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Forum Thread of the Day: “What would happen if PGA Tour players played with a $1 ball?”

Published

7 years ago

Feb 15, 2019

Today’s Forum Thread of the Day comes from BB28403 who created an interesting hypothetical scenario for our members to discuss. BB28403 asks what GolfWRX members feel would happen if half of the PGA Tour field in an event played a $1 ball, and the rest their usual premium golf balls.

Here’s a look at some of the posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.

MattyO1984: “Depends on the course. If they were playing on a links course, I think they could make it work. There aren’t many forced carries, and you can run the ball into the greens. I seem to remember back in the 70’s and 80’s talk of players changing when they came over for The Open for that reason. The harder ball back then would defnitely go further than the old balata’s, and they didn’t need the spin to attack the pins.”
TheLarch: “There would be zero lost balls. I can lose a new PV1x in the first three holes. A Pinnacle or Top Flite, like Geraldo Rivera, refuses to ever go away.”
farmer: “Given time to adapt to a Duo or Pinnacle, they would figure out a way to play. Distance not being an issue, maybe irons with weaker lofts to come in softer, run the ball up? Scores would probably go up, but the skill level might overcome the ball limitations.
GMR: “There would be a lot of shots lost around the greens. When chipping from above the hole, there would be virtually no way to stop the ball on the firm/fast greens they play without some degree of greenside spin. Longer hitters would be disproportionately advantaged by having shorter approaches with some prayer of actually stopping the balls on the greens by hitting high spinny (relatively) wedges into the greens. As mentioned previously it would, of course, depend on the course setup though, as on links courses it would make very little difference given they allow you to run the ball and are generally set up with significantly slower (but still rock hard) greens. On a typical PGA Tour setup though…forget it.”

Entire Thread: “What would happen if PGA Tour players played with a $1 ball?”

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Gianni Magliocco

Gianni is the Managing Editor at GolfWRX. He can be contacted at [email protected]

14 Comments

Caroline

Feb 15, 2019 at 7:03 pm

These guys are the best of the best and play at a level beyond any local club champion. You make equipment for the best and you make equipment for the rest that simple. 99.99% of us using this site do not qualify to answer any question concerning how the best players in the world play or what equipment they may or may not use. Play a pro level course set up as pro’s play it, form 7200 plus yards, four days in a row and shoot under 70 all four rounds then start posting about how a pro may or may not play a certain piece of equipment.

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bb28403

Feb 15, 2019 at 4:15 pm

Hey thanks for the recognition! Love WRX!!

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Rev g

Feb 15, 2019 at 2:04 pm

Definitely would depend on the course conditions. Thick rough and/or firm greens and the pros are definitely going to miss the urethane cover. But a soft course like Pebble and others at AT&T, they would have done better with less spin. The biggest struggle they had last week was too much spin with irons. Courses that are somewhere in between, it probably wouldn’t matter.

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Tom

Feb 15, 2019 at 1:24 pm

Tour players do play $1 balls, we pay $4 for the same ball.

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Steve2

Feb 15, 2019 at 1:21 pm

There should be a standard ball and standard club just like pro baseball. PGA tour players are rich and can play the best, so they play better than others. This is so wrong as we all should have to play with the same equipment to make it fair. We can’t have players excelling because they are rich enough to afford the best equipment.

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Tom

Feb 15, 2019 at 1:16 pm

Gianni is hung like a horse?

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Tom

Feb 15, 2019 at 1:13 pm

They already do! Consumers are forced to pay $4 per ball because manufacturers pay players endorsements and advertising. We pick up the tab!

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Tom

Feb 15, 2019 at 1:10 pm

Tour players already play with a $1 ball, the rest of us pay $4 per ball because the manufacturers spend so much paying tour player endorsement money and advertising!

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Tim

Feb 15, 2019 at 12:41 pm

They would adapt.

Around the green: You would see more bump and run chips with lower lofted clubs. However, short sided flops would be played a touch higher and shorter to allow for roll out. just a touch, it wouldnt be drastic.

Approach shots would be played with a higher trajectory.

Scores would go up a bit, depending on conditions and courses played. Mostly due to the reduced ability to predict roll out on undulating greens on approaches and the increase in the variable that the wind adds when shots are hit higher.

Right now, with urethane balls, they can jam it in below the wind and trust that it will stop where it lands. With Surylyn, they’d have to flight it up a touch more.

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I

Feb 15, 2019 at 11:38 am

Hard or Soft $1 ball?

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Scott Glynn

Feb 15, 2019 at 11:17 am

I think what would make a more dramatic difference would be playing in less than perfectly manicured conditions, carrying your own bag and having to walk the yardage off from a sketchily measured 150 yd marker

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DJ

Feb 15, 2019 at 11:01 am

they’d use the kirkland costco ball and do just fine.

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JP

Feb 15, 2019 at 10:19 am

Blowing it out of proportion. I’ve seen guys use range balls on the course and back them up. I’m not saying they’re anywhere near as good, but you can play well with a cheap ball for sure.

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~j~

Feb 15, 2019 at 9:31 am

Its not as though a cheap $1 ball has no spin. Certainly enough to hold a green with a mid iron still. And the USGA would be more butthurt than ever watching avg driving distances jump a couple dozen yards thanks to the likes of DJ and company pumping top rock after top rock 400 yds down the middle.

