Going to the Ball

Was it the ball?

Hopeful golfers by the thousands clamored to find out last month, inundating Nike with calls and orders for the company’s new golf ball after Tiger Woods used it during his record-shattering performance in the U.S. Open.

Nike executives could barely control their enthusiasm during the telecast from Pebble Beach, where the company’s logo seemed to peek up at the cameras every time the ball was on the green.

“It was like winning the lottery,” Bob Wood, president of Nike Golf, told the Associated Press. “People are absolutely juiced around here.”

Sales of the ball picked up immediately, and Wood said the company was sending balls by air freight to meet demand.

That was no surprise to Eddie Merrins, head pro and director of golf at Bel-Air Country Club. An endorsement from the world’s No. 1 player, Merrins said, is all many golfers need to hear.

“Woods jumped ship from one known maker [Titleist] to a newcomer, and all of a sudden he’s winning the U.S. Open by 15 shots,” Merrins said. “So then the average person is going to think, ‘Hey, I should try that ball.’

“These ball companies pay these [pros] a lot of money to play their product. It’s strictly dollars and cents. But he wouldn’t be playing that ball if he didn’t think he could win with it, I’ll assure you that.”

The same kind of thinking comes into play when a weekend golfer chooses a ball. Beyond finding a ball that appeals to his desire for distance, control and durability, the golfer ultimately will ask, “Can I score better with this ball?”

“A lot of it has to do with psychology,” Merrins said. “What’s pleasing to the player?”

What Merrins might look for in a ball is not necessarily what Woods might want, or a beginner might want.

“It’s a personal preference,” Merrins said. “Beyond the feel of the ball and the way the ball reacts in the air, the look of the ball is maybe a third prerequisite.”

So what makes a decent ball?

“As long as it’s round and rolls,” Todd Yoshitake, head pro at Riviera Country Club, once joked, “it should be OK for a large part of the golfing public.”

There’s more to it, of course.

Greg Frederick, director of golf at Oakmont Country Club in Glendale, said players should experiment with several balls to find one that is right for their game.

“There’s no real perfect science to it,” he said. “There are certain physics that apply, but then it becomes feel. . . .

“It’s really a game of matching club-head speed, ball flight, spin, distance and those kinds of characteristics. Over the years, most people start to understand their game and their ball flight a little bit and they have certain balls that work for them. I think they understand there is a lot of hype in the market on golf balls, and so they’re not that keen just to switch over.”

Others, though, are seduced by Madison Avenue.

“There are a lot of golfers out there who have a lot of equipment sitting in their garage because they thought they were going to hit it five yards farther than with their [older equipment],” Frederick said. “If that were true, they’d be hitting the ball about 450 yards by now.”

The bottom line?

Forget what Woods is using. Find the ball that’s best for you.

“For a few people, it’s a good ball for them,” Frederick said of Nike’s new ball. “It’s a good match. But for others, it’s not. There’s no one ball for everyone.”