Did you ever get to try them out Nolixul? I’d be very interested to hear how they played, I’m considering purchasing some.
Yes I did. They were a very solid performer and spun reasonably well. My personal preference would be for Maxfli Revolution multilayers, Maxfli HTs or Maxfli A10s. The Srixons have a superb feel. Given that I’m sure they are the last wound 3 piece ball to be produced by a major ball manufacturer, they are wound balls that one can most likely get in best condition.
However, it is the Srixon Hi-Brid Tour that I am talking about that was manufactured between 2002 and 2004. Srixon have badged a number of balls “Hi-Brid” from 2002 right through to now, many of them being Japan market only balls, and most of them are NOT wound construction. Buyer beware!
These are the balls I tried:
golfproductnews.com/srixon-hi-brid-tour/
golfmagic.com/product-review … /3259.html
You might want to try the Wilson Staff line of balls. Perhaps the Wilson Staff Zips.
I don’t use them because with modern gear they spin way too much. Only $14 a dozen and you can get them at retail shops like Sports Authority.
3JACK
Thanks 3Jack,
Zips don’t appear to on sale in anywhere in Europe, but after some googling I found out px3 soft spin (new model, not the plain px3) seems to be the same ball. I’ll give those a go this summer.
I honestly think a person should use a ball depending on what level your game is at.
If your a 20 handicapper you do not want to be using a high spin ball.maybe whip one out on a par 3 but off the tee your only hurting yourself if you do.
I moved to a lower spinning ball when I was off 18-10 handicap and it helps alot off the tee. Instead of 40 yards right or left you may only be 20. I was using bridgestone RXXS and those puppies spun alot. SO my Mod 1 hook was really nasty at times.
I moved to the Nike PD soft and while i still hooked the ball it wasnt as sever I found.
Your average 18 handicapper has no business spinning a ball back on a green.Thats assuming they have a shot in to begin with!.
Also your average 18HC is lucky to hit 3-4 grees in reg anyway. If anything they hit short 90% of the time and you want alot of roll out or they are behind a tree punching out… Also moving to a low compression ball helps immensly for higher handicaps. I see so many high HC players using “Tour” balls. The ball is just way to hot off the face and adds to your dispersion.
I honestly think if more people used ladies balls they’d be better off the tee and a bit straighter.
While a ball doesnt compensate for a bad swing, every bit helps.
The point of this thread was to find balls that work well with persimmons in terms of getting as close as possible to the feel and behaviour of 60s/70s/80s balata balls ie the sort of balls that were designed to be played with persimmons and the great traditional tracks at that time. It was not an exercise in ball recommendations for particular player types.
Now this pretty much rules out any 2 piece balls, most non-wound balls, modern 3,4 or 5 piece balls etc. The “balata” balls of the past are getting very hard to source in reasonable, playable condition. Hence the interest in the Srixon Hi-brid Tour - the last major wound 3 piece ball. ther manufacturers stopped their wound ball construction many years before.
So far the balls that best fit my criteria and can be sourced in reasonable condition are the Maxfli Revolution Multilayer, the Maxfli HT, the Maxfli A10 (albeit non-wound) and the Srixon Hi-brid Tour. Yes, one can still pick up Titleist balatas but they are expensive, generally in poor condition and their playing qualities have deteriorated considerably more than the aforementioned balls.
Any more ideas would be welcome.
I think this ball may be worth checking out. It looks like Wilson is doing away with the Zip, however, this may be a good ball for what we are looking for.
Wilson Staff FG Tour Golf Ball
Wilsons Description:
FG Tour is a multilayer urethane golf ball that delivers the same long distance and shot-control as these urethane balls with one major difference: the softest feel of any urethane ball on the market. In Tour and better player testing, the feel of the FG Tour ball was favorably compared to wound balata balls, yet with modern durability characteristics.
Link:
wilson.com/en-us/golf/balls/ … ref=413284
price may be a little prohibitive for some.
$37.99 at Dicks.
Big Box PGA Store had the Zip’s on sale: 2 for $19.99. Zips are no longer listed on Wilson site. Personally the only reason I go to the big box is to look at putters or to search for pre-owned. Its not so much fun to go there any longer as all they care about are the latest and greatest technojunk.
I’ve tried the Wilson ZIP balls, they are okay. I’ve also tried the Wilson 50 balls (50 compression) they are okay. So far, the best feeling of the readily available balls for hitting off of persimmon and my blades is the Srixon Soft Feel balls. I would say they are maybe 25% of a balata feel if I can remember that far back to the marshmallows. 
I’ve also played the ProVs and they are about 20% of a balata. The Wilsons seem to be about 10-15%. All unscientific though. Just my personal feel.
It seems that most of the “soft and long” balls have a hard core to get distance and a “softer” cover to get more spin. So they don’t feel soft off a persimmon. I think from a technological stand point they could make a ball feel/spin just like a balata but distance seems to be the major factor now for everything. So you can’t have a soft feeling ball that has low spin rates for drivers at the same time trying to up the spin rate for wedges. Besides, when you hit it with a titanium trampoline, you really don’t feel much of anything. Just a loud obnoxious TINK!!! It’s like watching college baseball. Wait, I can’t because of the sound of the aluminum bats just grates my ears and I have to turn the channel.
I’m still searching for something better but so far the Srixon Soft Feel is the “lesser of many evils”. 
You can get them 2 dozen for $30 on sale. Regularly $19.99 a dozen.
As for the big box golf stores, PGA Superstore and GolfSmith specifically, you might do well to look in the used club sections. I have seen some nice used blades sets for sale. Not the cheapest stuff but if you haggle with the manager or if they have been sitting a while, you can get a decent set for $50-$100. They do those trade-in/trade-up programs so they really want to dump those “old blades” ASAP. I saw a set of Hogan Apex bounce soles, but they had regular shafts. Didn’t want to spend $100 on the clubs and then turn around have have to buy $120 in new shafts to put into them.
I’m a 10 handicapper who’s never hit a real balata, the closest I’ve come to is professional 90’s that I bought over the winter. I also bought some Srixon hi-brid tours. The professionals do feel super soft, but at least in the Finnish climate they simply don’t go anywhere. They are very, very short, much shorter than I expected. Hi-brid tours go as far as prov1’s, but to me don’t feel that different. They might spin a little more. I’ve also tried Srixon soft feels, Wilson Px3’s and Dx2/3’s and can’t say I would prefer one over the other. I’m stuck with the modern ball, and among those differences seem very small.
One of these days, as Persimmon makes a comeback, there will have to be a manufacturer that will eventually make a Balata type ball, at least in feel and spin. We can hope can’t we?