Wilson Duo Spin VS Chrome Soft; my reveiw

I have never attempted a review before, but thought I would give it a shot, here gos. A little about me. I have mid-high single digit HCI, Driver swing speed is right around 100 mph, if I have a strong suit in my game it is my irons. I picked up a dozen Wilson Duo Spin balls on Monday and had a slow day on the course so I thought that I would hit the Duos next to the Chrome Soft and see which ball I liked better. The course was pretty full ahead of me, but there was no one behind me so I didn't feel pressured about hitting two balls, or dropping a couple of extra in the fairway. I played the back nine from tee to green with both balls, I payed most attention to distance off of the tee, distance from my mid irons, difference in wedges shots, and feel/sound from the putter.

DISCLAIMER; I realize that these two balls have different construction, mainly being that the Chrome Soft has a urethane cover, I knew that going in, but it seems that the marketing is similar, soft, low compression ball for long tee shots and soft feel around the green.

Driver: I am not the most consistent driver of the golf ball, this is the area that I struggle with the most. Having said that, I felt like I was hitting the ball well with my driver and almost all of the holes that I used driver on I felt like my swing and contact was fairly equal with both balls. The Chrome soft was consistently 5-7 yards longer than the Duo. It was almost uncanny. I had 4 holes in a row where my tee shots ended up on almost the exact same line in the fairway, or rough, and I stepped off the difference and the Chrome was 5-7 paces past the Duo. Now, I realize that I didn't have the benefit of a launch monitor but it seemed to me that the Chrome had a little less spin off of the driver than the Duo. I based that only of the flight characteristics of each ball. The Chrome would have a gradual rise to it's apex and then descend on an angle that would lead to more roll. The Duo started out fine but had a sharper rise to the apex and come down more perpendicular. ADVANTAGE - Chrome

I didn't have enough shots with my long clubs to get a good feel for either ball so that's all I've got to say about that.

Mid irons: Things switched here, the Duo was a little longer for me off of my irons. I'm not sure what to attribute this to. The Chrome definitely spun more from the scoring irons, not a big surprise considering the urethane cover. I'm not a guy who generated a ton of spin, but I had a couple of shots that sounded like Velcro ripping apart when it hit the green. However, looking at the ball marks on the green the Duo flew farther than the Chrome. I never did the the Duo to back up, but the roll out was minimal. ADVANTAGE - Toss up, depends on how much spin you want on your ball

Full wedge shots. Much like the mid irons, the Duo flew further and spun less. I dropped two balls about 110 yards from the flag in the fairway. The Duo landed about 3 yards further than the Chrome and was about 3 feet,( one pace ) from it's pitch mark. The Chrome was shorter that the Duo and 3 1/2 paces behind it's pitch mark. I think that both balls felt fine from my wedges. Advantage - Duo by a hair, I base this on my swing I felt like with the Duo I could swing a hard as I needed to, if I needed to, and I wouldn't over spin it.

Chip and Pitch shots: The Duo seemed to come off of my club a little higher than I expected on my pitch and chip shots, there was minimal back spin, but not an excessive amount of roll out either. I was more able to control the Chrome, both launch and spin. ADVANTAGE - Chrome.

Putter: IMO the DUO has a softer, more muted sound and feel from the putter and the Chrome has more of a click. I'm not sure why but I seemed to always run the Duo past the hole, not sure if it was the more muted sound that made me think that I needed to hit it harder, or if I was just putting first with the Duo and had a better sense of distance with the Chrome. Having said that, I liked to feel of the Duo better and I think that given more time the distance issue would be a non issue, ADVANTAGE - Duo

All in all I think that both of these balls are great. The urethane cover is obviously the biggest difference in the two. I played the Nike RZN black last year and nothing made me think that I will switch to either of these balls anytime soon, especially since I have quite a stock of them.

One more word about the Duo. I think that Wilson did a great job on the spin. It doesn't feel mushy to me off of the driver like the original Duo does and even though it didn't impart a lot of back spin, most shots were very near it's pitch mark with little roll either way. For the price I think that this is the best surlyn covered ball out there.

Sir, that was a fantastic and thorough review. Well written and well organized, easy to read.

