Thanks for watching! Q.) What golf ball do you use and why?

Ah bread and butter Shiels (testing stuff). Things you love to see!

Hi Rick, I think it would be interesting if you left 5 balls in a bucket of water, 5 balls buried underground, and 5 balls just left outside in the elements. All for a few months and then compare them all to brand new Pro V1s.

Can you do a video showing scuffed/damaged golf balls to see how much worse they perform versus fresh out the box balls? You always say you'd stop using a ball if it has too much scuffing, but I'd like to see if there's anything to that beyond psychology

Absolutely loving this video for moments like 5:01 where he just gets *so* amped up. Dig it, dude! Appreciate all the info/tips/content you provide us.

Hey Rick thanks for doing this test it has confirmed what I have thought for many years. Nice to see you back testing some equipment… How about a few more reviews and comparisons for an honest review on the new Titleist TSR line versus done if the big boys on the market in 2022? Always enjoy your golf club reviews!

It would be interesting to cut them open after testing them and see what the differences were between the ones that felt similar and the ones that felt worse.

👍 The conclusion you came to about refinished golf balls I came to many years ago. It’s really nice to have those conclusions confirmed by someone like yourself. Getting some consistency from a box of balls is really important. Heck I would be happy with any of the softer feeling more budget balls than a refinished ball.

I love that you still check how they feel chipping when your chipping is going through issues. Good review though. Thanks for helping us make informed decisions on whether it is worth trying to save money.

Really found this insightful. A lot of pro vs that I find. Perform very similarly to new ones. The ones that I buy that have been refurbished don’t. Glad you have done a proper test to show this. I’ll keep buying calaway supersoft and finding pro vs

Adding to this video Rick i think it would be good to do a video of what you would recommend as the best ball for a few different pricepoints

Great Video!! I enjoy all the golf tec almost as much as I enjoy playing 18, love the content when you break it down for Us.

Thanks for review Rick, really helpful and also entertaining, definitely helped my buying decisions. 😎

Love the channel always look forward to it

Would be interested to see if the ones you didn’t like weighed more or were significantly different at least.

Hi Rick! Always enjoy your content Rick and you helped me a lot with my golf game (just broke 80) so I'll try to help you by explaining why they perform and feel worse to the best of my knowledge. It's not necessarily the paint job, although it certainly doesn't help, it's the fact that they have been out in freezing temperatures. Especially balls over a decade old, you don't know where they have been, but very likely they've been in frozen water or out in the rough/woods over winter. The molecular structure of the inner core actually changes if you freeze or boil the ball, they tend to lose elasticity. You can easily test this by dropping a brand new ball and one of these on the asphalt from some height and confirm my hypothesis if the painted one bounces less. And also, like you were hinting at, the paint will reduce the aerodynamic point of the golf ball, especially if it's scratched up that easily after only a few bunker shots. Conclusion: Most likely they have been either washed in too hot water and lost their elasticity that way, or stayed outdoors over one or more winters and lost it that way. The molecular bond wont reattach after that has happened so you will easily lose 20-40 yards on a driver if you're an average golfer, and you and above-average golfers would probably lose even more. The paint job doesn't help, actually makes it even worse, especially after wearing of. This is the used-car-salesman version of having a rusty heap of metal and painting it up to look shiny and selling it as a functional vehicle when any person poor enough to buy it will face serious issues with it before reaching their home. A person with a sense of morality would just cut their losses and send it to a scrap yard, instead of trying to sell it off to some poor sob. The person or company that sells these should probably lower the cost to like £0.10 or else I would consider this actual fraud. Thanks for making videos, hope you never stop! Best regards

Love you see you testing stuff again!

I bought a box of grade A refurbished Pro V 1's and some of them did feel fine or as good as the normal one's, but I also had more than one split in half on me off the tee. At least they were cheap.

Watching this video is such a treat because it feels like we do not get as many of these types of videos these days; I imagine this feeling is what Guy gets when you let him drink a Monster from the can on the podcast.

Good review Rick. For us mere golfing mortals it's so very difficult to know what's a quality product and what's not. Given most of us would be easily seduced by the price of golfing equipment in general, it's really interesting to have it verified that more often than not, cheaper is not better.

Rick … loved the review as always. Hope you still carry on doing more of them. One review that I’d love to see you do is golf gloves. I’ve played golf for 40 years mostly as a low single figure golfer. The best glove by a mile is the Costco Kirkland signature glove … better than any glove I’ve ever worn.

