Why Every Golfer Should Have A Ball Fitting To Stop Wasting Shots

Despite it being the only piece of equipment you use for every single shot during a round, it’s astonishing how many golfers continue to overlook the importance of finding the ball that’s going to help them play their best.

Even as someone who plays off a +4 handicap and works in the golf equipment industry, I have to admit, I’m constantly testing new golf balls. While I’ll gather some data using a launch monitor, I often revert to what I feel comfortable with from a ball flight perspective.

I would never put a club in play without knowing it’s been specifically fitted for my swing, yet when it comes to the ball, there’s often some guesswork involved and I'm aware I'm potentially leaving shots out on the course as a result.

Recently, my colleague Dan (a single-figure handicapper) and I headed over to Manchester Lane, Titleist’s premier ball-testing facility in New Bedford, Massachusetts, where, guided by Steve Cohen - Titleist's Head of Ball Education and Fitting, we learned exactly how crucial a proper ball fitting is.

The results blew us both away and gave us even more clarity that having a golf ball fitting is a necessity, and that playing the wrong ball can be detrimental to both your success and enjoyment on the course.

How A Ball Fitting Starts

Before diving into our personal fitting revelations, it’s worth noting the options for finding the right golf ball for your game and how the process is structured.

If you’re after a starting point and perhaps don’t have the time to head out for an in-person fitting, the journey can begin with an Online Selector Tool - like the one found on the Titleist website. This will typically guide you through a brief, intuitive series of questions to guage key information, such as how many rounds you play throughout the year, which performance factors matter most to you, your preferred trajectory, etc.

Within seconds, a clever algorithm explains which ball model you’d be best suited to based on your answers, while also providing a secondary option so you can perhaps purchase a sleeve of both, do some testing for yourself, and determine which one you like the feel and characteristics of most.

Taking things a step further requires an in-person experience where a fitting expert or PGA Professional with access to a premium launch monitor can take you through a more thorough process that involves hitting shots with different clubs.

Some brand fittings, like Titleist for example, will use both an app with your answers to the questions around your preferences as well as a series of shots with clubs at key stages throughout the bag to integrate performance data. This can then accurately provide you with a golf ball that suits your specific launch conditions.

Finally, for those wanting to get into the weeds of golf ball performance and go through what a tour player would when it comes to a golf ball fitting, there's the top tier fitting that is longer and more in-depth.

Titleist, for example, offers this at Titleist fitting centers, such as Manchester Lane in Massachusetts, the Titleist Performance Centre at Woburn in the UK, or Oceanside in California. At these locations, no stone is left unturned in determining your perfect match.

This is a thorough session designed for elite players and highly dedicated amateurs, where you will work through every single aspect of the game, from specialist short game shots to long irons and metalwoods, to ensure you end up with a ball that helps you perform the best you can throughout the bag.

Our Fitting Experience

One of the biggest misconceptions we learned was the starting point of a ball fitting, and contrary to belief, this doesn’t begin with sending drivers with maximum effort down a driving range. Instead, ball fittings often start with 50-yard pitches, followed by full wedges, and then 7-irons.

Why? Because you need to dial in the launch and spin characteristics of your scoring clubs first. While you can change loft, lie, and grind on wedges, there is only so much tweaking that can be done. However, at the top end of the bag, drivers have reached such a level of sophistication with adjustability on hosels and weight tracks, that a fitter can easily tune the club and shaft to match the ball that you end up being fitted for.

Furthermore, the feel and sound of the ball matter considerably more with the short game. Before hitting any shots, the app asks specific questions about what you like to hear and feel off the putter and wedge face, and for me, that meant discussing the audible ‘click’ and firmness that helps my pace control on the greens.

The Results: Two Golfers, Two Changes

Despite working in golf equipment, Dan and I were both guilty of self-diagnosing our golf ball choices, which is rather embarrassing considering how simple and enjoyable the fitting process was. Here is how our sessions exposed those flaws.

Sam’s Fitting Journey

I arrived playing the Titleist Pro V1x, and the logic behind that choice seemed fairly reasonable - I wanted a touch more launch and spin on my longer irons, but crucially, I prefer a firmer feel. When I use a softer ball, I feel like it springs off the putter face a little too much, which hurts my pace control on the greens.

But... the app wasn’t having any of it! Despite expressing my preference for a firmer-feeling ball, my winning ball was the Pro V1. It was the clear favorite for my launch characteristics, and ultimately, it is now up to me to compensate for the softer feel and dial in my pace control on the greens. My secondary option was actually the Pro V1x Left Dash, which still only came back with a 36% suitability score. My previous Pro V1x was nowhere to be seen!

Dan's Fitting Journey

Dan is the classic golfer who has been playing his Pro V1 for some time, but some inconsistencies in his swing saw him in desperate need of trying to tighten up his dispersion from the tee. He purchased a dozen AVX golf balls, hoping they would do just that, but after the fitting, Steve had to break some news to Dan.

After hitting a few shots, Steve took one look at Dan's numbers, and the AVX registered a 0% suitability match. Not even a token gesture of 1%. While there was a lot of laughter after, Steve explained that the lower spin of the AVX wasn't going to fix a bad driver swing, but instead, it was severely hurting his flight and spin control with his scoring clubs. Like me, Dan was moved straight back into the Pro V1, and while he may have wasted £40 on those AVX balls, the lesson in avoiding self-diagnosis was invaluable!

Stop Guessing And Upgrade Your Performance

Ultimately, the golf ball is the one piece of equipment you rely on for every single shot, and the case study above is proof that continuing to guess which one is right for you is simply leaving strokes out on the course.

The time Dan and I spent at Manchester Lane is proof that a fitting is truly invaluable, whether it be to change the ball you’ve been playing or confirm the ball you are currently using is correct for having your spin and flight dialled in to help you play your best golf.

If you’re a dedicated golfer and want to take the guesswork out of what ball you should be using, then a ball fitting is a crucial way to enhance your scoring ability.

Whether it be through a quick Online Selector Tool, locating a local PGA Professional to experience the data-driven recommendations, or truly invest in your game with an exhaustive tour-level fitting. Trust the data, find your perfect match, and play better golf moving forward.