At this time of the year, golf equipment companies start bombarding consumers with products-from drivers to irons to putters to golf balls of various brands and models.

However, OnCore Golf is content to go the other way. This Buffalo, New York company was founded by Bret Blakely and Steve Coulton in 2011. It has nothing to do with the number of ball models it can make, but believes in the "less is more" philosophy.

"I think that when consumers visit the (website) site and see 10 or 12 different balls, it makes them harder," Blakely said.

"Most golfers don't know how different their games are. Our philosophy has always been to design a golf ball that benefits multiple swing characteristics."

OnCore achieved this goal with its ELIXR and VERO X1 balls, both of which were designed by golf master John Calabria, who played an important role in the design of Titleist, Maxfli and TaylorMade balls during his career.

Basically, Calabria made ELIXR using OnCore's original hollow ball (MA 1.0), which has a high moment of inertia (MOI). Blakely said that the ELIXR ball was launched in 2017 and maintains a high MOI by adding dense metal particles to the outer layer. But unlike the hollow ball design, Blakely said that ELIXR is softer, more accurate, and longer than the original hollow ball, and is more suitable for players whose swing speed is less than 100 mph.

OnCore recently raised its stakes on its larger competitors by launching VERO X1 (a four-piece, peripherally weighted, cast polyurethane tournament ball) in 2020. In an independent test conducted by Golf EQ, the test result of VER X1 was higher than Titleist Pro V1 and Pro V1x, which attracted the attention of traders and consumers. VERO X1 is aimed at players whose swing speed exceeds 100 mph.

"It's a bit higher compression than ELIXR (80 to 84 than ELIXR," Blakely said. "And it feels very strong-but not hard."

indeed. VERO X1 is everything a player with a higher swing speed is looking for in a performance ball. Compared with big-name games, the ball reacts well outside the clubface, keeps a tailwind, and does not give up any distance.

"We will always be the'challenger' brand," Blakely said. “It’s almost impossible to enter the mainstream at the moment. But I think we can be seen as a company playing in the same sandbox (like a big-name company) and producing products that are as good or better than what they produce.”

On the web: OnCoreGolf.com

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