WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: Although best known for it’s tour-level Pro V1/V1x line, Titleist knows there are players seeking golf balls that perform more than good enough without costing you the equivalent of a filet mignon dinner per dozen. That’s where the Tour Soft and TruFeel models come in. The Tour Soft provides golfers with more distance off the tee and increased spin into the green, all while providing a soft feel off the face. The TruFeel has a revamped core, cover and aerodynamics package to deliver more yards with the ability to play a variety of greenside shots.
PRICE: The Tour Soft balls will be offered in white, yellow and green and be available in golf shops across Australia from February 3. Price is $59.95 per dozen ($NZ69.95). The TruFeel balls (White and Yellow) will be available in golf shops across Australia from February 3. Matte Red TruFeel will be available from June 1. Price is $39.95 per dozen ($NZ44.95).
3 COOL THINGS
1. Help on all the shots. Instead of focusing solely on distance, Titleist set out to create a better ball that addresses all the shots but at a lower price point.
“There are golfers that say, ‘I’m not paying that much for a [premium] golf ball.’” says Matt Hogge, product development director for Titleist golf balls. “But they do not have to sacrifice quality. There will be modest performance trade-offs, but we will not scrimp on quality.”
Tour Soft features a new, large core that increases ball speed and distance off the tee while providing a soft feel. The 1.608-inch diameter of Tour Soft’s core makes it the largest ionomer-covered core in the market. Over Tour Soft’s core is a thin “FusaBlend” cover which has been reformulated to increase spin and control into and around the greens. Fusablend is a Titleist proprietary combination of ionomers and softening polymers used to create a cover material with spin performance and feel typically not found with other ionomer covers.
2. Core of the matter. Any ball engineer will tell you that the core of the ball is the fastest part and the cover is the slowest. As such, Titleist set out to design a ball with a very large core, which presents manufacturing challenges.
“Manufacturing a 1.608-inch core is not an easy task, but the advantages it delivers to golfers in on-course performance is tremendous,” said Mike Madson, vice-president of golf-ball R&D for Titleist said. “We’re only able to produce a core that large because of our manufacturing expertise. We have total control over all our processes, which allows us to make the advancements needed to create a core at that size that performs the same from ball to ball and dozen to dozen.”
3. Feel is king. For the TruFeel model, the emphasis was on creating a ball that behaves better around the greens – and feels better, too – without sacrificing distance.
Key to achieving that is a thicker, softer 3.0 TruFlex cover that is designed to increase greenside spin, while working in concert with a new, reformulated core to provide long distance with Titleist’s softest feel. A new aerodynamics package is designed to deliver a penetrating, low ball flight that enhances total distance for many.
