyway, let's

03:27see how this one goes.

03:35Oh, that's a good shot.

03:37Yeah, very pleased with the outcome, about pin high, but again, really found it easy

03:45to track the flight of the ball there, so at the moment, yellow ball is definitely winning

03:50it for me.

03:51So here we are up at the green, white ball's just made the front edge, left myself, don't

03:56know, 40 foot putt up the hill, one of my impressions behind the ball, well, been looking

04:02at normally a white ball behind a putter head for a long time, it looks good as it

04:08ever did really, got a new black putter, so it's quite nice, that contrast, black and

04:13white.

04:20I've not, I've certainly not given that enough, but yeah, you know, white ball behind the

04:25putter, looks very familiar, anyway, let's now see in a much better approach shot with

04:30my yellow ball, let's see how that is.

04:38So probably a 20 footer up the, up the hill here.

04:44Yeah, I really do like it behind the, behind the ball, really nice.

04:48I really do like it behind the, behind the ball, really nice.

05:00And a little tap in for par there.

05:04We are Ask The Golf Monthly social media audience, so on Twitter, on Instagram, on Facebook,

05:10on Instagram, on Twitter, on Facebook, on Instagram, on Facebook, on Facebook, on Instagram,

05:15social media audience, so on Twitter, on Instagram, would you consider playing a yellow ball?

05:20And it was very interesting, across Instagram and Twitter, it was almost exactly 60% saying

05:26yes, and 40% saying no.

05:28On Twitter, we had over 3,000 respondents in a 24 hour period to the poll.

05:34Very interesting to read some of the comments there about why you would or wouldn't play

05:39a yellow golf ball.

05:40I think perhaps there's been a bit of a stigma that yellow golf balls are for higher handicappers

05:44who are worried about losing golf balls, or maybe for golfers who are older,

05:48whose eyesight isn't as good.

05:50So we've come down to the fourth tee here at West Hill, a lovely par three,

05:55pretty tricky, and it certainly is right into the sun, as you can sort of see

05:59when I turn this way, I've got the sun really in my face.

06:02So going to see if there's any difference between picking up the flight of the white ball

06:06or yellow ball.

06:07Interestingly, we were just chatting to a couple of golfers out here asking what we were doing.

06:12We said we were doing a little yellow ball versus white ball test,

06:14and I asked one of the guys, would you ever play a yellow ball?

06:17He was a decent golfer, watched him hit a couple of shots.

06:21I would say, you know, single figure golfer, and he said, definitely not.

06:24So, and sort of, I guess the information was that, you know,

06:28yellow balls were not for better golfers, but he did acknowledge that he'd seen Bubba

06:33using it at the waist management, the yellow Pro V1.

06:36So, I don't know, might be better.

06:38Perceptions might change after a while if you see guys on tour using it.

07:02Yeah, actually found that was a white ball.

07:04Found that pretty easy to see.

07:07Didn't hit it, it wasn't directly into the sun.

07:12Right hand side of the green, I would think when we get up there.

07:28Yeah, I definitely, I definitely think the yellow ball is easier to see.

07:32I think when it goes into the sun, it almost turns black.

07:35So again, it makes it a little bit easier to pick up the flight of,

07:39but to pretty, I'd be very happy with those shots with a card in my hand.

07:43So, that was a really interesting experiment playing a yellow golf ball

07:47against a white ball, seeing how it looked down at address,

07:50and also seeing the flight of it.

07:52But what do you think? Let us know, put a comment below.

07:55Let us know, have you played a yellow golf ball before?

07:58Would you play a yellow golf ball now?

08:00Any particular, will you be trying out Titleist's new yellow Pro V1?

08:04This year, I'll pick a comment at random

08:07and I'll send you a dozen yellow golf balls,

08:10just so you can do a bit of product validation yourself.

08:13If you enjoyed this video, if you find it useful,

08:16give us a thumbs up, let us know what other sort of gear videos

08:19you'd like us to have a look at.

08:21Remember, do subscribe to the channel if you don't already

08:23and hit notifications so you see whenever we release

08:26one of our new gear videos.

08:28But, what about the verdict?

08:30Well, as I said earlier at the start of the video,

08:32my eyesight's not as good as it was when I was maybe

08:35in my sort of twenties, even with glasses on.

08:38And I have to say, I definitely find yellow golf ball

08:41easier to pick out in the flight of the ball.

08:44Particularly, I found, today's obviously a lovely sunny day,

08:48but in flat light, I definitely find a yellow ball

08:51easier to pick out there when it's sort of dropping

08:54out of the sky at the top of its flight.

08:57I quite like it at address, you know, a lot of the modern clubs,

09:00I've got a black-headed drive and also a black-headed putter,

09:02I quite like that contrast between the yellow

09:05and the black at address.

09:07Don't find it off-putting at all.

09:09I know some people are not keen on the look,

09:11and there are lots of different finishes

09:13of the different, you know, yellow golf balls.

09:16Some are sort of more of that sort of chalky matte finish,

09:19some are really sort of bright, almost sort of pearlescent.

09:22But I definitely think that if you are looking for

09:25something a little bit different to help pick up

09:28the flight of the golf ball, that a yellow golf ball

09:31is certainly worth trying.

09:33So Bubba Watson's been trying them out on tour,

09:35I know that Bubba's quite a quirky guy,

09:37tries different things.

09:39But I'm certainly, I think, going to be playing a few rounds

09:42with the yellow Titleist Pro V1X.

09:44Pro V1X is a ball that I normally use,

09:46so I'm looking forward to putting that in play this season

09:49and seeing how I go with it.

09:51But for now, from West Hill, it's goodbye.

09:58.

Category

Transcript

Recommended