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TaylorMade Penta TP5 TP3 & RBZ

SuperStroke
Thanks a lot Taylormade. Just when I think I've found a ball I like in bridgestone you go and move the goal posts again. Gonna be getting a dozen of each of these once they hit the stores. I do love the current Penta but it didn't suit my game too well off the tee. Really want to try the new offerings from TM after hearing all of that. I really like the explanations on what the ball is designed to be doing depending on the club. I think knowing that gives you a lot more confidence especially if your mind knows that your going to have decent spin on a mid iron.
Great show.
 
v.man said:
I listened to the podcast twice, and have to say I learned more about balls in those few minute than I have in a lifetime. I play the current PentaTP and like it alot. I probably would have played (and still will) all three balls to try them out. But, I still wouldn't have known the real differences between them. I'm thinking the Penta 3 might be the best fit for me since I don't have a problem with too much spin on approach shots on the current Penta, and since they have reduced the spin on the Penta 5 it just seems logical. At any rate, another WOW! for me since I found THP. I'm loving this forum.
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If you liked this show, there are a few more that I recommend on the THP Home page that will have tons of information starting with this one.

One of the greatest clubmakers ever answers THP members questions. Truly great show with a great man.

http://www.thehackersparadise.com/?p=13612
 
This show was very eye opening. I think TM is soon going to take over the world of golf balls. Know that the TP3 is the same ball, for the most part, as a ProV1 but for much cheaper I think you'll see people switching over. There was a lot of very good info in this episode and if you haven't listened I would recommend doing so.


Tapaway!
 
Another amazing show from THP. Big thanks to Dean from TaylorMade for bringing the knowledge and really doing an awesome job of explaining all 3 balls.

Loved listening to that. Dean was very straightforward and answered every question, even without JB having to ask in some cases! I had many questions about the TP3 and TP5, and now I have all the answers.

The explanation of how they designed the differences in TP3 and TP5 was great and made perfect sense. Dean did a great job of pointing out the different conditions and I bet everyone listening felt like they went through a ball fitting in their head there and then!! :D

Really looking forward to trying these balls out, now that I know what I should expect to see.
 
There were a few posts that asked about comparing the RBZ to NXT or older TM balls. Obv. it sounds like they're going after a price-oriented ball that creates more spin for us folks that can't create the spin we desire to hold the green with 7 irons or whatever. But, to me this almost sounds like more of a comparison to a Srixon Q Star possibly? They didn't mention anything about really trying to make it better for those of us that have problems slicing with the driver, etc. I play an e6 and have tried the q-stars, but they didn't seem to be as straight off the driver for me as the e6's. Personally, I would love a ball that combined the e6's straightness off the driver and the q-stars ability to hold the greens on approach shots. I was hoping that might be this ball, but, doesn't sound like it necessarily is. Thoughts?
 
Review of TaylorMade Penta TP 5 golf ball

Review of TaylorMade Penta TP 5 golf ball

Played 9 this afternoon and tried the new Penta TP5.

Early thoughts: I was impressed with how the ball came off both the irons and driver. It was a windy day on my course, but the ball held well in the wind. The TP5 rolled true off the putter and even with hitting a tree, came out without a scratch. I think this cover is much more durable and yes, the ball even stayed white all the way through the round compared to the first run TP's.

Probably won't get to do any more testing for a week or two because of weather and broadcasting post season basketball, but look forward to get it out on the course again for further testing...
 
Thanks for the post, I'm excited to buy some of these to try out. Hopefully someone else will do some reviews too?
 
Agreed. The cover is much more durable over the previous TP and I love how it feels off the putter.
 
I purchased a dozen RBZ balls this weekend and took them out for a spin today. Have to say that I was very pleased. Great distance, felt soft off the face of all the clubs, including the putter. I was not able to stop the ball very well though. Probably just the clown driving the stick around though. We have a day that started out very windy, went to complete calm, and then back to very windy. The ball held its flight true all day. Not sure about the overall distance with the irons though. I had issues hitting greens today. I only found 3 GIR. Dont get me wrong. The wind did play a factor in a lot of this. I did hit some more greens, but didn't hold them. Now I don't want to blame this on the ball. They greens are heavily sanded right now too. I was in close on all the greens. But I will say that this ball putts very well. Probably had my best day ever putting.
 
