Cutting to the core: should your next ball be two-piece or multilayer? We sort out the spin to help you find the right one

Golf Digest, Sept, 2003 by Mike Stachura

THE FINAL PIECE IN THE PUZZLE Given the choice, most golfers want the multilayer ball the pros play. But unlike the pros, most golfers have to pay for their balls, so whether they think they deserve that ball is another matter. There's no real technical reason they shouldn't play those balls. Callaway's Yagley says even an average player would notice the difference between a distance two-piece ball, a soft two-piece ball and a three-piece ball in "just a couple of minutes of chipping and putting."

Says Golf Digest Chief Technical Advisor Frank Thomas: "The best ball for the best golfers is a multilayer ball. But there's no reason the average golfer shouldn't play these balls, although he or she might not hit the ball consistently enough to recognize all its benefits."

Certainly, every two-piece ball (distance, low-compression, large core, etc.) is designed with the so-called average golfer in mind, not a tour player. Conversely, most multilayer balls, particularly those with urethane covers, have attributes only elite players can appreciate. (Tiger Woods, for example, was attracted to his new ball because it let him be more aggressive when trying to hold a draw into a left-to-right crosswind. Most of us don't have those sorts of issues.)

Is playing one particular short-game shot slightly more vital to your game? If you're struggling to break 100, maybe not. If you're always breaking 80, maybe it is. But that's why finding the right ball remains a consummately personal search, says Titleist's Morgan.

"Golf is a game of individual performance with individual implements: me and my stuff against the elements," Morgan says. "I search for the perfect swing, and I search for the perfect gear. Only I know when I have found it."

UNDERCOVER

NIKE's One ball, used by Tiger Woods, has a soft urethane outer cover and two inner mantles--one to promote accuracy and the other to improve energy transfer off the driver.

NEW IDEAS

PRECEPT has extended its U-Tri line with the U-Tri Tour, an inexpensive urethane-covered multilayer ball ($30). SLAZENGER's Tour Platinum is a two-piece ball with a urethane cover.

SOFTHEARTED

At the center of the core of SRIXON's UR-X, the hardness rating is nearly half that of the outer surface of the core. Srixon's mantle is made of firm rubber, unlike other multilayer balls with mantles of ionomers or plastics.

HOW DIFFERENT ARE GOLF BALLS?

That's a loaded question, but a robot test conducted for Golf Digest by Technical Advisor Gene Parente at Golf Laboratories in San Diego suggests there are some subtle differences based on ball type. In our test a driver swung at an average swing speed (90 miles per hour) produced similar distances and spin (revolutions per minute) among four ball types. (Remember: Less spin with the driver can reduce slices and hooks. More spin with the irons may help shots stay on the green close to where they land.) An 8-iron swung at average speed (78 mph) revealed similar distances again, but produced more spin in the multilayer ball and the two-piece performance ball compared to the two-piece distance ball. The most telling difference came with half-wedge shots. In our test, the multilayer ball spun significantly more than two-piece models (and flew at a slightly lower trajectory), an indication the urethane cover and multilayer design may provide an extra element of precision. M.S.