You know the saying, what is old is new again. Well, as in life, that sometimes applies to golf equipment as well.
With that, I would like to formally re-introduce you to…
RZN Golf Balls.
Oh yes, that RZN, and without Nike.
Behind the RZN
You are more than likely wondering if there is no Nike, then how are RZN golf balls being produced again? Well, that part is pretty simple, RZN Golf is producing the balls.
Now, who is that? Well, the currently named RZN Golf has actually been producing golf balls for Nike since 2006 and were a part of the development of the original 3-Piece RZN design so this isn’t just someone grabbing a patent and producing things again. That in mind, I do want to address the 2006 date where production is concerned, because as we well know now (and THP had been saying it for years prior), Bridgestone Golf had been producing the Tour balls for Nike prior to the development of RZN. I only bring that up because the phrasing the company is using on producing Nike’s golf balls since 2006 is accurate, they just cleverly leave out which golf balls.
However, that doesn’t really matter. The fact that they were heavily involved in working with Rock Ishii (a legend in golf ball development) through the RZN creation process is what matters most. So, you have people behind the re-introduction of RZN that are not only familiar with it but working to improve it.
I was able to work with two of the four different golf ball models that they have brought to market, a urethane ball in the RZN MS-Tour and an ionomer ball in the RZN Distance.
RZN Distance
I want to start with the ionomer offering first. The company actually has two, the Speed and the Distance. The Speed is a two-piece design while the Distance, which I worked with, is a three-piece design utilizing the RZN material core. So, what you get is a micro-dimple ionomer cover, mantle, and 3D Speed Lock Resin core engineered to be a ball that will “maximize distance with effortless swings while keeping a soft feel” at a pleasing $19.95 price.
Looks wise, the discussion during testing on the THP forum was pretty pointed, namely at the logo itself being too big/awkward, and personally I agree only in the sense that it is what stands out most and not the pretty slick “micro-dimple” coating. Additionally, the alignment line, though effective, comes off as trying to be fancier than it needs to be. All that said, you cannot blame a company for trying to stand out visually, because if you don’t at least try to do that then you will fade into the background noise.
To work this one out, it and the MS-Tour were hit on the Foresight GC2 as well as ample practice and course time. While I’m not going to get to really dive into the data due to some technical hiccups, I can say without a shadow of a doubt the RZN Distance is what you would expect. Through the bag the launch came easy for me, and the spin stayed in the moderate range which really maximized the distance. Bigger though, was that there was absolutely no harsh or overly firm feedback which is what I had a dislike for with the original RZN options. To take that a step further, those old golf balls had some issues with temperature fluctuations, notably the cold, so I refrigerated some before testing and the numbers came back very comparable while the feel was not noticeably more harsh. In the end, this one is a playable ball, but it is an ionomer ball built for consistency and not spin, so if one plays for that, at $19.95 it competes with others in the segment.
RZN MS-Tour
Like the ionomer offerings, there are two Tour level options as well, the MS-Tour which is a three-piece design aimed at mid-speed players and the HS-Tour a four-piece design. I was able to work with the MS-Tour featuring a wide diameter core, 3D Speed Lock mantle, and urethane cover with micro-dimples. As the company has labeled it, “A soft and powerful tour ball”, but at a $29.95 price tag that should turn some heads.
We do have to discuss this one aesthetically as well, and the feedback on the forum was pretty much the same. I’ll again say, yes, I do think the logo is a bit bold, but the all black on this one makes it less noticeable. Also, the unique alignment line is going to be a love it or leave it thing for people, but it’s an alignment line so I don’t know how make or break that should be. The micro-dimple cover stands out a lot more on the urethane compared to the ionomer, and it looks pretty cool. One thing to note, with the two golf balls next to each-other, this one is a little more off white than the bright white Distance was. Not an issue to me, but I know some are sticklers about such things.
