Jason Day’s Keys To Testing Golf Balls

Jason Day has always been in tune with his equipment – so when he speaks about how he tests and fits himself for his @bridgestonegolfinc golf balls, you should listen.

Jason’s advice: start around the green, testing how the ball reacts out of good lies and the rough – then weigh your needs for performance around the green against your desire for additional distance off the tee. Four minutes of gold here.

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Uh when we’re testing golf balls, obviously it’s uh depends on what you want because there was a time when, you know, back when I was playing with Tailor Made that I would only change wedges once or twice a year because I wanted to kind of grow with the wedge. I didn’t want to use a wedge for four weeks, six weeks, change it, and then have to relearn how it’s spinning again, whatnot. And then obviously the ball for me um when I’m sitting around a green like this, you kind of want to know how is it landing into the grain? What does it do with a 60 when you hit in the grain? What does it do with a 56 when you when you’re hitting the grain? Vice versa the other way. How does it uh react when you’re going down grain? Uh different types of surfaces. Does it spin more um on a bent surface than when it when you’re playing a Bermuda or a Paspalum or a Zoya? So, they’re the kind of questions that you’re going to have to ask, but also you got to look at what type of surfaces do you play the most? Do we play Bermuda most or do we play like a bent um or or overseated rye the most? And then from there, you kind of go around and go, okay, how does it react out of the rough? Do I need the ball to come out slower and softer? Do I need the ball to come out faster and roll more? Um how does it react out of the bunkers? Does it spin more? So, I think other than just like getting in and test triing it, there’s always I would say give and take. You know, more spin you have around the greens, typically very hard to find distance off the off off the uh tea. Um, so you kind of got to understand that, okay, if I get if I have more spin around in the greens, most likely the long clubs, it’s not going to go as far as a ball that’s firmer and doesn’t spin as much around the green. So, that’s the number one question that you got to ask yourself. Okay, if I give up a little bit of yardage off the tea for more spin around the greens, is that going to help my game or help my game? And it’s very difficult to marry the two, to have distance and and spin. But when I’m hit coming in and hitting shots, I think it’s just you you got to just hit shot after shot after shot. So, I’m going to try and play a spin. I mean, it’s hard to play a spinner here because it is downwind, but u I’m going to try and play a spinner to see how that feels. That’s nice. Oh, that was really nice. That was really good, actually. Um, so I know that that ball is going to be a very spinny ball. So when I get into tournament play and I’m short side and I’m on the fairway and I know that that ball can do that. Uh, if I play a firmer ball, that ball might not do that. So, there’s certain pin locations that I typically probably wouldn’t be able to go for because I don’t want to shortside myself because I know that like best chance I’ll probably hit it to 10 ft beyond the pin 12 ft and then I’ve got that long putt. So, I better start putting from 10 to 12 ft if I want to start taking aggressive lines. Um, yeah. So, I guess the the next step is like understanding like what type of spin you like around the greens. um what type of player are you? And then just keep chipping with them until you find the uh the right makeup for yourself. So, I’ll just keep chipping and chipping and chipping. And I went when I first started uh with uh Bridgestone, I was using the BXS, which was the really s Now granted, like you I could spin it from I could get just get on that green there and I could spin it back with that BXS. It was like cheating. It was unbelievable. I went to a firm ball because I wanted I wanted to make sure that I had enough distance and for me the the the BX was it because I could get enough distance off the tea but also still not give up uh the playability around the greens. And that’s kind of where my strength’s at.