A new golf ball from Titleist is something that makes the golf world sit up and take notice.
When it improves and replaces the impressive NXT Tour and NXT Tour S balls you know Titleist feel they are onto something special.
It is no surprise then that Titleist say the Tour Soft golf ball is a result of the continued pursuit of breakthrough technology and performance from it golf ball engineers.
Tour Soft's innovative design combines the largest core ever engineered into a Titleist golf ball with breakthrough ultra-thin cover technology to give responsive feel, very fast speed for distance and excellent short game performance.
Michael Mahoney, Vice President, Titleist Golf Ball Marketing explains:
We knew based on breakthroughs being made in R&D that there was an opportunity to deliver a brand new
high-performance golf ball that would lead the category in terms of soft compression feel.
Ultimately, because of our exhaustive and iterative prototyping process, we were able to deliver everything we wanted
in Tour Soft – and more. It’s not only the softest ball in the category, it’s better and longer than Chrome Soft, TP5 and
Bridgestone Tour B330-RXS.
At the heart of the performance of the Titleist Tour Soft is the largest core that Titleist has put in a golf ball. The R&D and Operations teams were challenged to break through previously accepted core size limitations to produce a golf ball that feels better and is at least equal in distance to its competitors.
Around the core is a ultra-thin 4CE grafted cover that helps to generate advanced short game control. Made with TPU Process Technology, new manufacturing processes allowed Titleist to mould an extremely thin, very soft cover uniformly across the surface of the ball. Made from a blend of four different materials the Tour Soft cover is as thin as some urethane-covered balls currently on the market.
The Tour Soft package is completed by a new spherically-tiled 342 cuboctahedron dimple design, optimised to the unique Tour Soft construction, which delivers a penetrating
trajectory and consistent flight.
Michael Fish, Titleist Golf Ball Product Manager, describes the production challenges:
Tour Soft doesn’t happen without the close proximity of our Golf Ball R&D and Operations teams based in Massachusetts.
There was a point in the development process where we knew we could make Tour Soft in small batches in R&D but faced
some challenges in terms of implementing the new TCU Process technology into our mass manufacturing environment
at Ball Plant 2. The ability for our teams to collaborate and innovate on a daily basis was critical in bringing this product to
market and delivering the performance, consistency and quality that golfers expect from a Titleist.
As with all Titleist products thousands of hours of iteration went into the Tour Soft golf ball. More than 19,000 golfers participated in white box testing and validation of the new ball, with golfers receiving prototype golf balls for on-course evaluation. Player feedback was then gathered through Team Titleist and shared with Titleist R&D. This included a three-ball blind prototype test in January 2017 that led to some key insights toward the Tour Soft development.
Tour Soft will be available in white or a high-optic yellow and comes with play numbers 1-4.