Runs with Dolphins
Pinnacle Rush Golf Ball
This is the story of my journey to find the best women’s golf balls on the market.
I love pink so when I started golfing I immediately gravitated to pink balls, bright pink, pale pink, pinky/violet, etc. Now this is a bit like picking a car by choosing your favourite colour but hey what did I know about golf balls anyway? I thought that it was easier to see the bright pink on the course and most of the players I play golf with use white balls so I could easily spot my pink one in the crowd.
After a few games I researched what the golf experts recommend are the best women’s golf balls especially for golfers with a slower swing and not much distance in their drive. Now granted this was a personal search and will probably not be relevant to all women golfers but I do want to highlight my research and rationale for choosing the golf balls that I now use regularly with some success. I willingly agree that this decision is not carved in stone and could very well change as my game improves and as manufacturers continue to improve how they manufacture golf balls.
According to Golf Digest “the average woman golfer swings a driver 60 to 65 miles per hour, or one-third slower than the average man. Her angle of attack is more shallow, and her typical ball flight is low and has little spin …” Golf ball manufacturers have designed balls with a soft often larger inner core that will compress with the slightest bit of pressure so when the slower swinging golfer hits the ball it carries further. The manufacturers also added a softer more aerodynamic cover with approximately a 310-320 dimple pattern. The aim is to give the ball better feel and more lift so that it carries further. *
All of this sounds good and I tried a number of these softer ladies’ balls: Bridgestone’s Lady Precept, Callaway’s SuperSoft, Srixon Soft Feel, Wilson’s Hope (for breast cancer research), Nike Power Distance. I probably liked the Nike the best but I still wasn’t getting very much distance on my drive. Some of the problem, of course, is my rotation but I just felt that I should be able drive the ball further down the fairway.
Fast forward to fall when the leaves start to litter the grass and now my beloved pink ball was getting very hard to find even when it was in the middle of fairway. It was time to move to a white ball. I bought a regular white Pinnacle Rush that is designed for distance but features a slightly lower compression core. Pinnacle also makes a Soft version that has even more compression. A durable ionomer cover is supposed to boost initial velocity and minimize spin. The Pinnacle brand is owned by the same company that owns Titleist so they definitely knows how to make golf balls. The arguably top ball on the market is the Titleist ProV1 which is made with three-part construction. In the 1970s Achushnet, the company that owns both the Titleist and Pinnacle brands, was the first company to design and manufacture a two-part ball, the Pinnacle, for distance, speed and affordability. Now two-part construction is how all of the softer balls. **
I immediately started hitting the ball further and it felt better off the tee. I like the Pinnacle Rush so much that I had some printed with the Runs with Dolphins logo to help me identify them on the course. At this point I will stick with the Pinnacle Rush at least until my twelve dozen balls are scattered over golf courses from Toronto to Portugal. After that I’ll reconsider my choices.
*Sternberg, Stina, Golf Digest, May 2010 Women’s Golf Balls
**Stevens, Peter, Golf Link, Pinnacle Golf Ball History, Pinnacle Golf Ball History