MyGolfSpy Ball Lab is where we quantify the quality and consistency of golf balls. Today, we’re reviewing the 2022 Titleist Tour Soft. To learn more about our test process, click here.
About the Titleist Tour Soft
The Titleist Tour Soft fits in what’s generally referred to as the “premium ionomer” category. With prices typically between $30-$35, it’s a category that exists by and large for preference-driven golfers. Most often, we’re talking about golfers who want soft feel and don’t want to spend a premium price but still want a name-brand product.
Titleist Tour Soft Construction
The Titleist Tour Soft is two-piece ionomer-covered ball with 346 dimples.
The Tour Soft is manufactured at Titleist’s Ball Plant 2 (urethane balls are produced in Ball Plant 3).
Compression
On our gauge, the Titleist Tour Soft has an average compression of 67. That’s all of one point softer than the prior generation, which suggests compression targets didn’t change from one generation to the next. The Tour Soft qualifies as medium firmness across the market as a whole. What’s likely most relevant is that it’s a bit softer than most “soft” urethane offerings but considerably firmer than the softest ionomer offerings.
Diameter and Weight
Somewhat surprisingly given Titleist’s track record of quality, three of the balls in our sample did not meet our standard for roundness. Those balls were flagged as Bad.
As ionomer balls tend to run a bit larger than urethane models, as expected, all of the sample conformed to the USGA’s size rules.
Titleist generally doesn’t aggressively push the USGA rules so it’s also not a surprise that all of the sample was safely under the USGA weight limit.
Inspection
Centeredness and Concentricity
We found no notable layer concentricity issues with any of the balls in our sample.
Core Consistency
Core color was generally consistent across the entire sample with no unexpected bits in the mixture.
Cover
As is typical with most of the balls we test, we found no notable cover defects across our Titleist Tour Soft sample.
Titleist Tour Soft – Consistency
In this section, we detail the consistency of the 2022 Titleist Tour Soft. Our consistency metrics provide a measure of how similar the balls in our sample were to one another relative to all of the models we’ve tested to date.
Weight Consistency
- At the time of testing, weight consistency for the Tour Soft fell within the Average range.
- Box 2 was ever so slightly heavier on average but was otherwise variation was unremarkable.
Diameter Consistency
- Despite three balls that weren’t round (one per box), diameter consistency for the 2022 Titleist Tour Soft falls within the high end of the Average range.
Compression Consistency
- Compression consistency falls within the Average range.
- Box 1 was a bit softer on average than Boxes 2 and 3
True Price
True Price is how we quantify the quality of a golf ball. It's a projection of what you'd have to spend to ensure you get 12 good balls.
The True Price will always be equal to or greater than the retail price. The greater the difference between the retail price and the True Price, the more you should be concerned about the quality of the ball.
Summary
To learn more about our test process, how we define “Bad” balls and our True Price metric, check out our About MyGolfSpy Ball Lab page.
While we don’t love finding bad balls, identifying three in the sample falls within the “average” range. While that’s a bit below our expectations for Titleist, it is still solidly average relative to the market as a whole.
The Good
- Average to slightly above average across our consistency metrics
- No layer defects
The Bad
- Three less-than-round balls are not what we expect from Titleist.
At the time of review, the 2022 Titleist Tour Soft receives a Ball Lab score of 74. That’s one point better than the database average (73) at the time of testing.
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Dan Cohen
2 months agoYikes. Three bad balls is…bad. I don’t play the Tour Soft, because if I’m going to pay more than $30+ for balls, there are plenty of good urethane offerings. But I do play the TruFeel quite a bit, which I think is one of the best all-around balls for the price. I hope the QC on the TruFeel isn’t dropping as well.
Harry P
2 months agoI play the Z-Star. Much better ball and usually available in same price range. Also the Maxfli Tour.
Leevi
2 months agoWill y’all be adding the 2022 mizuno tour and tour x to this ball matrix
Tony P
2 months agoI would be nice to see the spin comparison between balls. I get that this is influenced by your swing, but a standard comparison by MGS with all the caveats would be very nice to see & quite helpful.
Mike G.
2 months agoThese balls stink. I found a new one on the 3rd hole, I figured I’d try it out. It wasn’t so bad off the clubs, but around the green the feel was just terrible. Maybe it’s the ionomer, it’s felt like putting a kids toy hollow ball, or a ping pong ball with a little weight to it.
Julian
2 months agoIn regards to the upcoming driver tests, I wish you would consider your speed classes. I feel the slow speed is too high. If you don’t want to lower the mid speed, at least give us the average speed of the three classes. This would give us an idea of which area of the class the majority of testers swing. If the average is not centered, the results can be misleading.
Lou
2 months agoDespite 3 bad balls I’ve found the Tour Soft to be a damned good ball. It feels good off the driver and every other club I own. I also have no problem spinning it, controlling it or putting it. I am not going to throw out these balls just because Tony found 3 out of round. I suggest Tony have a heart to heart conversation with Titleist management and learn why these “bad” balls happened. I suspect Titleist has a good answer and the ball may deserve a retest.
Kevin
2 months agoThis makes no sense. They don’t “deserve” anything. MGS’s testing procedures were developed specifically to avoid getting a “bad batch” that may require the need for a retest. https://mygolfspy.com/about-mygolfspy-ball-lab/
“Procurement: We purchase three dozen of each ball model we test at retail. When possible, we source balls from different vendors and at different times. By sampling across multiple batches, we can obtain a more comprehensive picture of quality and consistency.”
Mike
2 months agoMGS crucified Callaway a few years ago (& rightfully so) for the defects in the initial version or two of Chrome Softs. Coincidentally, they invested in better quality control. Maybe Titleist should do the same here?
Tim
2 months agoWrong! Not a high quality offering.
Tim
2 months agoSurprising for Titleist! I have tried the Tour Soft and Tour Speed. Found both to be too soft for my swing speed and felt I lost distance. Much prefer Calaway Chrome Soft xls, Maxfli Tour x, and Snell MTB x.
Adam
2 months agoTony you need to get rid of Akismet, it blocks every comment. You are losing subscribers because I sure I’m not the only one that is getting blocked
Chas
2 months agoI’ve been blocked also, with no idea why. I have to agree with Adam.
Whitey
2 months agoI don’t see the true price $ calculation.
Would like to see a basic performance characteristic , such as ball speed, spin and carry on a mid speed driver in these ball lab evaluations.
Whitey
2 months agoPicture looks two piece to me as well.
Adam
2 months agoNormally, I don’t think anything MGS does is biased. But this is the first ball I can recall that had 3 balls that weren’t round. It would seem the most basic metric a ball can meet is if it’s round. Yet these score better than other balls with no roundness issues. Maybe more weight should be put into whether a manufacturer can make even a round ball….
WYBob
2 months agoThanks for the Ball Lab testing of the Tour Soft. Curious about what Titleist says in response to 8.3% (3 of 36) of the balls tested failing to meet the roundness test. It seems highly unusual for Titleist to have this type of result in the ball category, especially concerning roundness. Will you publish any feedback they provide?
Bill
2 months agoThese balls seemed to have a hard feel off the clubs to me. In this class I really have found the Oncore Elixir to be the best ball for me. Recently, I was given a box of Srixon Soft Feel and found them to feel good of the driver and the irons.. I may be playing these a bit more.