Callaway Tour i Ball

Topspin2 · March 19, 2008

>>why is there such a delay on the i when the ix is already out?<<

Production problems? Competitors might say that, but I believe that Cally feels the ix is a PV1/1x slayer. They will be pumping a ton of money into marketing the ix. I got to try both and the 4-piece ball performs, as Gary Koch would say, "better than most". I am an unapologetic fan of the HX 56 - love the soft feel and spin. The Tour i is the replacement for the 56 - which will also have more spin and is softer. Again, why the ix and not the i? Because Cally wants to attract the "big hitters" who prefer a little less spin. I agree with the poster who said more pros are using it. In the past few weeks, I have been surprised to see the Cally logo ball on greens in hands of pros who are using TM, Cleveland, Mizuno clubs.

mattsam · July 3, 2008

Can anyone give an updated review on these?

Thanks

Matt

jfacteau · June 14, 2009

I have a swing speed of 103 with a driver and I think this ball feels like a rock, I still prefer the B330S or the Pro V1

SteveL1 · June 18, 2009

I used the Tour i today and have a swing speed of right at 100. It felt a little harder off the driver and irons but I have to say the perfoemance was better than I expected. Very consistent and no nasty hooks or slices, OK one nasty duck hook with a 3w but that wasn't the balls fault. Also felt a little clicky off the putter but I found that it was at least 5-10 yards longer off the irons for me. First time in a while I kept over shooting greens and finally starting clubing down around the 11th hole.

I personally don't like the Pro V's as they spin way too much for my taste. I have a decending blow and take a fairly large divot so if you are a sweeper, this may be a moot point. Being a 8-10 hdcp, I find myself better off hitting a ball that is straighter off the driver and will compromise green side feel for that. The more fairways I hit, the more greens I hit and don't need to worry about greem side feel anyway.

Would I rush and buy some, no. I got two sleeves at an outting a couple of weeks ago so they were free. At $50/ dozen, they are out of my normal budget range anyway.

darnoldil · June 18, 2009

The Tour i has been my ball since late summer 08 until today. With that said I still think this is a fabulous ball. It can be a little clicky at times off of the irons but usually it feels decently soft to me.

It is definitely a warm weather ball if you want to get the soft feel out of it (say 80 F). Around the green I found it to work exactly like a PV1 except that it needs a little extra when putting to get it to the hole.

The best thing about the ball other than its' green side manners is its performance off of the driver. It is the second straightest ball that I have ever hit. If you pull it a bit it will fade back just a tad and keep you in the short grass and my hooks with other balls become minor draws with the Tour i and it's loooong! You can't go wrong with this ball!

Now why am I switching? Because I wanted a softer feel with my irons and I wanted the ball to do a little more work for me distance wise. The Z star fits the bill in both departments. It is noticeably softer and that seemed to translate into more distance with the irons also. I didn't have to hit it as well to get the extra distance like I did the Tour i.

The Z star (Srixon) is also a little straighter which translated into 5 yards more distance with the driver. I am not sure how it will roll out compared to the Tour i because it has a much higher trajectory but it doesn't seem phased by the wind one bit. I haven't tested its green side control but from what I've read I am sold and plan to exchange my 3.5 dozen new ITB Tour i's for Z stars and I am also ordering 2 dozen used ones from Lost Ball.com.

Again, you can't go wrong with the Tour i and it was only my love for a soft, balata feeling ball that eventually lead me to try the Z star in the first place. Is the Tour i as soft as the Z star? NO! Is the Tour i hard? NO (well that depends on how you compress the ball which is not all about SS).

The best way that I can describe the Tour i is to say that it is a medium-soft golf ball while the Z star is an extra-soft one. I love extra-soft feeling golf balls and the extra compression usually translates into extra distance in the iron play as long as it's not accompanied by increased spin (you can over compress a soft golf ball and create excess spin). What I was not prepared for was the driver performance. I expected that the Z star would get over compressed and sideways with the driver loosing a lot of distance and accuracy but it didn't! The Tour i is still the best ball that I have played a lot of rounds with and it's great in the wind even thought the Z star kept about a 1 club advantage in distance going into the wind today.

