1998 Golf Ball Vs 2018 Golf Ball (20 Year Test) 

Seriously this is awesome! Huge shoutout to the person that gave you that set of balls! How cool

You have to give the edge to the Professional 90 because of its party popper effect lol. Great video Rick! Definitely take them out on the course as well!

I do believe the 90 corresponds with the compression. I'd like to see if the Pro 100 would increase the distance? I bet there would be a difference. Great video!

And thats why I have no problem buying last years ProVs for 10 bucks cheaper a dozen.

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I really like these comparison videos.. it's interesting that all things considered the difference over 20 years isn't as dramatic as you would think...well done. The driver comparison videos were my favorite of these.

I'm always playing balls that I find in the weeds.... I'd be interested to know how the weathering effects performance.

Fun video, thanks! I remember playing balata balls and if you thinned them, they’d smile back at you. If you can just get the inner core with the elastic and then cut part of the band, it is cool to see how it unwinds!

You should do the reverse of this test. 90’s clubs on the pro v1 and pro 90.

Can't believe this video I was cleaning out the garage last week and found two sleeves of professionals Was going to bring one to my game on Wednesday to have some fun Awesome video Rick A classic Cheers

I suspect you would have seen more comparable results with the pro 100. Your swing speed would fit better into it's compression range. But, the Pro V was designed to do just what you testing shows which is get better distance on longer shots while maintaining spin and control. It's just a better golf ball thru technology.

Rick...this is a phenomenal video! I learned so much from this experiment. I have been discussing the golf ball debate with several people and this has been the best example of the lack of evidence that exists to “roll” the golf ball back. Excellent research and thanks for posting the video!

Your reaction when you cut up the 90s was priceless!..What’s the drawing for?

Great video Rick very on point with the debate about distance. 11 yards on driver in 20 years wow that's earth shattering progress!😂. It proves the r&a have done a good job. Test no 2 You could test old wood driver and new driver vs /old ball. Then we can see what had the biggest change in Tec over 20years. 😁😁

Very interesting Rick would like to see more content like this , old clubs with new balls maybe , so folks who can't afford expensive clubs can get a good idea of the performance they could expect , especially those new to the game , great vids mate 😃👍

Small correction, the pro-90s were a urethane cover. Also, something to keep in mind is that wound balls do lose elasticity over time from being in tension, and so they lose a little ball speed after a couple of years. I think they were about 5 yards difference in carrying for most pros drivers when the first prov1 came out vs the pro 90.

Interesting test Rick. I would have thought the 90 would have spun more. I used to play the 90 and the 100 back in the day.

The ball before the pro 90, the titleist 384 tour balata would smile sweetly at you after a thin! The pro 90 is pretty much the same ball. :) I used to lust after these balls when i was 16, and if i found one on the course - wow, same with the maxfli ht 100 balata.

Thanks for the flash back ! I started back in the late 80s playing and remember the liquid core when they came out . Was really surprised by the little difference of distance by a 20 year old golf ball . Computer technology in golf has been the biggest advancement for swing and golf club advancement along with materials that can be used now that simply were not available years ago

Great video. 30 years ago as 16 and 17 year old, I played with the Titleist Professional and at some point, the Titleist Tour Prestige. My driver was the Wilson Staff real wood driver with an X100 shaft, and I hit the ball about 300 yards. Fast forward to today, at the age of 47, I play with a modern Titleist Driver, a modern stiff shaft, a modern Golf Ball, and I am still hitting the ball about 300 yards (on my good days). I’d say a slight drop from my younger self. I will say, when I was my strongest, with the most modern equipment, I was smashing the ball well over 300 yards. Technology has kept me in the game longer and I believe that is true with everyone.

