You Missed: Do range balls really perform worse?

You warm up on the range, hitting your 9-iron right at the flag 130 yards away. On the first hole—same distance, same club, same swing—the ball flies over the back of the green. What happened?
Unless you’re one of the lucky few whose driving range is stocked with brand new premium golf balls, odds are you’re warming up with a range ball. Standard thinking says that range balls fly shorter than premium brands, but even if this holds true, how much shorter? And is there a difference in spin?
As part of our MythBusters series, we tested range ball performance against a premium ball to see whether range balls really perform worse. Here’s what we found.