Attention Callaway Tour iS and iZ ball testers!

[JezzE]

Afternoon all.

I appreciate that many of you won't yet have had much chance to get out testing these (unless you live in corners of the UK with their own microclimate), but we need to run a review of them in our March issue which goes to press next week.

Would anyone who has had a chance to hit them be able to let me have their thoughts and we will run a small 'montage' of them in that feature.

Nothing too wordy please, and I'd be particularly keen to hear any noticeable performance difference between the two models, and between them and any other premium balls you may play.

As ever, many thanks for your help

 

[Smiffy]

Would anyone who has had a chance to hit them be able to let me have their thoughts and we will run a small 'montage' of them in that feature.
Nothing too wordy please

JustOneUK used one at Edenbridge.
He was crap

 

[Fyldewhite]

Have played with the iZ on the two occasions I've got onto the course since early December. Given that winter conditions aren't the best to properly evaluate I'd say that I've found the distance to be good, certainly no complaints there with good flight too. I was very impressed though (given this was the distance ball) at the amount of grip and check around the greens. Overall very good and looking forward to testing the iS when the snow clears.

 

[drawboy]

I was lucky to try mine out before Christmas and I have to say I was very impressed with them. The first of the two I tried was the Tour I(s). The I(s) felt soft of the face of the driver and for me spin rates were low and I felt the ball was very workable but didn't get out of control.Wedge play was good with very impressive amounts of spin with very good stopping power,soft off of the putter face also, a very impressive ball not unlike the Srixon Z-star.
The TourI(x) for me was the better of the two. It felt firmer off the driver with very good distance longer than the I(s). Wedge play was again very good with great stopping power I even dragged one back a few feet. Putting felt slightly firmer and I got a satisfying 'click' off the face.Both felt top quality and I would be happy to have anyone of them in my bag next season.

 

[stevek1969]

PM sent, thought the i(s) was better than my normal Z Stars

 

[HRC99]

I've only managed to play with iS so far. Hugely impressed with the distance on it. It was comfortably further than the TM Burner that I'd been using previously - making a club difference to me. It was nice to putt with too feeling relatively soft. I also got some good spin on it too when hitting into the green.

Overall, very impressed.

 

[pokerjoke]

I have also tested both balls.The Tour i i used on my home course Vivary Park.I was impressed right away with the softness and feel of the iGood distance off the tee,however it was around the greens that it exelled,easy to control,lots of response and very nice off the face of the putter,very close to the prov1x i normally play.The i[Z] Was harder in feel and longer off the tee,I was also pleased with the control around the greens,i did however struggle with the putter as it seemed to fly off the putter head initially.Overall i in the bag i[Z] not.

 

[THJahar]

Quick review, The s was a great ball, had that extra 'pop' of the face of the club, that a multi layer can provide, and had the same soft feel I've been used to with my AD333.
The z was far to hard for me, whilst long, the clunk feel it made when chipping put me off.

 

[compton77]

I've got a session booked at Urban Golf tomorrow afternoon so i'll take along some of each and try them out against what i normally play (B330 RX's or E6+'s). Hopefully my swing will be consistent enough to gauge which one is longer, spins more etc. I'll post my review tomorrow evening.

 

[Imurg]

I have only used the iZ so far and it was certainly comparable with other premium balls. I did find it cut up a little more than a Z-star but about the same as a ProV. That said I will get another round out of it as long as I don't lose it. CVG played the iS during the same round - he didn't play too well so difficult to comment on performance. However, he found the iS didn't cut up quite so much as my iZ.
Distance was good, spin more than adequate and generally a good feel. I'd certainly use it again.

 

[rickg]

Here's the original review I did on the 12th Dec:

"Played a full 18 today with both the z & s.
Played the z on par 4's & 5's & the s on par 3's.
Ist thing I have to say is Wow!!!...I'm hitting the z ball AS FAR as I was hitting a ProV1 and Nike One Tour in the summer. Admittedley some of this is down to my new i15 Driver compared to my G10, but, the z is going quite a bit further than the AD333's & the NXT tours that I have been using so far over the winter.
The z did lose a bit of surface paint finish after only 5 or 6 holes and it did cut up a bit with the Nike VR wedges, but this didn't seem to affect the performance.