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Equipment

Best ‘forgiving’ wedges – GolfWRXers discuss

Published

6 days ago

May 29, 2026

Gianni Magliocco

In our forums, our members have been discussing the most forgiving wedges on the market. WRXer ‘aaronpoling’ lays out his current setup and what he’s currently considering, saying:

“I am looking at getting new wedges, but looking for a forgiving wedge.

I currently play Ping G25 50°, MD4 54° and 58°. I used to play the CBX2 in the 50°, 54° and 58° and liked them a lot; but like any good dad, my son took them.

I am currently looking Callaway’s CB12 and Cleveland’s CBZ. Anyone have thoughts on these? Or recommendations of other wedges that I should check out?”

And our members have been weighing in with their thoughts and recommendations in response, with one brand coming out emphatically on top.

Here are a few posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.

boggyman: “CBZs are amazing wedges!”
drewbens: “Agreed, the Cleveland CB wedges are great! Already had a CBX Full Face 2 54 and recently added a 50 and 58 (for well under $100 a piece). Was chipping so well last week that my brother-in-law asked if the wedges were legal. Definitely underrated wedges for those of us that are not scratch golfers.”
BogeyTed: “Get Cleveland CBX/CBZ. Very underrated clubs.”

Entire Thread: “Best ‘forgiving’ wedges – GolfWRXers discuss”

Equipment

I built the worst fitting clubs ever – GolfWRXers discuss

Published

7 days ago

May 28, 2026

Gianni Magliocco

In our forums, our members have been reacting to a WRXer who claims to have built the “worst fitting clubs ever.” ‘dlow206’ recounts his experience with plenty of insightful findings for where he can go better next time in a detailed post, saying:

“Here’s my story of building the worst fitting clubs ever (for me). And my findings of what a better fit is.

I am short in stature, as well as a very short wrist to floor of 30.5″. I went down a rabbit hole of wanting to try irons 1″ shorter of more than standard length. Given the shorter lengths, the swingweights would be super light unless I added back a ton of weight to the heads, but I don’t like adding an extreme amount of weight back to the heads, so I decided to compensate with heavier shafts (115 grams instead of 95). Played with this set for a while and was hitting all irons extremely poorly. Thin, fat, right, right, left. My swing didn’t deteriorate that much because I was hitting my driver well, woods well, etc.

Went back to my older set of irons, playing at standard length, and my iron play improved immediately. Since then, have been doing more testing, while paying more attention to different possible variables. What I have found is I actually prefer lighter total weight with relatively normal or slightly heavier swingweights. Did a recent fitting and found that 85 gram shafts were better for me than 95 grams with standard length and relatively standard swingweights.

Still trying to dial in a final iron shaft choice, so have a few contenders that I will be testing. Will be moving away from my current Steelfiber i95 S parallel to lighter and softer

MMT 80 parallel R – worked pretty well in a limited number of swings at a fitting
Fujikura Travil 85 R – the fitter liked the Axiom 95 R for me at Club Champion, but i didn’t love the effort required to swing them. If there was a 85 Axiom, that would probably have been a great fit. So i am going try a Travil 85 R which is japan only
Steelfiber i80 CW R – i have been playing Steelfibers for a long time, so need to give one Steelfiber shaft a shot

Given I do club building work, I am going to build all of these shafts with the All-Fit universal iron adapters to pair with a Srixon 7 iron head for testing. With these adapters, there isn’t a swingweight issue because the amount of weight from drilling out is about equivalent to the universal adapter components.”

And our members have been sharing their reactions in our forum.

Here are a few posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.

Mikey_HACKilroy: “That length cut costs you a fair amount in swing points. I’d posit the length mattered more than the weight because a 115g shaft isn’t going to actually add enough back after cutting an inch off. Does it mean 115 would ultimately work? Hard to say. Maybe try a 1/2″ cut and add 2g to the head to compensate assuming the 7i is 37″ long. Maybe that will feel better. It translates to the same ~D2 you’re swinging at with the 95g shafts (estimated based on common weight, but you can weigh your parts on your own obviously).”
Stuart_G: “Your process is good – keep at it and trust it.”

Entire Thread: “I built the worst fitting clubs ever – GolfWRXers discuss”

Equipment

PXG Secret Weapon Version 2 mini driver lands on USGA conforming list – GolfWRXers react

Published

7 days ago

May 28, 2026

Gianni Magliocco

A second version of PXG’s Secret Weapon has this week landed on the USGA’s conforming list, much to the interest of our members.

The original version of the brand’s Secret Weapon launched in January of 2025, with the second version also featuring four distinct weight ports in the head and coming with 13-degree of loft.

In our forums, our members have been assessing the new version and sharing their thoughts.

Here are a few posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.

DTorres: “Kinda looks like the face on the new one might be slightly deeper. Little bit more rounded leading edge.”
snagy2000: “The current version is REALLY good, long…This one looks like they’re bringing some lightning tech to it…”
SEP1006: “Agree with this, hard to tell from that angle but looks like the face may be the same as the Lightning. If that’s the case may have to give this a serious look. Absolutely love my 2wd which is also a 13* loft. But that Lightning Tour Mid Driver face is hot and forgiving.”

Entire Thread: “PXG Secret Weapon Version 2 mini driver lands on USGA conforming list – GolfWRXers react”