If you know anything about golf, you have heard the name Titleist. They have a worldwide billion-dollar ad campaign that tells you they are the best golf ball in the world. If you watch an ad or open any golf magazine, you will see the best players in the world smiling with a Pro V1 or Pro V1x in their hands.
Titleist currently holds the title of the most popular ball in the U.S. and holds a massive lead over whichever “johnny come lately” is trying to topple this giant. Yes, Titleist is the iPhone or McDonalds of the golf ball world. However, just because you outsell the other guys, does that mean you are the best available product.
Callaway ChromeSoft and TaylorMade TP5 are trying their best to unseat the reigning champ, with Srixon and Bridgestone rounding out the current top 5 sellers. Mizuno RB Tour is a brand new addition to the market and made a huge splash with their first North American offering in over a decade.
Without getting into the weeds of ball data and overall performance, let me apply simple and easy logic to a discussion that can be more volatile than an Adidas-Nike debate. Find a ball that fits your budget, and you enjoy playing and stick with it.
Unless you have a single-digit handicap, you do not consistently deliver the golf club the same way. That means variation in ball flight, spin, and distance has more to do with your swing than your ball. So if that’s a fact of golfing life, why does the ball matter?
Easy, finding the best ball for you means you can remove a variable. If you play a lake ball or a ball found in the rough, can you blame your swing because it flew short or left? Upgrade your game by playing new balls and the same type of ball every time. You will start to understand when you made a mistake; you will become better just by knowing what to expect.
If your budget or feel allows you to play a tour ball, pick the one that you enjoy the most. Some studies show that a high greenside spin ball with tour characteristics will lower your scores. So unless you still send them into the water or OB regularly, play a tour ball. If a $4 ball is out of the question, most manufacturers make a middle-level ball. Titleist has TourSoft, TaylorMade has Tour Response, Callaway has ERC. Then again, maybe that Ram, Warbird, or “lost and found” ball is all you’ll ever need.
Titleist, Bridgestone and Volvik all have online ball fitting systems. These are based on several characteristics of ball flight and can be a great way to narrow down what ball you might like to play. In the modern golf industry, the biggest names in golf don’t really have bad products. Every driver from the top 10 companies will perform pretty well. The same can be said for the top 5 or maybe even 10 golf ball brands. Without question Titlest Pro V is the gold standard, but the lead on the field is no longer a chasm, but perhaps a tiny crack.
Some people live for the specific sounds or smells of their first love. That sport that drew you in before those evil hormones complicated your life. It could be the thing that you loved to do with a parent. Rooting for their favorite team, that is now your favorite team. Spending Sunday morning detailing the family car, and listening to all the little “facts” that made Ford better than Chevy, or Chevy better than Mopar.
Maybe for you, it’s the crack of a wooden bat as it launches a home run deep into the stands. It could be the smell of roasted peanuts or signing “Take me out to the ball game” that gets your blood pumping. It could be the sound of a naturally aspirated V8 revving on the line before it screams down that paved quarter-mile.
It doesn’t matter, and you may not realize that you have a thing, but trust me, you do! It could be an instrument, needlepoint, or reading, but something out there is your happy place, and I would wager that you most likely learned it from someone.
Ever since I came to Tulare Golf Course, my happy place is the first tee box as the sun comes up. The whoosh of a properly swung driver, the snap of the clubhead hitting the golf ball at full send pace, and the sun cresting the horizon is perfection. That is regardless of the course you are playing or in any country. A freshly mown green, free of ball marks, and rolling pure is just the cherry on the top of this perfect Sunday.
This past month without a golfing soul on the course, my perspective sharpened. Like a lot of us, I may have started to take the beauty of golf and golf courses for granted. Without the sights and sounds of golfers playing the game they love, what is the beauty of the course? It might as well be an oversized public park at that point.
Yes, the golfers make the golf course, and I promise, we won’t ever forget that.
On March 24th, Tulare County required us to close regardless of all the protocols we instituted to keep everyone safe. The debate on whether or not golf courses should be essential is open to conversation. We are biased at the golf course, but our answer is YES!
That Monday started like most of the days in March. A little busier than our average and perfect golf weather. Everything we would hope for on a golf course, and a brilliant week in the future.
One phone call changed the whole outlook of the remaining days of March and the future of the golf course. Tulare County insisted that we shut down immediately, and threatened penalties and fines. The claim that we were non-compliant is up for debate like so many things during this pandemic, but we complied by shutting down all future business.
March 25th brought several decisions that required quick thinking. We employ almost 50 employees between our Shop, Cart Barn, Maintenance, and 9 Iron staff. As a family-owned business, we attempted to find a way to keep all employees working. Unfortunately, there was not a way to do this without endangering the whole company. We had to put the oxygen mask on the business before we could reach out to the employees.
The only reasonable direction was to lay off all hourly employees and allow them to apply for their benefits immediately. The management staff communicated with employees and kept them updated on changes, but as most of you know, we could not open until April 27th. That was more than a month after our closure.
I am proud to announce, without exception, our employees have gladly returned to work as we notified them. We brought all hands on deck for the reopening. Bringing in almost double our staff as we expected a rush. We opened nearly a week ahead of the Governor’s proclamation that golf is essential. All the same faces, and maybe a couple of new ones, will continue to greet you with a smile at the Pro Shop and 9 Iron Bar & Grill.
While they were away, three members of management attempted to maintain 160 acres that would usually take ten people. For Brett Miller, the GM and Alex Barberena, the Superintendent, it was business as usual. Brett is the former Superintendent and quickly got back into the old routines of mowing, irrigation repair, and spraying chemicals.
Alex became saddled with training the new guy. Robert Nava is the Pro Shop Manager and Custom Club expert at the course but has minimal experience in grounds maintenance. After several days of mowing and learning other aspects of maintenance, Robert helped Alex, and Brett developed a plan to get as much work done as possible with the skeleton crew. A select number of volunteers also assisted during the month-long shutdown.
During the closure, we took advantage of the open course and took care of two large projects. Golfers know that aeration is a necessary evil that temporarily scars the greens, for the future benefit of healthier grass.
Not only did we aerate, but we also brought a company in to “drill and fill,” an extreme form of aeration. The crew uses a very large machine to drill holes in the green and then fill with clean sand. Both processes help the roots on the bentgrass “breathe” and grow healthier.