We had never heard of Saintnine until a representative from the company contacted us. Like Bridgestone Golf, Saintnine is also an offshoot of a tire company. Nexen Tires, a long established Korean company, has applied their expertise in rubber manufacturing of tires to golf balls. Saintnine recently hired The Big Timer Charlie Rymer as a brand ambassador so you may start to hear a lot more about them. There are currently 4 different balls in the Saintnine portfolio, we review the U-PRO and the Super Soft Gold balls below.
The U-PRO is the only 2-piece urethane ball on the market and is said to provide tour level performance for golfers of all skill levels.
Putting:
Putting with U-PRO yielded no perceptible differences in feel or sound from both the Pro-V1 or the Extreme Soft Gold. One interesting note with both Saintnine balls is that when not struck flush the mental mate/logo appears while rolling, providing you with immediate feedback of the miss hit, more on the mental mates later.
You may ask why would we compare the U-PRO to the Pro-V1? Well, there is currently no other 2-piece urethane ball on the market and since the Extreme Soft Gold is a good comparator to the Pro-V1, we thought we would limit the variables and it would help put everything into perspective.
Chipping:
Chipping with the U-PRO you could tell that it was not as soft as the Pro-V1. The sound off the wedge face had a little more of a dull thud than the familiar click of the Pro-V1. On flop shots the U-PRO did not check up as quickly as the Pro-V1 and rolled out further past the hole.
Sand:
Out of the sand the U-PRO did not check up as as quickly as the Pro-V1, but the differences were not drastic.
Driving:
I got out as a single at day break and was able hit two balls on every driver hole. My "average" drive was 240 yards with the U-PRO and 249 with the Pro-V1. For a ball that's twice the price of the U-PRO we would hope to see a significant edge in distance with the Pro-V.
The Super Soft Gold is a 4-piece urethane ball that Saintnine has compared to the top balls used on the PGA Tour.
Putting:
As with the U-PRO, there was no perceptible differences in feel or sound when putting between the Super Soft Gold or the Pro V1.
Chipping:
The Super Soft Gold is softer than both the Pro-V1 and the U-PRO, which was noticeable on long chip shots both in feel and in sound. This ball really spins! Opening up the face of my wedge & flopping both balls it was clear that Super Soft Gold is a pop & stop ball,
Sand:
Out of the sand the Super Soft Gold had a great feel and was amazingly responsive. This ball really spins, I backed two balls up and into the hole from the green side practice bunker and I've never done that with any other ball.
Driving: I played one round switching out the Super Soft Gold every other driving hole with the Pro-V1 and came up with an average distance of 256 yards for the Super Soft Gold and 254 for the Pro-V1. While I wouldn't put much stock in 7 drives I am interested to see how the Super Soft Gold stacks up against my current favorite TP-5 over a more robust trial.
Mental Mates are a concept designed by Saintnine that recognize how important the mental aspect is to success in golf. Each ball comes with an animal for spirituality and a better state of mind with your game. While a differentiating marketing concept, I don't believe a picture on a ball has any impact on my mental game, but it sure does make identifying my ball in the rough really easy! And, as mentioned above, the mental mates are good indicator that appear when a putt is struck with an open or closed putter face.
SPECS:
U-PRO
- Cover - Thin and soft urethane cover
- Construction - 2-piece
- Core - High energy performance Next-Gen core 90 compression core
- Dimple - 332 dimple construction for ideal flight stability
- Player Profile - Designed for golfers of all skill sets who want to maximize performance. The Urethane cover creates a premium feel and spin control. Constructed to create maximum distance to spin ratio
- Price: $24.99/Dozen
SUPER SOFT GOLD
- Cover - Urethane
- Construction - 4-piece
- Core- Soft, Ultra-high energy 85 compression core
- Dimple - 336 dimples for flight stability and reduced air resistance
-
Player Profile - Designed for mid to low handicap golfers.
Premium feel and spin control make this ball ideal from tee-to-green.
Optimized for elite distance without sacrificing the ability to create spin
in your short game. - Price: $49.99/Dozen
Summary:
We found the performance of both balls from Saintnine to be on-par with many of the previous golf balls we've tested. The U-PRO jumps out to us because it offers 75% of what you get from the highest priced premium quality balls for half the cost, which makes it a bargain.
The Super Soft Gold gave us everything we wanted from distance, spin, and especially feel around & on the greens. It compared favorably to the Pro-V1 and we look forward to testing it against our current favorite the TP-5.
We often struggle to understand OEMs descriptions of exactly which ball is right for your game because they sound pretty much the same for every ball in their line-up. We think it's pretty clear that if you are a casual or frugal golfer the U-PRO is great ball at a great price and if you are serious golfer, or are a cost no object golfer, the Super Soft Gold deserves a try.
Contact: www.saintnineamerica.com
The golf balls for this review were provided to Golf Gear Box by Saintnine for this review.
Golf Gear Box offers totally unbiased reviews of golf products. We do not accept advertising, we do not have secret relationships with any golf companies, we are not an Amazon Affiliate steering you to products only on their site.
18 comments
Very good review. I’d game the super soft gold and would be curious to see how it compares to the TP5 which I’m playing now.
Looks like a really good tour level ball. I’d love to try them vs my standbys of Pro V1/TP5x/Tour BX. Keep up the good work!
Impressive how it compares with ProV1! 🏌️♂️
I’d game the U-PRO’s
The super soft gold sound wonderful, but on my budget I’d game the U-Pros.