TaylorMade SpeedSoft Golf Balls

The TaylorMade SpeedSoft golf ball is one of those rare products for which the marketing department’s catchphrase tells you everything you need to know.

“Golf is hard. Play a softer ball.”

SpeedSoft. Putting “Speed” next to “Soft”? We have questions.

The press release for the TaylorMade SpeedSoft golf ball tells us it’s a low-compression design, engineered for the “softest possible feel while maintaining explosive speeds for the everyday golfer.”

As with the recently released TP5 and TP5x, TaylorMade believes it has cracked the code to combine soft feel and ball speed with this new ball.

And the company believes it’s done it for $24.99 per dozen.

We have more questions.

And what about that “everyday golfer” thing? Are you an everyday golfer? And does that mean you play every day?

So many questions.

Let’s see if we can find some answers.

TaylorMade SpeedSoft Golf Balls: Downy Soft …

Before we get too deep, let’s put the TaylorMade SpeedSoft golf ball in the right spot. It’s a two-piece ionomer-covered ball for under $25 per dozen. For that kind of money, you can expect a soft, low-spinning, high-launching ball that you don’t mind losing. The Wilson Staff Duo Soft and the Srixon Soft Feel are typical of the species.

One benefit is a pleasingly soft feel, which can be addictive. But the big draw is you can get twice as many of them compared to what you’d spend on a Tour-level ball.

But that “soft” thing has a double downside. When you go that soft, you sacrifice spin and ball speed. Tour-level balls spin because their firm, ionomer mantle layer pinches against the soft urethane cover on glancing blows. Since a two-piece ionomer-covered ball has, well, a firm ionomer cover, there’s no soft/firm contrast. Instead, it’s a firm/soft contrast, which delivers considerably less spin.

And relative firmness – that’s higher compression to you and me – is a key ingredient to ball speed. And ball speed, while not the sole indicator, is a key ingredient to overall distance. To put it simply: firmness contributes to ball speed, which contributes to distance. Soft, in other words, tends to be slower.

And the TaylorMade SpeedSoft is soft. As in sub-50 compression soft.

However, according to TaylorMade, the SpeedSoft tests right to the maximum USGA limit for initial velocity.

“To be able to create a product that’s that soft at that velocity is a very unique thing,” says Michael Fox, TaylorMade’s Global Golf Ball Director.

PWR To The Core

How does TaylorMade squeeze speed out of SoftSpeed? With its latest buy-a-vowel technology, PWRCORE.

According to TaylorMade, PWRCORE is an extra-large, super low compression core. That’s coupled with a firm ionomer cover with what TaylorMade describes as a low-drag, extended-flight 332 dimple pattern. The company says you’ll notice the soft feel mostly on approach and wedge shots, typically within 30 to 50 yards of the green.

OEMs tell us, with some justification, that, since softer balls tend to spin less, they’re more likely to stay in play for their target golfers. That those target golfers struggle with a slice is often left unsaid. But it’s fair to reason that a ball that spins less is more likely to find right fairway instead of right rough, or right rough instead of right forest.

And I don’t know about the courses you play on but low-spinning tee shots tend to roll more in the fairway than they do in the rough. And they generally don’t roll at all in the forest.

Did TaylorMade crack the ball speed versus soft speed dichotomy? It’s more likely that it has altered the recipe a little bit to squeeze as much speed as it can out of a sub-50 compression ball.

But there is something unique about the TaylorMade SpeedSoft. That is, if you like a dash of color in your game.

TayorMade SpeedSoft Ink

SpeedSoft Ink is, quite simply, a splash of color. TaylorMade calls the new paint splatter design a “vibrant visual technology” because why the hell not?

Wait, it gets better.

It’s a high-contrast, high-visibility paint job that is, and we’re quoting, “a canvas of personality and style ideally suited for those who dare to break convention.” It’s also a “palette of possibilities and roars with personality.”

Flowery verbiage aside, a dash of color never hurt anyone. And if you like a dash of color, these are pretty cool.

TaylorMade SpeedSoft Golf Balls: Colors, Price, Availability

The basic TaylorMade SpeedSoft golf balls will be available in white and yellow in sleeves or in dozens.

The TaylorMade SpeedSoft Ink comes in three colorways, with color splashes available in green, blue or pink. TaylorMade is also offering red and orange options in ball jars at retail locations so you can buy them one at a time.

They’re available starting today at retail and online. They’ll sell for $24.99 per dozen.

For more information, hit up the TaylorMade website.