ASK QUESTIONS: Live Q&A with Srixon Golf Balls!

[knudson81]

 

 

Srixon has a brand new Q-STAR TOUR golf ball for 2017 and are ready to answer your questions. Join us on Wednesday, April 12th (12 PM ET/9 AM PST) for a LIVE Q&A with Srixon's product experts on all things Q-STAR TOUR. They'll cover the all the new features and specs on the new Q-STAR TOUR golf ball!

 

Submit your questions now, and we’ll see you for the chat!

 

Who's on the Srixon Panel:

• Jeff Brunski, Director of R&D
  
• Michael Ross, Senior Product Manager, Golf Balls
  
• Dustin Brekke, Director of Engineering
  

 

 

 

When’s It Happening:

Wednesday, April 12th, 12 PM ET/9 AM PT

 

Giveaway:

Srixon has also added some really amazing items for 3 lucky GolfWRX members who have their question answered!

• 1st Place Winner: Cleveland RTX-3 Wedge Set (3 wedges)
  
• 2nd Place Winner: Cleveland Huntington Beach Putter
  
• 3rd Place Winner: Cleveland Huntington Beach Putter
  

Winners chosen by random from all questions that are answered.

[Hairpie]

Nice to see a premium ball with a little less than a premium price tag. It seems this ball is targeted to slower swing speed players with spin issues. Was the utilization of a urethane cover to give this type player the ability to still generate spin on less than full shots as well as give that softer, tour feel on greenside shots? I'm also wondering if due to the lower compression this ball could still benefit higher swing speed players in cold and damp conditions, and in those conditions would they see a noticeable drop in performance vs the Q star and Q star xv?

[Golfer from MO]

Same cover as the premium Z line?

The new Z line is almost night and day different than previous years - what was the biggest change? It went from a good middle of pack premium ball to top of the list no doubt rival of the best if not the best.

[sosob34]

I've been playing the Q-Star for several years. The price and durability are the standouts for me. Will this new ball have the same durability as the regular Q-Star? Also, I have a driver swing speed between 100-105, what would be the main differences between Q-Star Tour and Z-Star? Thanks for your time.

[JSunGolfPharmD]

Why did you not replicate the dimple pattern from the zstar in the Qstar tour. It doesn't seem to fight wind as well as the zstar does. The child of these two balls would be amazing

[Miles of Lief]

How high up on the list of prerequisites is durability when developing a ball like the Q Star Tour and in this price category?

[DeacLaw05]

At various times in the past year, I have played the Z-Star, the Q-Star, and the Soft Feel. Of the three, the Q-Star was the least responsive for me. I'm interested in trying the new Q-Star Tour. What changes should I expect to see from prior versions of the Q-Star that would differentiate this ball from its predecessors?

[Yepyukon]

Will the Q-STAR Tour be available in Tour Yellow? A lot of the people that will play this ball will have slower (than tour) swing speeds and would benefit from using a yellow ball.

[irishmike27]

I played a loved the ad333. The qstar was solid, but for some reason was never quite the same. I can't pinpoint why-but could you compare the new qstar tour to the ad333 of old and the regular qstar? Big srixon/Cleveland fan here.

[PingKing]

For someone who swings the driver between 95-103, would the Q Star Tour be a better fit vs the Z Star? Also, would playing the driver at different lofts (9.5 vs 10.5) make any performance difference?

[kobes31]

I have never played a Srixon product until I found a Z star X on the course the other day and I really liked it. How does this product differ from your premium tour balls? What do you see as the direct competition to this new ball? What is the compression? Will it come in yellow? I'd definitely be open to trying something other than the chrome soft I've been loyal to since their release.

[myurick2]

Very interested to try the ball. Usually play ProV1 for the greenside spin, but I would like a little softer ball that flies a little longer. I don't really understand why most other urethane covered softer balls (RX for example) do not seem to spin as well on shorter shots. Could you explain why that is generally (softer= less spin), and what you have done to address that in the Q-Star Tour? Or am I just imaging that phenomenon? I would think a softer bal would spin more, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Sorry if these are dumb questions

- but I look forward to trying the ball.

[N2N2]

As a high spin player I often fight keeping my wedges with correct ball flight on full swings. I live in windy Oklahoma and probably should try some different golf balls this year. I see you advertise Q-Star Tour for moderate swing speeds. Just curious what Srixon believes is moderate swing speed vs. high swing speed? Thanks.

[endy]

Will any of your staffers put this ball in play? Will it come close to the XV Performance-wise for high speed players? Thanks!

[gprubes]

Between the Qstar line and the Zstar lines, how much less will the Qstar line spin vs the Zstar line??

I prefer a lower spin ball with my steep angle of attack and hate when I spin wedges off of greens.

 

Thanks in advance!!

[DLaake]

Thank you to Srixon for doing this! I am interested in the design of the ball compared to the z star. Both are three-piece, urethane cover balls, so how is the q-star tour composed differently (in mantle and core, etc.) to make it better for slower swing speeds?

[Bunker2Bunker0no]

I switched over to the Z Star several years ago and have not found ANY premium ball that will outperform this ball in the last 3 years period. I always encourage others in my group playinh a premium ball to give one a try. If I wanted to point players in the direction of the new Q Star or Q Star Tour, what is the "player profile" that you think will benefit most from this new generation Q Star? Thanks for this chat opportunity and great concept on the 6-pack trial packaging this year, especially at such a modest price point, that enabled people to try both the Z and Q product lines.

[goph3r]

With the recent addition of adding a urethane cover to the Qstar, how much of a difference can we come to expect in spin rate comparisons between the Qstar and the Zstar/xv?

