With the video reviews of the OnCore Ball line coming soon to the BITF YouTube channel, I felt the need to share with you a bit more about my experiences with them and how impressive they performed for me. First off, let’s start with the fact that there are two different lines of OnCore balls. The first, and the ball that was most excited about trying out was the Caliber. The 80 compression Caliber is designed for swing speeds under 100 MPH. The beauty of this ball comes in the form of a .9” metal core that reduces sidespin and causes it to behave like a bullet shooting from a rifle. The second ball, which I will honestly admit to thinking it was going to be a throw away for me, was the Avant. The Avant is a lower 65 compression ball that appeared to be something of a TopFlite XL throwback. You remember, that ball that was hard as a rock but flew for 400 yards, no matter what club you used to hit it? Well, color me wrong on this one. The 65 compression Avant not only provided stellar distance off the tee, but also stuck like glue to the greens on approach shots. While I’ve never been a fan of yellow balls before, I was willing to overlook that for the performance that this ball delivered (for the record, you can also order them in White.) Again the video will get a bit more in depth on the coverage of the Caliber, but this shining 5 minutes of internet fame goes to the $1.67 ball known as the “WOW” or as OnCore Golf calls it, the Avant.
As I stepped up to the tee box to hit my first drive of the day with the Avant, I have to admit that I really didn’t expect anything special from it. I figured it would be hard as a rock and scoot down the fairway a bit. I leaned into a driver pretty hard and smashed one out there. Normally, my driving distance is in the neighborhood of 280, but the Avant eclipsed that by a solid 10-15 yards. So, my thoughts confirmed, it’s a standard distance ball that gains a bit off the tee, but will be torture to get enough spin on to hold the green. As I grabbed my 54 degree wedge to hit my 115 yard approach shot, I worried a bit that the distance ball would fly a bit too far, but I hit it anyways. What resulted was a gorgeous, high flying, tour pro wedge shot that landed about 10 feet past the hole. The Avant backed up to the hole and stopped about 4 feet from the cup. Imagine my shock when the little yellow ball that costs almost a third the price of a “tour caliber” ball backed up 6 feet off a wedge after outdriving my regular ball by 15 yards. The Avant was something special.
The fun continued as I blasted a tee shot on the par 5 third hole. Again, the Avant was closer to 300 yards than my usual ball. I then laid up with a 5 iron to the landing area in the front of the green, or so I thought. The ball flew the landing area and made it square into the front left bunker, about 20 yards past my target and a full club longer than my normal 5 would have gone. So, loosely translated, the Avant would have let me reach this long par 5 in two, something that I haven’t gotten close to seeing yet this season. From there, I spun a bunker shot out of the trap and landed it to about 5 feet. I missed my birdie putt, but the fact that I had a 5 footer for birdie on that difficult hole says quite a bit about the performance of the Avant. As the round continued, I finished up the 9 hole test with a few more shots that were long and gorgeous. I did not have as much luck working the Avant side to side, but the spin rate on the ball was fantastic and the feel around the greens was great. I think I may have to snag another dozen to take out with my new putter so see if we can go under par with the Avant. With the distance it delivered and the $20 a dozen price tag, OnCore really hit it out of the park.
Again, there will be more coming in the video review of both the Caliber and the Avant, but I just felt the need to blog my results with the Avant to let you all know how amazing this $1.67 a ball gem is. For a gamer ball to have the sort of distance that the Avant offers, while offering the spin and touch of a tour ball around the greens, the Avant has to be one of the top balls available today, regardless of your skill level. For the distance challenged player, the Avant delivers stellar length off the tee and from the fairways. For those that need a bit of help getting their ball to stick on the green, the Avant has you covered as well. And finally, for those that just don’t want to pay $5 a ball to get great performance, the Avant is waiting for you at www.oncoregolf.com. Make sure you stop by the site and order a dozen, either white or yellow. Then make sure you sign up to win that Free Player’s Pack as well. Who couldn’t use a killer hat, t-shirt and a dozen balls?
More information is available at www.oncoregolf.com.
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