GOUGE: I am continually amazed at what happens at our annual Hot List Summit. There are new revelations every day. The order of the universe changes and inverts itself seemingly dozens of times over the course of our 16-hour days. But few things are this surprising (except for just how much pig products you ingest for breakfast each day): Our Hot List Summit experience at the Casablanca Resort in Mesquite, Nev., involves days of product evaluation, but perhaps the most challenging is the time our player panels spend mulling the differences in golf balls. It is thin-slicing at its finest, highlighting the slightest differences in experience. But sometimes those differences can only be appreciated and understood when we take our players outside their comfort zones.
That's why today's proceedings included a session where some of our best players were asked to try some of the mid-level price point golf balls that attempt to straddle the line between the expensive tour style balls and the bargain balls. This middle ground might be the most fertile, at least that's what our top players found. Moreover, what they often experienced is exactly the same sorts of things our testing with the TrackMan ballflight monitoring device showed earlier in the week. The overall testing is a little bit complicated, but I think I can break it down with two sets, of numbers: First, there was 212, 210, 213, 224. That's how far me--the weakling 94 mile per hour, early release swinger--carried, respectively, the Titleist Pro V1x, the Bridgestone e6, the Titleist DT SoLo and the Pinnacle Gold. Now, there's only one of those balls I'd never play golf with, and it happens to be the longest. So what's my point? Just like how you shouldn't decide how good a restaurant is just by the hours it stays open, the driver shouldn't be the decider when you’re trying to find a new golf ball.
BOMB: Sure, make fun of my dining habits. What can I say, when pig product is presented for breakfast, I'm all in. Go enjoy your oatmeal. When I get up at 5 am every day I need some comfort food.
No comforting, however, is needed when selecting golf balls. Just patience. The balls we have seen in the $21 to $30 price range have been nothing short of impressive, from Titleist's upgraded NXT line to Bridgestone's tweaked e5+ and e6+ to Callaway's aptly named HX Hot Bite, this is a ton of bang for the buck. How much bang? Consider this: two of our better players (with a combined handicap of ZERO) are likely changing to one of those four balls. How did they come to this conclusion? By spending more time around the green and less time off the tee working with these spheres. These balls are like the old Virginia Slims cigarette commercial--you've come a long way, baby.
Off to sleep. Not to dream about my win with New Mexico State minus 9 points (hey, if you're at a casino for two weeks you have to lay SOME money down), but about our first free time in a week--golf over the state line at Coral Canyon Golf Club in Utah where we'll put some of those balls to the test even more. Can't wait.
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