One of the great constants in the golf ball market over the past 15 years is the Srixon AD333 ball.
While other balls have been renamed or rebranded, the AD333 hasn’t changed in name or appearance. The same blue text remains today, while the performance has been tweaked to keep up with modern technology.
This is what Srixon have to say about their most popular ball which, now in its 11th iteration, remains a firm favourite among club golfers all over the world.
“The new AD333 is a great ball for those seeking more control from tee to green. This ball will give golfers the feedback they’re looking for performance-wise, along with added distance forgiveness, and control on approach or feel based shots. Sustainability is also at the core of the new AD333, with plastic being significantly reduced on all packaging and zero carbon emitted from either of our two golf ball plants.”
The beauty of this ball is, well, everything. The price is a fraction of the price, it can be bought for as low as around £22 per dozen, while Srixon’s premium balls will retail at around £40.
This is a two-piece ball but it packs an awful lot into that. Its reformulated FastLayer Core transitions from soft in the centre, to firm around the outer edge, which adds ball speed without sacrificing feel.
The cover features a 338 dimple pattern which encourages a penetrating ball flight and plenty of distance in any wind and, around the green, it has a softer cover than previous versions. In Srixon’s premium balls they feature the same SeRM Sprint Skin coating which is designed to dig deeper into the grooves of your wedge to give you more spin and control.
Shelf appeal
Another reason maybe why the AD333 has plenty of shelf appeal in the pro shop is the ‘Pure White’ colour which probably has to be seen to be appreciated. You might think that a white golf ball is a white golf ball but there is a visual appeal to the AD333 and there is also a yellow option too.
Where you save on price you might think that you will be missing out on distance, particularly for a soft ball, but this performs more than adequately. When YouTuber Rick Shiels tested this all, with a 159mph ball speed and 2,400 revolutions of spin, he had a carry of 279 yards which was only just down on the Titleist Pro V1.
Given most of us don’t have a ball speed of 160mph we won’t notice any noticeable drops in distance off the tee if you do put this into play and you will more likely be pleasantly surprised by how similar the distance of your tee shots travels.
And, around the green, you will certainly be very pleased by how it feels off the putter face. The last thing you want to hear and feel off the putter is a hard, tinny sound and the aesthetics here are top drawer.
It is a layer down in performance to the three and four-piece balls but you’re still going to get plenty of yardage, a medium-to-high launch with the same level of spin going into the greens and you’re paying under half of many of the balls with not overly noticeable more benefits.
Now that we’re coming into winter this would be a great time to try this given the ease at which balls can be lost and how affordable these are.
“Is it the best in every category? No. But it’s very, very good in every single one of them. And for the price point, it’s no surprise that the Srixon AD333 is one of the most popular golf balls ever made,” sums up Shiels.
