This Is The Ball Jack Wants You To Hit

Thanks to reader Phillip for the heads up on this Lawrence Donegan Guardian story. It's a MUST READ exposing what could be one of the savviest or stupidest PR moves of all time. After reading Donegan’s well reasoned assessment, my money is on stupid.

The Guardian obtained a special ball distributed by a manufacturer with one side stamped “Distance RIP” and the other side stamped “This is the ball Jack wants you to hit.” Donegan goes along as Titleist man Gary Orr plays nine holes at Loch Lomond and discusses how the Jack ball plays versus the Pro V-1 that he normally uses.

"To be honest, I would be happy to play with the old ball. Believe it or not, I like the way it feels," Orr says. "I think if you asked the guys in the locker room most of them would say the same - as long as we all played a ball with similar properties."

As I recall, various manufacturers have said that it would take as much as three years to develop a rolled back ball, yet here they are distributing one to select folks for uh, sampling? And a player says he would be happy to play it. Hmmm...