Mike Harris test the new Titleist Pro V1... in yellow! To see whether you should be playing a yellow ball.
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00:00Hello everyone, Mike Harris from Golf Monthly. You join me here at lovely West Hill Golf Club
00:10in Surrey on a very sunny afternoon and in this video I'm going to be asking should you be playing
00:17a yellow golf ball? The big thing for 2019, the big talking point is that Titleist have finally
00:24released a yellow Pro V1 and Pro V1X and we've got different models from say all the main manufacturers
00:31Strixen with their Z-Star, they do a yellow model. Callaway with the Chrome Soft, they do a yellow
00:38model as well. TaylorMade don't do their TP5 in the UK anyway in yellow but they do do Project A which
00:45is their sort of second tier urethane ball. So these days if you do want a yellow golf ball but you want
00:51to play a tour golf ball urethane covered, there are plenty of options out there. So let's get out
00:56on the golf course and see how the yellow balls perform both on their own and also in comparison
01:01to standard white golf balls.
01:07Okay, so we're going to do a little bit of a live on course test here. Got a yellow ball and a white ball. See if we can see much difference between the two when I hit drives approaches and also on the green as well.
01:08Going to go with, going to go traditional first, going to go with the white ball.
01:22Okay, pop that one up a little bit. Yeah, I got it through the blue sky fine but when it starts to go with the blue sky, I'll take that one out.
01:29So I'm going to take the top of the golf course test here. I've got a yellow ball and a white ball.
01:34See if we can see much difference between the two when I hit drives approaches and also on the green as well.
01:38Okay, pop that one up a little bit. Yeah, I got it through the blue sky fine but when it started to drop down, I felt I lost it a little bit there going back down through the tree line.
01:57So next up the yellow ball.
02:11Wow, I have to say that was a much better drive than the first one with the white ball but I really found it very, very easy to track the flight of the yellow ball there.
02:21At no point when it started dipping from its peak trajectory did I lose it like I did with the white one.
02:26So that was quite interesting to see that.
02:30Let's see what it's like down on the fairway playing an approach shot.
02:33Okay, so I just missed the fairway with the white ball.
02:36I've got 180 yards. Be interesting to see this through very dappled.
02:40You can see through very dappled light there, a lot of shadows.
02:43See how I pick up the flight of this.
02:56Yeah, pretty good actually.
03:00Certainly saw it come down very well so no issues there with the white ball as I did have when the flight dropped with the drive.
03:09So let's see how we go with the yellow ball.
03:11Okay, so 15, 20 yards further on with the yellow ball.
03:15Stood over it in the shadow.
03:17I actually really like looking at the yellow ball at a dress.
03:20I don't know, it feels, I don't know, possibly look a little bit bigger, a little bit more confidence in sparring.
03:26Anyway, let's see how this one goes.
03:33Oh, that's a good shot.
03:40Yeah, very pleased with the outcome about pin high.
03:43But again, really found it easy to track the flight of the ball there.
03:47So at the moment, yellow ball is definitely winning it for me.
03:51So here we are up at the green.
03:53White ball's just made the front edge.
03:55Left myself, I don't know, 40 foot putt up the hill.
04:00One of my impressions behind the ball.
04:01Well, I've been looking at normally a white ball behind a putter head for a long time.
04:07It looks as good as it ever did really.
04:10Got a new black putter so it's quite nice, that contrast, black and white.
04:13I've not, I've certainly not given that enough.
04:21But yeah, you know, white ball behind the putter looks very familiar.
04:27Anyway, let's now see in a much better approach shot with my yellow ball.
04:31Let's see how that is.
04:32So probably a 20 footer up the, up the hill here.
04:45Yeah, I really do like it behind the, behind the ball.
04:48Really nice.
04:49And a little tap in for par there.
04:50We asked the Golf Monthly social media audience, so on Twitter, on Instagram, would you like
04:52that?
04:53Yeah.
04:54Yeah.
04:55Yeah.
04:56Yeah.
04:57Yeah.
04:58Yeah.
04:59Yeah.
05:00Yeah.
05:01Yeah.
05:02Yeah.
05:03Yeah.
05:04Yeah.
05:05Yeah.
05:06Yeah.
05:07Yeah.
05:08Yeah.
05:09Yeah.
05:10Yeah.
05:11Yeah.
