I can see the subject of golf balls to use with persimmons and older irons has cropped up several times before, most recently in the TRGA thread. I gather that Srixon Soft Feels are reasonably well regarded but have not used them myself. I also see comments about the lack of stopping power of the Soft Feels in firmer ground conditions even on well struck shots.
Personally, I’ve just about beaten to death my tiny stock of Maxfli Revolution Multilayer 90s (2 left ), Maxfli A10s (1 left ) and Titleist Tour Balatas (1 left ). I’ll need to get some more balls in!
Now I can pick up some more Revolutions and A10s in the UK, but good quality supplies are getting very scarce. However the mention of Srixon jolted my memory. If I recall correctly, weren’t Srixon the last major ball manufacturer to put a wound ball onto the market, some several years after other manufacturers had ceased making wound balls? I think it was the little known Hi-Brid Tour or perhaps the whole Hi-Brid series? Now, I know I can source these in the UK better than the Maxflis as they’re a more recent ball. I do also recall hitting one a few years back, but with modern gear, and being impressed with its soft feel and workability/spin. It may well be the most recent old-school style ball?
My question then is whether anyone has views on the Srixon Hi-Brids and older clubs. Has anyone actually used this combination?
Bit of a stretch I know but also, if it’s a ball that can still be sourced well in the US and goes well with older gear, does that perhaps provide TRGA with an alternative to the Soft Feel that might be much better on firm greens?
Personally I hate the Srixon Soft Feels with persimmon. I can understand the theoretical idea (low compression etc) but to me they just feel heavy and dull and less like an old style balata or wound ball than a Pro V1 does! Perhaps its all in the mind and i should have another test Having tried a few my verdict would always come back to the Maxfli Revolution Multilayer 90s. I was going to say that I never have any problem picking them up from the same source http://stores.ebay.co.uk/gogglegolf but i could only see refinished versions tonight. I would email them and ask if they still have any, I am sure they will. Will drop you a pm on a source of professionals / balatas.
No I have never tried or even seen one of the Hi-Brids I’m afraid. I have tried lots of different balls. Some of the suggestions I have read or been given for use with persimmon have just been awful in reality: Precept laddies, Maxfli tour fires…ugggh Have a few of those lying around if anyone wants them So I would proceed with caution!
Has anyone here tried the Srixon AD333 ball with persimmon? I just got some in and would like to know if I should keep them or get rid of 'em while I still can …
If you can still get them, I find the Titleist professional ball to be the best. Not quite as soft as the old balatas, but still soft off the face and they still go really well. I just picked up a dozen Prestige 90s as well. I’ve hit a few of those with persimmon as well and those are also great.
This is a reprint from the student section… I wanted to give the students of ABS first run at these if they were interested…Looks like I have at least 3 lots of 25 still available if anyone is interested.
I found this stash of balls in my garage and thought some ABS guys may like to get their hands on them…wanted to post them here first for ABS students eyes only to begin with and give you guys first option before hitting the public forum area with them if there are any left over
I have a huge box of Tour Prestige 100 compression balata balls…I am guessing there are over 100 in the balls maybe closer to 125.
If anyone is interested I would break them up into groups of 25 balls and with postage to the lower 48 states do them at $55 for the 25 balls including shipping. I could send them elsewhere around the world but would have to check out shipping costs etc based on where they had to be sent to before I could come up with a price. Once confirmed I will send you the paypal address via PM for payment
I have posted a pic…they do say ‘practice’ on them…but we know that is only a writing alignment defect or a dimple or paint slightly being off so they never got put in a sleeve for retail sale as a result…the practice is easily crossed out with a sharpie if you don’t like to see that when you are out playing.
I wanted to break them up into groups of 25 and do it that way so I can spread them out to different people instead of just one person taking a whole bunch. Let me know by PM if anyone is interested.
they are brand new and have still got their perfect white colour.
Personally, I hate all the modern golf balls… Soft Feels included. Vic felt they don’t fly as far as a Pro V and he is much more in tune with modern gear and balls than I am as he played on tour well into the 2000’s.
The TRGA would love to get back into a wound ball. I would think (hope) at some point maybe a ball like the old Spalding Tour Edition (solid ball with a balata cover if I remember correctly) could be brought back easier than that rubber band and liquid cores.
This is prob the wrong thread for this post so dont kill me but I don’t get choosing that ball at all but there’s a lot of stuff that flies over my head. I don’t mind the different on course rules at all just as long as everyone’s doing the same thing but the deal with having to have heads from before 1980 is arbitrary and lame IMO and having to use that crappy rock kept me from coming down and playing. There’s plenty of old stock wound balls to be had, TMs bucket could supply the tournament for three years and then some. I’d like to play but according to TRGA even my 8802 is no good because it’s only like 12 yrs old. And I’ve been using wound balls ONLY for over a year, why would I want to tee it up in a ‘traditonal’ tournament and have to use a crappy solid core ball? I really don’t ever want to hit another solid core ball ever again. I hate to be the downer and a spoilsport but this stuff makes a big difference and it has kept me away two years in a row.
