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Coming October 8 2010, A new TourStage professional use ball.  The TourStage X01 Solid and X01 Mild.  If you haven't tried high end Japanese Tour level golf balls they are the best money can buy.  They are expensive but the performance is beyond what is sold in the U.S.  The technology usually trickles down and arrives stateside within a year or two in most cases.

Currently all TourStage pro's have put either the SOLID or MILD it into play from Shigeki Maruyama to Ai Miyazato, the numbers on the new X01 SOLID are astounding with their new SD (Spin Deletion) technology in long shots with lower lofted clubs yet spin improvement in shorter shots like approach and wedge distances.

The X01 MILD doesn't feature the new SD technology but rather a new version of the TourStage Tech called Neo G.  Neo G helps in producing a softer ball better utilized with top level players who don't have as fast swing speeds.  I would call it the more comfortable and forgiving ball of the two producing high and straight low spin driver shots.

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" It morphs to the shot that you want "

The New Callaway TOURi (S) ball was just revealed at the HSBC Champions event in Shanghai.  Two of the top 3 players put it into play for the first time,  Ernie Els & Ryan Moore.  Golf.com's David Dusek recently broke the story. The early skinny on this ball is that it's the softest ball Callaway has ever produced. That's pretty cool but Soft Balls are not the friendliest right?  Well Callaway has taken that problem into account and made this new 4 piece ball with a different compression on the inner than the outer core what Callaway claims this does sounds like music to my ears. The ball in theory is supposed to put a lot of spin on iron and wedge shots while putting very little spin on drives. 

Key Points:
1. Callaway's Softest Golf Ball
2. Callaway's Softest Spinning Golf Ball Around the Green
3. Spin Separation
( low spin in longer shots, high spin & excellent touch for shorter shots )

Steve Ogg, Callaway's vice president of ball R&D claims this to be " The most highly-engineered golf ball product we have ever come out with. " Can this be? The Ball's of all Ball's or is Mr. Ogg just doing his job? Normally I would say its the latter but what are the odds that 2 of the top 3 guys in the ball's inaugural event claim its superior to anything else out there. 

"I started playing a new golf ball that Callaway made," Els said. "This is what I've been looking forward to, is this golf ball. It would have been unbelievable if I could have won with this ball. It would have been great for Callaway and myself. I'm looking forward to the future now, and I think my equipment is now spot on."

Pretty interesting and I personally can't wait to give this ball a try, I am a big fan of softer covered balls because I like the way they react with the scoring clubs but I do drive the ball much better with harder low spin balls. The real question is can this ball do everything they say it will.  More info to come...

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Mizuno Japan has been very successful with their Cross Eight series of balls over the last couple of years. Last year their 322s and 352s Tour balls were very popular with all levels of players from pros to average golfers. The 352s was especially a hit with Japan's long drive team where a large number of its competitors used the 352s.

This September, Mizuno has released its second generation Tour Ball,  the first to use the MP or Mizuno Pro moniker. Two models have been released the  MP 801 and the MP 801x both with a focus on soft feel and distance off the tee AND max spin control around the greens.

The MP 801 ball has a soft impact high resistance Cross Ribbed Inner Core (1) matched with an additional soft high resistance Outer core (2) . The Inner cover (3)  is soft Ionoma which helps control the shape or deformation of the core at driver impact and creating the proper amount of spin. The Outer cover (4) is a newly developed rubber elastomer that also helps regulate spin and provide soft feel.

The MP 801 is the softer of the two tour balls and is aimed at those players with a 90mph or more swing who want soft feel and lots off spin on the approach shot.

The MP 801x ball  is slightly different and has a rubber impact high resistance Cross Ribbed Inner Core (1) matched with an additional high resistance Outer core (2) for soft feel. The Inner cover (3) is high resistance Ionoma which helps reduce the amount of spin off the tee. The Outer cover (4) is a newly developed rubber elastomer that reduces energy loss for those with higher swing speeds and faster tempos.

The MP 801x is the firmer of the two tour balls and is aimed at those players with a 98mph or more swing who want slightly soft feel and maximum spin on the approach shot.

Mizuno hopes that they can make a dent in a ball market dominated by Titleist, Tourstage (Bridgestone) and Srixon (Dunlop). So far the feedback from Mizuno touring pros has been very positive with many players saying these balls are as good as if not better than Pro V1 and Pro V1x except with a softer feel!

Get Mizuno balls in the TSG Pro Shop!

