In a previous story, we discussed the most popular Surylyn/ionomer golf ball models among MyGolfSpy readers. This time around, we’re digging into the urethane segment of the market. While across the market as a whole, urethane unit sales trail less expensive ionomer offerings, among the performance-driven golfers that read MyGolfspy, they dominate.
Urethane models were chosen as your ball of choice almost 87 percent of the time.
As a reminder, the data presented below comes from a recently conducted survey of more than 5,400 MyGolfSpy readers who were asked to select the golf ball model they play most often.
Before we get to the results, please note that unless explicitly specified otherwise, the percentages listed are among respondents who chose a urethane offering.
#1 Titleist Pro V1
It shouldn’t surprise anyone that the No. 1 ball across the wider market was the top choice among MyGolfSpy readers. Among survey respondents, the Pro V1 accounted for 13.69 percent of urethane selections and 12.01 percent of all selections. There’s a reason why the Pro V1 is the benchmark by which all others are judged.
#2 Titleist Pro V1x
Again, our readers mirror the wider market. The Titleist Pro V1x was selected as the ball of choice by just under 10 percent (9.92 to be precise) of respondents who play a urethane ball and 8.7 percent of all respondents overall.
#3 Maxfli Tour X
I suppose right here is where things start to get interesting. The Maxfli Tour X was ranked as the third most popular urethane ball among MyGolfSpy readers with just a bit more than 8.5 percent of you listing it as your ball of choice. What surprises me isn’t where Maxfli ranked (we’ve been telling you about the excellent Tour series since 2019). It’s that the Maxfli Tour X is played by more of you than the stock Tour. I’m guessing Ben Griffin has something to do with that.
#4 Maxfli Tour
Trailing the Maxfi Tour X by a bit more than two percentage points, the Maxfli Tour is the fourth most-played urethane ball among MyGolfSpy readers. It’s played by 6.29 percent of you who play urethane balls and 5.52 percent of you overall. While market share data for DTC and house brands is dicey at best, it’s reasonable to suggest that Maxfli’s budget-friendly performance balls are having an impact.
#5 Kirkland Performance+
Like Maxfli, it’s hard to say how much of the larger market the Kirkland ball accounts for but among our readers, it’s the first choice among nearly six percent of you who play a urethane ball. That makes sense given its position as the inarguable best value in the golf ball category. And while it’s true that Costco has never replicated the performance of the original four-piece model, the latest Performance+ is noticeably better than the previous versions—and it’s still less than $20 a dozen.
#6 Vice Pro
It’s not unreasonable to suggest that the Vice Pro was the original (or at least the first serious) DTC alternative to the Pro V1. While our survey suggests that Vice has been overtaken by Maxfli among our readers, it still accounted for more than four percent of responses among golfers who chose a urethane offering. As you’ve probably figured out, that places it ahead of several bigger OEM options.
#7 Callaway Chrome Soft
Still the most popular offering in the Callaway urethane lineup (sigh), the Chrome Soft was listed as the ball of choice by 3.49 percent of respondents who chose a urethane model (3.06 percent overall). While my personal take is that most golfers would do better with a different Chrome option, I suppose the results suggest Callaway is still struggling to make inroads in the ball category with serious golfers.
#8 TaylorMade TP5x
Like Maxfli, it’s a bit of surprise that TaylorMade’s X ball is played by more MyGolfSpy readers than the standard TP5, but broadly, you guys seem to favor higher compression offerings (and I don’t blame you). The TP5x was selected as the ball of choice by 3.43 percent of you. That’s about a half a percentage point more than Tour Response.
#8 Titleist Pro V1x Left Dash
Arguably, Left Dash at T8 is as reflective of our audience as Maxfli at Nos. 3 and 4. While there remains a larger number of avid golfers who still don’t know Left Dash exists, our survey equaled TP5x as the ball of choice for 3.43 percent of you, making it significantly more popular among our readers relative the market as a whole.
#8 Srixon Z-Star Diamond
Perhaps the biggest example of the influence of our ball test, Srixon’s Z-STAR DIAMOND, was listed as the top choice for 3.43 percent of you who chose a urethane offering. Despite a market share that barely cracks the other category, I’m going to tell you that, pound for pound, it was the most intriguing and arguably best-performing Srixon ball in our last two tests.
