Titleist Tour Soft Question

[hackerboy]

Ok, I think I may have really done it this time. Every year or so I buy my wife 12 dozen logo balls (her logo). The past few years it was NXT tours. This year, I went for Tour Softs. I just finished a round with these, then hit about 50 chips and pitches from 20 yards, comparing it to Pro V1 (which I usually use), and NXT tours. Unless I’m getting yippy looking at the new logo, it seems that virtually every pitch shot I hit with the Tour Soft launched noticeably higher, with very limited spin compared to the other balls. The Pro V1 is no comparison, from the sound to the performance. But even the NXT seemed better, launched lower for me on the 20 yarders. Is it possible that a ball could launch that much higher on a short 20 yard shot, using identical technique?

[chippa13]

Yes.

[hackerboy]

I mean really high!! I could not control it at all. I’m a decent pitcher/chipper, with 20 yards my kill shot. With Pro Vs 8/10 come in low, check and stop. With the Tour Soft, high, clunky, several launched right of where I wanted. I try to play a low spinning draw shot, and the Tour Soft wanted no part of it. Seems like the old NXT tour grabbed better. Unscientific. Would love to see launch monitor stats. Again, I’m staring down at a new large logo, so have testing bias.

[elwhippy]

Considering the price this is a pretty poor ball. Hence why it is being phased out. I tried some and the lack of control is akin to a ball half the price.

[hackerboy]

> @elwhippy said:

> Considering the price this is a pretty poor ball. Hence why it is being phased out.

 

Wow, I didn’t know it was being phased out. Dumb me assuming it would play as good as the NXT Tour did. Still have 141 balls left w wife’s logo. That’s a lot of long pitches and bogies.

 

 

[dkelly1269]

I really liked the ball for my game but it is way overpriced. It's not going to check hard at all. It depends on loft to settle in.

[grm24]

> @elwhippy said:

> Considering the price this is a pretty poor ball. Hence why it is being phased out.

 

Phased out or refreshed? The Tour Soft was released in January 2018. That puts it in the 2 year ball window that Titleist uses for an update. So if it's being phased out what is Titleist replacing it with?

[1Mordrid1]

Yup it is a horrible ball based on the price and what it was supposed to do. Of course when it was released there was plenty of titleist fans saying it was their utopia ball, and the best spinning non urethane ball ever. You don't hear or see much of that anymore.

 

In reality there were quite a few non urethane balls from other brands that out performed the Tour Soft for a lot less $$. In fact Titleist's own new TruFeel is a better ball in just about every aspect and it is $22 per dozen compared to the $35 per dozen msrp of the Tour Soft. If the Tour Soft was a $20 or even $25 ball, it would not be judged so harshly. But for $35 you better be bringing something other than a name to the table.

[Twism86]

I bought a dozen when they first came out, as I liked the NXT series. I still havent managed to lose them all because after playing a round or two I cannot stand them. They just dont "do" anything. Its an overpriced 2-piece ball that is best kept in your shag bag. Im not at all surprised by you post and I feel bad that you now have 144 of these!

[hackerboy]

Totally agree with criticism here. I’ve now played 3 rounds with them. Zero stopping ability on pitch and bunker shots. One good thing- a few times a round I’ll somewhat chunk a shot, and it gets closer than I deserve. Also- My driving is somewhat better since I truly don’t care about losing a ball (vs a new Pro V1). Down to 137 balls to go.

[Twism86]

> @hackerboy said:

> Totally agree with criticism here. I’ve now played 3 rounds with them. Zero stopping ability on pitch and bunker shots. One good thing- a few times a round I’ll somewhat chunk a shot, and it gets closer than I deserve. Also- My driving is somewhat better since I truly don’t care about losing a ball (vs a new Pro V1). Down to 137 balls to go.

 

Grip it and rip it!

[j.a.]

> @1Mordrid1 said:

> Yup it is a horrible ball based on the price and what it was supposed to do. Of course when it was released there was plenty of titleist fans saying it was their utopia ball, and the best spinning non urethane ball ever. You don't hear or see much of that anymore.

