Nicklaus Golf Balls

Did you know Jack Nicklaus made golf balls?

Neither did I until I recently got the chance to test them out. And I’ve gotta say, it might be time you start paying attention, as there are some unique aspects to Nicklaus balls that could make it worth of putting in your bag.

This year after incredible amounts of testing by the one and only Jack Nicklaus, the Nicklaus companies rolled out 3 lines of golf balls: the white, the blue, and the black.

Already, they’ve done something right in making it stupid easy to figure out which balls to use.

Play from the white tees? Use the white balls.

Black tees? Black balls.

In an era where most golf ball companies don’t do a very good job of making it clear which ball is which, Nicklaus make it incredibly easy (if you didn’t know golf, would you have any idea the difference between the Pro V1 and the Velocity? Didn’t think so).

But the real question is, are they any good?

I should preface this with the fact, I’m faaaaar from the world’s best golfer – and I’m probably not as good as my current 10 handicap says I am – so take all of this for what it’s worth.

I played rounds with each of the balls, and actually found both the blues and the blacks to be just as good as anything else I was used to using.

The whites I felt to feel a little rock-ish and I lost two of them pretty quickly – so this review will focus on the blue and the black.

My first round with the blues was actually at Carnoustie in September. It was a long course, and the blue balls were supposed to be the longest of the three – so it made sense.

It was clearly a good choice considering I was even through 6 and was hitting all my spots.  Things fell apart a bit after that, but I have no doubt that this was not the ball’s fault.

When playing with the black balls I did notice that I could get a little bit more spin around the greens (something which is hard for me to get), and both generally felt as good as any Titleist or Bridgestone ball I’m used to playing.

In a phone call with their CEO, John Reese last week, he filled me in on one other aspect of the balls that I thought was pretty cool: the charity.

For every dozen bought online, they donate $1 to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and $1 goes to the Nicklaus Children’s Health Care Foundation. Ship your order with Fedex? Another $1 goes to St. Jude. This can definitely add up, so nice to see the Nicklaus companies doing something positive with their brand.

The balls are also considerably cheaper than other top tier balls at $28/dozen for the blues and $32/dozen for the blacks.

So should head over to Nicklaus.com and buy a sleeve? In my mind, it’s totally worth giving it a shot. Between being half the price as any other tour level ball and a significant portion of the sale going to charity, you may just find it beats out whatever you’re currently using.

For me? I’m not good enough to tell that much of a difference – so that’s gotta mean something.

The Breakdown