Titleist Tour Speed golf ball review
What’s new? How much does it cost? And how does it perform? Jack Backhouse brings you the low down on the new Titleist Tour Speed golf ball
The Titleist Tour Speed golf ball is back with new technology to give you impressive distance gains from the tee and great feel and spin around the greens.
So how does the new Titleist Tour Speed perform? Find out in our 2023 Titleist Tour Speed golf ball review.
Titleist Tour Speed golf ball review: NCG Summary
NCG SUMMARY
Titleist have redesigned the extremely popular Tour Speed golf ball to include a new core, new high flex casing layer, and Titleist’s new Urethane cover.
Tour Speed users will be happy as performance has improved giving the player long distances off the tee whilst still maintaining high greenside spin.
PROS
- Extremely consistent
- Impressive distance from the tee
- Great ball flight with irons and driver
CONS
- Didnt generate enough spin on 50 yard wedge shot
First Impressions
The Titleist Tour Speed golf ball is great for players who are chasing more distance off the tee whilst not losing the feel and keeping some control. This is the ball you play when you are just not quite ready yet to use a tour ball.
The Tour Speed has had a complete make over which features the new 346 Quadrilateral Dipyramid Dimple Design, new core, new casing and cover. I was excited to see how it compared to the Pro V1x ball that I really like.
NCG Review
Out the box these balls feel great. As a 10+ year user of Pro V1 and Pro V1x, I am always sceptical when Titleist bring out a ball that says tour on it, but that isn’t used on tour. This ball is supposed to give tour like performance without having to drop the expense that now comes with a tour ball, so I’m all for it being great.
Our mega ball test at Woodhall Spa started around their fantastic short game area, hitting a variety of different length putts, chips and bunker shots. The ball felt great from the putter face and not too dissimilar to what I expect from a Titleist.
The ball was reactive on chips and bunker shots, too, when struck well, which was a pleasant surprise as normally this is what you lose when moving away from the top-end ball. I also liked the alignment aid on the ball which helped me line my putts up better.
The 50-yard pitch data I collected was not too bad, although not as much spin as I’d like to go out on the golf course with. This is an important shot when playing, and you need to be able to get the ball to stop quickly, especially in summer, and even with a solid 8300rpm on one shot the average is just a bit low.
Moving onto the 7 irons, I was actually really pleased with the performance of the Titleist Tour Speed. The spin is nice and high where I am comfortable with it, and the carry distance of 182 yards is solid. The ball sounds and feels great from the 7 iron and one shot carried 191 yard which is bonkers.
The Titleist golf ball performed really well off my driver. I achieved a high speed with 166mph ball speed and again the spin numbers were pretty good even with not the most consistent ball striking. I think I’d be happy using this ball tee to green out on the course as it’s a lot closer to the tour ball I’m used to than I thought it would be.
This is an excellent ball and will suit a lot of players. Alongside the Titleist Velocity, Tour Soft and TruFeel, it’s a great ball offering an incredibly soft feel and distances that amateurs will love.
Titleist Tour Speed golf ball review: The Details
Available: Now
Colours: White, Yellow
RRP: £40 per dozen
How do we test golf balls?
At National Club Golfer, we are passionate about producing accurate and thorough reviews and make sure our testing process is rigorous so we get a good understanding of how each club performs.
We headed to Woodhall Spa Golf Club to allow us to collect launch monitor data with our in-house TrackMan and Flightscope. We tested each golf ball on the putting surface and around the greens before collecting data on 50-yard pitch shots, with a 7-iron and with a driver.
What to consider when buying a new golf ball?
Feel
Golf ball feel is a personal preference. Different balls on the market will feel softer or firmer depending on their compression and structure. It is crucial to test balls when putting, chipping and hitting long game shots to check you like the performance across all areas.
Distance
How far you want to hit the golf ball is a crucial consideration when picking a brand and model. Getting the right compression relative to your swing speed and strike will help you get the maximum distance out of a golf ball. You also need to consider if getting maximum distance is important to you or if you would rather give up some yardage to gain in other areas.
Spin
Generally, lower handicappers are looking for a ball that spins more so they can get more control around the greens. In this case, getting a ball with a urethane cover is really important as it will give you the most spin and control.
Price
Not everyone wants to spend £50 a dozen on golf balls. When picking the right golf ball for you, you should consider how much you want to spend relative to what performance you want.
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Jack Backhouse
Jack is a PGA Golf Professional who specialises in coaching, teaching golf to beginners and top-level amateurs for 10+ years. He also loves his golf equipment and analysing the data of the latest clubs on the market using launch monitors, specialising in blade irons and low-spinning drivers despite having a chronically low ball flight.
Although Jack has no formal journalism training, He has been reading What's In The Bag articles since he started playing at 12 and studying golf swings since his dad first filmed his swing to reveal one of the worst over-the-top slice swings he reckons has ever been recorded, which set him off on the path to be a coach. His favourite club ever owned was a Ping G10 driver bought from a local top amateur with the hope that some of the quality golf shots would come with it (they didn't), and worst was a Nike SQ driver he only bought because Tiger was using it.
Jack is a member of Sand Moor Golf Club and regularly gets out on the golf course to prepare for tournaments. Jack uses a TaylorMade BRNR Mini driver, a half set of TaylorMade P7MB irons, MG4 wedges and a TaylorMade TP Reserve putter.