 

I don’t find it that horrible. I bought a sleeve and I was surprised with the good results, it performed better than the B330RX I was using.

 

>

> In reality there were quite a few non urethane balls from other brands that out performed the Tour Soft for a lot less $$. In fact Titleist's own new TruFeel is a better ball in just about every aspect and it is $22 per dozen compared to the $35 per dozen msrp of the Tour Soft. If the Tour Soft was a $20 or even $25 ball, it would not be judged so harshly. But for $35 you better be bringing something other than a name to the table.

 

I couldn’t agree more. As soon as they arrived to the Pro Shop, I got a sleeve, in few words this is the best ball I ever played. 20m more with the driver, launch is high, straight, long, easy chips and flop shots, it holds decently. Much better than the Tour Soft and Velocity at least to my game. This is what I will play onwards.

 

 

[bodhi555]

I picked up a dozen over the summer and found them pretty decent if I'm honest. Went well, were great in the wind, and with the softer conditions we had in the UK this year they stopped round the greens absolutely fine. In fact I had more success stopping a Tour Soft in the height of summer than I did with an AVX. There are still a few balls I'd rather play, but if you gave me a sleeve and told me to go shoot a score, I'd feel perfectly comfortable doing so.

 

Think they were £27 for a dozen when I got them, so cheaper than the bulk of the Urethane options over here. Not stunning value, but I certainly didn't feel cheated.

[grm24]

Seems the Tour Soft isn't being phased out as reported. Titleist upgrades Tour Soft and Velocity golf balls for 2020

[1Mordrid1]

It will be interesting to see how the new designs perform, because the Tru-feel IMO made both of those balls almost obsolete and at a lower price. It is interesting that they would try to change the velocity's characteristics and spin, because most of the people I know that play it, play it because of the extra distance they get from the roll out even with irons.

[Twism86]

The $35 price point is what kills it for me, aside from not liking the performance. At that price you can find 3-piece balls with urethane covers.

[grm24]

There really is no need for a two piece surlyn covered ball at that crazy of a price point. I'll be content with my $20/dozen Z-Star XV balls.

[Nomad Golfer]

I'm sticking with the NXT Tour S which is a medium compression ball, and the W/S Duo, a soft ball very suited to my vintage set.

Glad I found out about the Tour Soft before wasting money on them.

[apj0524]

I agree the price point is too high for these but I think that for most golf balls.

However coming from playing Chromesofts that I have fell out of love with having tried these I like them so I have been shopping around in the UK for deals on these for the links golf I play I have no problem chipping them in low an letting them run up to the hole and on the parkland I just allow for some run out.

Off my driver I think they are great feel nice and don't get too spiny and I like the feel off my irons

I guess each to his own, having said that I played with  a Chrome soft on Saturday in 5 deg C temperature and like this again

[DallasDan]

I've been using the yellow Tour Soft ball for a little over a year now and I have been happy with the results. I buy mine used in 'mint' condition for about $15/doz so cost does not factor into my equation.

I have a slower ss. Driver is 85-90 so I need the low spin roll out for the extra yards. I find that this ball does that better for me compared to the ProV1 and V1x. I also tried the yellow AVX and it did not feel soft enough for me. I like the marshmellow feel when I hit it on the screws.

I'm interested to try the new 2020 version but will have to wait until next season before the used ball inventories stock up.

In response to the original post....I do notice that the Tour Soft ball launches noticeable higher than the V1 and V1x on short chip shot. 15-20 yard chips down my hallway upstairs reveal a very noticeable difference in height with the Tour Soft launching about twice as high. I like that as I rely more on trajectory then spin to control my distance. Perhaps as I get better I will gravitate towards using spin like the better players out there but I do depend on the roll out to hit my yardages for my irons...and a woods for that matter.

[AngryGilmore]

I gamed the hell out of the NXT Tours. Great balls. I switched to Snell when the NXT was dropped.