Vice Golf

Contender for Box of the Year Award...

When we bring back the annual GolfPunk Staunchie Awards we reckon that Vice Golf will be a serious contender for Box of the Year. How many golf balls packs have you seen with a lion on them? Oh and what's that on the new Pro Plus balls? A Tiger, a wet tiger at that! Take our money. It's a refreshing change to the hi-tech branding and collection of code words that seem to make up the name's of most golf balls.

And the other contender for box of the year.

So who are they?

Vice Golf was founded in Germany in 2012 by two guys, Ingo Duellmann and Rainer Stoeckl who, coupled with a frustration by the way the big brands dominate the golf ball market, had a belief that it must be possible to make high quality golf balls available to us all for lower prices.

Vice Golf founders, Ingo Duellmann and Rainer Stoeckl

So they came up with an interesting concept. Make premium golf balls, sell them exclusively through www.vicegolf.com and then ship them directly to you the golfer. Vice reckons that by doing this they can deliver a significant saving by cutting out the middleman in the normal retail process. It’s a pretty good idea.

The prices are cheaper, but importantly, the golf balls aren’t. Vice Golf balls can cost almost half as much as comparable products from other manufacturers of premium balls. Admittedly you only really get that kind of saving if you buy in larger, five dozen quantities, but there's still a decent saving to be made on smaller quantities too.

All their balls are researched and designed in their labs in Germany. They offer four different types, from a two-piece, durable, distance ball all the way through to Tour feel, low spinny, high grippy little blighters. Their men in white coats say that by producing only one ball type for each main category they’re able to make considerable manufacturing savings, which they're then able to pass on to the golfer.

The Vice Pro is their biggest seller. A three piece tour ball with a cast urethane cover, this is the equivalent to a Titleist Pro V1 or Srixon's Z Star balls. Their latest ball (and the one with the wet tiger on the box) is the Pro Plus. Although it shares a name with the caffeine tablets we used to get through our GCSE revision, it's actually a four piece golf ball with a cast urethane cover for feel, but designed for lower spin off the driver than the Pro. Think of it as the equivalent of the Titleist Pro V1X or TaylorMade Tour Prefered X.

Things of roar beauty

Do they work? Well, all their models were tested by independent, international testing institutes, and the results, Vice say, were conclusive: Vice Golf balls can compete with any comparable ball available.

So much so in fact, that Vice Golf is the official ball of the German Golf Association (DGL). Now the DGL are a darned big organisation in German sport so that’s a pretty big deal for a ball company that’s only been going a few years. It certainly made us sit up and take notice. And even though Vice doesn’t spend millions on sponsoring a large stable of tour ambassadors, it has started to grow a player portfolio that includes up-and-coming pros as well as top European amateurs. Highly credible. 

Ice and a Vice with that?

And if you like to stand out from the crowd, at a small cost you can have any design you like printed on them before they’re sent to you – from your initials to a full colour photograph. We had some fun and had a few made with Super Swingin' Siren Blair O’Neal’s photo. Believe you me, you certainly wouldn't have any problems with anyone playing your ball by mistake, and I swear the Ed’s game improved having Blair to focus on standing over his ball…

Minty Fresh

As well as the golf balls, Vice have done a mean sideline of limited edition caps. We're loving this new mint cap, bringing that Diamond Supply street wear vibe into golf, while their camo hats have sold out the day they've put them live on their website. 

And now they've entered the glove market. Bringing the same philosophy of offering better value for money with the same performance and a modern aesthetic, the new Pure glove is made from lamb's leather for a premium feel while a stitched logo again brings that street wear vibe to golf. And at £10.99 per glove when you buy three at a time, offers fantastic value compared to comparable products. 

So, high quality balls, at better prices, that look great too? Sounds pretty good to us.

But, can they perform as well as the best of the best? We’re doing a full test on them right now – look out for the results on here soon.

Meanwhile, check them out on www.vicegolf.com

And why Vice, I hear you say? Well simply because Vice like to think that being bad, is actually pretty good.