Other notables
To get through the remainder of the discussion, let’s split brands into two categories.
The big dogs
Bridgestone: We didn’t find a single Bridgestone ball among the top-10 urethne offerings. That said, TOUR BX was the company’s most popular choice (1.51 percent of urethane offerings) followed by TOUR B RX (1.38), TOUR B XS (.63) and TOUR B RXS (.6). With a compelling new lineup on the way for 2026, Bridgestone has an opportunity to gain some ground.
Callaway: Chrome Tour was listed as the ball of choice by 2.31 percent of you who play a urethane option. Chrome Tour X was selected by less than two percent of you (1.72). I’ll have more to say about that in a later post. Lastly, Chrome Tour Triple Diamond, the longest ball we tested under our high-speed setup, accounted for 1.31 percent of urethane selections but I expect that number will increase as more golfers become aware of its distance potential.
Mizuno: To be fair, Mizuno has been serious about the ball business for only a few generations now. With that, among golfers who chose a urethane offering, the Pro X was chosen by .43 percent of respondents, while .28 percent chose the Tour S.
PXG: Among full-line, not entirely DTC, equipment brands, PXG balls arguably had the most disappointing results. Despite being a strong performer in consecutive ball tests, the Xtreme Tour was selected as the ball of choice by just .43 percent of you who play a urethane ball. The Xtreme Tour X was less popular still, with just .24 percent listing it as your preferred model.
Srixon: While the Z-STAR DIAMOND separated itself a bit, Srixon’s other urethane offerings have similar shares among our readers. The softer (and lower-priced) Q-STAR TOUR was selected by 2.28 percent of you who chose a urethane offering. Z-STAR XV (two percent) and Z-STAR (1.94 percent) round out the rest of Srixon urethane models.
TaylorMade: Among the bigger OEMs, TaylorMade’s urethane options were among the most tightly grouped. As noted, TP5x accounted for 3.43 percent of urethane-based responses. TaylorMade’s softest “tour” ball, Tour Response, accounted for 2.95 percent, while TP5 is the ball of choice for 2.72 percent of respondents.
Titleist: Among Titleist’s remaining urethane offerings, AVX accounted for 3.13 responses among those who listed a urethane ball. Left Dot, which has been available through retail channels just twice, accounted for less than one half of one percent of selections, while the discontinued Tour Speed was chosen slightly more often.
Wilson: While Wilson is no longer among the biggest brands in golf, they are an established full-line club brand, which is why I’m including them in this section. Anyway, of Wilson’s three urethane models, the Triad was the only one to crack the one-percent barrier (1.42 percent of urethane selections). Staff Model X accounted for .84 percent of premium selections, while the standard Staff Model accounted for .65 percent.
The other guys
Among the DTC/house brands, only Costco (Kirkland), Maxfli and Vice had models pass the one-percent barrier among respondents who chose a urethane offering.
Maxfli’s other Tour option, Tour S, accounted for 2.07 percent of responses.
The Vice Pro Plus ranked 11th in the category (3.15 percent) while the Pro Air was the top choice for .71% of you.
Looking at the rest of the list, the Legato LTX 3085 was the top pick for .6 percent of you which, while hardly significant, accounted for a larger share of responses than the Sam’s Member’s Mark (.45 percent), OnCore ELIXR (.22 percent) and VERO X1 (.13 percent), as well as all three Snell offerings (Prime 3.0 was the most popular with .32 percent, followed by the 4.0 at .15 and 2.0 at .04).
Despite a cult following in some circles, Seed’s urethane models weren’t shown to be particularly popular (SD-01 led the way at .3 percent with the SD-02 trailing at .11 percent).
Lastly, the Cut Blue narrowly cracked the .1 percent barrier at .11 percent.
Have your say
We’ll look at the results at the brand level and talk about some of the things that stand out to us in future pieces.
Until then … thoughts, surprises, etc.? Did anything in the results stand out?
Jimjam
8 months ago
Enjoying the Maxfli X. Always on great deals for 4 dozen and typically lasts me a serious amount of rounds. Good to see them second only to Titleist.