Why Do Some Golfers Use A Yellow Ball?
Mike Harris test the new Titleist Pro V1... in yellow! To see whether you should be playing a yellow ball.
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00:00Hello everyone, Mike Harris from Golf Monthly.
00:08You join me here at lovely West Hill Golf Club in Surrey on a very sunny afternoon.
00:14And in this video, I'm going to be asking, should you be playing a yellow golf ball?
00:19The big thing for 2019, the big talking point is that Titleist have finally released a yellow
00:25Pro V1 and Pro V1X.
00:28And we've got different models from, say, all the main manufacturers, Strixson with
00:32their Z-Star, they do a yellow model, Callaway with the Chrome Soft, they do a yellow model
00:38as well.
00:39TaylorMade don't do their TP5 in the UK anyway in yellow, but they do do Project A, which
00:45is their sort of second tier urethane ball.
00:48So these days, if you do want a yellow golf ball, but you want to play a tour golf ball
00:52urethane covered, there are plenty of options out there.
00:56So let's get out on the golf course and see how the yellow balls perform, both on their
01:00own and also in comparison to standard white golf balls.
01:08Okay, so we're going to do a little bit of a live on course test here, got a yellow ball
01:24and a white ball, see if I can see much difference between the two when I hit drives, approaches
01:30and also on the green as well.
01:32I'm going to go traditional first, I'm going to go with the white ball.
01:39Okay, pop that one up a little bit.
01:46Yeah, I've got it through the blue sky fine, but when it started to drop down, I felt I
01:54lost it a little bit there going back down through the tree line.
01:57So next up the yellow ball, wow, I have to say that was a much better drive than the
02:14first one with the white ball, but I really found it very, very easy to track the flight
02:19of the yellow ball there.
02:21At no point when it started dipping from its pink trajectory did I lose it like I did with
02:26the white one.
02:27That was quite interesting to see that, let's see what it's like down on the fairway playing
02:32an approach shot.
02:33Okay, so I just missed the fairway with the white ball, I've got 180 yards, be interesting
02:38to see this through very dappled, you can see through very dappled light there, a lot
02:42of shadows, see how I pick up the flight of this.
02:59Yeah pretty good actually, certainly saw it come down very well, so no issues there with
03:05the white ball as I did have when the flight dropped with the drive.
03:09So let's see how we go with the yellow ball.
03:12Okay, so 15-20 yards further on with the yellow ball, stood over it in the shadow, I actually
03:17really like looking at the yellow ball at address, don't know, it feels, don't know,
03:23possibly look a little bit bigger, a little bit more confidence inspiring, anyway, let's
03:27see how this one goes.
03:35Oh, that's a good shot.
03:37Yeah, very pleased with the outcome, about pin high, but again, really found it easy
03:45to track the flight of the ball there, so at the moment, yellow ball is definitely winning
03:50it for me.
03:51So here we are up at the green, white ball's just made the front edge, left myself, don't
03:56know, 40 foot putt up the hill, one of my impressions behind the ball, well, been looking
04:02at normally a white ball behind a putter head for a long time, it looks good as it
04:08ever did really, got a new black putter, so it's quite nice, that contrast, black and
04:13white.
04:20I've not, I've certainly not given that enough, but yeah, you know, white ball behind the
04:25putter, looks very familiar, anyway, let's now see in a much better approach shot with
04:30my yellow ball, let's see how that is.
04:38So probably a 20 footer up the, up the hill here.
04:44Yeah, I really do like it behind the, behind the ball, really nice.
04:48I really do like it behind the, behind the ball, really nice.
05:00And a little tap in for par there.
05:04We are Ask The Golf Monthly social media audience, so on Twitter, on Instagram, on Facebook,
05:10on Instagram, on Twitter, on Facebook, on Instagram, on Facebook, on Facebook, on Instagram,
05:15social media audience, so on Twitter, on Instagram, would you consider playing a yellow ball?
05:20And it was very interesting, across Instagram and Twitter, it was almost exactly 60% saying
05:26yes, and 40% saying no.