Those professional 90's were about 12 quid for a sleeve. I hammered many of them over the hedges as a junior. The tour prestige were even better

Have some Titleist Pro V1 from 2005, unused. Have done head to head comparisons with new version and..... No difference!! If you want can send you a sleeve Regards

The best part of this video was Rick's reaction

Nicklaus played in a tournament at the course I lived at growing up in the mid 70's (so 40 years ago) and one of the holes was a 90* dogleg right over a lake where you had 2 options. From the back tees (slightly elevated) it was a 230yd carry to clear the water going the "short way" (leaving you about 170yds in) or a 280yd carry to carry the water going the "long way" (leaving you about 80yds in). We were wondering if any of the pros would challenge the "long way" but Nicklaus answered that question for us during the practice round where he hit tee shots each way and cleared the 280 carry comfortably (with steel shafts, persimmon wood and balata cover ball). Point being that even way back then there were golfers that could drive it 300yds, just not as many as today. The sweet spot on a persimmon driver was a lot smaller and even a slightly off center shot decreased distance significantly compared to today's clubs. The made some difference, more I think due to spin rates (especially side spin) than raw distance.

we used to pull them balls to bits in school and the teacher said "That liquid is poisonous" yes we got bollocked

Looks like they still have the same golf box designer at Titleist

Rick Shiels your work on golf is legendary mate, I'm a golfer myself with a handicap of 0.7 and love watching your videos and tips. Keep it up mate.

Ah, yes. I remember the 'ol Professional 90 well...never cut one open though.

Wait! Is it easier to 3-putt with the ProV1 or Pro90? Great video, Rick.

The Professional 90 exploding was maybe the funniest thing I’ve seen in here since eaglemoose hahaha great video Rick!

The old Pro 90's were at the top last century but I preferred the Maxfli Revolution wound ball. Used it until they replaced it with the Revolution Solid. Thumbs up if you miss the feel of the wound golf balls!

Great video Rick. I started shouting at you when you started cutting the Pro 90 ball like that. I knew exactly what was going to happen. When I was a kid we use to cut the cover off. Spend ages undoing the rubber band to get to the inner core which we would throw at our mates. Boy did they sting when they hit ya.

Hi rick, Can you maybe do a test between affordable launch monitors, Like The flightscope mevo, ES 14 and ES 16 and Voice caddie SC100 and SC200. Would love to see that to see which one i should buy.

Put the 11 yards you get on the driver with the new ball plus the yards you get on a new driver compared to a 20-year-old driver and you’re talking about 20 yards in difference. That’s huge

My dog used to love bolleta (sp?) balls, she could get the cover off in moments then watch the bands break. The one thing that you can't account for is the aging of the materials. Even though the elastic bands are protected from the environment they can still degrade. That might explain the apparent change in coefficient of restitution. The other thing is the advances in technology of the dimples. There has been a lot of science put into that part of the ball in 20 years. I remember playing balls that were slightly misshapen then finish them off with cuts. I bet the cost to build the modern ball is much less then the 20 year old ball and Titlest has a very nice profit margin. Thanks for the video, well done.

This inspired me to do my own experiment. I took some old Tour Balata balls that were miraculously still in good condition to my local training facility, along with some brand new ProV1 balls. I found a relatively flat area on the practice green and ran my tests. First, I tried putting from 30 feet. I took 50 putts with each set of balls, aiming 10-15 feet to the right of the hole. Not one in 100 went in! Then I moved to just 3 feet from the hole, still on a flat green, and took another 50 putts with each set, aiming just 10 inches to the right of the hole. Once again, to my astonishment, none of the balls found the bottom of the cup! Conclusion: golf ball technology has not yet solved the problem of bad putting. :-) Joking aside, thanks, Rick! Truly enjoyed the video and analysis. I do wonder whether there would be any difference if you had started with the longer clubs and ended with the wedge. Issue being that the wedge shaves the ball covers more, causing that fuzz you pointed out, so the balls weren't totally smooth during the driving tests. Ball manufacturers make such a big deal about dimple design, it would have been interesting to see the results with pristine balls. For that matter, would also be interesting to compare before and after - pristine vs fuzzy - to see if there's any noticeable impact. Keep up the great work!

Oh my god I laughed right along with you. Great video Rick

That was definitely one of the most interesting tests you did on your channel so far. Proves once again, that the technology "evolution" every company claims every year is mostly marketing bullshit. Yes, 11 yards more carry is a noticeable difference, but that might also partly be due to the ball lying around for 20 years. Most elastic materials degrade over time. I would also like to see you do a test of a cheap two piece ball against a ProV. And if he is up for it, maybe with Rob Potter on board as well, because it would be interesting to see how club head speed plays into that as well.

