PGA to Ban Anchored putting Methods

It just came out that the USGA and R&A have proposed to ban the use of anchored putting from 2016. This means the putter can no longer be anchored to any part of the body, be it belly, midriff or chin. I think it also bans the player from anchoring his forearms/ hands against the body too.

The USGA doesn't outlaw belly or broomhandle putters, but it has to be used in a free swinging manner.The claim is that it takes into consideration people who have back problems and need to use a long putter. The long putter is not favoured in Singapore. Haven't seen anybody use a long putter here, a rarity in the shops. The main problem is trying it to fit in a golf bag and trying to fly with it, especially with the Broomhandle putter.

BBC Sport article

The big guns of golf Tiger Woods and Rory McIlory are in support of this ban.

I don't use a long putter, so I am in the doesn't affect me camp. Don't play the medals or competition or for side bets. So I play against myself and the course only. But not to remain a hermit, I am in support of the ban. Because we swing the rest of the clubs and we should swing the putter too.

There is no strong evidence that a person with a belly putter as a true advantage. Looking at the stats from the PGA Tour and all, the only thing that gets the USGA / R&A worried is the recent Major wins by long belly putters.(Keegan Bradley, Webb Simpson and Ernie Els) Also another significant long putter is the 14 year amateur from China who is going to the Masters. This ruling is also going to screw players who only know how to putt with  long putters and will have to relearn putting. The golf industry is still pissed about the groove change which caused them a lot of money. This rule change raises a lot of grievances as opposed to the groove change, as it affects the style of play.

I agree with the ban because I think it's not a swing and it does give an advantage. But I really think its a little too late, belly putters have been around for a long time with Tour wins with it. Maybe because the long putter is being more accepted as a legit way of putting rather then previously when a player used it only when he was desperate and in a slump and needed a quick fix, that makes the rulemakers react.

Instruction - returning the club square at impact

Just found out why I was hooking and cutting the ball. My club head wasn't coming down square and was slightly open on the downswing. Thus had to do a quick flip to compensate, which results in a hook or opening the shoulder resulting in a cut.
How to know if the clubface is square? The grooves of the club should be pointing straight down as you approach from the three o clock position. Don't believe? Try it. You will notice if you held the lag and not break the wrist early. The club will return square.
pics not very good, but try to imagine the second photo shows how your club head should be at 3 o clock, and if you turn the hips and not release the club too early, it will get you to the first pix.

Golf - instruction - Ball Position

This is a great video to watch to understand about the ball position. Simplifies and explain how to place the ball in your stance. Clarify the two schools of thought. The thing about golf is that after a while you tend to forget your fundamentals. The setup in golf is the most important part of the swing, because with a bad setup you have to compensate to bring the golf club back in plane to the impact point.This causes errors in direction and also results in the inability to lag the club.So this is a fundamental aspect of the game.

One more thing to note when watching the video. That is you should note the position of the hand, just left of the zipper, stays the same throughout the various width of stance. And this controls the amount of 'forward press' or 'openness'.

Don't bother to read the comments on Youtube about the video. Haters gonna hate.

The video is by Kip Puterbaugh, Head of the Aviara Golf Academy.

Did up the blog a bit

Did up the blog a bit. Did a ridiculous favicon and nicen up the blog.

Enjoy!

Something Technical about Shafts today

There is more to the Golf Shaft then the Stiffness Rating, Weight and Torque. So I really need to go into this further. Why the sudden confusion? This is because of the many opinions said about things on the net. But usually one takes information found on the net and give it a 50% discount. But what really set this off was when I took my wife's driver and hit it on the range. And it gave surprising results. Hit it about 200-210 metres pure carry(range ball), but the ball was sky high with loads of backspin as her driver was 12 degree loft. And with a higher loft, lighter weight and Ladies flex, one gets more back spin. However, the shaft felt very stable and not much twisting. But looking at the shafts specs, I am supposed to be blowing it right. The weight of the shaft was 39g, the torque was 6.6 degrees. As opposed to the 75g and 2.6 degrees of torque which I use.

Oh, my wife's driver is the Ping Faith Driver 12 degrees with the Tour AD TFC 550.

  

So there are other things to consider:

1. EI - This is a product of the elasticity and moment of inertia of the shaft. Was listed as 13.497 average for the TFC 550. Basically it tells flex profile of the shaft. There usually is a curve to identify the flex at different points of the curve. The reason for being so technical is that one shaft's S or R flex is different from another shafts S or R flex. And if you had the EI curve and the flexural profile graph, you would have a better idea which shaft fits you.