05:12Yeah.
05:13Yeah.
05:14Yeah.
05:15Yeah.
05:16Yeah.
05:17And so on Twitter, on Instagram, would you consider playing a yellow ball?
05:21And it was very interesting across Instagram and Twitter.
05:24It was almost exactly 60% saying yes.
05:27And 40% saying no on Twitter, we had over 3000 respondents in a 24 hour period to the
05:34poll.
05:35Very interesting to read some of the comments there about why you would or wouldn't play
05:40a yellow golf ball.
05:41I think perhaps there's been a bit of a stigma that yellow golf balls are for higher handicappers
05:45who are worried about losing golf balls or maybe for golfers who are older whose eyesight
05:50isn't as good.
05:51So we've come down to the fourth tee here at West Hill.
05:54A lovely par three.
05:56Pretty tricky.
05:57And it certainly is right into the sun.
05:59As you can sort of see when I turn this way, I've got the sun really in my face.
06:03So I'm going to see if there's any difference between picking up the flight of the white ball
06:06or yellow ball.
06:07Interestingly, we were just chatting to a couple of golfers out here who were asking what
06:11we were doing, said we were doing a little yellow ball versus white ball test.
06:14And I asked one of the guys, would you ever play a yellow ball?
06:17He was a decent golfer.
06:19Watched him hit a couple of shots.
06:21I would say, you know, single figure golfer.
06:22And he said, definitely not.
06:24So, and sort of, I guess the information was that, you know, yellow balls were not for
06:30better golfers, but he did acknowledge that he'd seen Bubba using it at the waist management,
06:34the yellow Pro V1.
06:36So, I don't know, might be better, perceptions might change after a while if you see guys
06:41on tour using it.
06:43Yeah, I actually found that was a white ball.
07:04I found that pretty, pretty easy to see.
07:07Didn't hit it, it wasn't directly into the sun.
07:12Right hand side of the green, I would think when we get up there.
07:28Yeah, I definitely, I definitely think the yellow ball is easier to see.
07:32I think when it goes into the sun, it almost turns black.
07:35So again, it makes it a little bit easier to pick up the flight off, but to pretty, I'd
07:40be very happy with those shots with a card in my hand.
07:43So that was a really interesting experiment playing a yellow golf ball against a white ball,
07:48seeing how it looked down at a dress and also seeing the flight of it.
07:52What do you think?
07:53Let us know, put a comment below.
07:55Let us know, have you played a yellow golf ball before?
07:58Would you play a yellow golf ball now?
08:00Any particular, will you be trying out Titleist's new yellow Pro V1 this year?
08:05I'll pick a comment at random and I'll send you a dozen yellow golf balls just so you can
08:10do a bit of product validation yourself.
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08:16Let us know what other sort of gear videos you'd like us to have a look at.
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08:24So you see whenever we release one of our new gear videos.
08:28But what about the verdict?
08:30Well, as I said earlier at the start of the video, my eyesight is not as good as it was when
08:35I was maybe in my sort of twenties, even with glasses on.
08:37And I have to say, I definitely find yellow golf ball easier to pick out in the flight
08:44of the ball.
08:45Particularly, I found today's obviously a lovely sunny day.
08:48But in flat light, I definitely find a yellow ball easier to pick out there when it's sort
08:54of dropping out of the sky at the top of its flight.
08:57I quite like it addressed, you know, a lot of the modern clubs.
09:00I've got a black headed driver and also a black headed putter.
09:03I like that contrast between the yellow and the black at a dress.
09:07Don't find it off putting at all.
09:09I know some people are not keen on the look.
09:11And there are lots of different finishes of the different yellow golf balls.
09:16Some are sort of more of that sort of chalky matte finish.
09:19Some are really sort of bright, almost sort of pearlescent.
09:22But I definitely think that if you are looking for something a little bit different to help
09:28pick up the flight of the golf ball, that a yellow golf ball is certainly worth trying.
09:33So Bubba Watson's been trying them out on tour.
09:35I know that Bubba's quite a quirky guy, tries different things.
09:38But I'm certainly, I think, going to be playing a few rounds with the yellow Titleist Pro V1X.
09:44Pro V1X is a ball that I normally use.
09:46So I'm looking forward to putting that in play this season and seeing how I go with it.
09:50But for now, from West Hill, it's goodbye.