The Pro-v1's from say, 2007, that came in those boxes, are going to feel much firmer than the newer iterations. They got softer over time. Also being that old you can expect them to be noticeably shorter off driver.

I use the srixon soft feel balls. They're 20 a box and they feel quite nice off the face, also not that bothered losing one on the course. They do exactly what I need at a great price

Thanks for the review!

Yay, finally a review video again. Always love these!😁👍🏻

I would love to see you do this with a used driver vs a brand new driver that is the same. Not comparing the new model vs old model

There are a lot of indipendent companies that sell second had balls. I have bought a lot from ayershire golf balls, not from big companies like american golf. It would be interesting to compare different companies and how they prepare second chance balls similar to what you did here Another interesting video and results

G'day Rick ...Absolutely love your videos , watch them all ...In recent times I've rejoined the golf community .. I played from the time I was 14 to 52 probably non stop .. Then I got fed up with the game and stopped playing and got heavily involved in lawn bowls .. At a bit over 60 I started hitting balls again and would you believe fell in love with the game again . . Briefly got to 5 handicap at my best but mostly played between 7-10 range .. I'm left handed and still using 20 year old King irons and Nicklaus metals ..and a brand new 3 hybrid . I'm now off 13 and found my preferred brand of balls to be Srixon or Callaway .. Srixon mostly .. Never ever tried Titleist ProV balls . This was super interesting and informative. . . If you're ever in Australia again try and get to Tasmania .. Not only do we have Barnbougle , Lost Farm , Cape Wickham and Ocean Dunes that get rave reviews but several other fun great courses and home to the oldest golf course in the world outside of Scotland ..It's Ratho Farm at Bothwell not too far from Hobart ...It was opened in 1822 by a Scottish immigrant Alexander Reid as is 200 years old this year . They have largely left it as it was and is still basically a sheep farm with an 18 hole golf course on it Now houses an Australian Golf Museum and has accommodation and functions facilities along with sheep .. Hope to meet you one day and please keep your wonderful vids coming . They're the best ..Sorry for the long comment .....Cheers ...

really good video Rick. Gets me thinking about the ball i use for sure

I almost strictly use, used golf balls. Not refurbished, but used in Mint condition. The price is right, and I can promise you, my miss hits have nothing to do with the ball and everything to do with me. I used Callaway chrome soft because I love how soft it feels around the greens.

It would be interesting to see what weight difference between the two would be

This is the type of product evaluation that brings real value to your listeners. Thank you very much!

Better off with slazenger v400 soft balls. 48 for £23 currently. Great for winter golf. Would love to see you review these.

This rating from Rick means a lot because he's a guy who always tries to find the positive.

Great video Rick, MyGolfSpy came to a similar conclusion, if you're on a budget, just get Kirkland Signatures.

This year I have exclusively played the vice pro or pro plus to determine which I prefer. After a lot of rounds I’ve determined the pro plus is now going to be my go to. Price is phenomenal and distance is better than pro. It’s more of a click sound like the pro v1x but man it performs. I love the shade color too. Pretty freakin cool.

Tour Soft, best combination of feel, control, and price for an almost-senior golfer (59 years old). Plus the T-marking helps me line up putts and square up the putter face more consistently.

Its not as much about the paint but more about the age of the ball. The components change over time as well as manufacture tweaks.

Rick should do an Andertons style blind test with the refinished and new ones mixed in and see if he can identify them.

Hi Rick, I would love to see what you think of the "Blast" golf training aid. Thanks

Well done Rick. I prefer the Srixon zstar. It spins a little less off driver but bites a bit harder off the wedge with my swing. I don’t mind a harder feel while putting. They used to be a lot cheaper than pro v1, and are still $5 less online, but my local club is usually running a sale on them so still a “budget” ball for me.

Great video...could you do a review on the ZF Tour Spin 312 golf ball

Missed a good testing video rick !!! Great video ..I use vice balls

I’m going to say it’s the age of the cover or the environment it was in before refinished. I would assume the cover is getting harder and more brittle like old plastic components do, and that’s why it’s getting harder and clickier sounding. Cutting them opening and identifying the year it was made versus how it felt might help with data.

If you just look around when you are playing you will find Pro-v1s all over the place. My son and I were scrounging around in the long grass on the cliffs between the fairway and ocean at Pebble beach and found many. No cost and really fun.