When you cut into the Pro 90, that was one of the purest laughters ever! 🤣

The look on your face when the Pro 90 was cut was priceless. Too funny.

You made me giggle like a little boy! Interesting test, thanks Rick.

This video will be Exhibit A for the USGA and R&A for dialing back golf balls 😔

Rick - One of your greatest tests ever! I would say the difference may be even smaller than you think. Although they were "brand-new-straight-from-the-box", they sat on the shelf for 20 years. I expect at least a part of the lower ball speed is purely due to the materials aging. A suggestion - do a drop test with them (that is, just drop them all from a set height, say 5 ft, and accurately measure the rebound. Another suggestion, go get a 20-year-old driver and hit them, just to see the combined effect of old club hitting old ball vs. new club hitting new ball. Then do the same thing deliberately missing the sweet spot to see how much protection modern equipment gives players (the idea there being that pro golfers may be hitting it further these days partly because they feel they can take a more aggressive cut at the ball than pros could in 1998).

Great video. I just cleaned out my boyhood room at my parents' house. Found a pack of Callaway Rule 35.s, both Red and Blue. And a pack of "British Open Champion: Tiger Woods"-themed Nikes. Think I'll play the Callaways. The others might be worth some ducats one day. What's amazing is how golf balls have become only a tad longer for drivers and contain more spin. But when you add ball development (plus the advancements in technology with clubs), that's where you see the 40-50+ yard increases.

Titleist 90 weren’t the pinnacle. Pinnacle were the pinnacle

Ok Rick, hit a 20 year old driver with a 20 year old ball Vs todays driver and ball.

That was a very enlightening comparison. I actually would have thought your driver distance would have dropped off even more considering the age difference. It would be interesting to see the old Balata ball tested next. Those things did not have durability what so ever, they ripped apart after 9 holes if you had aggressive grooves on your wedges.

Yes, would love to see you use the 90 on a course. Loved the reaction to the 90 cutting.

7:30 to save your time

Roll the ball back eh Jackie boy.

I was in high school from 1994-1998, I played varsity golf all 4 years. The last 2 years the Professionals had been released, the top end ball before the Professional was the Tour Balata. The Professional was a huge step up in terms of durability and distance over the Tour Balata. The Balatas were insanely soft and after 3-4 holes of normal golf shots, the ball would already start becoming out of round. But nothing felt better off a putter face than the Titleist Tour Balata, the Professional was definitely a step down, but there wasn’t much on the market comparable. My Senior year I was caddying at the country club that also happened to be my high school team’s home course. So I was making pretty good money, so before every home match I would buy a sleeve of Titleist Professional 100’s. The retail price for sleeves at that time was $11.00. As caddies we would get them for $10.00. Over $3/ball back then was kind of ridiculous. My Dad who was always pretty bad at golf, pretty much always got the cheapest balls he could find, so he was getting double 15 packs of Pinnacles or Top Flight XLs for the same price I was paying for 3 Titleist Professionals! He couldn’t understand the concept.

Great to see. The real difference was how much of line the Pro 90 would go versus the newer balls, they typically spun much more. I still have some left over in the box myself. Nice review

Now cut the clubs lengths off to 1998 basic specs.

1998 Titleist Professional 90 is the best ball ever

good video...and YES please compare them on the golf course. I've actually done this test recently with a Professional 90 (not in new condition)... The ball performed remarkably well and I liked the way the ball felt off the club face and putter face BETTER than the Pro V1.

Loved using the Pro 90s during my High School playing days. Miss the balata golf balls too

6 yards on paper isn't much, but when you gap your clubs 10-15 yards, you are talking half a club difference. While it is a ~10 yard difference with the driver, 3MPH doesn't seem like there is much to dial back. If they think the current ball goes too far, maybe, as many have said, consider the course. Fairways that run out 50 yards aren't the norm for your average golfer. I think the biggest change in distance really comes from science (launch monitors, optimal data), and proper/better technique. Back in the day, you had to rely on mediocre video, but you now have high def, slow mo video, and data that optimizes launch conditions so that you can get the most out of your swing, not to mention the courses that play FIRM and fast.

