What’s the new tech? How many new models are there? And how much do they cost? Hannah Holden brings you the low down on the 2024 TaylorMade TP5 and TP5x golf balls
TaylorMade has seriously increased its investment in golf balls in recent years. The TP5, TP5x franchise has been hugely successful since its introduction in 2017, and its latest updates will make this a hard product to overlook.
Tour player feedback is critical to how brands approach the development of new products. Tour players wanted an improved, softer sound and feel while also getting more ball speed. However, changing those two variables is very difficult because distance and feel are both linked to compression and increasing one tends to decrease the other.
To overcome this obstacle, TaylorMade has had to develop a completely new core material that can achieve a softer sound and more speed.
The speed-wrapped core material, which TaylorMade are saying shares many similarities with the Speed Foam we see in their irons, has a much lower density than previous core materials. A less dense core increases speed but also makes the golf ball quieter.
The new Speed Wrapped Core makes the new TP5x TaylorMade’s fastest golf ball ever, and the TP5 their softest.
“Our learnings from countless player and Tour tests show that golfers, unsurprisingly, favour a softer more muted sound with added distance. Historically, the challenge has been the inability to improve one without negatively impacting the other. With this understanding, we’ve evolved our golf ball design process by uniquely decoupling feel and speed through material advancement, a complete departure from the conventional. The material-level advancement positions our TP5/TP5x family as having the best feel in the industry with faster constructions.”
Michael Fox, Senior Director of Product Creation, Golf Balls
TaylorMade has the only 5-piece tour ball on the market. This multi-layer structure has been key to the improvements they have made in 2024. Contrasting material layers allow TaylorMade to provide a better blend of key variables such as distance, stability, and greenside spin.
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A stiffer mantle layer creates low driver and long iron spin. It also contrasts with the softer core and urethane cover to help deliver high wedge spin.
TaylorMade TP5 vs TP5x
The TaylorMade TP5 and TP5x golf balls offer two different choices to cater to different categories of golfers.
The TaylorMade TP5 is TaylorMade’s softest 5-layer golf ball, it has a noticeably softer feel than the TP5x with enhanced spin around the greens. This is the best fit for golfers who want a softer touch and feel around the greens.
The TP5x is TaylorMade’s fastest 5-layer tour golf ball. It prioritises speed, making it perfect for golfers who want maximum speed off the club face and increase carry. It is also perfect for golfers looking to reduce their long-game spin.
Spin variance is still the greatest difference between the two models. TP5 generates more spin on wedge shots, with TP5x producing less spin on drives and long iron shots in addition to a flatter trajectory.
Above, you can see a full breakdown of how the two golf balls compare across a variety of categories. Ultimately, the choice between the two models is very individual, and I would always suggest people test both out before they make a decision. You also need to think about what variables would help your game most, do you want more carry distance or would picking the highest spin model help your game more?
Pix has also had a refresh for 2024 with an update to its shape and relocation of some colour blocks. This was off the back of tour player feedback and creates a longer centreline and more feedback on true roll.
