SuperNova: Glow In The Dark Golf Balls

Work went later than expected. I had hoped to try to get a round in before dark, but I’m thinking that's out of the question now. It's not the middle of summer anymore, it's pretty much pitch black by 7:30. I called up my neighbor on the drive home to see if he wanted to meet me at the local pitch n putt and miraculously I found myself a last minute playing partner at 5pm on a Thursday.

We met up in the parking lot, he came prepared with a couple ice cold light beers (what a guy). I toss them in my golf bag, take out everything but a couple wedges and a putter, and we get going. It’s not the fastest round ever. Seemingly I wasn’t the only person who thought a little after-work golf was a good idea, but no complaints from me. I’m in good company and thanks to a couple birdies, I’m up in the round, as well.

As we make the turn (yes, our pitch n putt has a full 18), we realize this round may be ending a little early. The shadows have stretched as long as they can and the inevitable sunset has begun. It’s pretty, but so is my score card- I must continue this round. I reach in my bag to fetch a can of swing juice and while rooting around that one giant pocket I toss everything in, I feel a fresh sleeve of balls I had forgotten about. Last week at work we got in these new glow in the dark golf balls, SuperNovas. What better time than now to try these out.

I’m first to hit. I grab two balls from the sleeve, charge them up with the little keychain flashlight that is included with them, and toss Jay (my neighbor) one. The hole is a little 65 yarder, downhill, with the pin right at the front of the green that slopes away to the back. Not the easiest 65 yards in golf, it requires either lots of luck or lots of spin to get it close. I hit a gem of a lob wedge, hammering the ground in front of the ball, excavating a beaver tail of a divot. The ball looked like a little UFO, a glowing bright green light flying through the night sky. When the ball landed, it took one little hop and stopped dead inches away from its pitch mark. Not often do I get the giddy childhood feeling of playing with a new toy, but that's really the best way I can describe it.

We had a blast finishing up the round in the dark. The balls performed amazingly well, albeit we were only hitting wedge shots from up to 100 yards, but they were soft and had the spin to stop the ball on a dime. This left me curious how these balls would perform with full shots on a real golf course. I have walked off the course early countless times fighting daylight trying to squeeze in an after-work twilight round and perhaps this was the solution.

The next day, I took the sleeve of balls to a simulator and ran some numbers, and unsurprisingly, they performed great. The Supernovas suffered a minor loss in distance compared to my regular Titleist ball at about 4% on the low end with my short irons and gradually increasing up to 8% with my driver, a sacrifice I am happy to make if it means getting the last few holes in. All in all, I was extremely impressed with their performance and until the big golf ball brands start making photoluminescent (glow-in-the-dark) urethane covers for their balls, I think this is the best option we have for playing night golf.