05:28On Twitter, we had over 3,000 respondents in a 24 hour period to the poll.
05:34Very interesting to read some of the comments there about why you would or wouldn't play
05:39a yellow golf ball.
05:40I think perhaps there's been a bit of a stigma that yellow golf balls are for higher handicappers
05:44who are worried about losing golf balls, or maybe for golfers who are older,
05:48whose eyesight isn't as good.
05:50So we've come down to the fourth tee here at West Hill, a lovely par three,
05:55pretty tricky, and it certainly is right into the sun, as you can sort of see
05:59when I turn this way, I've got the sun really in my face.
06:02So going to see if there's any difference between picking up the flight of the white ball
06:06or yellow ball.
06:07Interestingly, we were just chatting to a couple of golfers out here asking what we were doing.
06:12We said we were doing a little yellow ball versus white ball test,
06:14and I asked one of the guys, would you ever play a yellow ball?
06:17He was a decent golfer, watched him hit a couple of shots.
06:21I would say, you know, single figure golfer, and he said, definitely not.
06:24So, and sort of, I guess the information was that, you know,
06:28yellow balls were not for better golfers, but he did acknowledge that he'd seen Bubba
06:33using it at the waist management, the yellow Pro V1.
06:36So, I don't know, might be better.
06:38Perceptions might change after a while if you see guys on tour using it.
07:02Yeah, actually found that was a white ball.
07:04Found that pretty easy to see.
07:07Didn't hit it, it wasn't directly into the sun.
07:12Right hand side of the green, I would think when we get up there.
07:28Yeah, I definitely, I definitely think the yellow ball is easier to see.
07:32I think when it goes into the sun, it almost turns black.
07:35So again, it makes it a little bit easier to pick up the flight of,
07:39but to pretty, I'd be very happy with those shots with a card in my hand.
07:43So, that was a really interesting experiment playing a yellow golf ball
07:47against a white ball, seeing how it looked down at address,
07:50and also seeing the flight of it.
07:52But what do you think? Let us know, put a comment below.
07:55Let us know, have you played a yellow golf ball before?
07:58Would you play a yellow golf ball now?
08:00Any particular, will you be trying out Titleist's new yellow Pro V1?
08:04This year, I'll pick a comment at random
08:07and I'll send you a dozen yellow golf balls,
08:10just so you can do a bit of product validation yourself.
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08:26one of our new gear videos.
08:28But, what about the verdict?
08:30Well, as I said earlier at the start of the video,
08:32my eyesight's not as good as it was when I was maybe
08:35in my sort of twenties, even with glasses on.
08:38And I have to say, I definitely find yellow golf ball
08:41easier to pick out in the flight of the ball.
08:44Particularly, I found, today's obviously a lovely sunny day,
08:48but in flat light, I definitely find a yellow ball
08:51easier to pick out there when it's sort of dropping
08:54out of the sky at the top of its flight.
08:57I quite like it at address, you know, a lot of the modern clubs,
09:00I've got a black-headed drive and also a black-headed putter,
09:02I quite like that contrast between the yellow
09:05and the black at address.
09:07Don't find it off-putting at all.
09:09I know some people are not keen on the look,
09:11and there are lots of different finishes
09:13of the different, you know, yellow golf balls.
09:16Some are sort of more of that sort of chalky matte finish,
09:19some are really sort of bright, almost sort of pearlescent.
09:22But I definitely think that if you are looking for
09:25something a little bit different to help pick up
09:28the flight of the golf ball, that a yellow golf ball
09:31is certainly worth trying.
09:33So Bubba Watson's been trying them out on tour,
09:35I know that Bubba's quite a quirky guy,
09:37tries different things.
09:39But I'm certainly, I think, going to be playing a few rounds
09:42with the yellow Titleist Pro V1X.
09:44Pro V1X is a ball that I normally use,
09:46so I'm looking forward to putting that in play this season
09:49and seeing how I go with it.
09:51But for now, from West Hill, it's goodbye.
09:58.