Next go back to that "shop" you got the cheap driver at and buy the best bargain price balls, lets see if we cheap out on balls how much we are then llosing out on over a prov1

Really love these kinds of tests! Great content as usual, Rick!

hi Rick, thanks for the video this brought back some really fond and cool memories for me. no so much as playing with these balls as it was cutting them up with a hacksaw ( this was a very delicate procedure and only attempted by the brave lol)to get the elastic bands out of them. the core used to be a rubber ball that would bounce fabulously down the road to the delight of all involved. the elastic was used to make catapults for target shooting or to get that elusive bird in the tree.i used to play when i was a junior but almost never with titliest balls( they were to expensive). to have a Titliest ball, was like a gem in your bag, and was only used on the putting green. all the best Rick

I really thought that the differens would have been greater!

Shows how the argument of golf ball advacement is killing the professional game is rubbish. Obv technology in all aspects like driver heads etc is part of it. Its called progress!!! Let the pros hit it as far as they can because maybe thats why there pros lol. Go out enjoy your round & enjoy watching the pros smash it for miles

What a test that was. It is realy nice to see, how much talk there is even in the R&A about length etc. and the results show that there is a reality.

I did this test with my vintage ball/clubs that I used back in my youth and was blown away by the feel that golfers have lost with the modern golf balls. I totally forgot how great the golf ball performed and felt from back then. I have started using the old Titleist Tour Professional/Prestige 90 and have had phenomenal improvement in scoring . I'll sacrifice a few yards difference in length over the gained feel any day. I no longer have to question whether attacking the pin is a smart choice. I only wished Titleist and the other manufacturers would take this into consideration and bring back a new "vintage" ball.

so, anyone else here that isn't a golfer nor are they really into the game but, still came from that Vox video anyways just to see what it's all about?! or is it just me?... LMAO

Do the same test with a 1998 driver...

This is probably your best test yet. These are the types of things I want to know. I appreciate the reviews of clubs, but the head to head with clubs and balls are my favorite.

Blast from the past! I remember as a kid going on the golf courses after they closed and looking for golf balls and when we'd find the balatas and the pros, we felt like we struck gold.

So really all this talk about the ball making the golf course too small is true but only to a minor degree. What the PGA tour needs is more wind, tighter fairways, longer rough and most importantly non athletic golfers. No more working out in the gym, no more custom fit clubs, no more green books (giving info on slope, pace etc). I recommend tighter fairways, hard sand bunkers, no caddies giving advice (carry your own clubs like the rest of us), time penalty’s and then let’s talk about golf balls.

Rick!!! First time commenting on a video...Love the new animations! I'm always telling people to check out your videos about certain products while I'm at work! Your reviews are always fantastic! Love seeing stuff like this about old (and any) technologies too! Much respect from the US!!

I've always liked mizuno balls. First round I ever did without losing a ball was with a mizuno. Always get the sound of a good shot and good feel through club when they are hit.

When I played on my high school golf team in the late 1970’s our coach gave us one new Titleist Balata ball to start our matches. It usually lasted about three holes because one slightly thin shot it would cut the cover to the rubber bands…..we called them “ Smiles”

I loved the Pro 90s, especially with my wedges. I remember shredding the covers, especially with my new (at that time) Cleveland 588 wedges.

Awesome video! For the past few years I’ve looked forward to your videos and all of your review videos. Keep rocking !

As a kid I remember lighting these wound balls on fire. The rubber bands would burn and snap, keeping the ball hopping around. Great fun.

Excellent, metrics based testing. Complete with a money shot at the end! Well done Mr. Shiels!

Rick, loved this comparison of old golf balls vs. new golf balls. Great video.

The introduction of the ProV was like a revelation. No more out of round or lumps on a ball. I was too cheap to buy the ProV's so finding them early on was like finding gold for me. Then other companies came out with similar ones and they all played about the same which was great. I was raised on the red and black Titleists of the 1960's and man you could really put lumps and even cuts in those. People still love that balata feel but, sorry, I'll take a ProV.

The thing I took away most wasn't the difference in spin rate or distance exactly, but in the standard deviation. The numbers show that not only have the balls gotten a bit longer and spin a bit more, but are more consistent. For example the Pro 90's had around 200 rpms more in standard deviation for the wedge and iron shots.

