Some people think that all golf balls are the same, they couldn't be more wrong. If you don't play with a golf ball that suits your swing, then you may not be getting the most out of your game. The problem is trying to search through all of the brands to find the ball that is right for you. Here are a few tips to help you chose.

First, separate the balls into two price categories, value and performance. If you are new to the game or seem to lose golf balls easily, you probably don't want to play with a performance ball. A value ball would save you some money and at the same time give you the performance you need. As you improve your consistency you can slowly move over to a performance golf ball, and this may cut a few strokes off your score.

Golf equipment manufacturers are doing a fantastic job in passing the latest technology onto golfers. For example, some manufacturers colour code their balls as the difference between balls now, is more than just compression. These different options result in different launch conditions, ball velocity, backspin and launch angles. So now you know why professional chose their brand carefully.

So what makes the golf balls play so differently? Most balls have a dimple pattern which governs the aerodynamics. A golf ball is a sphere and so to gain more distance we have to look at the amount of drag it experiences. The majority of drag comes from the separation of airflow behind the ball and this is known as Pressing Drag. So why do dimples make the ball go further? A thin layer of air clings to the surface of the ball at the front when the ball is in flight, the dimples cause the air to cling to the surface until it reaches the rear of the ball, when it finally breaks away. This creates a narrow stream of turbulence. When a ball is struck, it nearly always spins backwards. The dimples ensure that air moves over the top of the ball, faster than the air below and like an aircraft wing, experiences lift which keeps it in flight longer.

Although round dimples were accepted as the standard, a variety of other shapes were experimented with as well. Among these were squares, rectangles and hexagons. The hexagon shape result is a lower drag than the round dimples, for example. So if your looking for more distance off the Tee, look for a ball with hexagon dimples.

If your looking for more height on your drive you will need to create more backspin, the more dimples there are on the ball the higher the ball will fly. The hook and the slice can be explained in the same way, but to reduce your hooks and slices we need to reduce the spin of the ball, this can be done by finding a ball with fewer dimples on it. Each ball has between 300 and 500 dimples in one of 6 or more designs.

The cover thickness and stiffness will alter the velocity, backspin, and launch angle. Core stiffness is another parameter to fine tune the balls response. Even, the color! Why? Black balls are consider to absorb more heat and warm the air as it flows over the surface. Try one, you never know, especially in Murcia.

What makes a premium ball worth its price? Most of the premium balls have more than just a single core and single cover. One premium ball has a soft, thin urethane cover, a surlyn mantle and a polybutidiene rubber core. This combination allows high swing speed players to have optimum driver backspin without losing backspin on their short irons. For pitching, the soft and flexible urethane cover allows the player to put enough backspin on these shots to get the ball to check.

Looking for a ball to suit your game can take time, but reading the information on the box can help to make up your mind faster. Once you have found a ball you like, try to play with it all of the time, it will lower your scores.

Nick H, Club Murcia