Like with the Distance, I worked the MS-Tour on the Foresight GC2 as well as on the course. As mentioned in the previous section, there were some technical difficulties on the data, so there won’t be a deep dive. That said, these surprised me a lot. I will admit to not being a big fan of the Nike RZN golf balls, in fact I have been outspoken about it in the past, from the firmness to the effect of temperature fluctuations on the ball. Here with the MS-Tour I don’t have either of those complaints. I was able to compress this one with relative ease, not only that, the numbers were solid from tee to green including wedges peaking in the high 9,000 RPM’s, which for me is about as good as it gets. Beyond that, despite not being a “mid-speed” player, the ball reacted well to my SS, and I saw ample distance off the tee to match the wedge spin, and the durability was serviceable overall. For a ball at this price point ($29.95) there is a lot I came away impressed with.
Though there are still some questions I have where design, other offerings, and where the company is headed from here designs wise are concerned, I walked away from this review with these in a positive light. At the price points, and with the RZN name recognition which might still have some weight out there, it’ll be interesting to see who gives them a shot.
Details:
Available: Now
Price: RZN Distance – $19.95/dozen and RZN MS-Tour – $29.95/dozen
The Distance ball at that price will be intriguing enough to give a try. Will these be sold DTC or go to retail?
[QUOTE=”SirShives, post: 9320150, member: 48451″]
The Distance ball at that price will be intriguing enough to give a try. Will these be sold DTC or go to retail?
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They’re available primarily via order, but I do know that a few golf courses as well as stores are stocking and selling them.
Its an interesting situation and that’s the part I’m most curious to see how they handle.
Price is right on the tour and distance balls. Performance is OK. Im just not sure where they go from here.
Price point looks good. Performance is as expected. Though I wonder how those temp issues and I believe wind (i remember one of the RZN balls was good and the other atrocious) have been sorted. Logo looks meh. Even though I grew up in Nikes backyard, I stopped playing by the time RZN was rolled out.
Something I’m really curious about is how did all of those Nike Patents get sorted. Rock Ishii was a Nike Employee and i thought his name with Nike was on the patents for all of the RZN balls. When Nike got out of hard goods I know they put alot of their patents and a lot of the IP on firesale.
Its interesting how bringing back a name has both positives and baggage
[QUOTE=”M2Giles, post: 9320184, member: 47454″]
Price point looks good. Performance is as expected. Though I wonder how those temp issues and I believe wind (i remember one of the RZN balls was good and the other atrocious) have been sorted. Logo looks meh. Even though I grew up in Nikes backyard, I stopped playing by the time RZN was rolled out.
Something I’m really curious about is how did all of those Nike Patents get sorted. Rock Ishii was a Nike Employee and i thought his name with Nike was on the patents for all of the RZN balls. When Nike got out of hard goods I know they put alot of their patents and a lot of the IP on firesale.
Its interesting how bringing back a name has both positives and baggage
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I’ve never had wind issues with the RZN Tour Platinum.
The “new” RZiN logo is stupid-looking, though.
$30/doz is about the right price for a mid-level 3pc urethane ball.
[QUOTE=”M2Giles, post: 9320184, member: 47454″]
Price point looks good. Performance is as expected. Though I wonder how those temp issues and I believe wind (i remember one of the RZN balls was good and the other atrocious) have been sorted. Logo looks meh. Even though I grew up in Nikes backyard, I stopped playing by the time RZN was rolled out.
Something I’m really curious about is how did all of those Nike Patents get sorted. Rock Ishii was a Nike Employee and i thought his name with Nike was on the patents for all of the RZN balls. When Nike got out of hard goods I know they put alot of their patents and a lot of the IP on firesale.
Its interesting how bringing back a name has both positives and baggage
[/QUOTE]
As I mentioned, this was the company that worked with Rock to produce the original
RZN ball, so they already had some stake in the game. Beyond that it’s just purchasing rights to patents not being used I’m sure.
I also put it in the article, and want to again here, these arent the same old ball designs copied and pasted, beyond that they’re already developing new designs.
I am on board with the logo being a bit clumsy though.
So many companies in the ball business and so many ways to buy them. In-store, DTC, Subscription. I am intrigued by the DTC model.