I 100% agree there is no reason to swap from rzn black to either of these balls.

Good review! I just picked up a dozen DUO spins the other day, too. I am a big fan of the regular DUO and think it is the best ball out there for the money, for me. I have always found them to bite pretty good considering the construction and agree that the putter feel is a bit soft, but I prefer that. Very interested to get out with a couple DUO spins and see how they play. Thanks for the write up!

Great review. Would like to see a review with the Duo spin vs. the Super soft. Same price points.

I know the cover difference was disclaimed ahead of the review detail, but one could replace these with any other urethane and surlyn/ionomer ball of similar hardness and basically end up with the same review.

More relevant comparisons:

Callaway Chrome Soft vs Bridgestone B330-RXS
Wilson Duo Spin vs Bridgestone e6

[quote name='storm319' timestamp='1423142278' post='10889095']
I know the cover difference was disclaimed ahead of the review detail, but one could replace these with any other urethane and surlyn/ionomer ball of similar hardness and basically end up with the same review.

More relevant comparisons:

Callaway Chrome Soft vs Bridgestone B330-RXS
Wilson Duo Spin vs Bridgestone e6
[/quote]

No doubt that those balls would be more on par with each other to compare. However, I didn't set out to do this, but the speed of the course lead me to play two balls head to head and those were the two I had in my bag.

Thanks for taking the time to provide the comparison.

One question I had, what was the roll out comparison after the pitch mark to where the ball actually ended up? I played the Nike RZN Blacks, Whites and the Callaway Chrome Soft and found that the White had the most roll out, the Black had second most and the Chrome soft had hardly any roll out at all. A few times it bit and stayed right next to its pitch mark.

What was your experience with your balls including your RZN Black?

My experience was that the chrome had much more backslash back spin. I didn't hit any shots head to head with the rzn black. If I can spin a 54° wedge 10 yard back then higher spin players will never keep it on the green.

[quote name='robrey85' timestamp='1423148485' post='10889649']
One question I had, what was the roll out comparison after the pitch mark to where the ball actually ended up? I played the Nike RZN Blacks, Whites and the Callaway Chrome Soft and found that the White had the most roll out, the Black had second most and the Chrome soft had hardly any roll out at all. A few times it bit and stayed right next to its pitch mark.

What was your experience with your balls including your RZN Black?
[/quote]

The chrome, being softer than the RZN Black, compresses more into the grooves, especially on short shots. This alone should make it a little spinnier than the black. The Nike RZN Platinum would change this, as it is the spinnier of their tour balls.

The RZN white isn't urethane (if I remember correctly), so its obviously going to spin less. Kinda how the duo did.

If you are a high speed and spin player, the RZN black fits the bill perfectly. I used to suck chrome+ off the green on full wedges and it drove me nuts. The RZN black either stops dead or pulls back just a bit.

Great review, thank you for taking the time to post it.

I think a good comparison would be a Wilson Duo Spin vs. Top Flight Gamer or Gamer soft. Both 3 piece balls with surlyn covers.

Thanks for your review! Back in the good ol' days, post-balata, I would play the Professional 100s and swore I'd never play a ball under 100 compression again. This week, as a request from my swing coach, I gave the Chrome Soft a try. The fairways and greens were fairly firm and fast, the wind was moderate, and it was cold with intermittent showers. As a high spin/ high SS player, spin with the irons is the biggest determinant. I was worried that either this ball would over spin for my uses or perform with too little. I tend to be more concerned about how a ball will play on firm greens, as I never hit full wedge shots on a muni unless the pin is front.

To my surprise, the Chrome Soft had great distance control for me, and stayed near it's pitch mark on every shot. I could still hit it a mile off the tee and had comparable distance with my irons (hard to tell, it tamed my draw and fade a little, which would affect distance) and loved it around the greens.

The selling point, and what I was looking for here is durability. I played all 18 with the same Chrome Soft with hardly a mark, and usually can play a Chrome + or ProV1x for 3 or 4 holes before the cover is tattered. What was your experience with durability?