Awesome idea for a video, really interesting. You're the best Rick!

Nice job. Thanks!

If you're looking for low price balls from major manufacturers, look for Used balls, never refurbished/refinished. They can have some minor scuffs, based on quality rating (Mint, Near Mint, AAA, etc.) but they will have the original covers - they are only cleaned and re-sold. It would be interesting to see a comparison of New, Used (Mint/Near Mint condition), and Refurbished.

Having only hit 'previously-forested' Pro V1's, I need Rick to explain the difference between old and new.

I bought a couple dozen of these a few months ago .. I wish I would have seen this first. Thanks for the video..

I was always convinced that lake balls go through some strange oxidation or something. I'm old enough to remember how different the Titleist Tour Balatas felt between box-new and a lake ball. I miss those balata balls, they were as soft as grease. Still got a few boxes tucked away.

My experience with refinished prov1s have been bad as well. They probably traveled 25-30 yards shorter off the tee

I’ve never had a bad experience with refinished pro v1 balls They did not come from this company though

Thanks, Rick! I have bought those balls a few times and never realized that they were that bad...I try to keep my expenses down and have been using the 3 piece balls from Crivit sold by Lidl. I've used new ProV1s in the past and the Crivit balls perform just as well in distance (driver) and spin for wedge shots. I think they're even better in terms of durability. Maybe you can do a feature on the Crivit balls one of these days if you fancy it.....

I use the Callaway Diablo Tour because i Drive it 20 meters further than a PROV1X or PROV1 golf ball...My irons also go 10 meters further per club. I have tested them against each other and the Diablo Tour always comes out on top for Distance, Feel and Spin...My handicap 6.8.....Perhaps you could do a comparison some time....Big thanks for this vid from Nick, Melville Glades Golf Club, Western Australia...

I love Kirkland golf balls 24 for 28$ and they are the best feeling ones I’ve used,and I’ve tried Pro V1 and Callaway’s

I use the 2022 Kirkland. The cover is much better than the 2021 and it feels like a pro v1. Great ball, GREAT PRICE

I used to play with Top-Flite, Pinnacle....and my own personal favourite.....Kasco, remember them?. Kasco was a rock hard golf ball that went for miles if proper connection was made, if not, you felt the vibration all the way up the club rendering the hands numb for a minute or two. Probably why my handicap was so high. lol :)

Loved the video Rick I sell used balls I find while working at my local club and I’ve seen some crazy balls come out of the water and I just know the chemicals from the grass that have gotten into the pounds have Changed a lot about the golf balls

Rick, I challenge you to do some BLIND testing videos of comparable products. Would help to separate the intrinsic physical differences from the psychologically induced differences and could be damned good fun to watch, too🙏 I dare you!!😂

I closed the video as soon as he said these are refurbished.

hi Rick I used pro v1 for years but now I'm using Bridgestone and it's purely done to price and i don't lose many balls in 4 round's I lose 1or 2 I got to a point where I wasn't taking on the riskier shots in case I lost a pro v so thought I would take that away by playing a cheaper ball great video keep up the good work

Thanks for this, was just about to buy some.

superb video as all are. thank you.

I mainly use top flights because I hit them really well lmao , or Callaway ultra softs either the burnt orange or greenish/yellow color

Hi Rick. Nice vid. It would be easy to get caught out buying balls like that. I use good quality (pearl grade) lake balls but I’ve no idea how they perform against their new equivalents. How about comparing new pv1s against a quality lake pv1? They’re about the same price as those repainted ones.

This show hit home, Rick. As a gift, I got two dozen of the same balls from a non-golfer. On top of that my first and last name is on the ball and I play on many courses with homes along the fairways. I'll play them when I can feel safe. Thanks for the show!

Great video. Thanks!

I use the Srixon Z-Star because I can get them for $65 per 2 dozen right now and they feel great everywhere IMO plus I have your review on them to back me on that I don't need to pay $50 per dozen for Pro-v1's....

Im so glad you did this video i got a box of these, they said refurbished, and thats printed on the box and the ball, is this the same type?? I wasn't impresed on the course

Great vid Rick. Thanks

Great test Rick! Illuminating.