Look at the oft compared KBS, Project X and Dynamic Gold shafts.(from GolfWrx.com/ Sandtrap.com - great forums)

2 GJ profile- Basically its like the EI profile but measures torque instead. For the TFC 550 it was 5.76 average

3 Stiffness Ratio 57% was listed on the shaft

4. Flex 5.92"

Not sure what 3 and 4 are about. Anybody care to fill me in?

So many things to consider. Fitting in Singapore isn't exactly wonderful either. So have to go do alot more research. Fitting and demo days are more like putting in various shafts which the fitting cart has till they find  the best fit in their cart. But then the options are limited. Sigh..... 

Product Endorsement Time! - GLOVES

After using many many gloves, there is only one glove to get in this Singapore weather.

The Rain Grip Glove by FootJoy.

It's made with this material SuedeMark which really wicks the moisture and sweat from you. And the grip is not affected when its moist with sweat. I sweat a ton, so these are great. The dorsal surface is made up of a tight mesh material called QwikDry Knit and it also helps to get rid of the water.

The palmar surface of the glove really lasts. Normally I run through the leather gloves quickly because of the how the sweat affects the leather and the wear down of the leather at the grip points. Further it grips as good as leather. Never liked the synthetic gloves because they start to slip when it gets moist.

Been using my current pair for a few months, but I usually rotate around a few pairs of gloves. And as the glove gets older I use it mainly for pitching and half swings, as the grip does start to get affected a bit with repeated use. Another sign of wear is the elastic bits of the QwikDry Knit starts to break and you can see some whitish/plasticky strings. But if it were any other pair of glove, it would be in the bin by now.

Tried the Fit 39ex glove too, the grip isn't very good. So I don't recommend.

The other glove which I would recommend is the FootJoy SciFlex. Great grip and comfort. But not durable in humid / Sunny Singapore. Good for the Course, but on the Range I sweat too much.

Another point to note. The glove only comes in Black, with a few Stitchings and logo to give it colour. Thinks the stitching comes in white,red, yellow, black, blue among other colours. But thankfully, unlike black leather gloves, the black pigment/dye doesn't come off onto your white shirt in the wet.

Currently the Price is SGD19+, with 20-25% discount, you can get it from $15-$15.80.

Overall Rating.
Comfort 5/5
Durability 5/5
Performance with Sweaty Persons 5/5
Looks 5/5
Value for Money 5/5

Christmas round the corner.

What to get for yourself? Wife? or Golfing buddy?

Can't reveal the wife bit in case she's reading this. LOL.

Anyone got any thoughts?

Polo Shirts and golf balls are always a good good bet. Still more then a month away.(Famous last words)

How to properly repair pitch marks

This can be done using the pitch mark repair tool or a tee. Basically a pitch mark is a displacement of the turf. So you have to push the turf back into place. So you work from the back / distal end of the mark i.e. the end with the higher mound of turf and ease the turf back. So when you put the tines of the tool into the ground, you push from the top towards the centre of the mark. Don't push down on the top of the tool to leverage the tines up because it just pushes the soil up and tears the roots resulting into delayed healing.

So now you know. Hopefully you repair your pitch marks. I do.

Importance of quick roll of the putter face

When you putt the ball needs to bounce a bit to overcome the blades of grass then lands and skids before starting to roll. That's why putters are lofted. The normal stock loft is 3 to 4 degrees. During the bounce and the skidding phase, it leads to alot of inconsistencies in speed and with the line.

To prevent the or control the bounce, a few things you need to watch for or do.
1. Deloft the club by a forward press of the arms, as taught by Dave Stockton.
2. Avoid hinging or using to much wrists when you putt, as this results in a ascending blow. Longer Bounce of the club face.
3. Don't hit too much on the upswing of the stroke. And not too much of an ascending blow. Keep the putterhead low past impact.

And when you get the ball rolling quickly you get truer putts. Good Luck!