Got a fair bit of check and backspin with the z, which was a little surprising on the soft greens.

I only used the s on 4 holes and to be honest, I didn't notice a lot of difference off the face, but it was softer off the putter. It also cut up a bit, but there was no paint loss. Got nice backspin with this ball also and won a bottle of champagne for nearest the pin in the Turkey Trot, so I can't complain.
I'm guessing that these are going to be priced in the proV1 range. As to whether I'd buy them in the future, it's too early to tell and I need to perform a lot more side by side ball comparisons during practice rounds, but so far so good".

Since then, I've played around 7 rounds with both balls and I'm still very impressed. The "z" is definitely a long ball, easily as long as a ProV 1x and longer than the One Tour (d).
I haven't experienced as much cutting up with both balls as with the first round I played and this is despite getting some SERIOUS backspin with the "s", (I was nicknamed "the backspin king" after one round where at least 2 wedge shots spun back around 15 feet, albeit the greens were nice and damp so very conducive!!).
The "s" has a lovely soft feel around the green and putting with it is a sheer joy.
I still have all the balls and only 2 of them look like they need to be dispatched to the practice bag.
I would absolutely put both these balls in my bag.
Balls I have recently used are Prov1's, One tours, NXT extreme, AD333, TaylorMade TP red, Srixon z star. The Callaways are right up there. If I had to choose one it would have to be the "s"

 

[TWM]

I used the Z on the last 27 holes I have played. I found it a very good ball for distance and nice off the putter. I tried the S on only one hole. It did not seem to suit my slow swing.

 

[beck9965]

I played the i(s) and I have to say that i'm more than impressed with the performance, I usually play a Srixon z Star or Titleist NXT Tour But the Callaway will be a definate purchase for me when they are finally released.
Performance wise I found them very accurate off the tee, I lost a couple of yards off my distance but this was due to the extremley cold weather, sleet to be precise,
fairway shots went where I aimed them and if I needed to hit a fade or draw this was done with no effort at all, I achieved great backspin where needed from my wedges and I even managed to get some spin from an 8 iron, Putting was a dream, nice and soft from the face with a good controlled roll even on the icy greens.
The ball itself didn't scuff up as bad as I thought it would with a change in ball only being necessary after 7 holes, I did lose one but this was due to it being plucked from the fairway by a crow.
Overall it's a big thumbs up to Callaway from me for the i(s) and i 'm looking forward to playing the i(z) once this snow clears.

 

[Doh]

I was able to use both balls before the big freeze.I started by taking them both to the practice putting/chipping green straight away you could tell the difference off the putter the s having a softer feel off the face of the putter same when chipping with the feel off the face of the club.

I dont think there was any discernable difference in control when putting apart from the feel and the sound off the putter face but I felt there was more control with the s when chipping than the Z.

My ball of choice is the Zstar or the pro-v1 incomparison to these the S came out pretty well in performace and durability.But I am not convinced that it is quite of the same quality.

I.ve said before that I dont like playing a hard ball and the Z is a hard ball however to be fair it is not a rock and went long as it was supposed to do without imparting excessive spin, therefore pertty straight.

I suppose the question is would I swap any of these balls for the balls of my choice the answer has to be NO.

 

[JezzE]

Many thanks for all your feedback on these balls.

Press day looms, so will be using a small selection of the comments made so far. Many apologies to those who don't make it - nothing to do with the quality or nature or your comments, but simply that we only have around 200 words in total to play with.

 

[AuburnWarrior]

I've used both but only for nine holes and it was freezing so I'd like to test them further before commenting but I did find that the cover scuffed quite badly with both balls. This was not the result of thinned or miss hit shots. This may have been due to the weather - further testing required.

 

[Bigfoot]

I have tried both but found the i(s) to be my favourite. It seems to have a simialr feel and distance to the pro v 1 and control was just as good if not better. The i(z) was too hard for me. It went 10 to 15 yards further than the i(s) but around the green it was much more difficult to control.
Compared to the pro v 1 and AD333 ( two balls I normally use) I would certainly swap to the i(s)