So I close by saying that if you want a great ball buy the Tour i, if you want a softer feeling ball that is just as great or maybe a fraction better get the Z star. For me these two are the only balls that I will play important (to me) rounds with although I still play some recycled NOP, PV1, and Hex Tour's for my garbage rounds but when these run out it will be recycled Z star's all the way.

tjrbu · June 22, 2009

The best thing about the ball other than its' green side manners is its performance off of the driver. It is the second straightest ball that I have ever hit. If you pull it a bit it will fade back just a tad and keep you in the short grass and my hooks with other balls become minor draws with the Tour i and it's loooong! You can't go wrong with this ball!

While trying to find some info on a Pro V1/Touri comparison, I ran across this thread. With all due respect, the "fade after a pull" is your face angle relative to swing path, not the ball. Some balls spin more or less, but they don't self correct. If they did, I'm 900% sure they'd be illegal.

Regardless, if you like the Pro V1 for its greenside control, and aren't fast enough to regularly play a Pro V1x, then does that necessarily mean you'd be a better fit in the Touri over the Tourix? I do echo the sentiment that the Cally balls tend to feel "hard" on the putter.

darnoldil · June 22, 2009

The best thing about the ball other than its' green side manners is its performance off of the driver. It is the second straightest ball that I have ever hit. If you pull it a bit it will fade back just a tad and keep you in the short grass and my hooks with other balls become minor draws with the Tour i and it's loooong! You can't go wrong with this ball!

While trying to find some info on a Pro V1/Touri comparison, I ran across this thread. With all due respect, the "fade after a pull" is your face angle relative to swing path, not the ball. Some balls spin more or less, but they don't self correct. If they did, I'm 900% sure they'd be illegal.

Regardless, if you like the Pro V1 for its greenside control, and aren't fast enough to regularly play a Pro V1x, then does that necessarily mean you'd be a better fit in the Touri over the Tourix? I do echo the sentiment that the Cally balls tend to feel "hard" on the putter.

Hmm, tell that to all of the other balls that are out of bounds to the left. :russian_roulette: LOL! I am sure that most people on this forum as well as myself are aware of what the face angle is in such a context. My point was that the characteristics of the ball help to keep my hook in check so that a number of shots over rounds stay playable. :friends:

The fact that I don't have to hit it near perfect to keep a playable ball is golden. The fact that the Z star seems to have even less spin off of the driver is priceless. The importance of this type of characteristic is that it equates to a higher level of forgiveness for me (and others I presume) since no one hits it perfect 100% of the time which is why this forum is so popular as we seek to dial in our equipment.

Being able to play a particular ball, regardless of the marketing hype, isn't based solely upon speed, even though I have the speed to play what I want I gravitate towards feel in my iron game while others may value feel in the putter or off of the driver. Of course "feel" is a subjective term that is linked more to sound, some people like it "mushy" while others like a distinct "click" all of which is affected not only by SS but also angle of attack, clubs, face angle and even the weather. For instance the Tour i feels soft to me off of my 2 bar putter so imagine my surprise when others reported that it felt hard of off of the putter, it just goes to show that personal preference and also equipment can make a difference in feel.

It's personal preference but the difference between the Tour i and ix in feel is only one potential factor in the selection process. The Tour i has more spin in the short game and that can be a difference maker (as it was for me). It also "feels" softer in certain parameters such as partial wedges and long iron play.

Thus the Tour i would not necessarily be a good or bad fit for someone who is between the PV1 and 1x from a SS parameter because there is more to the fitting process than that. I personally thought the 07 and older PV1x was as soft as the Tour i but its iron play characteristics (4-7) equated to less holding power and it was better off of the driver. Since I love mushy feeling balls and lots of short game and approach spin I played the PV1 for a short time. In Golf Magazine the advise that Titleist gave to four players for their fitting needs was based more upon how the approach and short game shots were reacting than on their SS or driver. If someone is in between these two balls I would say that they should look at which part of their game could use something extra, if it is a need to keep the driver straighter while having a lot of short game/approach shot spin and some softness from the irons then the Tour i is the ball.