Due to an injury to the Ulna nerve in my right arm I have not been able to play since Sept 2014 until the last two  weeks.  

I did not find any significant difference between the red and black balls except on the greens.  This may in some part be due to my 4 month layoff.

It is difficult to judge distance with the ground conditions as they are, but I found the black ball fractionally harder than the red and perhaps better suited to winter conditions.  With the greens very soft and damp both balls showed excellent drop and stop capabilities.

Both balls where very durable as long as water was avoided.

Putting I did feel much more comfortable with the black ball and definitely preferred it. 

I have not had time to compare the test balls with my usual ball the Titleist Velocity, but I hope to do that this weekend if the rain eases.

Thank you for the opportunity to try the balls I am only sorry that due to injury I have not been able to give the test the time it deserves.

I received my balls in the post, and I was getting on really well with them, until some scumbag pinched all my equipment on Boxing day... I was gutted, all Titleist gear as well :( Good news for Titleist as I just bought all new gear, bad news for my bank balance lol  

Think I preferred the red balls over all, they went well off the tee for me and I got great distance with any club. 

Regards 

Jerry.

Have played with the test ball for a couple of months now and have to say i think there really good, fly straight, good distance and for a player at my level much better control.

Thanks for the test balls. Tried 1 red and 1 black to date although conditions are far from ideal.

Both performed well and probably similar distances, although no further than my usual ball. The red ball lasted 5 1/2 rounds before disappearing into a ravine. This ball seemed to fly higher than the black.There were noticable signs of wear to the coating of the red ball.

The black ball lasted 9 1/2 rounds with a lower trajectory before finding the out of bounds. I suspect when there is more run this ball will go further than the red. The durability on the black ball was better with little sign of wear after 9 rounds. 

Both felt good on the putter face and I was able to stop the balls on the green without exceptional spin, although this was probably more down to the conditions. 

Looking forwarded to trying the remaining balls when the we are getting a bit more run and the greens are firmer. That would be a better test.

If you develop a ball that dosen't like ravines or OB,s I'm your man

Thanks again

Roger B

Thanks for sending me two tubes of golf balls to test.  Although the weather has been varied I used both black & red numbered balls in differing 'winter' conditions.  My usual ball of choice is an NXT tour which suits my abilities, 19 handicap with slow swing speed.  The black numbered ball seemed to produce a more penetrating flight path BUT felt dull of the clubface & with little feedback.  The red numbered ball by comparison, was much more to my liking although I think its a harder ball.  After nine holes yesterday I was 3 under my handicap using this ball which suited me much better & I was driving straight as well as getting 'feel' from the ball on the short game & putting. As you can gather I would be extremely pleased to use this type of ball on a permanant basis especially if I could shave 5/6 shots off my handicap.  Hope this is useful & thanks for the opportunity of the test.

Frank in Hereford.

Just come back from a Christmas break and have now managed two rounds with the surprise gift of 3 red marked and 3 black marked Titleist test balls.

Now if I am brutally honest I couldnt tell the difference between the red and the black but hey maybe thats just me, distance, movability ( if thats a word), shaping of the ball all very very similar to my current choise of ProV1 and the old Professional but I am old school. What I would say is that on the greens whilst they havent made a difference to my putting, they do have a definate soft thud when you hit them not a high pinging noise which always puts me off. May sound daft but I like my balls to sound nice on the putting green as well as follow a true line. Overall would give them a 9 out of 10, but daft as it seems cant find a fault in them, but if we didnt find fault then we wouldnt progrss would we. Anyway thanks again for the opportunity to test them and Happy New Year to everyone.

I've now had a few (very wet) weeks to evaluate both the red and black test balls. In general play the conditions make it hard to be certain of any significant difference in distance and flight shape. I would say that I've also played AD 333 and Nxt Tour to get some comparison. The test balls are at least as long and straight as the comparison balls. The main difference comes with the short game and especially putting. Here I love the feel of the red test ball which has just the right combination of click and softness. To me black was a bit too soft off the putter face and I had a hard time getting the ball to the hole. Of course its possible to adapt but it doesn't feel natural to hit the ball harder. Durability on both balls has been good and they can easily do 2 rounds before marking becomes significant. Thanks for the opportunity to test.

John H

Have now lost all 6 balls so feel ready to comment !

I used the black numbers first and I was very impressed with them. They launch really high but that didnt affect distance. I was hitting short irons (8-S) at least 10 yards further than normal with NXT balls and that is in winter conditions. Off the driver they again launched high but really straight and again longer than normal. Putting was a pleasure. They felt really soft off the face and gave me confidence to push them past the hole.

The red ones didnt feel a lot different until the green.. they didnt feel as soft and I left a few short.

Overall I will definitely buy some when they are announced but suspect they will be the new Pro V balls and really expensive.

Wouldnt it be great if they were the new NXT's !!!!

