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Titleist NXT Tour Golf Ball--Not A Ball For Joe Sixpack |
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Saturday, 08 March 2008 |
A buddy of mine gave me a couple of sleeves of the Titleist NXT Tour Golf Ball a couple of months ago, and they laid around in the bottom of my bag before I decided to use them for a round or two because at about $2.00 a ball, it was half as cheap as the venerable Pro V1. I had heard good things about the Titleist NXT Tour Golf Ball, and despite the fact that I think Titleist is a company that designs products aimed at the low handicapper and scratch golfer (expensive products at that), I thought I would use the free balls for one weekend. Here's what I learned.
The Titleist NXT Tour Golf Ball is a three-piece ball with a dual core design that features a soft core and a somewhat firmer core covering. The outer covering is Titleist's proprietary "fusablend" covering, which is supposed to impart softer feel when you need it on or around the green. This ball incorporates the dimple pattern design of the Pro V1, which is trumpeted by the company as maximizing distance without compromising feel.
So, how did the Titleist NXT Tour Golf Ball perform?
I noticed no appreciable gain in distance with the Titleist NXT Tour Golf Ball with my driver, although it did appear to have better than average roll after landing in the short grass. The ball seemed to get up rather quickly, with a nice, gradual trajectory that seemed to flatten pretty quickly, giving it that good roll that I mentioned. When I made good contact, the feel was soft but firm, and very satisfying, but when I missed the sound and feel was rather harsh, almost reminding me of a hard two-piece ball. When I caught it good, the ball went pretty straight, accommodating my natural fade quite nicely. When I missed, the result seemed to be exaggerated, with draws turning into ugly hooks and over fades turning into banana balls. Whether it was the Indian or the arrow is questionable, but I think this just goes to show that Titleist is not a hacker friendly company.
Fairway woods and long irons were much the same--distance and roll were acceptable, but when I missed the results were not very forgiving. I think that the trajectory on my three wood and five wood was lower, allowing the ball to "bore" into the wind and scamper after landing, but the feel off the clubface felt a little harsh. With my long irons, the trajectory was adequate, but the ball felt a little "heavy" when I made contact, almost like I was hitting a gem from the rock quarry, a nice phrase turned by my buddy and fellow reviewer berniez40. Again, it may have been the Indian and not the arrow, but I still felt something was lacking in this ball for this hacker.
I noticed no spectacular trajectory with my short irons--the Titleist NXT Tour Golf Ball seemed to hit the green, release for a few feet and check up. The soft fusablend cover allowed me to impart enough spin to the ball to allow it to check up pretty quickly, but it wasn't exactly the drop-and-stop of the Pro V1. Even with my short irons, I still noticed that the Titleist NXT Tour Golf Ball felt a little "heavy" when I struck it. That being said, this ball performed pretty well on approach shots, but certainly not well enough to make me want to rave about it.
The feel off the putter face was somewhat soft, but again, nothing to write home about. The ball didn't seem as clingy as some of the other three-piece balls, but the click was informative and I knew when I had put a solid roll on the ball. The Titleist NXT Tour Golf Ball seemed to hold the putting line pretty well, but there was nothing spectacular about the way that it performed on the green.
I think that the Titleist NXT Tour Golf Ball would be an excellent alternative to the Pro V1 for the scratch golfer or the low handicapper. I'm sure that there's plenty of "feel" to this golf ball, but my limited abilities just weren't able to tap into them, or recognize them, for that matter. As I said before, Titleist seems to be a company that manufactures its products for the skilled golfer and not for the high handicapper or weekend warrior. The Titleist NXT Tour Golf Ball would probably suit Titleist's target group very nicely, and at about half the price of the Pro V1, it's certainly an attractive alternative for those guys.
It's just not a ball for this hacker.
Thanks for reading.
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