Finally tested out the putter

Read a couple of reviews of people missing it long with this putter. I noticed this too. The reason for this is because the club is great and the ball starts rolling as soon as it leaves the putter face. This is the most important feature of a putter. In fact I think the most important feature in a putter is the ability to start the ball rolling to get truer putts and more consistent putts. This feature is also one that cannot be discovered from the specifications and is not obvious when you practice/ try the putter on the astro/artifical grass in the shops or at home.
Further,due to the quick rolling the ball tends to go further (when the ball is skidding the friction is higher). So we can putt softer to achieve the same distance, and with a soft putt, the chance of error is less.
This reason for this to the Tungsten Flange which lowers and Deepens the CG of the putter and allows for better,quicker and truer roll. Its called the A.R.T. (Advanced Roll Technique) and it really does seem to work.

So in all this putter is really good. Works well with the Penta balls too. Doesn't feel as soft as the Suzuka Rossa but is still soft and doesn't give a clunk. One concern though is there is a urethane-dampening layer between the putter head and the tungsten flange, its supposed to give a softer feel. But I just hope the urethane material lasts....

More about the quick roll the next post.

Putters

I find it very hard to change my putter because I think I can adapt to most putters. I don't really find much difference with each new model. Even with new technology and all, the Putter hasn't changed much, even the old Pings Putter's and Scotty's are still excellent putters.

So if I get a new putter, it must really value add to my game. And to this we have to add in the factor of benefit to dollar cost ratio. $129 for the Odyssey Black Series Tour Design 4 is a very good price.(not preowned).

In my 13 years of Golf, I have only used 2 Putters before this new one.

1. Never Compromise ZI Alpha
2. TaylorMade Rossa Suzuka 08.

Looked at many others especially Scotty Camerons. But the Scotty's Benefit to Dollar cost ratio was too low. So the reason I changed the Putter was because the Odyssey Black was a good putter and at good price.

It seems like I am rambling to justify or enhance my purchase. But my point is watch how much you spend  on the putter, finding one the suits you is much more important. There are so many factors to consider when you choose the putter and so many factors to confuse you too.

But the counter argument to this is
1. The Putter is the most used and most important club in the bag, used on every hole, so you should spend top dollar on your putter.
2. Spend top dollar cause you want the best putter cause you won't change it often if not at all.
Very valid points which I don't disagree with, but I am with the other school of thought. (although my wife encourages me to spend more given the amount of golf I play.)

Hah! I was right.

Went to Golf Bargains instead of Affordable Art Fair, didn't waste my time.

Bought the Odyssey Black Series Tour Design 4 (SGD 129) and the Cleveland Mashie+ Fairway 3W 15.5 degree loft (SGD 159).

Few things about the putter

1. Milled Face- better feel, distance control and smoother roll. My previous putter the TM Rossa Suzuka 2008 is a grooved putter which gives great roll and distance control too. But the grooves and the inserts are aging and showing signs of age and wear. Scotty Cameron Putters are milled. Another Putter brand which has a milled face is the TP Mills. Both are really great putters. Although I feel that Mills early putters are better. The current series not so wonderful. Groove vs Milled that's a whole post.

2. PVD -Just like the Pro-Hunter Rolexes, the Putter is PVDed. (Physical Vapor Deposition). Cool and anti glare. But have to watch the scratches.

3. The putter is a Scalloped out, rounded heel-toe Flanged Blade with a crank neck hosel and full shaft offset. Type of putter is up to you. But I am used to mid-mallet putters, although the TM Rossa Suzuka is listed as classic mallet, but with the size of the other mallets I consider this a mid mallet. But this scalloped out, round flanged Blade putter looks in between. Surprisingly the putter is heavier then the Rossa Suzuka and feels very stable.

4. Got the 34" Putter. Another interesting point is that at address the hands are more forward then my previous putter. The forward press of the hands is in a way good as it makes me hold the forward press and tends to deloft the putter and encourages forward roll. Something that Michael Breed and Faldo talked about.

5. One thing about Odyssey Putter Grips they don't last and get sticky quite quickly. So need to regrip sooner.

Things about the Putter. Whats there to say...
1. Cleveland Rocks. Cleveland is one of the more under-rated brands in Singapore. I still really dig Cleveland Clubs. Really good value for money too. Was really happy when Keegan Bradley won. Though I use more Taylor Made Clubs because they are the best at the moment, But for the Hybrid and the Fairway I use the Cleveland, really good price. But I think in an earlier post I mentioned that one should spend the money to get the best performing equipment suited for you (not waste money on Honma clubs or gold plated clubs). At this stage, I haven't found a fairway or hybrid that outperforms the Cleveland Mashie series(been to many Demo days at the club), so will stick to value for money clubs like Cleveland and Odyssey. Haven't been really convinced to spend the money on a Scotty Cameron yet. But it's also the marketing strategy in Singapore. TMAG (Taylor Made asia) and Acushnet Singapore (esp Acushnet) won't slash the prices or do blow out sales on their old clubs. Save the TP irons, TPMC SGD599 and TPMB 599, but the R11's price is still holding up. Whereas, Cleveland and Odyssey prices drop by quite a bit such that one would bite.

