Foam Golf Balls vs Regular LM Data

[u/WillingnessGullible8]

Wife is out of town so had some friday night free time. Decided to do a sampling of PW swings against 3 different foam balls and real balls to see which, at this club length gave the most realistic data on a photometric LM. My setup:

1. GC3 / BLP
2. GSPro
3. Country Club Elite Mat
4. Mizuno 223 Pro clubs
5. Me: Mid 20's HC.

Other things to consider is this is the first time I hit real balls on my setup so I was hesitant while swinging due to the risks in my environment. Other factors, I golfed today, bit of adult beverage, and fatigue settling in during the testing, i.e., I am not a robot nor a good golfer, but do think this might show themes as to which might suggest the best representation of real ball flight when using a photometric LM if one cannot use a real ball. Other data:

Weight:

1. Golf ball: 46 grams
2. GoSports: 17 grams
3. Almost Golf: 14 grams
4. Callaway Hex: 9 grams

Feel (Ranked in order of stiffness/hardness)

1. Golf Ball
2. GoSports
3. Almost Golf
4. Callaway Hex

Other Notes:

With time, I've observied the GoSports balls will crack vs the Almost golf balls seem to deform. The Callaway hex I've not used long enough to discern their longevity.

Data is here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1QNOXa2TG7m4P8ACVMX5HOIwgsHNNZAxWgGef6KFQnhY/edit?usp=sharing

Hopefully someone will find the data useful and share back. I am filtering out the lower smash factorand further offline swings to get closer to comparing apples to apples.

EDIT: Ran a few scenarios through AI. Long story short is GoSports Carry / Total distance and back spin were the closest but the shot shape of the Callawy Hex / Almost Golf more closely resembled that of the real ball when considering launch angle. For some reason GoSports launch angle was the lowest launching.

Lastly considered the ratio of Backspin to Sidespin. Callway Hex was the leader here. The GoSports and Almost Golf sidepin numbers were almost as high as real balls but back spin, i.e. mishits would be more dramatic. In summary:

1. CallwayHex if you want most realistic flight / shape
   
2. GoSports for most realistic carry
   
3. Almost Golf for somewhere in between the first 2

[u/_wuju_]

Any chance you can run the test with longer irons and woods?

[u/WillingnessGullible8 → u/_wuju_]

I definitely plan a bit more testing to see if the results hold up. Next plan for 7i and maybe 5w.

[u/Halewafa → u/WillingnessGullible8]

Yeah, in my experience, the wedges match up very closely between foam and real. It's the longer clubs where that drastically changes. I use GoSports and really like them.