Starstrike Golf Balls - are they any good?

The StarStrike is a 2 piece surlyn cover golf ball. With this information alone, we know it's not going to be the prom king of golf balls. I can't say forsure, but I don’t think that there is a single ball used today on a professional tour that shares its construction properties with the Starstrike. However, with that being said, I am sure that you, the reader, also don't share too many attributes with professional tour players when it comes to your golf game. 

Yes, choosing the golf ball that fits your game is important for playing your best golf. On the flip side, recreating a perfect swing time after time, again and again is what matters the most, and this is where I believe most of us casual golfers live; in a world of imperfection.

As a casual player myself, my skills are often the underperforming factor in relation to the quality of equipment I use, especially the ball. I am no stranger to fatting a shot, slicing a drive OB, or even the rare cold s***k. However, like all mid handicap players, I'm also familiar with the feeling of striping a drive, compressing a mid-iron, spinning back a wedge, and rolling in the odd birdie.

Surely as someone looking to gain an edge any way I can to improve my game, I don't intrinsically seek value over performance when it comes to my gear. I never before would consider playing a ball like this, and I may still not be wrong for that. However, I wanted to see how it would actually perform for a golfer like me, so I grabbed a box of them from the office, called up my nearest simulator, and booked a half hour to smash some balls and collect some data.

I got started the same way I start all my range sessions, a light stretch followed by some 3/4 9 irons until my shoulders and back have loosened up. From there, I turned the simulator on and went to town. 

For the sake of comparison, I started with my regular game ball. I won't mention the make or model, but it is a 3 piece, urethane cover ball with a medium/high compression. After about 15 shots, filtering out the miss hits, I found I had an average carry distance with my 9 iron of about 120 yards with about 7500rpm of spin. Certainly not tour quality numbers but pretty close to what I was expecting to see.

At this point, fully warmed up, I emptied out a sleeve of the Starstrikes onto the simulator floor, placed one middle stance, and took a swing. The first thing I noticed was the sound; It was loud. Not unpleasantly, and likely amplified from the 4 walls and a ceiling surrounding me, but still didn't sound like that "professional" ball I was hitting previously. The next thing I noticed, however, was surprisingly very little. Over the next 15-20 shots, my numbers didn't take a nose dive to the extent I was expecting. My loss in distance was minimal, maybe 5 yards of carry on average. This was peanuts compared to the 20+ yard loss I had been predicting. My spin rate took a little more of a hit, dropping about 8% or 600rpm, which has to be expected going from any tacky, soft urethane cover ball to a durable, thick surlyn cover ball. The club's grooves just won't bite as hard into the denser surlyn cover. Feeling a little on the stiffer side, and working a lot on the slower side, I decided to go straight to my driver next.

To preface, I am not the strongest driver of the golf ball. When I pull my driver out of my bag on the first tee or at the range, I never know what miss I am going to be battling that day. Some days, it's the high, right slice that feels like it has 300 yards of carry but lands 190 away from me. Others, it's the low, closed face knuckle ball that impotently falls to the left. Although I was still able to connect square enough times to collect some decent data, I certainly was not hitting my best drives that day. My average drive with my regular golf ball would carry around 235-240. My good drives had a spin rate around 2700rpm, and about 5-10 yards of fade.

Now that I had a baseline, I teed up a Starstrike, took address, and swung out of my shoes at it. What happened next, should surprise absolutely nobody. I topped the ball and I thought I heard the simulator computer laughing at me. After quickly deleting the data from that shot, as not to leave evidence for the employees to discover, I teed it up again and struck it half decently.

After another 15-20 shots, I discarded the miss hits and sifted through the data. No longer a surprise, we had very similar loss in distance as the 9 iron, maybe 3-6% on average with very little effect to spin rates or ball flights.

I wrapped up at the sim, quite surprised at my findings. I am by no means a pro, but did feel a little deflated by some of my numbers. "120 with a 9? I thought I should be spinning it way more. That dispersion was terrible". My following thoughts however were "Why did I pay $65 for those dozen balls? That's like 18 holes at a higher end public course. Surely I could spend that money a lot more efficiently."

I am competent, but by no means a good golfer. I like to think I make decisions based on logic versus ego, data versus fantasy. We are pre-conditioned to strive for greatness and in doing so, we get compromised by marketing and advertising. You need to wear this watch, drive this car, drink this whiskey, play this golf ball- because it's the best one.

Speaking for myself, the best golf shots I ever hit was at the same place, with the same 3 stripe Pinnacle practice ball as many of you - the driving range. The best times I've had on a course have been playing with my father and uncles, shooting deep into the 90s, with borrowed clubs and who knows what ball. I've won matches 5 and 4 with balls I've found in the woods. I've lost matches just as bad while losing two fresh sleeves on the front 9. Ultimately, as much as golf is measured in score relation to par, I prefer to measure it in smiles/hour, high fives, and lasting memories - none of which are determined by what brand golf ball I am hitting.

StarStrike are cheap golf balls aimed for average golfers and great for budget golf tournament giveaways.