Oh boy! Old 90 compression balatas. We'd use them in the winter, and the 100 compression version when it was warm. What a fantastic ball that was.

Yeaaa man. Old school!! Gives more of an idea why club improvements are more of an issue over ball!!

It's really a tribute to Titleist manufacturing processes. The design of liquid and wound rubber bands from 20 years ago almost matching today's technology is astounding. I guess that's what's made Titleist the number one name in golf. I remember when they came out with the 384 tour. And when they said Acushnet on them. Wow, I'm getting old.

Rick your laugh is CONTAGIOUS! I’m crying from laughing so hard 😂

I used the Professional 90 ball exclusively back in the day. They were an amazing golf ball. Loved their performance and helped my game considerably.

Really interesting results and just shows what has really changed on tour over the last 20 years...the players.

wow. when i first started playing junior competitions i used titleist hvc 90's and loved them. Then when i got a bit better i started using titleist pts 90's - and they were lovely.

I had my first hole in one with the Titleist professional a great ball. I played the Slazenger balata before that & I still have some as well as Titleist balata balls.

My friends and I play an old school round once a year where we use NOS Titleist Tour Balatta 100 balls. We shoot the same scores as usual but notice more spin with the balatta. You can spin a wedge off the green even without a touring pro swing. The balls are delicate though. Even good hits create wear and you can see groove marks on the ball. The biggest benefit of new balls to amateurs would seem to be the durability. The balattas do feel great with the putter!

I do remember using the Professional 90 back in the day. Great ball back then. Please take them out and use them on the course! Would love to see how they do on the course!

Really interesting video, Rick. I'm a wee bit older than you (40, started playing in '86 age 8). I can remember the Professional 90 being an absolute game changer. When my mates and I started getting good (into the single figures) we all used Titleist Tour 90 or Tour 100 balatas. Interesting that from your perspective you recall the durability of the Pro90s as poor. For us is was out of this world. If you pured a wedge with a Tour 90 you would scuff it like crazy. You were absolutely gutted if you thinned one because you just knew you had killed it and when you got to it it would have a huge smile in it. It was pretty easy to thin one hard enough to cut right through to the windings. When the Pro90s came out we considered them pretty much indestructible but with much the same feel around the greens as a Tour 90 but also with the distance of the harder PTS type balls. I'd love to see the difference between a Tour90/100 and a ProV1. Thanks for the vid though.

Loved this video Rick! I used to play the Titleist Professional. Damn that was a blast for the past down ole memory lane. Thanks for the flashback Rick!

Excellent comparison , Launch monitor , Fitness and club head speed have have more to do with the distance increase than the ball , been watching traditional 5 iron against game improvement 7 iron all brilliant comparisons

Amazing Rick that old P 90 looked to be filled with feathers and a weird liquid filled sphere and yes I enjoyed using them back then. Memory tells me the P 90 having lots of feel while other balls felt like rocks. Thanks Rick

Never played the professional, but I do remember playing the tour prestige back in the day. Great video

Brilliant Rick. I'm a bit too tight to spend so much on golf balls though. I bought 50 Titleist Velocity balls grade B for £16 and 100 Callaway mixed model grade B also for £16. That's the cost of a round during twilight hours at my local course. To me, the quality is as if I'd hit a new ball a few times. If I had access to such hi-tech equipment I'd do a video like you to see if they compare differently to any pearl grade balls! A loss of 10yrds, to me, is inconsequential if it is consistent. I've grown to be a golf ball snob in that I wouldn't play a pinnacle or topflight ball unless it was over water... But I don't think I'd ever pay more than £1 for a new ball.

I played those on my high school team. We got a free sleeve of whichever ball we wanted before a match. Used the tour balatas until the Professional came out and Tiger was playing those so the choice was easy. Awesome video. Expected the difference to be greater

Can’t wait to get back onto the course. It’s finally starting to warm up!

I remember to did the same thing about 30 years ago, the liquid centre shot out onto my Moms kitchen ceiling. I had to do the washing up for the rest of month!!! Good times.

Amazing video of comparing old vs new and the differences between them. Keep these coming and enjoy the Masters!

I have 2 sleeves of Titleist from the 90’s.. I got to check the dates!! Gr8 video!!