MyGolfSpy Ball Lab is where we quantify the quality and consistency of the golf balls on the market to help you find the best ball for your money. Today, we’re taking a look at the TopFlite Gamer. An overview of the equipment we use can be found here. To learn more about our test process, how we define “bad” balls and our True Price metric, check out our About MyGolfSpy Ball Lab page.
Top Flite is a DICK’S Sporting Good’s house brand which gives the giant retailer the flexibility to make Gamer whatever it wants. With its urethane cover, the prior generation flirted with the “Tour” category. With this most recent iteration, the company is resetting the Gamer franchise. It’s revisiting its roots as an affordable ionomer-covered ball with a bit of a performance slant.
About the Top Flite Gamer
The Top Flite Gamer is a three-piece ball with an ionomer cover.
The Gamer is a bit firmer than most balls in the “premium ionomer” category. The soft-ish cover is designed to generate slightly more spin. As with other DICK’S Sporting Goods balls, the most attractive feature may be the price. At $22.99 per dozen, the Top Flite Gamer is priced significantly below its primary competitors.
Top Flite Gamer – Compression
On our gauge, the Top Flite Gamer averages 77 compression. On compression alone, the comps in the marketplace tend to be urethane-covered balls like the OnCore ELIXR (80) and the Bridgestone Tour B RX (77). Of those we’ve measured to date, the most similar ionomer ball in terms of compression is the Titleist Velocity (78)
Top Flite Gamer – Diameter and Weight
Based on the average diameter of the sample, we classify the Top Flite Gamer as a large ball. Ionomer balls tend to be a bit larger than urethane models so it’s not any surprise that all of the sample met the USGA’s minimum-size standard.
Likewise, none of the balls measured failed to meet our roundness standard. All of the sample were also weight-conforming.
Top Flite Gamer – Inspection
Centeredness and Concentricity
We found multiple issues with respect to concentricity, most specifically with unevenness (extreme thin spots) in the mantle layer and occasionally in the cover. In total, we flagged 25 percent of the sample as “bad.”
Core Consistency
While core color was generally consistent with only a few visible bits of regrind here and there, we did note a few balls with what appeared to be chunks of red material in the core. The most extreme case was flagged as bad. However, the same ball had a significant concentricity defect so it would have been flagged regardless of the core.
Cover
Generally speaking, covers on the Top Flite Gamer were excellent. However, we did flag one ball in the sample as bad because a small section of the dimple pattern was effectively missing.
Top Flite Gamer: Consistency
In this section, we detail the consistency of the Top Flite Gamer. Our consistency metrics provide a measure of how similar the balls in our sample were to one another relative to all of the models we’ve tested to date.
Nothing particular stands out about the weight, diameter and compression consistency of the Top Flite Gamer ball. For all of the metrics we track, it falls solidly within the average range.
Weight Consistency
- A couple of balls in the second box were perhaps on the light side,but overall consistency was within the average range.
Diameter Consistency
- Diameter consistency falls within the average range.
- The USGA minimum diameter is 1.68 inches As you can see from the chart, the Top Flite Gamer errs on the larger side.
Compression Consistency
- Compression consistency across the sample was within the average range.
- There was approximately a 10 compression-point spread across the entire sample (not the best, but far from the worst).
- The compression delta (the compression range across the three points measured on each ball) was generally good, though not as tight as some others.
True Price
True Price is how we quantify the quality of a golf ball. It's a projection of what you'd have to spend to ensure you get 12 good balls.
The True Price will always be equal to or greater than the retail price. The greater the difference between the retail price and the True Price, the more you should be concerned about the quality of the ball.
Top Flite Gamer – Summary
To learn more about our test process, how we define “bad” balls and our True Price metric, check out our About MyGolfSpy Ball Lab page.
The Top Flite Gamer isn’t exactly perfect but it’s likely what you should expect at the price point and, with that in mind, we’d rate it as “not bad.”
The Good
- Solidly average consistency across the board
- Likely still a bargain at $22.99
The Bad
- A few too many bad balls in the mix.
Final Grade
The Top Flite Gamer gets an overall score of 65.
While that’s not stellar, it’s within the “average” range and suggests that the Gamer may be plenty good enough for budget-conscious golfers.
For those who liked our previous metric, the “True Price” of the Top Flite Gamer is $31.83. That’s an increase of 38 percent above retail.
Scott
3 months ago
i work in the Pro shop, our course can be a beast if you spray the ball but a lamb if you keep it in play. We sell balls starting the high end $58 Doz Pro V, TP5, Chrome Soft, next level down..TM Tour response, Titlist tour soft. and the lower end Callaway super soft & Noodle and the bottom Pinnacle soft 18 pack. When asking about balls my question to them is do you lose more then one ball during a round of golf . If yes, I tell them buy the Pinnacle 18 pack balls for $25 because you’ll lose two on the first hole. The only real difference in balls are if the course has firm greens spin balls are a must if you shoot under 80 ..Pride equals price the higher the pride the more you pay for balls. I can shot 75 playing a Callaway super soft or 82 playing a Pro V.