Finally got around to playing a round with the new Velocity balls kindly provided by Titleist.
As a regular user of the now old NXT (plain ones not the Tour) I was slightly apprehensive on what a new ball would do to my game anf if I would see any actual difference.
The day was a little damp to say the least as we tee'd off on a typically blustery spring morning. As none of us had played in a few weeks we did the usual for a fun game with no warm up and get a mulligan if you duff your first tee shot. I needn't have worried as I belted the velocity straight down the middle and actually just came up just short of the fairway bunker at 250 yards.
Hmm I thought, this could be interesting. I actually duffed the next shot into the green and ended up in the greenside bunker and that pretty much summed up my day with the velocity. Off the tee I didn't miss one single fairway!!!!! I'm a pretty good driver of the ball when I put my mind to it but even then I normally hit 60-70% on the short stuff, so to hit 100% was gob smacking
However, I did find that the Velocity lacked some feel and softness on mid irons, chipping and putting compared to the old NXT. Having said that it could just be a case of I just need to get used to the feel of a different ball as between the old NXT and Velocity they do feel quite different.
I ended the round with my best score in a while on that particular course so that says it all. I also ended the round with both free balls intact and still in my possession and not lost OB, in water or to the golf ball fairy who seems to nick my balls at every opportunity!
All in all I think once my garage supply of NXT's finally disappears (Sorry I can't help but keep buying any old stock I can get my hands on as they are bl**dy good balls!) I will be in a bit of a quandary as to what to purchase next. I am very tempted with the Velocity but I think I want to give them a bit more testing around the greens. Titleist provided me with some DT Solo's too so I will try them and see if they fit the happy medium between outright straightness and distance on drives against a bit more feel around the greens. Or possibly move up to the NXT Tour versions!??!
It's unfortunate that my local course has so much water (being built on a wetland nature reserve does not help!!) and consequently quite a few balls a season go to the great god of water hazards (I normally throw a srxn into the first water hazard as a sacrificial offering... sometimes it works... sometimes it doesn't!?), so trying anything more expensive (Pro V's) isn't financially viable or at least not until my game gets as good as Luke Donalds... although no doubt he doesn't have to pay £40 a dozen the lucky, lucky so and so.