I live on a golf course fairly quiet later in the day so I'm always out hitting balls and searching for balls , and I never buy balls.... but I always run balls thru my shag bag hitting them a few times before I actually use them in a game...the last two generation of ProV1's I usually find will be ok...older ones no...But Im also surprised at some balls that rise to the top of my shag bag...consistently have a great shot with them...and they go straight into by golf bag....and it is not always brand dependent...

So I usually use and prefer the Srixon soft feel/ad333 as my normal chosen ball. Anyway my brother brought these exact balls for me from American golf for my birthday this month(september 2022). Haven’t had a chance to use them as of yet. Make me skeptical about these already. For a quid less he could have just brought me some new srixon’s 😅

I had a great experience with Refinished Pro V1. Longer drives, great spin on the greens....and the best round at my home course just last Friday. $29.99.

Did you measure the weight of the golf balls. Would be interesting to se weight diff compared to original prov1. Could account for the difference in flight.

I've been using Srixon Marathon soft and lately Taylor Made RBZ soft. They're really good. Although I'm a 23 handicap so you might have a different view. They feel nice when you hit them. They compress well with your irons and have a nice accurate flight with the driver.

Got a 12 pack of supposedly refurbished callway chrome softs and never again. A couple had to have been supersofts, some might have been chrome soft x's, or even warbirds (hard shell). Only a few of them were similar to new chrome softs.

I use Wilson Staff DX2, same price as the restored Pro vs but a amazing ball.

Great advice again Rick, think I'll stick with the Srixons 👍🏻

Thanks Rick. I’ve come to buying cheaper balls then Pro V’s because I don’t play as much as I used to. Lose some lol but I buy new no matter what.

Cool video! I would've cut a random selection from the two boxes, but that's just me

Missed these types of videos, good job Rick

As a senior I don't have the swing speed to compress the Pro V1 for max distance. I use Callaway Supersoft. If I have one complaint with them it that the cover seems to scuff easily.

Hi Rick, really liked this video showing the pitfalls of buying refurbished, one idea I had, I would have liked to have seen even in a part 2 video or just by recommending a video of a previous ball review if neccessary is, a ball at the same price to show why you'd be better off with say 'titleist tru feel' which are around £23.

Thanks for getting back to testing products. You’re the best tester on KZfaq.

Did you compare spin? I bought a box of prov1 refurbished for practice. Noticed with driver the spin rate was always about 200-400 higher on average and more more sidespin as well. Irons and wedges gave me a fairly similar spin rate. For us AMATURE (had to after the podcast yesterday) players I don't forsee them affecting the score card to much, but definitely would be taking them out of play more often based on the ball surface. But for a practice stand point I think they accomplished the mission

I love these types of vids!

I used to get Korean titleist refinished balls from my local golf shop, they were cheaper than your second hand balls. Must be brutally honest, I loved them, I used to only play with refinished balls for a period of 2 years until the shop stopped bringing them in. I miss them as they were also so much cheaper.

Rick I would love to hear the brand u think are priced the same as this tht preform better . Srixon soft feel?

I use the Wilson Triad golf balls and I love them.

Shocking results , would be interested to hear the companies feedback and QC system....

Titleist Trufeel or the Velocity. I like the feel of them off my putter, the Taylormade Modena 8.

Never ever bought into the refurbished golf balls. I have bought a few dozen that the local ball hawk found though.$ 6.00 (us) for a dozen of found balls ain't to bad. Thanks Rick

I found a refurbished prov1 last month.. it felt similar but softer than hitting the topRocks

Hi Rick. Would be interested to see a review of the Inesis balls from Decathlon. Much cheaper than most brands. What about performance?? Cheers!

Hey Rick, great video. I have always been fond of a hard to find ball these days. The intech limbo. I heard they were illegal now. Whether true or not I don’t know, but I always found them forgiving with good control. Keep up the great work 👍

Rick juggles the golf ball so effortlessly, it’s so enjoying!!! 😂😂😢 Been trying to do it for weeks now… Rick needs to do a short video of how to do it or how to flick the balls up off the green.(tips and tricks) Might get onto the green like an Amateur, but I would like to leave a green like a pro 😂

What about numbers on approach shots? With an 8 or 7 iron. Spin rate numbers would be good to see

Hey Rick, where I live there is a "second round" product which is simply used pro v1, no refurbish work whatsoever. They are GREAT value, even if only half of them are "perfect" at $20 a dozen its hard to beat. Bonus: you get all kinds of fun stamps on them!