Different ways to find the nice golf ball

Different ways to find the nice golf ball

Zach Johnson, who has a locker with his name on it at Augusta National, talked with Titleist representatives before the start of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship about changing from the 2009 version of the Titleist Pro V1x to the Tiger Woods are Making Progress just-released 2011 model.According to Titleist, the dimples on the new Pro V1x are shallower and arranged in a new pattern that helps it fly higher and reach its highest point farther down range. On paper that would be good for Zach because it would make his approach shots come down more vertically and stop faster on the famous greens at Augusta."It's not easy to make a ball change, but I don’t think it's difficult either," Johnson said that day in Marana, Ariz. "I think it's just a matter of practicing with it."Anthony Kim, the player who holds the Masters record for the most birdies made in one round—11 in 2009's second round—has a different approach.Kim, who missed a good portion of the 2010 season due to injury, switched to Nike's 20XI-s ball at the 2010 HSBC Champions in Shanghai last October."I wanted a golf ball that spins around the greens," Kim said recently. "That's the most important thing to me, really, because the [new] grooves are affecting how the ball is coming out of the rough around the greens and how the ball is checking up—or not checking up. So for me, it was just if I could putt with it and the feel I had with the longer putts and how I could spin it around the greens."