“Do you come from a land down under?

Where women glow and men plunder?”

Finally, I have an excuse to quote Men at Work lyrics. Oh, come on, you know you loved that song so don’t even pretend to not know the words. While we all know the “greatness” of Men at Work, I will forgive you if you have not heard of Forte golf balls unless you say “mate” or eat VegeMite sandwiches, because these balls are primarily sold in Australia.

For this review, we played two of Forte’s golf balls (they make four). Specifically, I will review the Forte Tour Performance and the Apex golf balls.

The fact is, it takes guts to jump into the golf ball market, but the guys behind I Need The Ball have moved their chips into the center of the table. Like many small companies, it started with loose talk amongst friends and the belief that a box of high performance golf balls shouldn’t cost more than a round of golf.

MyBalls Golf Balls: As I dive into the world of product reviews I’ve been challenged right out the gates with a daunting task, the golf ball review.

In the world of the higher handicap player there are a handful of things we look for in a golf ball. Is it cheap? Is it long? Is it straight? Will it last if by some miracle I get through five holes without losing it? You see we’re not afforded the luxury of needing to know how many cores are inside or how many layers are included. When it comes down to it, it’s a simple decision. Give me something I can hit and let’s go!

I recently got the opportunity to test a relatively new ball on the market and the golfing world and it goes by the name “MyBalls”.

Obviously, the name is a virtual pandora’s box so I have to give the folks at MyBalls some credit for taking a chance as it’s sure to raise some eyebrows.

I headed out this past weekend to a local course that I’ve played a bunch in the past and gave MyBalls a try. A friend joined me and I talked him into giving MyBalls a go as well and off we went.

My first reaction when I opened the sleeve and the ball hit my hand was that the ball seemed really hard. You know that feeling in your fingers when you grab a ProV1 and you can almost feel the outer layer give with some with the pressure of your fingers. Not here. It’s a very solid outer shell-not that this is necessary bad but I do think a 2 piece ball is a bit harder than a 3 piece ball. In any case, we tee’d em up and I hammered my first swing of the day, and so did my partner. They’re long alright, and for the most part fairly straight. That was pretty much how all the tee boxes went for us. I did manage to take a horrible pass at a ball on one box and with a little effort it’s not hard to make these things fly a little crooked. So don’t think by any means it’s a correcting ball, it’s not.

Besides having a genius name, the real difference in these balls is how you buy them. MyBalls have taken out a page from the Columbia House playbook by offering a subscription model (they do have a try before you subscribe option too). You can sign up to have either one or two dozen balls delivered to your house monthly ($25 or $40 respectfully). A perfect model for the golfer who prefers to spend his time losing balls instead of going to the store to buy them.

Clearly I am not losing enough balls-this one is 14 holes old!

In terms of spin and feel, I would be remiss to call MyBalls a Titleist killer, but I thought they checked decently and rolled off of the putter well. My guess would be that MyBalls are marketed to the higher handicapped player who puts a premium on price and distance more than spin.

All in all though I would have to say it’s a great beginner/intermediate ball for sure. They’re long, straight, hold up over the length of the course and are not too badly priced – and they are the only ball that I know of with a monthly delivery schedule.

The above two images are after 14 holes of play, after that I switched to my normal ball that I’ve been playing with for the last five months just to get in a good comparison. While I am stubborn enough to still prefer to lose my $4.00 balls, I do enjoy the constant one liner’s that MyBalls afford. You would think that after 18 holes of golf we would have come up with all the puns you could imagine but no. While we were at the 19^th hole reviewing our round we were still throwing them out there. Like I said, a marketing machine!

You can learn more about MyBalls on their website. See, I did it again. It’s just that easy.

Innovex Golf Balls: The one item all golfers buy over and over again is golf balls, so finding the right one for your game should be a decision you take seriously – your choice will not only have an effect on your score but also your wallet. Therefore, unless you have P-Diddy money, price ends up figuring into the equation. Enter Innovex.

Innovex offers two varieties of balls, the 3 piece suryln cover on the e-motion (around $20/dozen), and the softer urethane covered v-motion (around $35/dozen). While Innovex has only been around since 2006 they are connected to the Rife putter folks so you know they understand the game. As a bonus, Innovex prices are lower than the big names’ comparable balls.

Generally I put balls into three rough categories: the rocks that are hard and tend to go far with little to no touch around the greens, the balls that are less hard and have some touch around the greens, and the top-of-the-line balls that are long and straight and will check back if you have some technique around the greens.