Durability was fantastic with this ball. I was playing a Supersoft before this. Played the same Chrome Soft for 2 rounds and not a mark on it. The cover seems more durable than the Supersoft and the spin was just like a v1x or z star on the green. On many mid iron shots to the green, a Supersoft would not have held where as this ball stuck within 4 to 6 feet of its pitch mark. Just my take on this ball. Should be priced at $29.99 and not $37.99 though. Hope Callaway is listening..

I tried the Duo Spin this weekend. Two full rounds. Saturday 10 mph winds, on Sunday it was about 30 mph winds. Ball is REALLY NICE. Long, straight and with plenty of spin. Not as much spin as a urethane covered ball, but enough spin to stop a five iron into the green about five feet rollout after it landed. What I like about the Duo Spin, is that for me I felt like i had great control with the putter versus the SuperSoft. I haven't tried the Chrome soft, but the Duo Spin is so much less expensive, and surprisingly to me, a very good ball.

I think Callaway has come out with a great ball but the price point is too high. You can get the TM project a for less and the Srixon zakat sleep really cheap online and they're both excellent IMO

I meant Srixon Z Star SL

Good review! I also like the chrome soft but the $38 price point is kinda steep. I'll try the duo spin and see if I like it. If not I'll stick to my chrome + for now.

Good review, I like both of these balls a lot. The Duo Spin has become my casual round ball, and the Chrome soft is now my competitive round ball....at $38 it is still cheaper than the $47 price point Tour Preferred ball I was playing for league play. I don't lose balls that often since I don't really have the ss (~100mph driver) to get that wild off the tee and the durability of the Chrome Soft has been great. Played one for 62 holes before finally losing one in some thick freshly mowed rough.

Thanks for the write ups....I will be trying these out this weekend.

Great review

I'd picked a couple dozen Duo's over the winter. Liked them everywhere except for around the green. This past weekend I finally pulled out my sample sleeves of the Spins, now I know which ball I'll be playing this year.

[quote name='Golf64' timestamp='1423140446' post='10888985']
Great review. Would like to see a review with the Duo spin vs. the Super soft. Same price points.
[/quote]Add Maxfli Soft FLI, at 12.50 a doz. 3 balls should be about the same.

IMHO the Maxfli Softfil is a much better ball then the Duo spin. I got more greenside spin from the Softfli and felt better off of all clubs. I haven't played the Super Soft yet, but may just stick with the Softfli for the year.

Great review "Par Fore"...well done!

I have played the Duo for a while (high spin player) and at $20 a doz it is a great ball but I miss the bite of a urethane ball around the greens pitching and chipping as you know how much we all miss greens. LOL So I have bought a dozen Duo Spin and hope they give me more of that around the greens...if they do it will be my new ball. However, all my sticks (except putter) are at PING right now be reshafted, bent to yellow dot and the Eye 2 one iron is being refinished. Hope to have them back next week sometime so I can start testing the Duo Spin. If I remember I will post back here and let everyeone know my thoughts against the Duo if interested???

I play the Duo Spin quite often and really love it. There is a shop near me that is closing up (I have posted a few times about this in other threads) and they are selling out their Duo Spin stock for $20/dz, and you still get the extra 2 ball pack. So, 14 balls for $20... hard to beat.

Spins plenty with irons, not as much with short wedge shots/chips, but more than the regular Duo, and goes plenty far off my driver. Pro V1x and the Wilson FG Tour are my favorite balls by far, but for $26/dozen (normal retail) and $20/14 balls right now, I will play this ball all day.

It is essentially a softer version of a Bridgestone e6.

[quote name='hh2nd' timestamp='1440074569' post='12175254']
I play the Duo Spin quite often and really love it. There is a shop near me that is closing up (I have posted a few times about this in other threads) and they are selling out their Duo Spin stock for $20/dz, and you still get the extra 2 ball pack. So, 14 balls for $20... hard to beat.

Spins plenty with irons, not as much with short wedge shots/chips, but more than the regular Duo, and goes plenty far off my driver. Pro V1x and the Wilson FG Tour are my favorite balls by far, but for $26/dozen (normal retail) and $20/14 balls right now, I will play this ball all day.

It is essentially a softer version of a Bridgestone e6.
[/quote]Without the fancy dimple stuff.

Go back and forth between Duo Spin and Super Soft. Duospin is a little longer but Supersoft putts nicer.