I keep seeing these golf balls in the store and such marked something like “Top-Fly for Women”, “Lady Pinnacal”, and so on. What’s the difference between men’s (so-called ‘regular’) balls and these ladie’s balls, other than the color?
Ladies’ balls are designed and constructed to produce more distance than men’s balls, presumably to compensate for the differences in swing strength and power.*
For fun, try using one out on the course with your buddies. After you outdrive them by 15 yards, tell them you used a women’s ball.
Then run.
*(That said, I’ve seen some female golfers that could outdrive most guys with out any special balls.)
Y’know, there’s a joke in there somewhere…
Yeah, Q.E.D., there was, but I wasn’t about to make it.
There is -Amy Alcott years ago admitted to one or two covert balls.
Ladies balls usually have a lower compression core to compensate for the more modest swing speeds that ladies have.
Many men realized that they liked the feel they can get with these lower compression balls (more control on and around the green), and advances in cover technology means a lower compression ball will not suffer, distance-wise, at higher swing speeds than older, high compression balls.
The ball manufuactuers realized that men were preferring certain qualities of the women’s balls, but not the stigma, so recently many low-compression balls have come out aimed at men (the LoCo, a few Titleist and Nike lines, the Precept Laddie, and the Maxfli Noodle).
Ah, that’s nice then; thanks for the replies.
A second question: Are these balls USGA-legal, then?
Of course they are.
The USGA only dislikes balls that are too small, too heavy, or too hard (which is measured by how far they fly).
They also don’t like balls that are not completely covered in dimples. I saw something on TV about a golf ball that only had dimples in a band around the center line. The top and the bottom of the ball was smooth. These balls had something like 30% more distance than a fully dimpled ball, and were banned by the USGA.
Also, the USGA only makes the rules for the US and Mexico, all other countries are governed by the Royal and Ancient St. Andrews. While they try and keep rules similar, and they are for play, the rules regarding equipment are different.
What’s the purpose of a fully dimpled ball? Do they just limit the distance or is there some other purpose like keeping it flying straight?
If I remember correctly, the dimples create a more stable and longer flight path. Something to do with the aerodynamics and turbulence around the ball. I know I saw something about this in either Scientific American or some other similar magazine a few years ago, but I don’t remember exactly which one.
It would seem that the main purpose of the dimples is to reduce drag. I guess that this helps both distance and accuracy.
I’m still trying to find a picture of a partially dimpled ball. It was either 1/3 dimpled or 2/3 dimpled. Enough to reduce drag, and there was something about it that caused it to fly further than regular balls.
I just found this site which explains the effects that different types of dimples have on golf balls.
Just wanted to add that you might really want to experiment with using women’s balls in colder weather (if you experience it where you play). In the cold, it is harder to compress the ball. Compression alows the ball to spring off of the club face.
Conversely, most guys would be best avoiding 100 compression balls on all but the hottest days. Most hackers don’t swing hard enough to compress those babies.