There’s more to come before this month is over but, for now, Titleist has announced two updates to the ionomer/two-piece side of its golf ball lineup – the new Tour Soft and TruFeel.
Most of Titleist’s competitors outsource production of their two-piece and ionomer models to third-party factories. In contrast, Tour Soft and TruFeel, like Titleist’s other non-urethane offerings, are produced at Ball Plant 2 in North Dartmouth, Mass. Point being that while neither is a Pro V1, you’re still getting Titleist quality.
Titleist Tour Soft
Let’s start with this. Titleist would tell you that Tour Soft is the most underappreciated ball in its lineup, if not the market as a whole.
“It continues to punch above its weight class,” says Jeremy Stone, VP of Marketing for Titleist golf balls.
Whether that makes it a hidden gem or simply overlooked, Titleist wants you to know that the overall performance is shockingly good – better than you (or at least me) would expect from anything without a urethane cover.
That’s notable given that Titleist doesn’t view the competitive set for Tour Soft as other premium two-piece offerings. Tour Soft is designed to compete with balls in what we call the non-tour urethane offerings.
When you look at the performance of many of those competitors – especially around the green – there’s a legitimate case to be made that there are some wolves in sheep’s clothing. Said another way, some of those competitive balls offer the performance characteristics of ionomer cleverly disguised with a urethane cover.
“Urethane” for the sake of saying so.
Core-to-Cover Enhancements
It’s going to be a popular refrain in the ball space this year so, yeah, I suppose you could say the Titleist Tour Speed offers core-to-cover enhancements, which is obviously a little bit easier with a two-piece ball whose entirety is, well, a core and a cover.
Larger, Faster Core
The core of the new Titleist Tour Soft is 1.608 inches. I don’t expect you to have any frame of reference. Frankly, we don’t measure many cores so I don’t have the best frame of reference here, either.
The important detail is that Titleist says Tour Soft has the largest core of any two-piece ball on the market. Generally, a larger core is a faster core so, if you want more distance, making the core bigger is one way to do it.
As far as the compression is concerned, we measured the previous Tour Soft at 67.
That puts it in the same ballpark as the Tour Response, Q-Star Tour and TOUR B RXS. The new ball is slightly firmer which contributes to more speed.
As an added bonus (for some), the new formulation also promotes low spin in the long game.
Reformulated Fusablend Cover
Unless we’re talking about Supersoft Magna, nobody wants to make a golf ball any bigger than it needs to be. It’s the reason why the USGA has a minimum size limit but not a maximum one.
With that, it’s only logical that if you make the core bigger, you need to make the cover thinner.
The thinner Fusablend cover provides more greenside spin. The new Titleist Tour Soft doesn’t spin quite as much as a Pro V1 around the green but data provided by Titleist suggests it’s much closer than you (well, me, anyway) would have thought.
And, not that you asked, but Fusablend is a mix of ionomer with softening polymers. The process for creating the material was developed by Titleist and while DuPont handles the mixing these days, Fusablend remains proprietary to Titleist.
Tour Soft’s dimple pattern is a 346-dimple quadrilateral dipyramid. You probably don’t need to worry about the specifics of the geometry (though it will be on the quiz). The point is that it’s unique to Tour Soft and is designed to work with its low-spin properties.
Worth a Try?
I’ll admit I raised my eyebrows when Titleist told me that its Fusablend-covered Tour Soft outperforms many soft urethane offerings. We don’t do a lot of two-piece testing here but it might just be worth taking a closer look, especially in those cases where Tour Soft offers more favorable pricing.
Titleist Tour Soft – Pricing, Colors, Availability
Retail price for the Titleist Tour Soft golf ball is $39.99 a dozen. It’s available in White, High Optic Yellow, and Green (gloss) beginning Jan. 24. Pink will be available in July.
2024 Titleist TruFeel Golf Balls
The Titleist TrueFeel golf ball story is simple.
- It’s soft – the softest ball in the Titleist lineup.
- From a distance perspective, it holds its own against the competitive set.
- At $24.99, it’s the most affordable ball with a Titleist logo.
If only everything were that easy.
Titleist TruFeel – What’s New
Compared to what some of you are already playing, enhancements to the 2024 Titleist TruFeel include a new TruTouch Core. That’s going to give a softer feel on full swings with a bit more distance.
The 3.0 TruFlex cover provides soft feel on shorter shots with increased greenside spin. Just in case there’s any confusion, no, I’m not suggesting TruFeel is going to spin like a Pro V1 but the target player is likely here for the feel so a little extra spin in just a bonus.
TruFit aerodynamics, which include a 376 tetrahedral dimple pattern (also on the quiz), provide a lower, penetrating flight with plenty of distance (again, for the target player, and relative to the competitive set).
If you want soft feel and you want a Titleist, here you go.
Titleist TruFeel – Pricing, Colors, Availability
Retail price for the Titliest TruFeel golf ball is $24.99 per dozen in White, Yellow, and Matte Red. White will be at retail on Jan. 24. Yellow hits shelves March 1 with Matte Red following on May 15.
For more information visit Titleist.com.
Greg Tobias
4 months ago
I have played golf since High School and have used Titleist exclusively. I found a Brightone near the woods and played the rest of my round with it (12 holes). I couldnt tell the difference. The Bridgestone had a similar feel and spin. It comes down to cost for me.