It wasn’t so long ago that had you said one of the most anticipated Callaway releases of the new year would be golf balls, you’d have gotten some very interesting reactions. However, in 2022, that is precisely the situation.
Since the inception of Chrome Soft, Callaway has been on a meteoric rise in the golf ball segment the likes of which we have never seen in terms of grabbing market share. While one might think that 2021’s craziness could potentially slow that momentum, it did the exact opposite. With two Major Championships and an Olympic Gold Medal, Chrome Soft was the hottest golf ball on the planet.
While other companies may decide to just “run with it” for another cycle, Callaway has been priming up for this release, they have said, the next evolution is all about “Precision Technology”.
2022 Callaway Chrome Soft Family
Callaway refers to themselves as an “unrivaled tech enabled golf company”, and with the advent of A.I. and a plethora of other technology firsts in the industry, no one can argue that point. When it comes to golf balls, the investment has been well beyond substantial to live up to that moniker. By spending over 50 million dollars, they have revolutionized their manufacturing facilities and the 2022 version of Chrome Soft is utilizing their newest tech, 3D X-Ray.
While altering and evolving the core, cover, and aerodynamic properties of the entire lineup is definitely a part of the story, the bigger tale to be told is what Callaway calls “Concentricity Offset”. In the simplest terms, yes, this is about ensuring things are centered, but not just the core, rather the 3D X-Ray and its high-definition imagery means Callaway can now check every single layer of their golf balls to ensure manufacturing specs are hit to within 1/1000th of an inch.
This is important because internal testing showed Callaway that the same ball, if offset, can have a multitude of different reactions off the face depending on its orientation, we are talking 2.7 MPH, 2.1° launch, and 1200 RPM of spin differences. Now, obviously, on the course we can’t look at the ball and align it every single shot because we can’t see the inside, so Callaway has taken their evolution to a level no other golf ball manufacturer has with 3D X-Ray and are trying to eliminate all the variables…except for our crazy swings.
This is why you will notice Callaway pushing “Precision Technology” everywhere this year, it may not fix our swings, but it will increase the potential for consistency.
2022 Callaway Chrome Soft
Now don’t worry Callaway fans, first thing is first, the company is adamant that soft feel, which put this golf ball on the map, is still well intact, but now with more ball speed and thus more distance potential.
The CS remains a 3-piece design which now uses a new “Hyper Elastic SoftFast Core”. While alarm bells would normally go off when a company changes the core, this new technology used Cross Linking which basically means the core responds better to strain (impact) at higher speeds allowing it to generate more energy, but without altering feel or touch.
The new Chrome Soft also features a new aerodynamic dimple pattern to help with longer carry and lower drag. Testing from the company points to about 0.5 MPH increase in speed off the driver while dropping spin in that club as well as the 7i.
2022 Callaway Chrome Soft X
The most played Callaway ball on Tour, they admit that their players were on them to not change a thing, after all, we all know by now this ball is the reason Jon Rahm came to Callaway. Not to mention, the CSX might have been the fastest golf ball on the market, so why would you change anything? Because better is always better.
The 2022 Chrome Soft X is still a 4-piece design, and according to the company, it is even faster than it was thanks to the same Cross Linking technology which was used in the CS being present here in the new Hyper Elastic SoftFast Core. Add new aerodynamics to play stronger into the wind, and the testing has indicated there to be no spin change while adding about 0.7 MPH ball speed off the tee.
The longest might have just gotten longer. However, it is important to note that at lower speeds, this Cross Linking in the core means that it performs just like its predecessor, meaning no loss of greenside feel, precision, or spin.
2022 Callaway Chrome Soft X LS
While it’s a mouthful to say, the CSX LS has been an eye opener for a segment of golfers who just generate more spin than is necessarily optimal for their games, and while they’re obviously a smaller segment than the other two balls address, this design is what gives Callaway one of the most complete Tour Caliber golf ball lineups on the market.
The LS also uses the new Hyper Elastic SoftFast Core along with Tour influences for the aerodynamic pattern in its 4-Piece design like its siblings in the lineup do. The big difference here is an all-new cover material which Callaway developed specifically to address the one knock on the original version by some, greenside control.
This new softer cover in cooperation with the new core has increased the ball speed, but also managed to increase spin around the greens while lowering it elsewhere. Testing shows almost 1 MPH of added ball speed while dropping off over 100 RPM’s from the driver and 7i.
The Details on the full lineup
Availability: 1/28/22
Price: $49.99
Options: Standard, Triple Track, Truvis
The ball speed was lower on the CSXLS but I may have been getting tired. I will try lofting up the Driver with the CSXLS to get the really low knuckleballs out of there. Should be fun to test.