2. The Miyazaki Shaft is great. The shaft is the Miyazaki C Kua 59 Shaft which is made in Japan. The torque of the shaft I think is lower which suits me well. Previously owned the Ultralite Launcher FL Fairway, but the shaft was too whippy (although Stiff flex), but the torque was too high. The Driver shaft had a torque of 6.4 ( now I play a shaft of torque 2.6, less dispersion). The C Kua 59  has a torque of 3.6. more stable.

3. The Glider Rail is also a feature that helps to cut through the rough.

Well, all in all, a good day shopping. No impulse buy today, because have been looking at the Black putter since it first came out. Was previously 500+ and own the Mashie Hybrid already which works really well for me.

PSA (public service announcement)

Golf Bargains at Suntec City having sale. If you're itchy and you're free you can always pop over to see.

Not bothering to go for the Affordable Art Fair this year, waste of time, go Golf Shopping better. Or can always pop over to Tanglin Shopping Centre and check out Sun Craft or Li Fine Arts Gallery.

Matteo Manassero - Won the Barclays last week - thanks to the a change in the driver shaft

A bit slow on the results. But today's post isn't to talk about his win, but what he did to allow him to win.

http://www.titleist.com.sg/teamtitleist/sea/b/blog/archive/2012/11/14/an-inside-look-at-matteo-manassero-s-winning-titleist-913d2-driver-fitting.aspx

"The team went right to work starting with a quick look at Matteo’s original 9.5º gamer and then a brief chat to talk about the flight characteristics that he was looking to achieve.

The initial assessment was that Matteo’s gamer was very accurate and he was hitting a lot of fairways but the spin was a little high. While he was hitting his driver solid and seeing good performance, the team agreed that he wasn’t getting the max out of the current configuration.

From there, it was time to send some Pro V1x golf balls flying on the range.

“Matteo asked me to bring over something I thought would help produce a stronger, lower spinning flight. I went straight in with 913D2 8.5º with a Graphite Design DI6 X with the SureFit Tour hosel setting in B•1,” explained Dimmock.

A few swings later, it was clear that this combination was looking like a winner. Bringing down the loft helped drop the spin off the driver and the shaft change helped to maintain a good strong launch."

He basically switch to the Graphite Design Tour AD DI-6 which is low spin and high launch. But to compensate for the high launch, the driver loft was reduced to 8.5 degrees(which also reduced spin). But something mentioned later was that it was tip trimmed 1.5" which is quite alot but still within specs for the Tour AD shafts(For Graphite design, one must always leave a minimum of 0.5" of the parallel tip section of the shaft above the hosel.). For UST Mamiya shafts they don't recommend trimming, because trimming changes the specs completely so UST shafts comes in many many formats.

The specs for the shaft was initially, 3.3 torque and 66.5g, but after trimming, no idea what the specs are, unless you test it. So if you don't have access to the Tour Van, I don't recommend trimming. Most likely the tip trimming lowered the kick point, bringing the trajectory down, made the shaft tip stiffer and the torque less, making it feel more one piece and more stable. The other option is playng the DI-8 for similar specs, but then it would be too heavy 80+ grams, too much for the mere mortal.

The other shafts Matteo played before this would be UST AVIXCore,Adila Gamer and Project X.

So the change in Shaft gave him an extra 30 yards. 300 yards average, up from 270 yards. This would be in Asia where the air is more humid and the ground softer. So my point for the post is play the proper shaft, because the Driver head is already optimised, maximum size 460cc and maximum COR 0.830. 

Will talk about how to select shafts and Fitters later. (Sadly no really good fitters and limited options even with the fitters here in SG).

Offset in the Club.

Offset in the club means the leading edge/club face is set behind from the hosel/shaft of the club.

It does two things.

1. Because the clubface is set behind the hosel, it gives the player a fraction more time to square the club at impact. Thus it helps to combat the fade and slice should the player not square the club at impact.