Great write up and the spin numbers on MS Tour were awesome for wedges. Seems like a great ball and hopefully it picks up some traction in a crowded room. I think the design would have been a little more subtle if they moved the name of the ball where the thick alignment is and lowered the font size for the name and definitely a smaller number. Although, I think they wanted to differentiate themselves on the alignment aid and do something different than other balls.
Nice write up, thanks [USER=1579]@Jman[/USER]. It will be interesting to see these make a splash and see if people buy in. Price is really good.
Great reviw James. Seems like we have a new ball(s) being introduced every time we turn around. More options for consumers is never a bad thing though. Solid prices on these coming out of the gate.
There are so many ball brands these days! Good write up [USER=1579]@Jman[/USER]
nice write-up [USER=1579]@Jman[/USER] …at this price, the whole line up is right up my alley. i’ll have to try some out.
Nice article [USER=1579]@Jman[/USER]! Love that you tested these “cold”! Nothing makes want to try these out. A DTC ball has to give me a good reason to try it over a retail brand, and these don’t!
[USER=1579]@Jman[/USER] What would you directly compare (if applicable) both of these to? With the price, would you consider either of these for your high school team?
Thx for the review James. Performance appears solid, although possibly not ground breaking. I could see myself picking up a dozen of these if on some sort of promotion. There are already a few good ball options that can be had at that $30 price point so no real incentive to go out of my way to get these.
[QUOTE=”obedt, post: 9320640, member: 10652″]
Thx for the review James. Performance appears solid, although possibly not ground breaking. I could see myself picking up a dozen of these if on some sort of promotion. There are already a few good ball options that can be had at that $30 price point so no real incentive to go out of my way to get these.
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I think that’s a good way to put it, solid, but not groundbreaking.
[QUOTE=”billyh, post: 9320533, member: 45962″]
[USER=1579]@Jman[/USER] What would you directly compare (if applicable) both of these to? With the price, would you consider either of these for your high school team?
[/QUOTE]
Eh, that’s hard to say. So many options out there.
I wouldn’t, but there are a lot of reasons behind that which aren’t a reflection on these either way.
As a former CPGA professional who has now put this ball to the test via myself and several other low handicappers on 4 separate occasions I am confident in saying the redesigned RZN ball is every bit as good as other balls on the market today. Playing in Canada over the past three weeks has supplied the opportunity to test the RZN ball in both cold and warm weather i.e. as low as 5 degrees Celsius or for our friends south of the border 41 degrees Fahrenheit. The HS-Tour four piece ball lost a little distance for the slower of the hard hitters if that makes sense however those swinging at the highest speeds saw no change from the warmer days we tried the ball(s). I only used the MS-tour and the distance ball, both three piece balls as did several others, plenty of distance from both with the ability to hold greens and perform well around the green (4pc was in limited supply at that time, we now have plenty). There was not one negative comment except for two of the 12 saying they did not like the alignment bar, if that is the biggest complaint I think it says there is a great deal to like about a ball with major wins under its belt. Especially one you can purchase and still have money left over for a couple cold beverages compared to most others balls………..the HS-Tour 4pc / MS-Tour 3pc / Distance 3pc balls from RZN will not disappoint anyone or at least they did not in my experience with 12 sub 8 handicap players two of which are -2 players. The 2pc Speed ball was not tested in this format but has also been well received especially at a price others can only dream of for this quality.
If you want to buy RZN golf balls. See our webshop http://www.rzngolfshop.nl
If anyone is curious I weighed my Nike Platinums and weighed the “new” 4 piece “rzn” that supposedly is the Nike platinum and the Nike was 46g while the rzn was 45.5
[QUOTE=”Mark in Iowa, post: 9827273″]
If anyone is curious I weighed my Nike Platinums and weighed the “new” 4 piece “rzn” that supposedly is the Nike platinum and the Nike was 46g while the rzn was 45.5
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It’s not the Platinum though, they tweaked all the designs and in some cases changed a fair amount.