Forum Opportunity Titleist Tour Soft Golf Balls

[Jake O'Reilly]

Hi all,

Those of you who get the mag regularly will be familiar with our 'Tested By You' feature, where we find two readers to test a product over a number of weeks at their home clubs so they can then provide some detailed and unbiased feedback on the latest golf gear.

The next one of these we’re doing is with Titleist and its new Tour Soft golf ball (http://www.golf-monthly.co.uk/gear/gear-news/titleist-tour-soft-velocity-balls-revealed-149289)

The plan is send two of you three dozen balls each next week for some testing. We'd then arrange to meet you at West Hill in late May for a game of golf, to take some pictures and to collect your final ball feedback in person.

To be considered for this one you need to be willing to travel to West Hill for a morning or afternoon in late May, plus be planning to play at least two rounds per week in the coming three weeks. I'll also need you to fill out the below details, and email your entry to jake.oreilly@timeinc.com with ‘Titleist ball test' as the subject line.

Name
Forum name
Home Club / Location
Handicap
Details of any previous GM days you've attended
Current ball you play
A sentence on what you look for in a golf ball

Entries close at noon on Friday, with the two lucky golfers contacted on Friday afternoon.

Good luck!

 

[Imurg]

Well.....it appears I'm off to West Hill at the end of the month:lol:
We had a thread on this ball a while back and I stated that I probably wouldn't be buying any - well, I don't have to now.
I get to try the ball for a couple of weeks and then play them at WH...
Looking forward to seeing if I can discern a difference between them and a standard ProV.
More on this later..:thup:

 

[Radbourne2010]

Nice work! Let us know how you get on with them :thup:

Well.....it appears I'm off to West Hill at the end of the month:lol:
We had a thread on this ball a while back and I stated that I probably wouldn't be buying any - well, I don't have to now.
I get to try the ball for a couple of weeks and then play them at WH...
Looking forward to seeing if I can discern a difference between them and a standard ProV.
More on this later..:thup:

 

[adasko]

Well.....it appears I'm off to West Hill at the end of the month:lol:
We had a thread on this ball a while back and I stated that I probably wouldn't be buying any - well, I don't have to now.
I get to try the ball for a couple of weeks and then play them at WH...
Looking forward to seeing if I can discern a difference between them and a standard ProV.
More on this later..:thup:

I am the second person to be chosen.
Looking for trying golf balls and definitely looking for playing at West Hill

 

[Bbothwell]

Did you find out today? Would have been nice to have been picked to try them!

 

[chrisd]

Well.....it appears I'm off to West Hill at the end of the month:lol:
We had a thread on this ball a while back and I stated that I probably wouldn't be buying any - well, I don't have to now.
I get to try the ball for a couple of weeks and then play them at WH...
Looking forward to seeing if I can discern a difference between them and a standard ProV.
More on this later..:thup:

How on earth do you manage to get picked for everyth......... sorry just remembered I'm doing the 90 minute putting lesson at the London Club Tomorrow ! 😁😁 if he manages to get me to hole one 3 footer I'll be stunned !

Good luck Ian 👍

 

[richart]

Well.....it appears I'm off to West Hill at the end of the month:lol:
We had a thread on this ball a while back and I stated that I probably wouldn't be buying any - well, I don't have to now.
I get to try the ball for a couple of weeks and then play them at WH...
Looking forward to seeing if I can discern a difference between them and a standard ProV.
More on this later..:thup:

Hope you are getting more than one ball for a couple of weeks. Lorry load might be required.

Have a great day. West Hill should be in top condition. It certainly was in December.:thup:

 

[Blue in Munich]

Well.....it appears I'm off to West Hill at the end of the month:lol:
We had a thread on this ball a while back and I stated that I probably wouldn't be buying any - well, I don't have to now.
I get to try the ball for a couple of weeks and then play them at WH...
Looking forward to seeing if I can discern a difference between them and a standard ProV.
More on this later..:thup:

When it comes to talking balls I can't think of a better qualified forumer........

Enjoy it Ian. :thup:

 

[Imurg]

Should be getting a delivery in a day or two...
2doz white and a doz yellow.....not sure about them..!