2. The CG of the club is set further back when the club is offset. Due to this, the trajectory of the ball is higher for the offset club, compared to a non-offset club with the same loft.

So it seems that its meant more for the Game Improvement club.

But if you are a better player you'll be able to use the offset and adapt to it. 

North East Monsoon Season

Now is the start of the NE monsoon season, rain most days. Golf and tennis affected. Only Indoor courts for tennis and Days on the driving range aren't really affected by the weather.

But it's the start of the good weather in Hua Hin and Phuket! Time to travel for golf.

More on this when I go.

Browsing the golf shop.

As an avid golfer, the next best thing to playing and practicing is getting golf equipment.

Saw the Rocketballz Tour TP Driver in X-stiff flex in the shop today. SGD559. Not often you come across something in X flex. It comes with the Matrix Ozik HD6 Shaft. TMAG website in USA sells for USD349 about SGD428. But if you find that elusive perfect club, money should be the least of your concern.

What I am more concern about is the specifications of the shaft. Is it an OEM HD6 for TaylorMade or an actual HD6? (like the blur 65 for the R11 TP is different from the actual one you get from Fujikura.)

The TaylorMade website gives that shaft as 69g,Torque of 3.2, Low/Mid Launch and Firm tip. As for the Matrix Website I couldn't find anything useful. The Titleist website lists it at 68g for the 913. The other thing that is not stated is the amount of backspin the shaft gives. For me I prefer a low launch and low spin driver.

Didn't try it. But after thinking long and hard. I'll give it a miss. Suspect the HD6 gets too much backspin. HD6 M3 is the low spinner. And it might be even cheaper to buy the RBZ non TP and reshaft. Given the fact the UST Mamiya shafts are very good and very affordable. A V2 would set you back about $170-180 , AXIV Tour Green $210-220 and throw in $45 for the adaptor. Got to try my AXIV shaft on the RBZ one day.

Another advice is to wait for next year's TM new R series driver, heard its gonna be good.

Something Technical Today -COR

COR - Coefficient of Restitution

To put it simply its the amount of energy transfer between the club and the ball. I can range from 0 (nothing transfered)  to 1 (all the energy). For golf clubs, the legal limit for the COR is 0.830.

This is just good to know, because most of the drivers/ clubs have been maximised for COR and is rarely stated in the driver specs. If its above 0.830, it would be listed as non conforming.

Day on the range.

Took a break from the range for a week because of wrist pain due to tennis. Too much spinning it to win it. LOL. Took out my TM Burner 2.0 Iron (global specs), but reshafted with the Project X 6.0 soft stepped, standard length unlike the stock shafts. Hit it really far. A break from sports definitely allows your muscles to rest. But the Project X 6.0 which is stiffer and the Burner 2.0 also helps. The Burners plays with a stronger loft, but I suspect the COR of the Burner iron needs to be checked.

The shaft felt really good. Very one piece. Interesting this non-stepped shaft. Wouldn't say it was better then the Dynamic Gold S300, which I play on my Taylor Made TP MC. Both shafts are great. Another shaft to try would be the KBS Tour/C-taper. But currently the Project X/Burner 2.0 combo is wicked. The acid test would be on the course. (on yes I have only just reshafted the Burner)

Showed it too my Golf Pro, who tried it out. He hit it close to 200m on a down sloping range with the hard range balls! Dunno whether to be depressed because you realise how much you have to improve with your golf or to be happy because my clubs have that potential to be realised.

Happy Weekend!

Golf Tees

Many many options for this little thing.

For the driver I use Zero Friction 3-Prong Tees. I like to tee it up high, so I use the 3 1/4" tees. The length of tee is really up to you. But with the big head 460 CC drivers, it's better to tee it up high. Why I selected this tee is the 3 prone reduces resistance between ball and driver and between ball and tee = more distance. Less resistance between tee and driver also results in less chance of getting dings on the driver. (but this seems inevitable if you play a lot.)

The Zero Friction is made of biodegradable/ bio-composite material, so its softer then usual plastic tees and lasts longer then the wood tees. But without concern for costs, wood tees are the great, break when resistance it too high, good for driver distances and the driver face.

However, with the price of tees going up, its cost-effective to get a tee that can be reused for a bit. But I really need to tee it up high, so I don't use the free tees supplied by the club. (they are the standard length wood tees).

Teeing up for the wood or hybrid, I usually use the broken remnants of the 3-Prong Tees. When Teeing up for the iron, the type of tee doesn't really matter to me and I usually scavenge of the tee box for broken tee tips. You'll be able to find decent tips of at least 1 to 1 1/2" in length.