Tario (aka gocchin) joined Tourspecgolf back in 2008 after spending over a decade in technology and business operation roles at a major Canadian financial institution. Before joining TSG and following his dream of moving to Japan, Tario and Chris (aka Tourspecgolfer) hit it off though their similar passions for Japanese culture. Chris hired Tario to manage TSG online operations, sales and marketing. While those are Tario's primary responsibilities, he has also taken up the role of blogger and custom club tester and fitter along the way. Tario's hobbies include golf (of course), gadgets and technology, cars, Japanese pop culture and idols, photography, sweets and walking the dog.

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Japan's golf market can sometimes be overwhelming. So many different, clubs, accessories, wear to choose from. Manufacturers are constantly rolling out newer and better products which is a great thing for the consumer but not for the consumers wallet! One area where there is no shortage of products to choose is golf balls. Besides all the US Market golf balls which are also available here in Japan, consumers get to choose from an equally large amount of Japanese market balls.

There are many players who do not think twice about golf balls and simply buy the cheapest ball off the shelf without any thought of how the design might affect their performance. Golf balls are made for all kinds of players, from slower swingers to ultra fast, from beginners to pros, from men to ladies. Some spin a lot, some spin very little. Some balls will excel off the tee with distance, others around the green with control and even some that do both well to an extent.  Some are hard and some are soft.

I am one of those players who in fact likes to experiment with different balls. A ball will affect your spin, trajectory and very much your feel. I gathered together a few balls I have on hand not really for a head to head comparison, as all these balls have different target audiences and strengths. Instead this post gives readers more of a quick look into a few of the very popular balls here in Japan that are not available worldwide.

Tourstage New V-10 Vivid: Tourstage introduced their all new V10 Vivid golf ball for 2009. The V10 series has been around for a few years and  while the Tourstage  X series balls target the professional and better player, the V10 is made as the premium performance ball for the average golfer.  Made for all swing speeds, this  new 2009 3 piece ball features an advanced WEB dimple design which increases the dimple surface area by 15%. This eliminates wasted space between dimples and increases its strong ballistic trajectory by reducing wind and air resistance.  The soft NEO G core gets progressively harder from the center outwards and is covered by a High Rally inner cover which helps create low spin. The outer cover is similar to　the X-01 using a special blend of polyurethane for performance. The Vivid is long of the tee with feel around the greens and comes in vivid florescent colors using a special pearl paint. I like the feel of the V10 as it is not ultra soft but soft enough and really has a good balance of performance with both the driver and around the green. A great ball for the mid to higher handicapper with under 100mph swing.

XXIO Super XD: XXIO balls are made by Sri Sports which make Srixon balls. While Srixon is known outside of Japan, XXIO is mostly a Japanese market brand. XXIO has long been one of the best selling club lines in Japan and their golf balls are no exception as they perform for the average golfer. The Super XD- for 2009 is the premium distance ball in XXIO's lineup. This new Super XD- is made for all swing speeds and provides great feel and max distance off the tee. This super soft ball features super low spin with a special three piece design comprising of a Super High Rally soft EGG core, Neo-Metal Soft Mid cover and a High Rally Ionoma cover.  The XXIO Super XD- has 324 aerodynamic dimples and a low compression that really does well with swing speeds between 80-95mph. The Super XD- is a favorite among senior players in Japan or those simply looking for added distance.  Truly a performer off the tee for me.

Hi-Brid BB Soft: The brand Hi-Brid is in fact a Sri Sports/Dunlop sub brand that focuses on higher handicap golfers. The Hi-Brid BB-Soft is actually my choice ball in my bag for several reasons.  The BB-Soft is an ultra soft, high launch, low spin distance ball. Best of all, it costs half the price of some of the other premium 3 and 4 piece balls in Japan but for the average golfer, it performs like a premium ball. This high rally two piece ball features a high rally EGG core like the Super XD- but instead uses a Hi-Brid HR Rubber Cover for high elastic performance. The Hi-brid has 333 dimples and is amazing for the golfer who swings between 75 - 95 mph wanting max distance and carry off the tee. A super soft feeling ball for those who like that spongy feel at impact. This is a ball you can use to go over the lake and even if you drop in not worry about a $7.00 ball.

