Tiger Woods. A fan's scary pencil drawing.

Scary, somewhere between Jerry Seinfeld & the one off  'Friends' who dated Chandler.

Polara Ultimate Straight Golf Balls - On Test

Polara Ultimate Straight golf balls. Okay, straight off the bat, these balls are illegal to use in any tournaments, and are designed for recreational golfers. I tested these balls over three 18 hole rounds.

Click picture to go to Polara Website for info

They do what they say on the tin, they are very, very straight off the tee, and handily have an alignment arrow that should be pointed at where you want the ball to go. This can create a few problems, especially if you have poor alignment in the first place! If you are aiming left, they go left, it's worth giving yourself a double check on the tee just to make sure it's pointing down the fairway. Also you have to lift the ball on the fairway to realign the arrow for your next shot, which is of course illegal, unless you are playing Winter rules. If you don't realign the arrow, they are supposed to behave more like a normal ball & react accordingly, they sort of did, but still had a massive run out when they landed. You can adjust your landing zone to accomodate the run. I initially found the ball to be quite hard and unresponsive, & the noticeable lack distance on slight mis-hits (but still straight) didn't instil me with confidence standing over it on the fairway. The Polara is also difficult to get airborne with a 10.5 degree driver (but it does run a mile when it lands), so I think a 12-14 degree loft would be a better option. Which again makes me think it is aimed at the high handicap player. I did find however, if you tee it slightly higher and hit it harder you could get it out there.

The Ultimate Straight golf balls are not designed for better players, this technology was mainly created for those who have an issue with the dreaded slice. The technology works on hookers as well, eliminating up to 75% of all wayward ball movement. (depending on how bad your swing is)

In conclusion they are ultimately for 20+ hcp players who maybe play with their pals a few times a year, and are not bothered by feel & spin, only by how many balls they lose. The feedback is almost non-existent and clunky  around the greens, & they performed poorly off wedge and putter faces compared to say Titleist NXT, SOLO or a SRIXON soft feel. All of which are considerably cheaper than the £29.99 per dozen for the Polara's. Fun but not for regular golfers.

Click picture for Soft Feel info @ bargain price of £12.95 Free Shipping!

These are the balls I use as a staple throughout Summer & Winter. I have also tried the new Srixon tri-speed £22.99, which is a three piece ball designed for all types of golfers, but is of course a tenner per dozen more than the soft feel, and it doesn't seem a lot different to me.

Click picture for NXT Tour info @£22.99

I used the NXT Tour when I first started playing and it is a great ball for a mid handicap player, providing a cheaper alternative to the Titleist Pro V1 and Pro V1x. The NXT provided a great feel and a great explosion of the driver face. I just happened to get a job lot of Srixon soft feels and loved them!

Click picture for Taylormade Burner info TP @ £21.99 

Being a long term Taylormade fan I tried various types of their balls and found these to be excellent value, very similar to their high end Penta balls and the NXT Tour.