To put it shortly----->>>> No need to buy Short tees. LOL.

Golf Stroke Counters

This is one item of equipment that I found totally unnecessary. In fact I don't bother to fill up my score till the end of the 9 holes because I can remember every stroke I played for that nine and which clubs I used. This only applies when I play the home courses. For away courses, I need to record my score and I usually do it myself. Sometimes the caddy does it, but they are always a bit too generous.

Anyway back to golf stroke counters, I have picked up a lot in my time. But the two nicest ones are: a Pink Mickey Mouse one with a nice chain, returned it to the Japanese lady in the flight in front. She was really grateful. The other one was a blue one with teeth on the side for you to flip the numbers and  a centre button resets it back to zero with nice quick click. It counted to 12 strokes. LOL.

Anyway don't think I will be getting one soon.

Driver Shafts- IMPORTANT

Just put in the order for a UST shaft. Almost ordered the wrong shaft. Remember if you plan to shaft onto an adaptor , ie Taylormade adaptor, you need to order the one with the 0.335 inch tip OD for the TP adaptor. If you plan to shaft into a fixed driver/ non-adjustable one or the standard TM non-TP adaptor then you need a shaft with a tip that is 0.350 inch in diameter.

Now you know! Ha!

http://www.ustmamiya.com/golf-shafts/woods/proforce-v2

The Driver - the most important club in the bag?

The Driver is the most important club for me in the bag at the moment. It's the club that keeps my score down and is also responsible for bringing my score up. If I can hit the ball off the driver onto the fairway, ie get my driving accuracy up it will definitely improve my game. My short game and approach in with the mid and short irons are up to standard.

So don't neglect the driver. In recent times, you read magazines and the emphasize a lot on the short game, which is not wrong. But the short game is easier to master then the driver. The driver is a longer club and per practice session you can only hit so many balls with the driver. Short game can be practiced hours on end without fatigue.

If you go onto the range and people watch, you will realise that golfer's with a lousy swing can hit anything up to 7 iron well, but when they reach the longer clubs they struggle with distance and when they hit the driver their inadequacies of the swing shows as they don't hit any much further then their irons.

So the driver is the most important club in the bag at the moment. (3rd November, LOL)

Golf after work

Its great to get to the range after a hard day's work. But I must remember to tell myself it's never a good idea. After work when you are tired and mentally fatigued, your swing won't be at it's peak. So it's a better  idea to practice in the morning when you are nice and fresh.

If you don't have such a taxing job then go ahead and practice after work. This I do when i work for a couple of hours. Sleep deprivation affects golf.

For me its the mind not focusing well, the lateral shift/bump and the body rotation go wonky and your body tries to compensate for the fatigue by releasing the lag too early.

The golf swing is rather unforgiving.

Golf Balls

The best balls around are Titleist PRO-V1 and PRO-V1x according to the general consensus.

But to me, the best ball is the TaylorMade PENTA TP or currently the TP5. It works very well for me and it is reflected in the score returned and definitely cheaper too. But I still stress that the industry yard stick is still the Pro-v1/v1x.

There are a lot of pretenders claiming themselves to be equal to PRO-V1 and PRO-V1x, don't believe them!

1st rule for buying golf balls ---- More expensive then pro-v1/1x? Then forget it.

There are alot of ways to select a golf ball for oneself.

1.  Some people believe that performance of the ball in the short game is the most important and that the difference in performance in the long game between various balls are negligible.

2. Some people want distance through all the clubs.(distance balls)

3. Some people want less spin.(low spin balls)

and so on and so forth.

There are also design considerations to consider, number of dimples, Dimple in Dimple, number of layers of the golf ball, the feel of the golf ball (compression of the golf ball now not relevant) and so on and so forth.

The 2nd rule is get the best ball and don't fall for the gimmicks and claims. It just like what the Titleist website says; they will always recommend v1/v1x. Any other recommendation would be more of a price concern than play related. So get the Prov1/v1x or the Penta TP5 and you won't regret it. They are low spin of the driver, high spin of the shorter clubs, workable and soft with putting. They are playable through all swing speeds. Even passed my Mom some pro-v1 and she loves them, till she realised the price then she wasn't too keen to play with them.

http://www.titleist.com/golf-ball-fitting/  This page is a good read.