Taylormade penta tp3

Taylormade penta tp3

I just purchased taylormade tp3 balls and will test them out this weekend agains old pentas and new penta tp5. Can't wait to report back the results and opinions.


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I played 18 with the Penta TP3 today. Short story: I wasn't very impressed. The ball felt really hard, and I couldn't get much spin on it. The distance was fine, but nothing special. I would rather play the Burner Tour. To be fair, I wasn't hitting the ball very well today, but I played a few extra holes with the Callaway Hex Black and enjoyed that ball.

Course conditions: Weather was beautiful. Low 70's, slight wind with gusts around 10 mph. Storm rolled through last night, so the fairways were pretty wet, reducing roll. Greens were receptive, but very fast.

Driver: Driver distance with the TP3 was good, but nothing special. I really caught a few today, but only got them out there around 260 or so. Had one cart path aided driver of over 300. They seemed to fly pretty straight without much side spin.

Irons: I wasn't hitting my irons well at all today, so take this with a grain of salt, but I was unhappy with the ball's performance off the irons. The ball feels really hard to me, and I wasn't getting a whole lot of spin, either. I had the ball roll through the green on 4 different holes, today, and that is highly unusual for me. On 2 holes, the ball hit in the front part of the green, rolled through the back, crossed a small mound, and then trundled down into serious trouble. Those were both long iron shots, but still...

Short game: Not great. Wedges had a fair amount of spin, but they were flying further than I am used to. Chips would roll out a lot. The ball felt really hot off the putter.

Durability: Pretty good. The one ball I had that hit the car path 3 times was pretty scuffed up, but the ball I played had no marks on it at all, despite tangling with a couple of trees.

I shot 83, which is 4 strokes over my handicap. I didn't want to give the ball a bad review if it was really my swing that was the issue, so when I finished 18 I went out and played 10-13 and 18 a second time with my last remaining Callaway Hex Black. I had 2 birdies and a bogey and just confirmed that the TP3 is not for me.
 
I was really hoping the TP 3 was going to be a solid performer. Sad to hear but glad I did. Now ill only buy a sleeve to try it out instead of a dozen. Thanks for the review!

Sent from my DROIDX
 
Rvick82 said:
I was really hoping the TP 3 was going to be a solid performer. Sad to hear but glad I did. Now ill only buy a sleeve to try it out instead of a dozen. Thanks for the review!
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I agree. I played the Penta TP last year was looking for an equal. TP3 sounds like it is not a step up.
 
Great interview JB. One of my favs. Right up there with when you interviewed the club designer on cast vs forged, effect of offset, etc.

Anyway, I played the TP5 last weekend and loved it but he makes a compelling case for the TP3 as well. I'm gonna buy a sleeve and see if I can't save $15 a dozen.

Again, kudos on a 1st class interview.
 
Did a comparison round with the RBZ and the Callaway HEX (I don't know if it was black or chrome, didn't check). The Hex ball proved to be the better ball by far for me. When it came to distance, I did not notice much difference between the two, but in control, the Hex seriously out performed. With the Hex, I would take aim and hit my spot dead on. When I was gaming the RBZ, my ball flight was good, but I was not getting the great results as before. This was the second round of using the RBZ up against another ball and both times the RBZ failed to out perform for me. I played them against my old Penta ball and it was no contest.
This might be a good ball for some, but I am not in that category.
 
I played 18 today with the new TP5 and it was everything that I have been hoping for. I wasn't playing two balls so I couldn't compare directly to the old Penta, but this handled the wind very well. Spin was hard to tell for approach shots because it was a bit wet so most everything stuck right next to its pitch mark. Ball feels great. Overall a fantastic ball!
 
afwcardinal said:
Did a comparison round with the RBZ and the Callaway HEX (I don't know if it was black or chrome, didn't check). The Hex ball proved to be the better ball by far for me. When it came to distance, I did not notice much difference between the two, but in control, the Hex seriously out performed. With the Hex, I would take aim and hit my spot dead on. When I was gaming the RBZ, my ball flight was good, but I was not getting the great results as before. This was the second round of using the RBZ up against another ball and both times the RBZ failed to out perform for me. I played them against my old Penta ball and it was no contest.
This might be a good ball for some, but I am not in that category.
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RBZ and the Hex are not remotely the same ball not was it advertised like that. If you want to compare the equal balls then compare penta tp5 with the hex and then form your opinion about the hex.


