What you need to know: The sixth generation of Q Star Tour, Srixon’s premium urethane option for players with mid-level speed who want other tour-level characteristics, champions sustainability without sacrificing performance. This version also brings the Divide line more naturally into the fold of the larger Q Star Tour family. A plant-based cover is coated with Srixon’s Spin Skin+, designed to create more friction with club grooves. Meanwhile, the FastLayer core is less rigid in its centre than at its edges, lowering compression and allowing moderate swing-speed players to have more distance off the tee and greater accuracy with scoring clubs.
Price/Availability: Q-Star Tour is available in white and Tour Yellow; Q-Star Tour Divide comes in white/lime green, white/pink, yellow/red and yellow/orange. $54.99 per dozen. Available now.
3 Cool Things
1. New tech, less waste. This iteration of the Q Star features a urethane cover made with Biomass. A relatively new process, scientists have found a sustainable alternative to conventional petrochemical-based polyurethane, instead using renewable oils and parts of plant cells to create biomass-based polyurethane, a more eco-friendly plastic. This is not necessarily an improvement that affects performance, rather a more sustainable way of achieving the same flight characteristics a petrochemical-based polyurethane cover offers. That said, it is, in theory, better for the planet when you eventually lose these balls, given the plant-based construction of the cover.
2. Control, control, control. A graduated core is softer in the centre than it is around its edge, designed to produce longer, straighter shots on faster swings such as driver, woods and hybrids while maintaining a soft feel on iron and wedge swings. This signature FastLayer Core allows for short game precision while promoting distance for players with moderate swing speeds. It is the softest tour ball Srixon has ever made.
Speaking of short game precision the Q Star Tour now features Spin Skin+ a new version of Spin Skin which was originally introduced on Srixon’s Z Star line. Spin Skin+ is a coating that is highly elastic and durable, designed to dig deeper into club grooves to create friction and is resistant to dirt and grime. That all adds up to more spin, more bite on greens and more predictable ball flight.
3. All in the family.
The Q Star Tour Divide is now mostly just a name used to differentiate between a ball that is all one colour (Q Star Tour) and one that is half one colour, half another (Q Star Tour Divide). The matte finish unique to the Divide in the previous version is gone, with the third iteration of this line featuring the same glossy urethane cover as the main Q Star Tour line. On top of that, there are now two more 50/50 colour combinations, with white/green and white/pink joining the yellow/red and yellow/orange combinations.
Then there is the obvious: the loud colour schemes boost visibility and can be a helpful training aid around the greens, helping you see exactly how the ball is spinning. At the very least, the line created by the duelling colours can be used as an alignment aid on putts, no need for a sharpie here.
