Mike Harris test the new Titleist Pro V1... in yellow! To see whether you should be playing a yellow ball.
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00:00Hello everyone, Mike Harris from Golf Monthly. You join me here at lovely West Hill Golf Club
00:10in Surrey on a very sunny afternoon and in this video I'm going to be asking should you be playing
00:17a yellow golf ball? The big thing for 2019, the big talking point is that Titleist have finally
00:24released a yellow Pro V1 and Pro V1X and we've got different models from say all the main manufacturers
00:31Strixen with their Z-Star, they do a yellow model. Callaway with the Chrome Soft, they do a yellow
00:38model as well. TaylorMade 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. So these days if you do want a yellow golf ball but you want
00:51to play a tour golf ball urethane covered, there are plenty of options out there. So let's get out
00:56on the golf course and see how the yellow balls perform both on their own and also in comparison
01:01to standard white golf balls.
01:07Okay, so we're going to do a little bit of a live on course test here. Got a yellow ball and a white ball. See if we can see much difference between the two when I hit drives, approaches and also on the green as well.
01:08Going to go traditional first, going to go with the white ball first, going to go with the white ball.
01:22Okay, pop that one up a little bit.
01:29Yeah, I got it through the blue sky fine but when it started to drop down, I felt I lost it a little bit there going back down through the tree line.
01:44So next up the yellow ball.
01:51Wow, I have to say that was a much better drive than the blue ball.
01:57I have to say that was a much better drive than the blue ball.
02:02the first one with the white ball but I really found it very, very easy to track the flight of the yellow ball there.
02:21At no point when it started dipping from its peak trajectory did I lose it like I did with the white one.
02:26So that was quite interesting to see that.
02:29Let's see what it's like down on the fairway playing an approach shot.
02:33Okay, so I just missed the fairway with the white ball.
02:36I've got 180 yards. Be interesting to see this through very dappled.
02:40You can see through very dappled light there, a lot of shadows.
02:43See how I pick up the flight of this.
02:46Yeah, pretty good actually.
03:00Certainly saw it come down very well.
03:03So no issues there with the 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.
03:15Stood over it in the shadow.
03:17I actually really like looking at the yellow ball at a dress.
03:20I don't know, it feels, I don't know, possibly look a little bit bigger.
03:24A little bit more confidence in sparring.
03:26Anyway, let's see how this one goes.
03:28Oh, that's a good shot.
03:41Yeah, very pleased with the outcome, about pin high.
03:44But again, really found it easy to track the flight of the ball there.
03:48So at the moment, yellow ball is definitely winning it for me.
03:51So here we are up at the green.
03:53White ball's just made the front edge.
03:55I just left myself, you know, 40 foot putt up the hill.
03:59What are my impressions behind the ball?
04:01Well, I've been looking at normally a white ball behind a putter head for a long time.
04:06It looks as good as it ever did, really.
04:09Got a new black putter, so it's quite nice, that contrast, black and white.
04:20I've certainly not given that enough.
04:22But yeah, you know, white ball behind the putter looks very familiar.
04:28Anyway, let's now see in a much better approach shot with my yellow ball.
04:31Let's see how that is.
04:38So probably a 20 footer up the hill here.
04:41Yeah, I really do like it behind the, behind the ball.
04:48Really nice.
04:57I really do like it behind the, behind the ball.
05:00Really nice.
05:01And a little tap in for par there.
05:13We asked the Golf Monthly social media audience, so on Twitter, on Instagram, would you consider playing a yellow ball?
05:20And it was very interesting across Instagram and Twitter.
05:23It was almost exactly 60% saying yes and 40% saying no.
05:28On Twitter, we had over 3000 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 a yellow golf ball.
05:40But I think perhaps there's been a bit of a stigma that yellow golf balls are for higher handicappers who are worried about losing golf balls.
05:47Or maybe for golfers who are older, whose eyesight isn't as good.
05:51So we've come down to the fourth tee here at West Hill.
05:54Lovely par three, quite pretty tricky.
05:56And it certainly is right into the sun.
05:59As you can sort of see when I turn this way, I've got the sun really in my face.
06:02So I'm going to see if there's any difference between picking up the flight of the white ball or yellow ball.
06:07Interestingly, we were just chatting to a couple of golfers out here who were asking what we were doing.
06:11We 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.
06:19I watched him hit a couple of shots.
06:21I would say, you know, single figure golfer.
06:22And he said, definitely not.
06:24So, and sort of, I guess the information was that, you know, yellow balls were not for better golfers.
06:31But he did acknowledge that he'd seen Bubba using it at the Waste 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.
07:01Yeah, I actually found that was a white ball.
07:04I found that pretty, pretty easy to see.
07:07I didn't hit it.
07:08It wasn't directly into the sun.
07:10Right hand side of the green, I would think, when we get up there.
07:15I 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 off.
07:39But two pretty, I'd be very happy with those shots with a card in my hand.
07:43So, that was a really interesting experiment playing yellow golf ball against a white ball.
07:48Seeing how it looked down at a dress and also seeing the flight of it.
07:52What do you think?
07:53Let us know.
07:54Put a comment below.
07:55Let us know.
07:56Have you played a yellow golf ball before?
07:58Would you play a yellow golf ball?
08:00Now, any particular, will you be trying out Titleist's new yellow Pro V1 this year?
08:05I'll pick a comment at random and I'll send you a dozen yellow golf balls just so you can do a bit of product validation yourself.
08:13If you enjoyed this video, if you find it useful, give us a thumbs up.
08:16Let us know what other sort of gear videos you'd like us to have a look at.
08:21Remember, do subscribe to the channel if you don't already and hit notifications so you see whenever we release one of our new gear videos.
08:28But, what about the verdict?
08:30Well, as I said earlier at the start of the video, my eyesight is not as good as it was when I was maybe in my sort of twenties even with glasses on.
08:38And I have to say, I definitely find yellow golf ball easier to pick out in the flight of the ball.
08:45Particularly, I found today is obviously a lovely sunny day, but in flat light I definitely find a yellow ball easier to pick out there when it's sort of dropping out of the sky at the top of its flight.
08:57I quite like it at a dress, you know, a lot of the modern clubs.
09:00I've got a black headed driver and also a black headed putter.
09:03I quite like that contrast between the yellow and the black at a dress.
09:07Don't find it off putting at all.
09:09I know some people are not keen on the look and there are lots of different finishes of the different 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 something a little bit different to help pick up the flight of the golf ball, that a yellow golf ball is certainly worth trying.
09:33So Bubba Watson's been trying them out on tour.
09:35I know that Bubba's quite a quirky guy, tries different things.
09:38But I'm certainly, I think, going to be playing a few rounds with 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 and seeing how I go with it.
09:50But for now, from West Hill, it's goodbye.