With a larger core, it challenged Titleist to create a thinner cover. The cover on the Titleist Tour Soft is made using a blend of four different materials and the brand say it’s just as thin as some urethane covered balls on the market.
Titleist say this new cover will give excellent short game control and aid the soft feel.
There’s also a new dimple design which aims to produce a more consistent and penetrating flight. It’s a spherically-tiled 342 cuboctahedron dimple design and if anyone can pronounce that correctly, I’ll send you a dozen.
Titleist Tour Soft Review – The results
For the first couple of rounds, I tested out the new yellow version of the Titleist Tour Soft.
And I’m a big fan as it’s definitely easier to find in the rough. Not ‘un-loseable’, but you can often see it more clearly from a distance which takes out a bit of the stress.
I’m also a big fan of how this ball performs off the tee with driver. It seems to have a low-spinning flight but also goes nice and high which is a great combination for hitting long drives.
It’s the best thing about this ball for me. My driving in the three rounds I played with the Tour Soft was pretty solid by my standards.
On iron shots there didn’t seem to me to be a noticeable ‘soft’ feel.
And I didn’t feel like there was as much spin as I would expect to see with a Pro V1.
But again, the ball flight always seemed strong and they were certainly gripping on the greens.
Around the greens it feels like the ball pops up off the face of your wedge effortlessly and you can notice more of a soft feel.
It’s not the same feeling as a Pro V1 and that will largely be down to the different covers.
When it comes to putting you do have to hit your putts quite hard but once you get used to that, they seem to roll really nicely.
The Tour Soft branding is good for alignment for those who like to line up their putts with a line.
Commenting on the durability is a tough one as I believe you could play 18 holes and barely scuff up a ball or play a couple of holes and scuff it quite badly.
It all depends on where you are hitting from or how many times you bounce it off a cart path.
But I never felt like this ball was scuffing up much at all. I’ll normally lose one ball a round so on average a ball would last me about 12 holes or so before I lost it.
At no point did I notice my ball was scuffed and decide to replace it.
Titleist Tour Soft Review – NCG verdict
The Titleist Tour Soft does seem to offer a simpler message for the consumer than the NXT franchise.
Apparently there were many who didn’t know the difference between the two models or that the ‘S’ stood for soft.
Now it’s clear that the Tour Soft is Titleist’s mid-price ball and is for golfers who want good performance and feel.
And for those who may struggle to justify paying the extra £15 for Pro V1.
Titleist will say that the Pro V1 and Pro V1x are the best performing balls on the market and the Tour Soft it the best-performing at the £30-35 price point.
Personally, I’d be more than happy to play this ball for every single round in 2018.
I can’t fault it and I especially love the way it performs off the tee with my driver.
If you were to give me a dozen Pro V1’s, I will use them. If I had a lifetime supply, I’d never use anything else.
But if you were asking me which ball I’d spend my money on, I’d buy the Tour Soft.
I think the Tour Soft allows me to shoot good scores and isn’t costing me any shots.
For a better ball-striker, they may feel like they need the superior performance of the Pro V1 to shoot their best scores.
For me, the Tour Soft is a great all-rounder that’s going to get the job done.
Details
Titleist Tour Soft
SRP: £32 per dozen
Colours: White and yellow
More information can be found on the Titleist website.
