Golf Today Equipment Special - Spring 2000

Wilson Smart Core Balata Distance ball

While Titleist and Top-Flite await the reaction of golfers to the Callaway Rule 35 ball, Wilson are quietly sneaking up on the blind side. Just as  Bridgestone proved with Faldo and Nick Price it only takes a few star names to provide lifelong credibility, so Wilson's ball pedigree was done no harm when John Daly took the Open with the Ultra Competition at St Andrews, in 1995. That ball was based on a conventional two-piece 'distance design' with a thin cover of urethane to create a soft feel for the short game.

With their new Smart Core ball, Wilson have moved the urethane to the core with the aim of creating a ball that reacts to different types of shot. The latest addition to the stable is the 'Balata Distance' - previously an oxymoron in golf equipment terms, we suggested to Wilson.

"Yes, many avid golfers could not play a balata ball because it was necessary to sacrifice distance for feel," agrees Luke Reese, Vice President of Wilson Golf Worldwide. But Smart Core technology has changed all that.  A wider range of golfers can now play a balata ball; our design gives them the distance they have been missing."

When pressed for figures Wilson claim the new ball is 16% softer and three yards longer than its previous best-seller, the Staff Titanium Balata, courtesy of the double-cover construction [a magnesium inner cover for durability and the pure balata outer cover for feel].

"Our R&D team in the United States surprised everyone with the use of urethane in the core in this series," adds Angus Moir, Wilson's European Director. "The result is a golf ball that proves 'smarter' than any of its leading rivals, because it generates greater distance off the tee but still delivers a softer feel for the short game."

The ball joins the existing family of Smart Cores: pure yardage junkies will no doubt still prefer the Straight Distance for which Moir claims an extra 12 yards length and 28% greater softness than its rivals in the other premium two-piece distance ball market.

Price (for sleeve of three): Balata Distance: £7.99; Straight Distance: £6.75; Spin Distance: (£6.99); Professional Distance: (£8.25); Women's Distance: (£6.75).

Contact: 01294 316 200.