PRGR TR Spin: Many people don't know that PRGR, or Pro Gear, is in fact the golf division of Yokohama Rubber Industries.  They make good tires and good golf balls. The TR Spin is the choice ball of several pro players on the Japanese tour. The TR Spin features a 330 dimple design which surprisingly is still rather soft for a max spin ball. This is acheived using PRGR's special TC330 Outer cover and a special urethane isotome flexible material. The core and cover pair together to create a ball that spins to a stop on any green but still has good distance off the tee thanks to its ability to create maximum hang time. Aimed at golfers with swing speeds of 90-115mph wanting a balanced ball for the single digit scoring game. This ball had 4 wins on the Japanese tour in 2008 the year of its introduction.

Tourstage X-01B+: Tourstage X series balls have long been one of the dominant balls on both the men's and ladies' tours here in Japan. Even Ryo Ishikawa chooses to play a Tourstage ball. The new X series was created based on R&D focusing on lower compression in golf balls.  Tourstage wanted a ball that would perform even for fast swingers but still produce wonderful feel and touch. Unlike the old X series, where different models excelled depending on different swing speeds, this new line of balls targets all swing speeds. The new X-01 B+ is an advanced 3 piece ball with a compression rating of 83 and 344 dimples.  The X-01 B+ is a maximum spin ball with plenty of feel that still performs off the tee. Higher swing speeds produced by the driver actually lower the spin on the X-01 B+ while iron shots and approaches around the green generate maximum spin. These characteristics also make the X-01 B+ an ideal ball in the wind. Seems like the soft pro ball is all the rage now.

Super Newing Brill: The new Super Newing Brill ball which was introduced to humongous fanfare this spring is what Bridgestone  touts as its greatest distance ball ever. The new Brill is premium soft 3 piece ball featuring a new big repulsion core with High Rally inner cover and soft Ionoma outer cover. The key new feature is the 272 Big Web Dimples which create amazing aerodynamics to minimize wind resistance for ultimate carry off the tee.  Compared to the previous best selling LS330 ball, the Brill carries higher and further thanks to a 15% increase in dimple area. The new Brill shows a nice increase in ball speed off the tee but still good touch around the greens and putting. This has been one of the best selling balls this year and for good reason as it targets all swing speeds and low to high handicappers.

This is just a small sampling of some of the great balls available in Japan right now. There are still many many more. Right now the most used balls on tour like Tourstage X Series, Srixon Z Star, Titleist ProV1, do NOT necessarily reflect the best selling balls for amateurs. Japanese golfers demand the best products for every level of player which is why the most expensive balls are not tour balls but Premium performance balls.  Balls like the XXIO Super XD- and Super Newing Brill dominate there.  I have long been a fan of Mizuno balls as well and was previously a user of the Tour Series 352s, Mizuno's first venture into a Tour ball last year. Mizuno is about to release their new MP-801 ball, a high end 4 piece Tour ball which they hope can challenge some of the big guns. Look soon for my review on that as I'll definitely be trying it! Check out some of these balls in the TSG Proshop!

Tario (aka gocchin) joined Tourspecgolf back in 2008 after spending over a decade in technology and business operation roles at a major Canadian financial institution. Before joining TSG and following his dream of moving to Japan, Tario and Chris (aka Tourspecgolfer) hit it off though their similar passions for Japanese culture. Chris hired Tario to manage TSG online operations, sales and marketing. While those are Tario's primary responsibilities, he has also taken up the role of blogger and custom club tester and fitter along the way. Tario's hobbies include golf (of course), gadgets and technology, cars, Japanese pop culture and idols, photography, sweets and walking the dog.

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We all know that playing in the rain is tough. Besides getting wet and clubs getting harder to grip, the wet conditions affect the performance of both your golf club clubs and balls.  What exactly does rain do to your performance? Golf Today and PRGR ran a very interesting test on club and ball performance in dry conditions vs wet conditions. Golf to Impress is glad to be able to present the results for your reading pleasure.

The test was done indoors to maintain consistency and take wind out of the equation. Because of this, results reflect how wet conditions affect clubs and ball performance and do not take into account a player or the hands and grips getting wet or as I said before wind. If those variables were taken into account, results would be far to erratic and inconsistent so they were factored out.

The test used PRGR's Science Fit Launch Monitor, a very advanced swing and ball flight analysis system that PRGR uses for all its fittings and club testing.  The system tracks not only ball data but also the complete swing of the player hitting the ball is captured and analyzed by Science Fit which is able to measure acceleration through the entire swing. In this test however only the ball data was looked at and not the swing. The tester was Accordia Golf's Tojima Pro who has a head speed around 108mph.