For me it’s getting the putt starting online. I feel I’m a decent putter and can read/judge greens pretty well, but TT showed me I was a little off with my aim on longer putts. Again it was me trusting the line and adjusting my alignment to match even though it didn’t feel right. Once I trusted it I’m now making more than my fair share of longer putts or just burning the edge on the high side and eliminating 3putts.
for the shorter putts it’s weird but I just trust my eyes because I can see the line easier and then it’s just focusing on pace.
Makes sense. Little assist at distances where you kind of lose the line. That’s cool.
When I’m over the ball need to trust that line. It has helped with my putting. I do prefer the original triple that where the lines were slightly longer and wish they would go back to that.
I used to be this way too. Once I started using TT with a blade putter from 10 feet and in it was a huge help and I felt like I started making more. Weirdly I’m not a huge fan of using it with a mallet that has a longer site line though.
I’ve never tried it on the tee box though. I might have to give that a try this year on a couple of holes I struggle with keeping it in play on my home course.
I may need to try it agin on my putting mat and see how it works.
Have you tried lining it up only with your dominant eye just to see what happens.
I played a couple rounds last season with the triple track and haven’t fully adjusted to putting with the triple track. I have played with a line on my ball for years, but that’s just a single line that I put on the ball. I can putt with the single line but I’ll need to get used to the three lines.
I have some triple track balls and my putting mat set up in the basement. I have all winter to get used to the triple track.
Doesn’t matter to me, it always looks off for some reason. Normally I just line up the ball name or the chevron on a Callaway ball and it works for me.
I’m gonna break out the putting mat and line up the TT lines on the putting mat lines and see if it works.
Typically, I don’t want to see anything other than the color of the ball when I am putting. Even my putters have no lines. So a triple track would be a new thing but I can see its use on shorter putts for me.
That’s interesting as I’m the opposite. I try to focus on feel/speed more from outside 10/15’ and sometimes I get too caught up in the line.
This is the big plus about TT in my opinion. I always thought the single line moved/was harder to trust. I know all three can wobble but having the parallel lines increase trust a bunch for me.
very underrated feature
So I broke out the putting mat and 2 TT balls and 2 regular balls. Grabbed an alignment stick and measured distance from the mat to stand to eliminate that variable. No difference, I was able to roll the different balls down the line of the mat for 6 and 8 feet without issues (other than the slope of my floor)
So for me it is either an alignment issue on the course (open shoulders) or an Rx thing with the bifocals.
I am glad people guys and gals find it useful and if it helps with their putting then it is a great thing.
for me once the line is set on longer putts it’s all about focusing on pace and 2 putting. It might be unrealistic, (and doesn’t happen as much as I’d like) but inside of 10’ I expect to make more than I miss and that’s where I just trust my eyes and feet.
I love golf as we have the exact same thoughts but come at it from different angles.
Aim smaller, miss smaller!
Whoa whoa whoa this was going to be a two week posting process slow it down! lmao
We can still make it last several weeks with why haven’t you done it yet @Canadan ?! ????
Who’s to say it hasn’t already happened and it’s just waiting to post ?
It very well could be?! Who knows!
Quoting the above, as this is a sort of continuation on this info. I got a chance to work on some full swings with the three as well. Working with a 7 iron of a soon to be released set and before starting, I will say that for those that are following and do not know me, I am a higher spin person than average due to my steeper path (working on it), but for comparisons sake that doesn’t really matter.
I worked with the 3 balls and played a green at 165 yards working strictly on distance and spin variations. Before continuing, I want to say that thank goodness the rumors about this ball going away or a name change, etc were all ********. I know THPers in general are not huge on re-learning a lineup and Chrome Soft is sort of a mainstay despite not being decades in tenure. Okay, enough about that stuff.
I started with Chrome Soft as it is the one I am most familiar with and doing this in the Tech Studio to minimize any sort of variables, but these will hit the course in the coming week. Chrome Soft gave me what I expected out of it. My distance was met, the feel is soft, but at the same time a bit full, if that makes sense. Very little clicky-ness for those that do not like that. I saw a small increase in ball speed overall, which could be the golf ball, but could also be the swing/impact. Last year I would have set this up at 160 and now I am setting it up at 165, so there is that.
After 3 balls above, switched to the LS, and continued to rotate this until 12 balls of each were hit. The LS seemed to elevate the spin a tiny bit, again impact could be at play here. The average was 367 rpms different between the two balls after 12 were hit. It was also 1.2 mph faster.
Next up was the CSX and that was 289 rpms different than that of the LS and over 600 rpms different than that of the CS. It was also about a mile an hour faster than the LS.
