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LA Golf Ball Reviews
Breaking into the premium golf ball market is no easy feat, but LA Golf is a brand bent on using unprecedented technology and Tour player insight to break the status quo. For some time now, the Titleist Pro V1 and Pro V1x have been regarded as the benchmark as the best balls on the market and regularly lead the ‘ball count’ on recognized professional tours. But the Beverly Hills-based company, founded by Reed Dickens, believes its new ball can not only compete with, but outperform, the leading Titleist golf balls. In fact, LA Golf is openly marketing its ball, which is currently only available in the US (it’ll launch in the UK next year), as carrying an extra three yards with the driver. So I took a dozen of the new LA golf balls to the golf course to see how they fared against my current ball of choice, the Titleist Pro V1X.
(Image credit: Future)
The clean and simple yet classy packaging of the LA golf balls took me a bit by surprise, but perhaps they wanted to talk about the performance of the ball. The balls are again simple in design too, with just the LA Golf name emblazoned in the middle and ‘Beverly Hills’ written across the bottom which acts as an alignment aid – a nice touch.
I always like to start short and test balls because often 50 percent of our good shots in a round of golf come from the green or around it. Initially I thought the ball would feel a bit hard in the hand – a characteristic of some of the best low-spin golf balls, but after a few putts and chip shots I really became drawn to it. I’m someone who prefers a slightly more ‘clicky’ feel on chip and pitch shots, so I’m glad the ball doesn’t feel overly soft when on the greenside, still spins as I expect when hit correctly .
(Image credit: Future)
As I rummaged through the bag I really understood why the California-based brand was bragging about the performance of its ball and charging golfers a premium to play it. Not that this ball is doing much differently than any other premium ball offering like the TaylorMade TP5X or the Callaway Chrome Soft X, but it’s definitely comparable. I found iron shots to fly a little lower than I expected with my normal Pro V1x, but I welcomed the forward flight of the ball when hitting it in the air. Despite the firmer playing surfaces, there seemed to be good stopping power when striking the pin, much of it possibly due to the clever layering system within this four-piece ball.
(Image credit: Future)
Off the tee is where I was most impressed with the LA golf ball. The 350 dimple pattern helped produce a very fierce and penetrating ball flight that ripped the air well and generated a really solid yardage with the driver. I didn’t notice any real gain in length in a direct comparison to my Titleist Pro V1x, the two balls overtook each other on several occasions during testing, but it was really the heel strike where I really scored with the LA golf ball. Saw solid performance. Where my ball would normally fade out and get up in the air due to the extra spin, the LA golf ball actually stayed true to its launch and ball flight, maybe gaining about an extra 10 yards when I went from face to heel. missed the centre.
Thanks to the really impressive all-round performance, I really believe that the LA Golf Ball can and will compete in the premium golf ball market space, especially considering that this is the first iteration of the ball. The LA Golf Ball is currently only available in the US at the hefty price of $69 per dozen. Is it completely correct? My initial findings suggest that the performance package isn’t elevated above existing premium ball options to warrant the higher outlay, but similar to the PXG Extreme, there’s a lot to enjoy about this new player in the ball game .