The Innovex balls are surprisingly hard to pigeonhole into one of these categories but overall I was very pleased with how they performed. I found them both to be long and straight off the driver, with the e-motion being even more so. With my irons, both felt really good with the v-motion having a softer feel, and more grab on the greens when chipping. While neither checked quite as much as my Calloway Tour i(z), the v-motion has more than enough bite for the courses I play.

Even though I did not perform any “scientific tests”, I played the v-motion right alongside my Callaway Tour i(z) and Pro V1x , and did not see any loss of performance . . . so at $15 less per dozen, the v-motion is an excellent high end ball.

As for the e-motion, most golfers will find it a great value for outstanding performance. The reality is that any mid to high handicapper is just throwing money away with a $40/dozen ball. On the other hand, being too frugal and settling for the bargain value rock is also compromising too much performance. This is where the e-motion is a great fit. At $20 per dozen, you get a high quality 3 piece ball that will perform but not break your heart when you honk it into the woods.

Three Guys take: Innovex delivers on performance and the price point is below market – it’s a buy!

You can learn more on the Innovex website.

Ok, you have not played golf in six months and the last time was no picnic; as a matter of fact it was kind of embarrassing. In three days you are scheduled to tee off with the boss, so unless you can convince Hank Haney to squeeze you in, you are royally screwed. As we all know, golf can be a frustrating game, but for the occasional golfer, it can be a downright nightmare. Well, get ready to meet Polara Golf Balls – your short term solutions for the shanks, slices and pulls.

For us golf nuts, we play regularly and take our game seriously, but for most people golf happens every couple of months (at best). I think part of the reason many people only play sparingly is because it is not much fun when it requires a dozen balls to get through a round. While Polara golf balls will not fix your swing (and technically not USGA approved for sanctioned tournaments) they will dramatically reduce your misses which means you can start hitting out of the fairway more than the trees. So if you have become frustrated with the game, Polara golf balls might be just the solution you are looking for.

Here is how Polara explains how they work:

The secret behind the self correcting antislice golf ball technology is all in the dimple pattern. Straighter shots are a result of two factors: lower lift and a preferred spin-axis

1) Lower Lift: The golf balls have shallower dimples around the equator and deeper dimples on each pole which produces significantly lower lift (and lower drag as well) than a normal golf ball. This reduction in lift translates directly into a reduction of the force tending to cause the ball to curve from a straight trajectory, resulting in a hook or slice.

2) Preferred spin-axis: The Polara’s unique dimple pattern also results in a moment of inertia (MOI) asymmetry. By removing more dimple volume from the polar regions adjacent to the low-dimple-volume band, the weight distribution of the ball is modified and the resulting ball exhibits an MOI difference between the poles-horizontal (PH) and other orientations. This results in a “preferred” spin axis going through the poles of the ball. This preferred spin-axis tends to reduce hooks or slices when the golf ball is struck in a manner which would normally cause “side-spin” or tilting of the spin-axis.

Tired of this 2nd shot (or 4th)?

In short, we think that you’ll have a lot of fun playing these balls if you are an occasional golfer who prefers to play from the short grass more than you are concerned with meeting USGA Tournament guidelines. In today’s world of golf improving equipment, I see the Polara ball as just another way to help your ball striking. Heck, if they bring more fun to your game then I say “go for it”!

You can learn more about Polara Golf Balls on their website.

Three Guys Golf Blog talk Taylormade Penta Golf balls: I don’t profess to be an expert on golf balls, but the way I see it, they fall into three categories:  rocks, average and professional.  Typical rocks are your Top Flight XL, Raw or anything you get at Walmart. While they may be cheap, I see no reason to ever play this type of ball unless you are planning on losing at least six per round.

The mid-range balls are anything in the $18 to $24 style.  One of my favorite mid-range balls is the Callaway Diablo.  While it is a two piece ball, I find it to be fairly soft with better than average distance. In fact, I believe it is very comparable to the Titlist NXT Tour which runs about $10 more per dozen.  This is my winter ball.

The top end obviously includes Titlist Pro V1.  Clearly a great ball but at $50 per dozen you don’t want to honk more than one per round into the woods or lake.  Plus, I find that playing a Pro V1 can add stress to any shot that includes water or other hazard.  Really, who needs that on top of the regular stress.  Recently, I found a great alternative to the Pro V1.  The Taylormade Penta.  A really nice ball and with the current buy 2 dozen get 1 free promotion, they are a steal.  Unless you are a scratch golfer I would dare you to tell the difference between the Penta and a Pro V.

Whatever your choice, I would recommend avoiding the rocks and play with a ball that says “I have game”.  Every little bit of extra confidence is worth a partial stroke so playing a ball that you are comfortable with is a must.  Also, try to find a ball you like and stick with it.  You would never switch out drivers every hole so why switch out a ball?