Review RZN Distance & MS Tour Golf Ball Review

[Jman]

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.

Continue reading...

 

[SirShives]

The Distance ball at that price will be intriguing enough to give a try. Will these be sold DTC or go to retail?

 

[Jman]

The Distance ball at that price will be intriguing enough to give a try. Will these be sold DTC or go to retail?

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.

 

[M2Giles]

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

 

[aljaklaw]

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

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.

 

[Jman]

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

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.

 

[annsguy]

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.

 

[G-Man]

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.

 

[Nate<80]

Nice write up, thanks @Jman. It will be interesting to see these make a splash and see if people buy in. Price is really good.

 

[Sox_Fan]

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.

 

[Molten]

There are so many ball brands these days! Good write up @Jman

 

[chile]

nice write-up @Jman ...at this price, the whole line up is right up my alley. i'll have to try some out.

 

[Thrillbilly Jim]

Nice article @Jman! 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!

 

[billyh]

@Jman 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?

 

[obedt]

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.

 

[Jman]

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.

I think that’s a good way to put it, solid, but not groundbreaking.

 

[Jman]

@Jman 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?

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.

 

[Dan Harrison]

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.

 

[Mark in Iowa]

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

 

[Jman]

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

It’s not the Platinum though, they tweaked all the designs and in some cases changed a fair amount.