Hi all, got some new clubs(Callaway X-20) and trying to judge distances at the driving range compared to my old clubs. Of course, there is a big sign that states that driving range balls only go 80% of a "real" golf ball.

Is this accurate and true? So if I am hitting a club 100 yds with a range ball, is this telling me that with a "real" ball I would be looking at a distance of 125 yds?

I live in New England so can't really get out to a golf course and confirm, so I am relying on the yardage markers at the driving range to give me a feel with my new clubs.

Also, if accurate, why are range balls like this? (I assume it is related to cost somehow)

imo....it is because range balls get used and abused and are not properly cared for like regular balls, also some ranges use limited flight practice balls, so with brand new balls you would get a lil more distance, depending on the weather.....just my .02..

If you could get the same performance out of range balls as you could out of your Pro V1, well that wouldn't be so great for business I bet they could make the Pro V1 or your favorite high end ball as cheap as practice balls if they had better economies of scale.

Woah, you're not talking about the Southborough (MA) driving range on rt 9 are you? That's the only place I've ever seen that sign.

To directly answer your question, I think it depends on the ball, some might be 80%, some more like 100.

So, where's this range?

Most ranges don't have scaled back balls. If the range has distance-limited balls, they will be sure to let everyone know.

Not sure about anywhere else but over here city driving range balls are mostly solid (garbage) and fly an average of about 70% of premium balls.
The fall off becomes more pronounced as one heads from wedge towards driver and the feel off the face of decent heads is terrible.

Courses tend to have better balls (Top Flite mostly) but they are knackered inside and are good for about 80- 90% depending on condition.

I believe the balls are only really scaled back on woods, your wedge and short iron shots would be close to accurate, but not completely.

The 80% balls have a core that doesn't compress as much it should, and you don't really compress it much with your irons, at least that's how most balls are designed.

Prototypegolf is right also, those things take a beating, plus you're in Massachusetts like I am, so those things are cold as hell so you're not going to get the perfect results.

Just use the range for accuracy as uch as you can, with the worn down dimples and beatings those balls take, even that's a little off.

Hey Shook23. I am exactly talking about the range in Southborough, MA. Too funny - what a small world.

As the other posters have said the difference is defintely more noticable the farther you hit it, so representing the percentage of yardage lost is more accurate than saying they are "10 yards shorter."

And my range uses the standard top flight balls as well as some srixon range balls and I am certain that they do not fly as far as real balls, especially when it comes to the driver. I figured it out because sometimes I get real balls in my bucket and have compared them to the range balls many a times. With the range balls I can hit the back fence off my driver but usually the bottom third, but when i hit a real one hitting half way up the fence is no problem.

At my favourite driving range every 1 in 100 balls are picked out and discarded. In theory, this means that each ball will only be hit 100 times. The reason for this is of course that balls will loose their "bounce" if played for too long. But there must be some balls that survive 200 shots. But I would not say that the average ball there loses 10%. I think it's another way of making customers feel good when they hit a decent shot and mentally thay can ad +10% and fool themselves into thinking that they are long hitters.

/Toby

I play out of the Southboro range too. I don't believe they're limited distance balls, per se. But I DO think the fact that they're low end, ultra durable balls AND they're left out in such extremely low temps must affect distance by at least 20%.

At least I hope so...I can barely reach the 150 marker with my 6 iron!

-TJW

From my personal experience, range balls fly around 85-90% (the non limited flight ones). This is due to the abuse they take and the scratches all over them causing more drag. Remember though that hitting off mats increase your distance due to the "pure" hits you get with little resistance from the ground. So hitting range balls off mats will result in around 90% of normal distance (depending on the condition of the range ball of course).

a driving range near me in the uk has srixon balls ,which are totally better than the rock hard range balls, which scratch the hell out of your driver face, also you get a lot of pro v1's / pro v1x's

Actually, if you're striking the ball properly, then mat or grass would be no different since you don't actually make contact with the ground until after you've already struck the ball.

That would equate to less than 1% of golfers. Most people don't have the skills to strike the ball purely all the time. Most golfers bounce the club behind the ball and don't strike it purely. Mats absorb the impact and "bounce" the club into the ball causing a more pure strike than what would have occurred on grass. I wouldn't measure distance on your shots from a mat as you could be fooling yourself into thinking you are more of a pure striker than you are. It takes just one more element out of the equation so you don't wonder why you don't hit your 8 iron 160 like you do from those wonderful mats at the driving range.

the trajectory of those limited flight balls (smaller dimples) is also much different. If you're hitting a longer club, the ball seems to just fall out of the air instead of continuing on it's normal path.