 

Urethane alone typically adds a lot of extra bite translating into spin, so how much of a role do the extra Zstar layers play in the balls spin rates?

[slc247]

Great ball. I imagine it takes an extreme effort to stay relevant in the top tier of golf ball manufactures.

 

I was wondering, in your opinion, what do you think of Hidecki's chances of winning a major this year?

[ocburg17]

Very interested to try this ball as I love the Z-star XV, even though compression may be a bit low for my swing speed. Could be a perfect spring/fall ball.

 

I understand the impact of multiple layers on the cost of a golf ball, but I never understood cover materials driving costs as much as they do. It seems that Srixon was able to find a compromise. Are there unique processes that need to be used to manufacture a ball with a urethane cover as compared to an ionomer cover?

[2012BFT]

Where are the biggest differences between this new ball and the Z-Star line? What golfer are these balls aimed at specifically? Are there any shared technologies between the Z star and this line?

 

I am a huge fan of the Z Star line, and am excited to try this out at some point! Thanks for taking the time to chat today.

[Ace2000]

I wanted to say thank you for doing the 6-packs. What a great thing for the consumer (including me!!) Do you have plans to continue doing this in the future?

[st8kdinr]

With the Q-Star Tour coming out and your previous successful models, there seems to be more balls than ever to choose from for the everyday golfer. Where do see the ball fitting opportunities going in the future to truly get golfers into the right model and becoming loyal customers? It seems many things have been tried to sample packs, online fittings and charts and graphs. I wonder if there are more personal opportunities to improve upon this.

[azkaevolution]

I played a round with a sleeve of the old AD333 this weekend and felt like I was still leaving some distance on the table. How does the Q-Star compare to the Soft Feel in terms of compression and transferring into ball speed for slow swing speed players like myself?

[bmurph]

Long time z-star user here with a slower swing speed that tops out at around 105. Understanding that the urethane cover will lead to similar performance between the z and q tour models around the greens, what are the primary differences that I might experience on full shots in terms of flight (dimple related?) and distance (compression related)? How would those same differences apply to someone with a swing speed of around 90?

[nuthin but a hacker]

I have played Srixon golf balls off and on for a while. I especially like the Optic Yellow color. Will this new ball be offered in that color? Not sure if you can divulge this info, but what goes into making the color so reflective and easy to spot in the sun?

[Srixon / Cleveland Golf]

Hey Everyone!

 

Appreciate your questions so far! Let's get into it! Responses to questions below will be coded according to the following:

 

Who's on the Srixon Panel:

• Jeff Brunski, Director of R&D (JB)
  
• Michael Ross, Senior Product Manager, Golf Balls (MR)
  
• Dustin Brekke, Director of Engineering (DB)
  

[Srixon / Cleveland Golf]

Nice to see a premium ball with a little less than a premium price tag. It seems this ball is targeted to slower swing speed players with spin issues. Was the utilization of a urethane cover to give this type player the ability to still generate spin on less than full shots as well as give that softer, tour feel on greenside shots? I'm also wondering if due to the lower compression this ball could still benefit higher swing speed players in cold and damp conditions, and in those conditions would they see a noticeable drop in performance vs the Q star and Q star xv?

 

From MR:

 

The Q-STAR TOUR is targeted at moderate swing speed players, but it isn’t because of spin issues. It’s more about compression and being able to fully compress the ball to optimize its launch conditions and performance. The urethane cover is so that slower swing speed players can also have a high performance, soft feeling golf ball that they can absolutely depend on in terms of greenside spin control, just as they would with a tour performance ball. There are a lot of golfers who are low handicap players who have tremendous wedge games but could benefit from a lower-compression ball because they don’t have the high swing speed for a tour ball. In cold and damp conditions this ball could definitely benefit higher swing speed players also.

[Srixon / Cleveland Golf]

I've been playing the Q-Star for several years. The price and durability are the standouts for me. Will this new ball have the same durability as the regular Q-Star? Also, I have a driver swing speed between 100-105, what would be the main differences between Q-Star Tour and Z-Star? Thanks for your time.

 

From MR:

 

The Q-STAR will be more durable than the Q-STAR TOUR because it has an ionomer cover whereas the TOUR has a urethane cover. Ionomer is more durable than urethane as a cover material. However, the Q-STAR TOUR is plenty durable and gains additional durability through the protection that the Spin Skin coating provides. The main difference for you is that your swing speed is high enough to fully compress our Z-STAR series golf balls. You can actually enjoy both the lower-compression Q-STAR TOUR or the higher compression Z-STAR series without a drop-off in performance. You should achieve higher ball speeds with the higher compression balls so you will see more driver distance in general with the Z-STAR series. Approach and greenside spin should be very similar for both balls.

[Srixon / Cleveland Golf]

Why did you not replicate the dimple pattern from the zstar in the Qstar tour. It doesn't seem to fight wind as well as the zstar does. The child of these two balls would be amazing

 

From JB:

 

The dimple design for each ball is selected to fine-tune trajectory. The Engineering group considers the typical ball-speeds for the target players, as well as the typical launch conditions (particularly backspin). They then use the dimple pattern to maximize distance and stability under those spin and speed conditions. Since the Z- and Q- families have different target users, with different ball speed and spin tendencies, they typically get different dimple patterns.

 

How high up on the list of prerequisites is durability when developing a ball like the Q Star Tour and in this price category?

 

From JB:

 

Durability can never be sacrificed and is always a top priority for all golf balls. All production golf balls undergo the same gamut of durability testing during development.