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122 Views 14 Replies
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I might be late on this topic. I saw a commercial on the GC about a ball, and I read an article about this ball as well. Polara. A self correcting golf ball. Imagine if would, you and a buddy or 4 some are playing and this one guy has hit 18 out of 18 fairways and has shot over on several holes. Would you be suspicious or think that today he is just his day. Then you find out he or she is playing with this ball that corrects your hit. Do you consider it cheating or an advantage? Would you use this ball? Would you be upset? Would you even stop playing with that person?
I know, I know, we don't perform "golf ball inspections" before we start playing. The ball only works if you aim it with the arrows and during the round, you can't move your ball after you have hit it off of the tee. If the ball corrects itself, it still gives you the advantage right? Can you honestly say, man I did that? So let's hear how you feel. In my opinion, I wouldn't use the ball because if I am using this, I am not being honest with myself, my golf game, the people I am playing with, my handicap, and I am fooling myself (in my opinion). How can I post a score and I know I used a crutch to help me obtain that score (again my opinion) If I were to play with someone who is using this ball, (in my opinion again) I would kindly tell them that we are not keeping any kind of score because of the advantage of the ball. I.E. on the back 9 I find myself struggling due to fatigue, so let me pull out my correct it ball and move on. Yeah right. I believe in honesty, and I think this game is a game of honesty even when playing by yourself. (my opinion) Just want to know your feelings. I.e. is it cheating, you wouldn't use it, integrity issue, wouldn't play with someone who is using it, I would hit it just to try it but wouldn't use it for real, or heck yes, in a heart beat I would use it, or etc. Your opinion is your opinion. No one is wrong here. |
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| # 1 8/15/2011 3:56:12 AM |
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If the ball is approved by the USGA it's not cheating.
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| # 2 8/15/2011 5:13:37 AM |
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It's not approved. I read that USGA found this ball to be "illegal." Would you still use it though?
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| # 3 8/15/2011 5:41:12 AM |
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If I was playing in a tournament, I'd call him on it. For casual play, my guess is the guy using the ball is more than likely taking at least 100 strokes for 18 holes.
The part I find ironic is that the Golf Channel is running a commercial for a product that isn't even approved by the USGA. I would think I'd find a commercial for this product on very early or very late paid programming spots or QVC. |
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| # 4 8/15/2011 7:15:40 AM |
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It's not approved. I read that USGA found this ball to be "illegal." Would you still use it though? I might try it just for fun, but would never use it in a competitive round. |
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| # 5 8/15/2011 7:25:10 AM |
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It's cheating in my books. Right there with what I saw Saturday. Dude's ball was buried in the greenside rough to the point I couldn't see it. He picks it up to "identify it" and instead of placing it back down in the rough he set's it up nice a pretty on top of the grass. He wound up with a birdie. We all said something about it and he got pissed off and stated "Everyone is gonna think I'm a cheater now". He is the "former" Sheriff for 25 years of the county the course is in so everyone cater's to him. We got into the clubhouse and it got brought up again in front of the blitz committee and they dq'ed him. Probably gonna have BOLO's for mine and the other 2 people in our 4some's vehicle's now everytime I we go into that county! lol
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| # 6 8/15/2011 8:03:39 AM |
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It's cheating in my books. Right there with what I saw Saturday. Dude's ball was buried in the greenside rough to the point I couldn't see it. He picks it up to "identify it" and instead of placing it back down in the rough he set's it up nice a pretty on top of the grass. He wound up with a birdie. We all said something about it and he got pissed off and stated "Everyone is gonna think I'm a cheater now". He is the "former" Sheriff for 25 years of the county the course is in so everyone cater's to him. We got into the clubhouse and it got brought up again in front of the blitz committee and they dq'ed him. Probably gonna have BOLO's for mine and the other 2 people in our 4some's vehicle's now everytime I we go into that county! lol Yes, it's cheating. Yea, I would play with him but I would not ever have a game going with him since he can't be trusted. And if I was in a tournament in which he was playing, I would watch him like a hawk. Too bad but once a guy demonstrates that he will cheat; you can't ever trust him again. |
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| # 7 8/15/2011 9:46:02 AM |
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This is what I found on other site.