This is where it gets interesting. For me, the Chrome Soft was the longest ball carry distance wise, as the lower spin helped me get there. The LS did have the tightest grouping front to back. All of them were rock solid for me, and in general I tend to look for something that mitigates spin until I get around the green, so LS might be the ball for me this year, if not the Chrome Soft. There is definitely a fitting story here that I think should be explored by every golfer, because the distance difference between the balls could be fairly significant based on fitting of lower or higher spin, as well as what happens when you miss (you might not miss, but I do from time to time).
I am going to try and get driver swings in today in the Tech Studio and I suspect we see a pretty substantial difference in numbers with the most violent and fastest swing in the bag.
Is it crucial? No.
But testing for the individual is definitely important. Think about it like this. If you took CSX and CS and were striking it well for an iron fitting, you would without a shadow of a doubt get fit into different clubs.
This is really really good.
I have a decent stock of the 21 Chrome Soft X LS, but I fully plan on giving all 3 of these a shot next year. Given some of the tweaks I have read about here, and seen Mr. Wunder post about, it is possible I fit better into a different ball.
Nope. I see those things written a lot, but never really see it play out. Landing angle is more important than is discussed in that situation, because you can spin it like crazy and if you are hitting it to low, it doesn’t matter if the spin is 500 more or less.
But by that same logic, if spin was the deciding factor and the 7 iron wasn’t enough, that would mean with a ball that spun more, you would still never get a 5 iron to hold the green, right?
I hadn’t looked at it that way. Testing side by side is very important to understand the nuances between the balls you are testing.
Correct and Landing angle certainly plays an important part.
The spin story is interesting. It’s been a while, but we’ve played together a few times and I was a higher spin player (poor move into the ball & open face) but now I find myself in the CSX since late 2019 when the new version came out and I have seen some pretty decent gains through the bag. I have not been on a LM, but from the course I was seeing the CS being shorter through the bag and running out on approach shots more than I care for. The previous version CSXLS was long enough off the tee and irons, but the feel was too firm, and I missed the spin on approach shots I am seeing from the CSX.
I am beginning to think the swing fixes I worked on have reduced the spin I had previously and now the CSX is actually helping with spin and helping me maximize the ball flight. I need to find a reliable LM to get on and test the new versions out because now I want to know where my spin numbers are.
Do you? If its working, you might not need a change and the new CSX is very solid.
I’m a card carrying member of the #LunaticFringe, it’s in the bylaws, lol.
Seriously I am more curious now where my spin is in relation to where I thought it was. A lot of great golf balls out there and it’s going to take something special to knock the CSX out of the bag. There is something to be said about confidence with the only piece of equipment you use on every shot.
I think the biggest story this year is the differentiation between balls that make fitting into a specific ball easier. That said, I think many will continue to gravitate towards the same ball that gave you your best performance unless you’re on the fringe in terms of what you want to see around the greens. For guys who need the spin, CSX is still going to be stellar.
I could not tell a difference between the firmness of the originals and the new version. They still have the perfect trajectory for me.
I was looking for a little bit more spin around the greens but didn’t really find it. Not a big deal but something I was interested to see. They still have enough spin for me with the irons.
Not sure if I had a better stroke with the putter or not but I really liked the feel on the greens. Maybe because I made a lot of putts.
These are the balls for me. Mid trajectory with plenty of roll out of the tee and enough spin with the irons. Mute my draw slightly. I was hoping for more control and spin around the green but my expectations could have been too high it’s not a miracle ball.
Will be my gamer this year but as an internet golfer I will try the chromesoft x too.
I’ll have a cpl for you on Saturday
You seriously couldn’t tell a difference even off the tee? They sound pretty different to me off a TSi3.
I might have to do a side by side comparison. Played only the new version today
Yeah, that might do it. Hey no real need though. If you love the new ones just play the heck out of them like you did today!
Really jealous of your boxes of almost totally white balls btw.
I love triple track so much, I bought a stencil off of Amazon to put on the range balls ?
to be fair, it took me 3 holes until I fell in love with TT.
On the green, thesec are my thoughts.
So since it’s getting strong consideration from me, thank you Callaway Golf, for making it WITHOUT TT.
I’m giving you a fire emoji regardless of the last five words
Just sticky.
Seriously does not suck around the greens. Don’t know if you can hear it, but MG3s aren’t really very quiet. They kind of pop in a unique way, and I don’t mind the combo at all.
When do they hit the shelves?? I want ’em!
yes, yes you do!
End of the month I believe
1/28/22 per their website.
That’s a lot of TT still…