flashing balls..?

["Richard"]

has anyone played those balls that flash for 9 minutes after you hit it so you can easily find it? I play most of my rounds at twilight these days so when i get to the 16th hole its pretty dark. Wondering if these balls would help wihou giving up to much control or distance? Anyone use them? Can someone thing of a better idea other than playing earlier ?

[orlimar]

They are very easy to trace in the air and easy to locate. But there are four downsides:

- They s#ck performance wise, absolutely no spin. Hard as a rock, probably to make them more durable.

- Which is necessary, beacuse they don't come cheap. However, no matter how durable your flashy your ball, once you hit it in the middle of a lake, it will cost you.

- The third is a stupid design error, the designer probably either wasn't very smart or he/she doesn't play golf. When you hit the ball, it starts to flash for a fixed period of time (5 minutes or so?). However, when you've found your ball and you hit your second shot, the timer won't reset. In other words, if you hit the ball after 4 min 59 seconds, the ball will flash for one more second and then dissapear in the darkness.

- Putting is a b!tch, a flashy ball is very distracting. And again, a ball that is hard as a rock will not help you putt very well.

Other than that, it's fine. I only use them if I run out of light and I want to finish my round because of a good score. However, I won't use them when there is water near by.

["Richard"]

yeah thats what I did, got to the 16th hole and don valley in toronto and pulled it out for my drive. It didn't go as far but atleast I found it (in the other fairway) and trust me had it not been flashing to bright there is no way I would have htought to look there. I picked it up, put it my pocket and just used another ball to finnish the hole. Used it again on the next hole, picked it up before my second shot (water gaurding the hole). Its good for when you want to finnish and you aren't playing with anyone who would mind the use of a ball like that, changing balls in the middle of a hole and so on