NY Times

On a relatively slow news morning in the golfing world, when perhaps the biggest news is that Ian Poulter’s caddie now has a Twitter account, the New York Times featured an innovative product on its front page this morning that would make the people at the USGA cringe.

The Polara Ultimate Straight golf ball sells on the promise that it will eliminate 75 percent on someone’s hook or slice. Basically, it is engineered to simply fly straight.

How does that happen, you might ask? In a word: illegally.

The Polara ball has a irregular dimple pattern that makes the ball illegal in USGA-sanctioned events. So while you might enjoy freaking out your buddies by hitting every fairway on a Sunday morning, if you were to try and enter your club championship, you would be disqualified for playing a nonconforming ball.

The magic behind the Polara is a simple arrow printed on the ball like you would see on most ProV1s. However, the arrow line printed on your Titleist sits on a standard and legal dimple pattern.

On the Polara, as long as you aim the arrow at your target, the ball will fly pretty much right at it. The reason behind the straight ball flight is that along the arrow line, the dimples are noticeably shallower, while the dimples outside of the arrow band are deeper.

I’m not going to pretend that I understand why this tunes down the amount of spin and therefore slice your ball flight takes, but I do know that the dimples are key to the spinning of the ball and it is that spinning that makes your ball fly the way it does.

On first thought, it may seem like a cool idea, like the 15-inch hole used at the W I D E Open Championship back in March, to try once, but it ruins golf for the most part. That being said, I would not be surprised to see a couple guys tee up the Polara at golf outings I’m in this summer.

Another thought that popped into my mind was sure, these balls go straight, but we all know that you score using your wedges and putters. This ball might fly right at the hole, but there’s no way to stop it.

That’s where Polara introduces its Ultimate Straight XS, a three-piece ball that allows for the spin and control you need around the greens. The XS ball will run you $39.99/dozen while the normal Ultimate Straight are $29.99/dozen.

An interesting point made by a reviewer as I was doing some research, if you forget to turn the ball with the arrow facing your target, the ball would knuckle and lose considerable distance. Also, the ball supposedly putts weird, so if you are going to play it, change your ball on the green.

(But, Chris, it’s illegal to change your ball in the middle of a hole without significant damage occurring through the normal play of the hole.)

To that I say, you’re playing a ball that only flies straight, clearly the rules don’t matter to you.

While it is an interesting idea and one some may try to exploit, I can’t see it gaining traction. In my experience people play golf for the beautiful misery of it; the satisfaction of pulling of a shot you could see a pro hit, followed by a the shank you’ll never see at a tournament. The frustrations of the game make it so addicting and fun.

Make sure to be on the lookout at your local club or outing if some guy with a 25 handicap is all of the sudden striping balls down the pipe. There’s a good chance he’s got a box of Polara’s in his bag.