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I picked up a dozen Penta TP3s at the weekend. The price was good and I've been curious, so I thought I'd give them a go.

Got a round in yesterday, played the same ball all the way round. So, initial impressions?

This ball goes far. I mean further than anything I've been playing this year. I've been through last years Penta, Pro V1 and Z-Star so far (all last years model), and also the Hex Black. I can say that the TP3 flew noticeably further off the tee for me. The one thing I will say is that if I put a bit of side spin on it, the TP3 seemed to be a little more offline than the Hex Black for me, but probably in line with the others mentioned (off the top of my head).

The iron feel is pretty good too. The ball feels soft. Just holding it, doesn't feel very different to last year's Penta. Still got that soft cover. I was stopping mid irons pretty quickly, even though the greens were hard and rolling out. I'm impressed so far...

Short irons. A couple of full wedge shots and again, the ball is checking up very nicely. I could get used to this sort of reaction, as it could be even more predictable than the previous version. One hop and stop action seems accurate.

Half shots. This is where last year's ball really excelled for me. OK, the TP3 wasn't just as quick to stop, but the feel was still there for me, and with a bit of short game practice, I think I could like this. I actually managed to chip in from about 50 yards at the 9th too.

Durability. I know a few people found the previous Penta ball less than durable, so this was on my mind. I scuffed this ball a couple of times in the first 6 or so holes and was worried that it would let me down in this category. I shouldn't have, those first couple of scuffs were all the damage I managed to inflict. I could put this ball in play again.

Wear looked like this -

2012-04-01201305.jpg

2012-04-01201240.jpg


Overall, I'm very impressed and I'll happily keep these in the bag. Loving the extra distance off the tee in particular.
 
I am a HUGE fan of the original Penta TP, it was the main ball that I played last year. So I was excited to test out both the Penta TP5 and TP3. Both of these new balls are an improvement in the driver department from last years Penta, they are both long of the tee and fly great into the wind. I found the TP3 checked more on full shots (but not by that much). Beyond that I couldn't really tell much of a difference between the TP3 and TP5. This goes to show what a great ball the TP3 is and it is at a really good price point IMO. I am excited to get some more time with both these balls to form more of an opinion, but as of now I can see either of these balls being my go to ball all year. Also, they are quite durable. I played with the same TP3 the entire round last time and it looked fine when I was finished.
 
I found a brand new tp3 today and played it for three holes. Great ball from what I played. Good distance off the tee. Great spin on approach shots nice spin, but nothing amazing from 30-50 yards. I will definitely pick some of these up to game in the future. For me the thing I loved most was the alignment aid for putting. That is the only thing I didn't like about the original penta. I felt the tp3 had a bit more bite than last years too. Just my opinion though. I'll play it tomorrow for more input.
 
Jaybanks9 said:
I felt the tp3 had a bit more bite than last years too.
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There was no TP3 last year so which ball are you referring to?

"Last year's" closest version of the TP3 ball was the TP Black LDP which in fact out spun the Penta off half wedge shots in golf digest testing. (6247 rpm for Penta Vs. 6520 for TP Black LDP) I gamed the TP Black last year and at times it had almost a little too much check off higher lofted irons and short wedges, for my game anyway.
 
Tedfroop said:
There was no TP3 last year so which ball are you referring to?

"Last year's" closest version of the TP3 ball was the TP Black LDP which in fact out spun the Penta off half wedge shots in golf digest testing. (6247 rpm for Penta Vs. 6520 for TP Black LDP) I gamed the TP Black last year and at times it had almost a little too much check off higher lofted irons and short wedges, for my game anyway.
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Last years penta. The 5 layer ball
 
I have played the TP3 most of the season so far and have been very impressed. Long off the tee, checks well on the green and is very durable. It will stay in my bag for now...might go to the TP5 when the hot weather comes around.
 
One thing I forgot to mention is how impressed I was with the distances I was getting while hitting into the wind. It was windy when I was playing, but the TP3 seemed to cut through it nicely.
 
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