The Polara ball did conform to the rules of golf until the USGA created a rule specifically to outlaw the Polara ball and for doing so, they had to pay Polara $1.4M in an out of court settlement. Drivers today with all the adjustable weighting systems, materials, biases, etc - how can a purist even look at these? And besides, they don't correct 75% of a slice like the Polara does ($400 partial slice solution vs $2 complete slice & hook solution - wow). In my opinion, if you are a recreation golfer, why not ? Not everyone plays this game plays it by the rules all the time. Professionals have practice rounds also. According to the Polara's site the pattern on the golf ball must be aligned correctly to be effective. So unless you move the golf ball in the fairway, it will not have the effect of going straight. As for aligning the golf ball on the tee box, I know golfers align their ProV1 a certain way to get the trajectory higher or lower. So is that not playing by the rules of golf ? The author brought up a good point, if one plays the adjustable driver ( although not allowed during the play but could be done just prior to teeing off on the first tee ) will that be viewed as unfair advantage ? Personally, I would not play this self correcting golf ball, it just took the fun out of this game. The fun of this game is to excel given a restricted environment, not to improve with everything we know how. If you take too much of the human factor out of this game, I'll be sending my robot to play my game next time. |
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| # 8 8/15/2011 9:51:37 AM |
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As for aligning the golf ball on the tee box, I know golfers align their ProV1 a certain way to get the trajectory higher or lower. So is that not playing by the rules of golf ? This is something I did not know. How do you align it for different tragectories? I always play mine on the tee at the end of the arrow just because that is where I mark my ball and I don't want the driver to rub my marker off. If I want different heights I either tee them lower or higher to the ground. |
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| # 9 8/15/2011 10:32:08 AM |
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As for aligning the golf ball on the tee box, I know golfers align their ProV1 a certain way to get the trajectory higher or lower. So is that not playing by the rules of golf ? This is something I did not know. How do you align it for different trajectories? I always play mine on the tee at the end of the arrow just because that is where I mark my ball and I don't want the driver to rub my marker off. If I want different heights I either tee them lower or higher to the ground. Not sure if this is still true with the "new" ProV1, but in the past several years there was an article written on the Golf Digest with comment from Jack Nicklaus that if you point the arrow ( prov1 in small prints ) to the target, this will give a lower more penetrating ball flight, Where if you align the arrow ( or the small prints ) horizontally to the target line this will add height to the ball flight. According to Jack, the difference is day and night. Of course, the higher the swing speed the more pronounced the effect is going to be. I had tried this and there is a difference, so I lined up the arrow to the target with a head wind and horizontal orientation when blowing the tail wind. |
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| # 10 8/15/2011 10:38:17 AM |
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As for aligning the golf ball on the tee box, I know golfers align their ProV1 a certain way to get the trajectory higher or lower. So is that not playing by the rules of golf ? This is something I did not know. How do you align it for different trajectories? I always play mine on the tee at the end of the arrow just because that is where I mark my ball and I don't want the driver to rub my marker off. If I want different heights I either tee them lower or higher to the ground. Not sure if this is still true with the "new" ProV1, but in the past several years there was an article written on the Golf Digest with comment from Jack Nicklaus that if you point the arrow ( prov1 in small prints ) to the target, this will give a lower more penetrating ball flight, Where if you align the arrow ( or the small prints ) horizontally to the target line this will add height to the ball flight. According to Jack, the difference is day and night. Of course, the higher the swing speed the more pronounced the effect is going to be. I had tried this and there is a difference, so I lined up the arrow to the target with a head wind and horizontal orientation when blowing the tail wind. interesting, I am going to have to play around with this now and see what happens |
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| # 11 8/15/2011 10:50:58 AM |
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interesting, I am going to have to play around with this now and see what happens I had switched to a better golf ball so I don't have to worry about it, LOL ! |
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| # 12 8/15/2011 3:37:58 PM |
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I assume the ProV1 argument is based on the fact that the ProV1 is built with a seam. If that seam was pointed in the direction of flight then the spin would not fight the friction of the seam.
Not sure if I buy that argument, but I imagine that is where it came from. |
