Big Dog , Chairman – Barking Bush Country Club
Not Your Ball is a three piece surlyn golf ball, something I recently learned upon receiving a half dozen in the mail. My friend Tito (chihuahua) had been talking them up for weeks. Unfortunately, given his slight accent and penchants for spicy tex-mex cuisine, my hopes and dreams were crushed upon opening them to discover that they were not, in fact, Nacho Balls.
After recovering from my brief culinary disappointment, I quickly became amused by the fact that the Not Your Ball guys had found a humorous solution to the age old problem of distinguishing between your ball and that of your playing partner (or in Tito’s case, between his ball and the guy’s in the next fairway or two over) by slapping a bold NOT YOUR BALL logo and text on the cover.
NYB is a DTC (direct to consumer) company started by some pals who sling good quality balls at a great price as a side hustle. They pride themselves on bringing good vibes to your game. But these are more than just a gimmick ball; they’ve got some performance chops, even earning inclusion in MyGolfSpy’s 2023 industry leading Ball Test. As a mid compression (71) surlyn covered ball, they won’t top out on ball speed or spin like a urethane covered ball, but at $27/dozen, they will provide you a heck of a bang for your buck. Let’s be clear, any lacking ball speed or spin with these balls is down to your sub-tour level swing.
Personally, I didn’t see any distance loss with these balls off the tee (and you know the Big Dog packs that 112 plus MPH driver swing speed). In fact, I saw few more yards on my iron shots down to the lower spin and higher launch. Around the green, these were as good as I could reasonably expect. They worked great on my typical bump and runs and checked well enough on chips. I did see a bit more roll-out from the sand, but on the other hand, the covers held up better than urethane. Feel wise, they hit the sweet spot with a satisfying thwack off the tee, a good smush with the irons, and a softer touch with the putter. However, the best feeling from a NYB is the one you get when you shank one into the lake and realize you just saved $2.50 versus a Pro V. I really enjoyed the dual ball alignment markers – a standard line right of the logo and “NOT YOUR BALL” printed at 90 degrees from the line offering the ability to point one at the hole and still have a visual cue for squaring your putter face.
MyGolfSpy’s robot numbers confirmed what I found – that these balls can hang with the big boys. The unique combination of mid compression, three layer design, and surlyn cover make the NYB’s stand out from two piece surlyn covered balls and puts them amongst it with lower compression urethane balls like the Callaway’s Chrome Soft or the Bridgestone Tour B RX. Unless you’re a tour pro, Not Your Balls will do what you need at a price you can afford and may just bring some good vibes to your next round.
* While the balls for this review were purchased, the gents at NYB were kind enough to throw me a discount code which saved me a few bucks.