Bridgestone TOUR B Golf Balls: What’s New For 2024?

When considering the new Bridgestone TOUR B golf balls, it’s important to understand a golf truism.

When OEMs release an updated product, the relative improvement can sometimes be a modest evolution from the previous edition. And sometimes, it can be a dramatic mutation. But mostly, it’s somewhere in the middle.

From what we’ve seen of the 2024 Bridgestone TOUR B series (TOUR B X, XS, RX, RXS), it’s more than an evolution. But not quite a mutation.

What Bridgestone is giving us is a ball that’s different enough from the 2022 TOUR B. If you compare it to the 2020 version, it’s getting damn near mutation status.

Bridgestone TOUR B Golf Balls: Impact Modifiers and Contact Science

Bridgestone’s TOUR B golf balls took a major jump forward in 2020. That was the year Bridgestone introduced its new REACTIV cover technology. The idea was to decouple firm driver feel and soft iron and wedge feel without sacrificing spin.

“There was a urethane covervand we added some pixie dust that allows the golf ball to stay on the face longer and impart more spin,” says Bridgestone Golf Ball Marketing Manager Elliot Mellow.

That “pixie dust” is an additive Bridgestone calls “impact modifiers.” And impact modifiers fall under Bridgestone’s broader heading of “Contact Science.”

“When struck violently with the driver, the impact modifiers firm up and push back against the driver to create initial velocity.”

In that first iteration of REACTIV back in 2020, Bridgestone used the same urethane to impact modifier ratio for all four of the Tour B models. For 2022, with an extra two years of experience under its belt, Bridgestone modified the modifier-to-urethane mix, customizing the blend to get maximum performance out of each ball. Bridgestone called that REACTIV IQ.

For 2024, Bridgestone is further refining the urethane-modifier recipe and is combining that with an all-new mid-layer it’s calling XCLRNT. Together they make the REACTIV X System.

XCLRNT is new-age marketing-ese for “accelerant,” as in something that will cause acceleration. Bridgestone says it’s a new, firmer mid-layer that serves double duty.

“Firmer equals higher ball speed off the driver,” says Mellow. “On the flip side, the firmer XCLRNT layer acts as a better backboard against the soft cover for more spin on approach shots.”

The TOUR B Fab Four

Bridgestone will continue offering four versions of the TOUR B, splitting them into two families: X and RX. The B X is the firmest and fastest of the bunch, while the softer B XS is a good bit spinnier (it was Tiger’s ball but more on that in a bit). The B RX and B RXS follow the same pattern but both have lower compression than the X and XS.

Bridgestone has traditionally divided the two families by driver swing speed. Over 105 mph gets you into the X or XS and under 105 you get the RX or RXS. This isn’t necessarily a hard-and-fast rule. At an in-person ball fitting, Bridgestone fit me into the TOUR B X even though I haven’t seen triple-digit speed in over a decade.

Performance numbers are the ultimate judge but Bridgestone plays the percentages.

“We know 75 percent of golfers fit into the under-105 category,” says Mellow. “They get into a higher compression ball designed for speed and distance. For the under-105 category, the RX is a forgiving product with distance in mind while the RXS is softer and spins more.”

Bridgestone and the Tiger Effect

Bridgestone leans heavily on its Tour staff in the R and D process, Tiger in particular because, well, he’s Tiger. Starting with the 2020 series, Bridgestone designed the TOUR B X with Bryson in mind and the TOUR B XS for Tiger who prefers the spinnier ball for his aggressive short game.

Bryson is no longer on staff with Bridgestone. Maybe it’s a coincidence and maybe not but the new 2024 TOUR B balls have evolved to an interesting place, as Tiger is now gaming the B X as are Jason Day and Matt Kuchar.

“Short game control is up substantially with the new X from where it was two, three or four generations ago, while not being detrimental to distance,” says Mellow. “Tiger is known for spinning the ball and we’re able to give him a ball with distance off the tee while also having short-game control, just because the materials have evolved so much.”

Specifically, Mellow says the 2025 TOUR B X spins like the 2020 version of the B XS. The spin on the new XS, he says, is “bonkers.”

No Bridgestone Tour staffers are playing the new XS but Mellow says several non-contract players will.

Bridgestone TOUR B Golf Balls: Better Than Before?

We won’t know for sure until our next MyGolfSpy Ball Test, but we can make some educated guesses.

First off, the 2022 editions of all four Bridgestone TOUR B golf balls were strong performers in our 2023 Ball Test. The TOUR B X was seventh in high swing speed driver distance, finishing a mere 12 feet behind the category-leading Titleist Pro V1 Left Dash. The TOUR B X and TOUR B RX were the two longest in the high-swing speed iron category, clearing the field by 1.5 and two yards respectively. And all four balls were in the top six in ball speed in the mid-swing speed iron category, with the XS, X and RXS taking the gold, silver and bronze respectively.

So, yeah, they did all right.

With further modifications to the urethane/impact modifier recipe and the new firmer buy-a-vowel XCLRNT mid-layer, we anticipate performance moving forward. How it compares to the field, however, is an open question. But, as we learned in testing, there’s (mostly) no such thing as a bad ball.

Bridgestone isn’t changing up compression much for 2024. We measured the previous models at 94 for the B X, 84 for the B XS, 79 for the B RX and 65 for the B RXS. Bridgestone says the new models should all be within a point or so of those measurements.

Bucking The Price Trend

As we’ve seen, Titleist, Callaway, Wilson and perhaps others are pricing their top-shelf Tour balls at the new $54.99 per dozen threshold. Bridgestone, however, is bucking that trend, pricing the new TOUR B series at $49.99. While not exactly a discount, that is the same as the 2022 models.

That pricing decision didn’t come arbitrarily. It is, in fact, data-driven.

“We look at what we call a ‘price wall,’” explains Mellow. “We do consumer surveys, show them the product, tell them the story and then tell them the price. Then they answer a series of questions about whether they’ll buy at that price.”

Bridgestone then repeats the process with other groups and other pricing levels.

“We’ll eventually hit a wall where the decision to buy drops off,” he says. “We don’t want to go there but there’s also a bottom end to the equation. You don’t want brand degradation by discounting your flagship products.”

Ultimately, Bridgestone finds the balance between the price wall, profit margins and necessary volume. Cutting prices to get volume is easy but it’s almost always disastrous to a company’s bottom line.

“We are cognizant that people are spending hard-earned dollars on this product,” adds Mellow. “We’re going to get it to them as a reasonable price that’s also fiscally responsible.”

Bridgestone TOUR B Golf Balls: Price and Availability

Price we covered – they’re $49.99 per dozen. The 2024 Bridgestone TOUR B golf ball models will continue their familiar packaging. The B X features the black-on-white box and the B XS is in the blue on white. The RX box is RX red on white and RXS green on white.

The new Bridgestone TOUR B golf balls will be available in white only to start. But if the past is any indication, you can expect all four to be available in yellow eventually. And while there will be a standard TOUR B X offering, Bridgestone is also introducing a Tiger version. It’s the same ball – no secret Tiger Sauce. The only difference is they’re stamped “Tiger” and all have the number “1” on them.

And, yes, Bridgestone insists the ball you buy at retail is the same ball Tiger, JDay, Kuchar and Freddie play.

“It’s cool when you go through our facility and see balls on the assembly lines,” says Mellow,. “Those balls could end up at your local retailer or they could end up in Tiger’s locker or anywhere in between.”

The new 2024 Bridgestone TOUR B golf balls hit retail Feb. 16.

For more information and help selecting which TOUR B model is right for you, visit Bridgestone’s website to use its online golf ball selection tool.