LA Golf Ball – An Early Look

Final month, LA Golf started transport “prototype” samples of its upcoming golf ball. We put “prototype” in citation marks as a result of golf manufacturers of all sizes have, at one time or one other, used the outline to drum up curiosity in a finalized however but to launched product.

Given the lead time to provide one thing like a golf ball and the trade’s desire for launching new merchandise in early January, my hunch is that what you see is what you’re going to get.

So far, LA Golf has stored particulars of its ball beneath wraps. We don’t understand how the corporate will place the ball, what efficiency claims will likely be made or how a lot it’s going to promote for.

LA Golf’s different merchandise, specifically shafts and putters, supply daring efficiency claims with premium costs so it could be a deviation from the enterprise mannequin if the ball didn’t command a premium worth.

That’s speculative, in fact. These particulars will emerge when the ball formally launches.

That stated, we have been capable of get our fingers on a half a dozen LA Golf balls. Whereas the pattern dimension isn’t sufficient to generate a full MyGolfSpy Ball Lab report, we thought we’d share a little bit of what our preliminary checks reveal.

Urethane Cowl – Made in Taiwan

The LA Golf ball “prototypes” are made in Taiwan. The duvet is injection-molded urethane which instantly tells us they’re not coming from Foremost. The data we’ve collected in Ball Lab suggests Foremost is the very best of the impartial, or at the very least semi-independent, factories in Asia.

With provide chain points and a rise in manufacturing of TaylorMade balls, Foremost’s  direct-to-consumer (DTC) choices have dipped a bit which has led some Foremost clients like Vice and OnCore to supply a few of their ball fashions elsewhere.

So based mostly on what we all know thus far, the LA Golf balls are possible made at both GTS or Launch Applied sciences. GTS specifically has been popping up usually of late as a supply of DTC balls. LT, for its half, does a wholesome DTC enterprise whereas additionally producing balls for Callaway and different OEMs.

In each instances, high quality and consistency have been hit or miss. However, once more, the manufacturing facility just isn’t confirmed.

LA Golf ball – Development

The LA Golf ball has four-piece development. It’s a real dual-core design (suppose Pro V1x or Srixon Z-Star XV). As we’ve mentioned, centering a core in a dual-core development isn’t simple and when it goes severely mistaken, it’s severely problematic. It’s a great little bit of the rationale why manufacturers like Callaway and Maxfli have transitioned from dual-core to dual-mantle designs of their four-piece fashions.

With the static stuff out of the way in which, right here’s what we are able to decipher from measurements taken inside Ball Lab.

LA Golf ball – Compression

On our gauge, the LA Golf ball has a mean compression of 79. That’s oddly low for a four-piece development the place compression is usually a part of the system that creates the efficiency benefit. In that respect, it’s much like the primary model of OnCore’s Vero X1.

Broadly talking, it falls within the mid compression vary for our database as a complete. For a urethane development, it leans to the comfortable aspect.

With respect to compression, comparable balls embrace the Bridgestone RX, unique OnCore ELIXR, Titleist AVX and Sugar G1. It’s appreciably softer than a Pro V1 and under no circumstances similar to one thing like a Pro V1x or Chrome Soft X.

My learn on that is that, absent distinctive becoming wants pushed primarily by spin (and low driver spin is touted on the field), the LA Golf ball doesn’t present as a ball that can maintain as much as increased swing speeds.

It’s worlds away from Tour choices from the big OEMs and DTC choices just like the Maxfli Tour, Snell MTB or Vice Pro. That’s lots odd, given LA Golf’s place as a Tour-driven model.

LA Golf ball – Diameter

Our diameter measurements discovered a mean diameter of 1.6807 inches. That places the LA Golf balls we examined solidly within the common vary. They’re not pushing the restrict to the extent that TaylorMade and Callaway generally do but it surely’s definitely not outsized, both.

LA Golf ball – Weight

The common weight of the LA Golf balls we measured is 1.599 ounces. That in all probability doesn’t imply a lot to you so, for context, in additional than three years of Ball Lab, we’ve solely measured a single mannequin (Bridgestone e6) that was lighter.

Ought to the load maintain as much as a full pattern measurement, the LA Golf ball can be solely certainly one of 5 balls to fall inside what we outline as our “ultralight” vary. For context, essentially the most aggressive manufacturers are usually above 1.615 ounces on common and, whereas we’re coping with small numbers right here, something under 1.605 makes us look twice.

A heavier ball is an extended ball and when ball weight is nicely under the typical, some potential for distance is left on the desk.

Ultimate ideas (for now)

On one hand, there are not any main crimson flags with what we’ve seen thus far of the LA Golf ball. In restricted testing, compression, weight and diameter have been constant sufficient to not be of any concern.

With the balls we minimize, a core could have been barely off-center however not approaching the diploma at which we’d flag it as “dangerous.”

These are the positives.

That stated, the compression is bizarre for the development and that’s going to make it significantly attention-grabbing to see how LA Golf positions its ball and what it says it’s competing towards. Whereas four-piece development could recommend in any other case, the measurements we’ve taken inform us it’s not spec’d for Tour speeds. Each indication is that “comfortable really feel” will likely be a part of the play.

Given the compression (and the aspect stamp), maybe it’s higher suited to Brandon Walsh.

Weight can also be a priority. That’s very true provided that, as compression decreases, diameter and weight are sometimes levers used to place distance into the ball. That’s additionally not the case right here.

Once more, all of that is preliminary and, whereas it’s unlikely, it’s at the very least doable that the ball LA Golf brings to market will likely be a bit totally different than this prototype model.

We are going to publish a full Ball Lab report after the LA Golf ball launches.

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