 

[PhilTheFragger]

When it comes to talking balls I can't think of a better qualified forumer........

Enjoy it Ian. :thup:

Richard that raised a huge chortle at Fragger Towers 👍😂

 

[chrisd]

Richard that raised a huge chortle at Fragger Towers 👍😂

And at Dorsett Manor.

 

[Imurg]

Richard that raised a huge chortle at Fragger Towers 👍😂

Well, I was going to let you try some but, on reflection, I might have some manky TopFlites in the garage.....:ears:

 

[Imurg]

When it comes to talking balls I can't think of a better qualified forumer........

Enjoy it Ian. :thup:

Richard that raised a huge chortle at Fragger Towers 👍😂

And at Dorsett Manor.

The elderly are so easily entertained these days.......

 

[Blue in Munich]

Richard that raised a huge chortle at Fragger Towers 

And at Dorsett Manor.

My only surprise was that an open goal took so long to put away..........

 

[chrisd]

My only surprise was that an open goal took so long to put away..........

I was reluctant as I know Imurg to be a mean and ugly brute of a fellow - well definitely mean and ugly 😊

 

[Imurg]

Chris. The yellow ones are so bright even you'd be able to see them.....after you've hit your wedge...:clap:

 

[anotherdouble]

Ian you stand your ground mate. Don't let any of the old baloney from high tower or grandpa get to you buddy. They are only jealous that you have the balls for this task:thup:

 

[Imurg]

Just back from a really good day.
Spent more time in the car than on the course though!
Good to meet Adam, who can hit a mean ball for a 16 capper, Make, who's much better than his 10, photographer Chris and a cameo from the Commander-in-Chief who was there on other business.
Thanks to GM and Titleist for the opportunity. Plenty of pics and video
West Hill was superb, really smooth and receptive greens ( not tined!!) and we didn't have a drop of rain but it was muggy all then way round.
The golf was a mix of the sublime and the ridiculous from all of us. I had many a 1 point hole due to Brazilian putts but scraped to 28 points. Adam had a disastrous start but played better when he stopped scoring and Jake played some great golf followed by some, how shall! I put this, not so great golf..

Onto the balls...
Well, the Tour Soft is a good ball. We've been using them for a couple of weeks and I played 4 rounds alternating between the Tour Soft, Chromesoft, ProV1 and other balls like Soft Feel, NXT Tour etc etc..
Off the driver - I doubt many would be able to tell the difference between any of the above..same for most full shots. It's soft feeling and as long as anything else. I didn't sense any real difference in height or feel.
Performance was respectable on the receptive greens. One thing we all found was that the TS lacked real spin. During previous rounds, a shot played with a 7 iron pitched on a green and ran out some 27 yards....a ProV1 played next stopped within 3 yards.
This lack of spin can actually help some players, especially those that always seem to come up short on approaches. The extra release will get you closer to the hole than a ProV in then same scenario.
Chips and pitches suffered from the same lack of spin, although not as much on softer greens - again, the lower spin runs the ball further, potentially getting you closer.
Putting wasn't particularly an issue. It's soft and goes where you hit it. Too soft for some possibly.

All in all, the general consensus was that the Tour Soft is a decent all-rounder with good feel and distance. For those that like a high spinning ball, it would make a good alternative on soft greens where a premium ball could spin too much.
I think it's biggest problem is its place in the market. It's not, obviously, as good as a premium ball. For me, it's not better than a Chromesoft due to the lower spin. It's better than the AD333/Soft Feel/DX2 etc but not by much. But if Titleist put a urethane cover on it instead of the surlyn one, it would likely bring the performance too close to the ProV1. To get the price around £30 a dozen they need the surlyn cover and that drops the performance close to the other balls in the market - and many of them are cheaper.
It's a good ball. If you use it and can adjust to the extra roll you're going to get then you won't be disappointed.

 

[upsidedown]

Good write up Ian and yup Adam sure does hit a mean ball, did one of his cards for handicap when he was at our place !!

 

[Bigfoot]

Thanks for the write. Would be interested to hear a comparison to the NXT Tour S it replaced