John

Hi David, thanks for the golf balls and apologies for not getting anywhere near the course to give you some feedback. Did manage to get out for 18 holes at the weekend and used the TEST balls. didn't use the ball on the first two holes under the panic that I would lose it but used with the driver on 3rd and reached my average of 260 yards without any great difficulty. That left me with a 170 yards second shot which is my 6 iron under usual playing conditions and flew the green by 10 yards. Had nice feel with the wedge as chipped back on and two putted. 4th is a short par 3 of 125 yards and with pitching wedge put it to 3 feet, obviously missed the putt. For the next few holes, I was finding the fairways and hitting the greens with unusual regularity. Overall, I didn't fell any difference with the driver except for the noise that it made when i hit it, which was louder than usual and went around 10 yards further with my irons. my chipping as a rule is up and down and on that day it was ok but cannot tell you if i was having a good day or the ball was making the difference.

please note that my winter ball is PTS Roll and summer is NXT so would happily put it alongside my summer golf balls for use

Thanks again for including me in your test group, i am honoured and proud to be a selected member

I played 18 holes with the first of the test balls and found it went as well as any ball I have used. I mainly use NXT and sometimes Velocity or ProV1. The test ball came off the driver crisply and with a good trajectory. Distance was at least equal to the balls I normally use and there was no feeling of too much hardness on irons or putter. The finish is going to deteriorate fairly quickly I think.

Balls sent in December. As a 18 handicap player I normally use AD333. I was very pleased with the feel of the Titleist R & D Ball & would like to trial again in warmer weather if possible? Currently with conditions as they are mine are now swimming. Regards Tony

Managed to get my first opportunity to try out the Test balls yesterday (only the 2nd time I have played since beginning of November). Initially the ball felt very soft but as I settled back into a rhythm that went away. Whilst I know that I hit a high trajectory with my irons I had the distinct impression that the flight with this ball (singular as I only used the one ball for all 18 holes) was higher than I usually generate. As a result I noticed some loss of distance. Whilst minor by the back nine I was taking a club more to ensure that I reached greens.

One advantage of the softness that I felt translated into putting. I found the ball a delight to put with. It ran smooth and true with a good feel of the putter face. It definitely felt better with a positive stroke through the ball.

I am going to carry on using this ball, and others from the six if I lose it, and will add more comment if I note any other characteristics. Perhaps some comment on durability once I have played another round or two.

Thanks Titleist for asking me to trial the balls.

Mike R

Played with both the red and black ball yesterday and enjoyed them both. I preferred the black numbered ball as I felt it stayed in the air a little longer and therefore gave me a little more control both in long game and short game. 

Thanks

currently playing with the red numbered balls and found them  to have a comparable  distance compared to the DT solos that I normally  use. This may increase as my course dries out as it  is currently quite heavily rain sodden.

I have noticed little difference in spin control around the greens but after several bunker visits on my last round the exterior cover of one of the balls had "roughed" up considerably to the point it looks as though its a well used range ball.

I hope this helps and will respond once more when I've tried the second sleeve of balls

many thanks

Paul Brack

Thank you for sending  the 6 test golf balls (All black Nos.) Sorry for the late feedback,as it was due to the terrible weather we've had recently.

Found that off the driver the ball went was no further than NXT ball, but the trajectory seemed higher.same with the fairway woods

But the biggest difference I noticed was with my irons, I was hitting the ball a lot further and more accurately. Overall I was delighted with this ball and would buy it.

I will be 74 this year ,my average score in last years medals was 72.4 with a handicap of 17,and I play golf every day

Hi,

Thanks for the Test balls. It was really great to receive them.

I have been using the Black balls. They have really worked well for me, they are amazingly durable. I don't think I have ever played a ball that has their durability together with the feel and workability these have.

I have been using NXT tour S balls since they were released but I must say that I will be changing to these when you let me know what they are!!!!

Having said that I haven't tried the Red ones yet, so they might be even better!!!!

Thank you once again for sending these balls to me. :-)

Thanks for the 2 packs of "TEST" balls. These have performed extremely well even in these wet conditions. They fly straight, further and feel great off the face. Also a nice soft feel off the putter with a true roll. Also, do not cut up off the wedges. EXCEPTIONAL!  (Have lost 2, 1xwater hazard and 1xout of bounds, poor shots, need to take more care only x4 left).

Paul Mc.

Thanks for the test balls - it's been difficult to truly assess them due to the very wet ground conditions and course closures however I did  manage to use both balls on some of the drier holes.Even before trying on the course the "bounce" test showed the red and the black balls were definitely different ( sound and bounce height different). I preferred the black ball  which gave me more height and distance - nice soft feel and sound off the club face with more roll on landing (when it didn't plug !). I found the black was fast off the putter even when temperatures were cold and the greens wet and soft underneath. I would be happy to play with either ball but the black was the one I would buy.

regards Jayne

Apologies for the long delay in testing the balls - the weather has been against our course -  with very wet ground conditions and greens soft and wet. The red and the black are definitely different. I haven't tested them as much as I would have liked but  from limited testing I preferred the red ball - the softer feel, particularly with my irons felt good and I had more control going into the greens. I couldn't  comment  on spin differences as the ball plugged or did a small hop on the greens. There didn't seem to be any difference putting but in these conditions it was not surprising. I would buy the red balls if competitively priced !! 

Thanks for the opportunity to test the balls, I still have 2 of each left so roll on the drier weather and better course conditions.

regards Des