The equipment used in the test were the following:

PRGR GN502 Tour driver with 9* loft

PRGR Egg FW #5 18*

PRGR TR Spin Ball (Urethane Cover)

PRGR Premium Red Ball (Ionoma Cover)

Grind Studio Prototype 58* Wedge with grooves

Grind Studio Prototype 58* Wedge with NO grooves... yes I said NO grooves

For wet testing,  a spray bottle was used before the swing to wet both the club and ball with water. This simulated the wet conditions of light rain on the ball at impact.

Make sure you click here to see the results!

The test results here are only to give an idea on what a wet ball and club might do. Of course the Wet results would probably be even worse if it were actually raining which would create even more resistance affecting carry and considerably less roll with the wet ground. The tests had three shots dry then three shots wet and an average of the dry and wet.

The test started with the PRGR 9* driver.

A quick glance at the driver results show that just a simple mist of water on the ball and driver head before impact cause the total carry to drop by an average of 8 yards (which would be even worse if it were actually raining as I said above) and the back spin to jump by an average of 700rpm. Even light wetting has a large impact on the driver where distance counts.

The next test was done with a PRGR EGG 5W 18*.

Once again an increase in backspin on the wet results this time by nearly 1000rpm which ends up affecting both carry and overall distance. This may not be so bad if you want hit your target and stop but if you are looking to gain distance with your fairway wood, the rain and wet will hurt.

The next test was very interesting as it looked at the golf ball particularly a control low handicap model the TR Spin with urethane cover versus an average golfer distance ball the Premium Red with ionoma cover. Please note that the test is not to compare urethane vs ionoma for distance results but rather how wet conditions affect their performance characteristics. In fact, the tester Tojima slowed his swing a bit for the distance ball to better represent the speed the ball is targeted at.

This first set of results was actually the same as driver results as it was using the 9* driver with TR Spin ball:

The second set of results are here with the Premium Red Distance ball and a 10.5* GN502 Tour.

So what do these ball results tell us? It seems the design of a distance ball in this case the PRGR Premium Red with Ionoma cover is not affected much by lightly wet conditions. While spin went up a bit it was still at a level where the ball carried even more than the the dry ball and club but it did not roll as much. Results were very even with the distance ball while the spin control  ball, the urethane TR Spin was hurt a lot more by the wet.

Now moving on to the wedges where spin is everything and we all love lots of it when it comes to attacking the pin around the greens. The wedge tests were done with an imaginary target 50 yards out. So looking for more spin so that we can stop the ball on the spot, what does the wet do to performance?

First the Grind Studio Prototype 58 with grooves* 50 yards to target:

These results clearly show that wet conditions and wedges will result in considerably less spin 3500rpm or so less making it harder to control the ball and attack the pin. 50y out from the pin the dry conditions allow accurate max spin shots right at the pin while wet conditions created a higher shot, less spin and over hitting the target with no spin back.

Now the Grind Studio Prototype 58* with NO Grooves:

This test with no grooves showed a couple of things in both dry and wet. Firstly how important grooves are (^_^) of course. It also showed that soft forged wedges even with no grooves have some bite. Some say the softer the material the more friction it causes on impact (Yamaha a while back went with S10C wedges!). As you can see in the dry results with NO grooves, the backspin numbers are almost as much as WITH grooves in WET conditions due to the friction created by the soft steel. Control with no grooves is obviously not as much and the ball overshoots the target.

Now add WET to the equation with NO grooves and the wedge looses all traction and spin. The ball pretty much slides off the wedge and balloons up way overshooting the target.

So these are all interesting numbers to look at. They not only tell us that there will be performance differences in dry and wet conditions but also that there are equipment considerations to keep in mind ie what ball to use, what kind of grooves on the wedge or materials, and even what lofts.  This test again was done in a controlled environment with just water on the ball and club. But it definitely makes us think.

By the way here is what a wedge with no grooves looks like!

Tario (aka gocchin) joined Tourspecgolf back in 2008 after spending over a decade in technology and business operation roles at a major Canadian financial institution. Before joining TSG and following his dream of moving to Japan, Tario and Chris (aka Tourspecgolfer) hit it off though their similar passions for Japanese culture. Chris hired Tario to manage TSG online operations, sales and marketing. While those are Tario's primary responsibilities, he has also taken up the role of blogger and custom club tester and fitter along the way. Tario's hobbies include golf (of course), gadgets and technology, cars, Japanese pop culture and idols, photography, sweets and walking the dog.