XXIO Rebound Drive golf Balls – Key Takeaways
- Soft, three-layer ball for XXIO target golfers
- Rebound Drive alternates soft and firm layers
- Unique “pearlescent” finish, three color options plus a four-color combo pack
- $49.99 a dozen, available Feb. 11
Pretty much everything we’re going to share with you today about the new XXIO Rebound Drive golf balls needs to be viewed through a specific lens. If you’re not in XXIO’s target demographic, there’s no reason to consider the XXIO Rebound Drive.
If you plan on aging, however, you’ll eventually get there. Father Time will see to that. But not now.
If you are in the 75- to maybe 95-mph swing speed range, well, XXIO designed this ball for you. How its performance stacks up against the usual suspects is still an open question. But the least we can do is give you enough information today so you can determine if Rebound Drive goes on your shortlist.
XXIO Rebound Drive: What Is It?
Have you ever played a XXIO golf ball? Like the rest of the XXIO lineup, prices have been eye-opening with some models going for as much as $80 a dozen. The last few iterations, however, have been in the Pro V1 price neighborhood.
The new XXIO Rebound Drive golf balls follow the same principle as XXIO clubs: they’re designed for a specific golfer with a moderate swing speed.
Namely, most seniors and some women.
“XXIO Rebound Drive is meant for players with a 75+ mph swing speed,” says XXIO Product Manager Amelia DeLazzer. “We’ve formulated it to better encompass both our XXIO 12 players and our X players who may have faster swing speeds than you’d typically see in a XXIO Prime player.”
The trick is to make a ball that feels soft enough to make the slow to moderate swing-speed player happy but hard enough to get some distance off the tee. It also can’t spin too much off the driver so it stays in play. But it also has to spin enough to perform on the green.
Every golf ball maker in the world says they check all those boxes. And a surprising number of golfers say that, unless you’re a superior player, the ball doesn’t matter very much. Neither, as it turns out, is true. It’s doubtful XXIO has discovered the alchemy to make a soft yet firm ball that spins and doesn’t spin but you do have to give them credit for one thing.
They’re giving you as bold and as colorful a ball as you’ll ever find on a golf course.
Rebound Drive: The Details
It’s no accident Rebound Drive sounds a lot like Rebound Frame. Rebound Frame is a Srixon-Cleveland-XXIO technology combining flexible areas with rigid areas on a golf club to give it more flexibility and, for lack of a better word, more pop.
Rebound Drive is the same thing—only different.
“It’s all about having the right positioning of softness and rigidity through the core, mid-layer and cover to optimize distance, feel and spin,” says DeLazzer.
The new XXIO Rebound Drive is a three-layer ball. XXIO lists it at 78 compression which puts it on the soft side of firm. According to XXIO’s technical info, the ball features a soft cover, a hard, resilient mid-layer and a FastLayer core which is soft on the inside and gets progressively firmer. XXIO calls these “Flex Zones.”
“Flex Zones point out the different densities of the core, mid-layer and cover,” says DeLazzer. “We found flight and distance improved off the tee when a softer core is coupled with a hard mid-layer. Feel and spin are enhanced with a soft cover. Alternating exactly how soft or hard each layer is and within a particular order can really maximize performance for the target golfer.”
The previous generation of XXIO balls featured very soft mid-layers wrapped around FastLayer cores and the covers were comparatively firm. Rebound Drive is the opposite with a very firm mid-layer wrapped around the core with a cover that’s actually softer than the outermost portion of the core.
“Players will see faster ball speed with a higher launch and low spin off the tee,” says DeLazzer. “Around the greens, they’ll notice a softer feel and a bit more check up on chip shots.”
Super Soft RB
XXIO lists the cover material for Rebound Drive as “Super Soft RB.” We can only presume RB stands for Re-Bound but we’ve been wrong before. XXIO also calls it an innovative cover that combines softness with resilience. But nowhere does it say what, exactly, “Super Soft RB” is.
Turns out it’s a soft ionomer.
So, will it spin like a urethane ball? Launch monitor testing will tell us the full story but, on the surface, it would be hard to imagine an ionomer ball providing the same, or even close to the same, level of spin. The differential between the soft ionomer cover and the hard mid-layer at least gives the Rebound Drive some kind of spin potential. Our own informal and limited on-course testing shows the Rebound Drive with some nice hop ‘n stop capabilities.
The XXIO Rebound Drive features the same 338 Speed Dimple pattern as the Srixon Z-STAR and Q-STAR balls. The biggest difference is dimple depth. Since its target golfer has a slow to moderate swing speed, the dimples are on the shallow side. Shallower dimples promote higher launch and overall flight.
Bold and Bodacious
Did we mention the XXIO Rebound Drive was bold?
Yeah, it’s bold.
It’s about as bold a looking ball as you’re likely to find this side of the Q-STAR DIVIDE or one of the Volvik Marvel Comics balls. The logo is, well, huge and the ball itself has one of the most unique finishes going.
“It’s a really cool pearlescent finish and it gives the ball a unique look you don’t normally see,” says DeLazzer.
We can’t argue that. The finish isn’t quite matte-like and it’s definitely not glossy. “Pearlescent” is actually a really good description. And when you couple it with the bold (and big. Did we mention big?) logo, it’s a look traditionalists will probably hate. But then again, the look is definitely on-brand for XXIO. And it’s not for traditionalists, anyway.
Then there’s the putting alignment center. We call it a “center” because there’s way too much going on to call it merely an alignment “aid.”
“One thing we have noticed is a trend towards larger alignment lines,” says DeLazzer. “The longer, bolder line is easy to line up with your target and the perpendicular lines can help square up the putter face.”
I don’t know if it will help you sink more putts but one thing’s for sure: it’s impossible to miss.
XXIO Rebound Drive: Colors, Price and Availability
The XXIO Rebound Drive balls are available in a variety of styles. There’s what XXIO calls Premium White which is white with that pearlescent finish and black lettering with a gold overlay. The alignment center also features a gold overlay. Lime Yellow is a traditional-looking Tour Yellow with the pearlescent finish, again with black lettering and a gold overlay. Premium Pink is a white pearlescent ball with pink lettering.
XXIO is also offering a four-color assortment pack that includes one sleeve each of Lime Yellow and Premium Pink, along with sleeves of full-color Orange balls and Ruby Red balls to round out the dozen.
The XXIO Rebound Drive golf balls will retail for $49.99 which does beg the question of whether a golfer would pay Pro V1 prices for an ionomer ball. As with any XXIO product, the value lies squarely in the eyes of the target golfer.
The XXIO Rebound Drive golf balls will be available at retail starting Feb. 11.
For more information, visit the XXIO website.
