Saintnine Golf Balls: Extreme Soft Gold and UPro
Grade: A
Teacher’s Comments: I’ve enjoyed playing these balls
Saintnine Company Website
Saintnine on Amazon
Saintnine sent a box of their UPro and Extreme Soft Gold golf balls for review. The Extreme Soft Gold is a tour-level ball, while the UPro is a two-piece distance model.
Saintnine is a relatively new golf ball company (2012) but is a division of the much older Nexen Tire Company from South Korea. In this, they are following in the tradition of tire and rubber companies that make golf balls, such as Dunlop, Bridgestone, and Srixon (the SRI is Sumitomo Rubber Industries).
The name SaintNine refers to St. Andrews.
The Extreme Soft Gold is my favorite of the two offerings. It has a powerful feel off the clubface and is as long as anything I have played. I don’t have the swing speed to back a ball up on the green, but the Saintnine Extreme Soft Gold does in my experience check up pretty quickly. For my swing, the ball also produces a nice high, straight flight.
The Extreme Soft Gold’s feature list is what you’d expect from a tour caliber ball
- 85 compression core
- an inner- and outer-mantle
- urethane cover
- 336 dimples
Saintnine says that the Extreme Soft Gold is the highest spinning Tour-level ball you can find. In their literature, Saintnine compares the ball to the Pro V1, Callaway Chromesoft, and Bridgestone Tour B RXS.
I have played all of those balls, and think that the Extreme Soft Gold is indeed in their ballpark.
I would happily play the Extreme Soft Gold as my everyday ball. Maybe Saintnine would like to become the official golf ball sponsor of GolfBlogger.Com :).
Compared to the Extreme Soft Gold, the UPro just doesn’t feel to me as though it has as much pop. It’s still a good ball, though. Even better, it comes in at a really good price point at $25 a dozen.
Unusually for a ball at that level, the UPro has a urethane cover. This creates a ball that has — all things being equal — more spin and a softer feel than two-piece balls with surlyn covers. The urethane cover makes the UPro an even better bargain.
The U Pro features:
- “Nex-Gen Core” with high energy performance
- 90 compression
- urethane cover
- 322 dimple design
My experience with the UPro is that it produces a straight distance with a high ball flight. That’s more than good enough for a great many golfers. It is, however, a ball that I would rather pitch into a green than a lob. It runs out better than it checks up.
Saintnine compares the UPro to the Callaway Supersoft and Callaway Tour Soft. Again, I’ve played these, and they seem to line up. A comparable ball that I’ve played more often is the Vice Drive.
Both the Extreme Soft Gold and UPro Saintnine balls seem competitively priced for their target audiences.
An interesting — and cute — touch, is that each Saintnine ball is emblazoned with the icon of an animal that Saintnine calls “Mental Mates.” Each of these characters is supposed to help you improve your game by providing a better state of mind.
In fact, Saintnine’s slogan is “Strong Mind. Strong Game.” They’re right, of course. Golf IS a mental game.
I’m a Flamingo type of guy. Golf courses are my happy place, and I refuse to let negative or angry thoughts intrude into my serenity. Puppy is in my zone as well.
Saintnine golf balls come in a wide variety. In addition to the UPro and Extreme Soft Gold, they offer:
- The Saintnine Misty, a 3-piece matte finish ball
- The Saintnine Q, a three-piece distance ball with a soft feel
- The Saintnine X, a non-conforming ball that the company says compares to the old, smaller, “British Ball” and will add 10 yards to your game. It’s smaller and heavier than the current standard.
There are an awful lot of golf balls on the market right now, and it is surely hard to figure out which is best for your game. Golfers would be well served by taking Saintnine balls into consideration.
The Saintnine golf balls review was first published on GolfBlogger.Com on August 12, 2020.