True story. In the past 10 months, I've played golf seven times. But I got out three times in the past 10 days, so I'm on a roll. I also got a chance to play the new Srixon Z-Star and Z-Star X golf balls, and I'm sold.
I always laugh when I see the PGA guys doing those commercials and holding up their golf ball right in the camera and talking about how they would never switch unless a ball made a difference and how "this ball" changed everything. Well, you know and I know that the real reason they're saying that is the same reason why NASCAR guys don't take off the shades when doing interviews: they're getting paid to do so.
Only there may be something to what all those Cleveland staffers like Vijay Singh and Boo Weekley are saying about how the new Srixon outperforms the ProV1 (Cleveland and Srixon are sister companies).
The new Z-Star retails for $39.99 for a dozen, so you'll be chasing them in the woods and trying to pluck them out of the lake, too.
They come in standard and spin versions (Z-Star X). Srixon says you need to swing it about 105 mph to get performance out of the X. In my launch monitor testings, I can hit 105, though not regularly, but I felt like I could launch the ball well and make it compress and perform -- and boy would it stop.
If you're the type that likes to play a lot of bump and run shots and wants to roll the ball up the green on full approach shots, well, this ain't your rock.
But the regular Z-Star might be. Both balls are incredibly soft and roll true off the putter. I hit so many iron shots with the regular Z-Star that felt like butter, I kept looking at my club to make sure something wasn't wrong.
The ball just plain feels good.
The Z-Star has an incredibly thin cover (0.02 inches thick) and a new 324-dimple design. All that mumbo jumbo means that it flies as far as a Top-Flite, but stops like you would want it.
There are lots of good balls out there, but this is one of the best, right up there with my current favorite the Taylor Made LDP Black.
-- Langston Wertz Jr.
lwertz@charlotteobserver.com
twitter.com/langstonwertzjr
facebook.com/langstonwertzjr
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
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2 comments:
Last weekend I went over to my closest Golf Galaxy, asked the sales guy which of the Z-Star balls most closely matched my usual Pro-V1X, and he sold me the Z-Star X. (I couldn't quite remember what you'd said about which ball was which.)
I can spin the V1X a good bit on wedge/short iron shots, and it'll stop on longer shots. But I've gotta say that the Z-Star X REALLY spins for me...too darn much, actually. I like the ball's feel (though it does sound a bit "hollow" on putts from a steel-faced putter), and I couldn't scuff it at all through my round.
All in all, I think I got the wrong ball--I like the V1x because, though I don't need any extra distance, I want a little less driver/long iron spin to go along with the ball's short iron spin on approach shots. And the Srixon just spins too much for me.
Can you confirm that I made the wrong purchase--that the "regular" Z-Star is the less spinning ball?
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