For some reason, the range near me they also seem to work side to side a bit more.

another thing to equate into how far the ball is actually flying is the prevalent wind direction of the range. I'm living in Ireland now, and the range is maybe 20 yards away from the western coast. Hitting into that wind really distorts my numbers.

I am happy to add 5-7 yards for my irons over most range balls (driving range). Club ranges tend to be a little better.

The biggest disparity comes on the driver, where I am content to work on mechanics and direction. If I am testing drivers for purchase, I am on the course with the Launch Monitor (yes I have place for this) and I use the balls I play with.

If not I use the balls I play with into a net for driver testing with a launch monitor.

Joe

my home range uses old standard range balls and they definately fly a little weird. Sometimes they will draw and then fade and all of a sudden drop. But when they get the new ones out, they go just fine, maybe a 5 yard difference.

A course i play at sometimes, Cannon Ridge, uses Pro-V1's and NXT's for their range balls. Its pretty sweet, and not to mention its a top notch course. Its nice to play there every now and then, pop a range ball or two in the bag for practice at home!

We have Srixon range balls at my club. They are 1 piece so they are about 80% I believe. They definitely go shorter than a normal ball though.

snatching the prov's out of the range bucket it just pure bad golf mojo! Hit away and share the the blessing!

the worst is when you accidentally hit one of the balls that got hit by the mower. Sure it feels the same off the club but when you look up and see a dying duck, its a little startling.

This reminds me, at the range I practice at it's situated to the right and about 30 feet below (on a hill) the first tee. You can imagine how many good balls get sliced off onto the range as it's open on that side. Last week I got a pro-v1 in my bucket, I wanted to take it but it just didn't feel right "stealing" it, so I saved it for my driver and gave it a good wack. Anyone think it would be reasonable to take it?

Just returned from the range nearest my house which uses the same balls as every other Shanghai city range.

There was a one club wind directly into my face.
3 iron with range ball goes 175-185.
3 iron with slightly scuffed pro v1 goes 215-220.

Where I live 80% in most cases but sometimes it's even worse than that. I use the range to warm up, for the rest it's on the job training when playing my rounds.

The one I use is supposedly the busiest driving range in the UK.

Because it's in London and there's a major 3 lane road (A3) just behind the back of the fence, they are really restricted in what distance they will let the balls fly as the range is only 250 yards long. The balls travel about 70-80% of normal distance and a lot lower. The target greens are labelled differently to account for this.

You can tell the difference pretty easily when you get a real ball in your bucket of balls and hit a 7 iron about 60 yards farther. I wouldn't dare hit a real ball with a wood there!

I ALWAYS fly the first green in any round I play. I usually am able to dial it back from there and I'm ok after that, but those range balls always throw me off!

I was hitting practice balls at a local range recently that uses you typical Spalding/Top Flite range balls. As you sometimes find, the bucket I bought had one or two non-range balls, one of which was a very old Titleist Tour Balata 100.

I was hitting 8 irons to a green about 150 yards away, into a slight breeze. All the shots were coming up well short of the green, but that old balata ball flew just to the front edge.

I've been to some ranges that had excellent balls. There was a range I frequented years ago in Chicago that used the Srixon range ball...an excellent feeling ball. I'll confess to actually pocketing one to hit during a round. As many balls as I hit there, I'm sure the owner would have given me one (and I'm not advocating anyone snooker balls away from their local range! The folks that own these places do not make the big bucks by any stretch). It was a pretty good ball that spun remarkably well for a range ball.

I don't know how often the balls turn over, but I figure the balls are going to be sitting out in the rain for days in some cases, so some of them get skunked that way...that and the sun exposure, age etc.

Speaking of good range balls, anybody ever try the Nike Range balls? I was at an amazing course near South Padre Island, Texas and the range there had Nike's. Best range ball I have ever hit... I wish all ranges would switch to these, or at least to the Srixons...

One course around me has all nike range balls, and i think those are pretty good ones. I hate the top-flite ones, they dont fly far or hold their line true at all.

this would be why using a practice area is so much better.