Leco - you won’t play the tourney because you can’t use your favourite putter and you don’t like the ball used? Good to see you’ve got the big picture in mind.
LCD… I believe the putter didn’t have an age limit…just so long as it was a ‘traditional’ instrument… like a blade or a bullseye or an old mallet style…what you couldn’t use was a 2 ball or spider or anything which was designed with drastic face alignment tools… or a long putter (obviously)
I am sure you could use a wound ball…but for the sake of no-one plopping around with a Pro V1 or Callaway they set a standard ball to play with that was low compression and not a ‘distance’ orientated ball
Don’t think they have that one here in the UK. But please let me know how you get on. Personally I think there is more to a good persimmon ball than low compression but no substitute to testing a few.
Pre 1980 is not a TRGA rule…
Vic only suggested that to make sure everyone get’s the idea, because there were no square grooves and such back then… so it really is just more of a suggestion than anything enforced militarily.
What he didn’t want to see is someone showing up with a set of Hogan Redlines with the box grooves… or other questionable gear. The idea was not having to do a “bag check” for each player.
I agree, I hate all the modern golf balls also. I took a balata out last year and it had lost most of it’s compression and I think it flew about 200 yards with a driver and just dove to the ground. The ball was shot from sitting for 20 years.
I think we should all be joining together and motivating something to encourage a manufacture to start up a balata ball making machine again. If I knew where one was I would be interested in bidding on it on ebay.
Come out and play the tournament next year. It’s a great time.
I just found this guys blog on a search about balata golf balls…
I just sent him an email, and suggest everyone here do also to send him a bit of support so he doesn’t feel
so alone on planet persimmon.
Lag,
As you are aware, I have contacted just about every ball manufacturer in the Pacific Rim region, and none of them even make balata Balls anymore either. I am in correspondence with another manufacturer in Asia right now about getting some samples of their “low compression” ball in hopes it has some potential…but I am not optimistic.
My growing opinion is that instead of hoping for someone to bring back balata as a ball cover, we should be looking for a manufacturers willing to research urethane technology to get a cover much closer in feel and performance to balata. I have a friend from my days in the fishing rod industry who is a chemical engineer that develops urethane based paints and glues for industrial applications…I may run this past him to see if the potential is there for something like that.
Andy
P.S. Arnie, I agree 100%…it’s less about compression and more about the attributes of the cover.
Here is another alternative…not manufactured by Titleist anymore, but perhaps easier to find than than others…got this off the web.
Andy
History
The Titleist Tour Balata ball was the premier golf ball for low-handicap players and professionals for generations. A three-piece ball with a liquid center, the balata was available in 90 or 100 compression versions, spun fast, worked left or right and had a cover that could be cut by a sharp look. The next step in the early '90s was the Titleist Tour Professional, basically balata that didn’t cut as easily. Then Titleist unveiled the Tour Prestige in the late-'90s. A direct predecessor to the current Pro V1, the Prestige was still a three-piece, liquid-center ball. But it didn’t cut, spun hard on the irons, carried far off the driver and still putted like that wonderfully familiar marshmallow, the Tour Balata. The Tour Prestige is a strong link in the evolutionary line of the Titleist golf ball brand.
Three Piece
The Tour Prestige is a classic three-piece ball design. The center is liquid, surrounded by a small rubber core. Hundreds of feet of rubber band windings make up what is known as the “mantle” of the ball–the space between the core and the cover. At the surface, the Prestige has what Titleist described as a “shear resistant” cover–it was soft and easily scuffed by a club or cart path but didn’t cut nearly as easily as its predecessors. This ball could be worked left to right or right to left very easily.
Soft Feel
Feel is one of the strongest points made by golf ball companies through the 1990s. As eyes focused on maximum yardage, golf balls got firmer and harder and less satisfying from a feel perspective. Titleist countered this trend with their top-tier balls by making soft-cover golf balls that did not cut easily. The Tour Professional and Tour Prestige fit the bill before the Pro V1 was introduced. The Prestige also spun slightly less than the Tour Professional, making it a bit more controllable.
Durability
Despite the firmer, more durable cover, the Tour Prestige is still a classic three-piece ball with rubber windings. This means that as it gets hit repeatedly with a high swing speed, the ball can get struck out of round. While in the current market, a player can play the same ball for 36 holes or more without seeing a change, the Tour Prestige, for a player with a swing speed of 100 mph or higher, might go out of round in as few as six holes.
Well, I’m going to have some of the Srixon Hi-Brid Tours to play around with in a few days. They definitely have a wound middle layer. They also have a urethane cover. This is some info on the ball: golfproductnews.com/srixon-hi-brid-tour/
It was discontinued by Srixon about 5 years ago and is indeed the last widely distributed wound ball made by a major ball manufacturer.
I’ll report back on how they play.
Wonder if Srixon could still produce runs of these, if asked, or if they have an Asian-market-only current wound ball offering?
), Maxfli A10s (1 left 
Having tried a few my verdict would always come back to the Maxfli Revolution Multilayer 90s. I was going to say that I never have any problem picking them up from the same source 
Have a few of those lying around if anyone wants them 
So I would proceed with caution!
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