Catching up on the latest golf equipment to hit the market - or coming soon. Let's start with the dimpleless golf ball, the Caesar:
Caesar Golf Ball
What? A golf ball without dimples?
You heard right. It's the Caesar, made by Caesar Golf Company, and although it looks pretty odd sitting on a tee with its smooth surface, it is "legal" according to USGA and R&A specifications.
So what's the point of a dimpleless golf ball? The Caesar is aimed at golfers willing to trade distance for accuracy. The golf ball's smooth surface is designed to greatly reduce sidespin, and thus greatly reduce slicing and hooking. In fact, one of the taglines being used for the Caesar golf ball is "No dimples, no hooks, no slices."
"There is a Neanderthal mentality in the industry about clubbing the ball as far as possible," Vin Lee, CEO of Caesar Golf Company, is quoted as saying in a company news release. "Accuracy takes a back seat. With the Caesar, the dimples are gone. So are hooks and slices."
Accuracy on shots with woods and irons isn't the only aim of the Caesar. The company is also touting the ball for producing truer rolls on chips and putts. A smooth surface, the company says, means the Caesar golf ball is less likely to lose its line when rolling on the putting surface.
But aren't dimples on golf balls in the first place because they help the ball go farther? Yes. The aerodynamics created by dimples in the surface of a golf ball keep the ball in the air longer, making the ball fly farther.
Removing dimples decreases distance. Caesar Golf Company acknowledges this, although the company, as of this writing, has not released any internal or independent test results pertaining to the performance of the Caesar, whether in distance performance or slice and hook reduction. (The ball is still in production, not expected to hit retail markets until later in 2007.)
However, other companies have done testing on dimpled-vs.-dimpleless balls. In testing conducted by Titleist on otherwise identical balls, a dimpleless ball flew only half as far as a "regular" golf ball.
As noted, no test results are yet available on the Caesar, but the company has indicated it believes distance performance will be better than 50-percent of a regular ball. The company notes the Caesar should produce more roll, for example.
The company also did some informal testing at the PGA Merchandise Show in late January, using a Zelocity Pure Launch Swing Lab, and some people came away surprised that the ball traveled farther than expected.
"Frankly, I was surprised," Brian Grogan, Sales Director for Zelocity, is quoted by Caesar. "I expected a significant drop in arc and distance. Our preliminary tests showed that is not necessarily the case."
The company also reported following the merchandise show:
Caesar balls were also used in the Putting Arc, a training device intended to help golfers learn to putt more effectively. Joey Hamilton, VP, said the Caesar balls hit the cup every time with the stationary robotic arm, whereas other major brands, with dimple geometry, often were slightly off center."Clearly the Caesar balls were perfectly centered, and the other balls were not," Hamilton said. "That indicates the Caesar is going to be great on the green."
PGA Pro and National Long Drive Champion Ben Witter played a round of golf with the Caesar after the show. He found it was great for chip shots and putting but that he needed to launch it higher and plan for more roll than carry when hitting his driver.
"I had to adjust my thinking a bit to make it work effectively," Witter said. "Because it is not affected by spin, it performed much better into the wind. And the ball does actually have 'spin,' evidenced by the way it reacts on chip and pitch shots, but that same spin has virtually no impact on how it flies. That's pretty cool. I think it has a niche market for which it will be a very neat ball."
Here is one of the ways Caesar expects its dimpleless golf ball to be used: A golfer comes to a par-3, or a short par-4, or a hole that is very tight where the golfer is willing to trade distance for accuracy. That golfer switches to the Caesar golf ball and, while his buddies are spraying shots off into the trees, he's short but straight, all the way to the hole.
The company also expects the ball to be used on short courses (par-3s, executive courses, or 18-hole courses that are simply, well, short), and to be used for chipping and putting. Keep in mind, however, if you play one ball to the green, then switch to the Caesar for chipping or putting, you'll be in violation of Rule 15-1: "A player must hole out with the ball played from the teeing ground ..."
For now, the closest Caesar comes to indicating distance performance for the ball is this nugget from one of the company's press releases: "Par 3 courses average between 100-250 yards from the tee to the pin. The Caesar hits easily in the middle of that range and higher and eliminates hooks and slices."
A distance version of the Caesar golf ball is expected to be introduced later on.
For more, see the Caesar Golf Web site.
