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2026 Callaway Chrome Tour Golf Balls: More Speed, Tighter Consistency

SuperStroke
Not swinging my best, but really liking the ball flight out of the CT. Visually I’m getting a nice mid trajectory, no ballooning for me. Overall, shot to shot seems to be very consistent as well which is fantastic.

Durability is TBD. Some seem fine after a lot of holes. One I had in play for only 4-5 holes before losing it, but it had a fair amount of wear to the cover (no trees, bunkers, or cart path). Will keep monitoring this to see if it’s ongoing or just an isolated thing.
 
BriMac said:
I find the home course test to be the best. So familiar with my usual distances. A few months out for me, though.
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I agree! I play 90% of my rounds at my home course so this is really all that matters to me. If something works better for me there, I'm in. Road trips do not factor into my equipment decisions at all...what works at home will usually travel pretty well.
 
Razorback01 said:
I've been testing the new Chrome Tour for the past several weeks and I've got 10 rounds on course so far. I don't have a simulator to hit on so I don't know if I'm getting any additional ball speed or distance from my irons or not. It really makes me zero difference on those because I only care about consistency and how the ball reacts when it hits the green. I never swing 100% anyway.

With driver and 3w, I'm actually trying to hit the ball as far as I can and still be repeatable. I've played my local course a million times and I know where I typically end up, what clubs I hit for approach etc. It's very clear that I'm getting additional distance with driver and 3w. Flight has been a touch lower than Pro V1 but I'm getting a lot more roll out. Roll out for me is actually very similar to Pro V1 left dot. Idk how much distance gain I'm getting thru the air vs on the ground.
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It sounds like you and I are looking for the exact same thing. When it comes to wedges and irons, I'm not necessarily looking for increases in distance. I want consistency and spin that will hold a green. Consistency is key and this ball has been excellent in that area.

Driver is where I'd like to see some increase in distance over what I've been playing, but not at a sacrifice of feel or major drop in spin. So far it appears I'm picking up some yardage in the simulator and I really can't wait to test it on the course this year to see where it stacks up compared to previous years.
 
One other thought. I've talked about feel several times, but it's such a huge part of what I look for in a ball that it's something I keep coming back to. The feel is excellent. I really think it falls in that Goldilocks category of not too hard, but not too soft. That's something I focus on throughout the whole bag, but it's especially important on wedges and putter and this ball is excellent with those sections of the bag.
 
KEV said:
One other thought. I've talked about feel several times, but it's such a huge part of what I look for in a ball that it's something I keep coming back to. The feel is excellent. I really think it falls in that Goldilocks category of not too hard, but not too soft. That's something I focus on throughout the whole bag, but it's especially important on wedges and putter and this ball is excellent with those sections of the bag.
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I’d agree. I like where the CT sits on feel. I do like softer balls which is why I played the CS for a while, but CT is in a really good spot on feel where you’re still getting a relatively softer feel, but a lot of added benefits.
 
short game later today and bringing Chrome Soft and Chrome Tour to see about short game difference
 
KEV said:
One other thought. I've talked about feel several times, but it's such a huge part of what I look for in a ball that it's something I keep coming back to. The feel is excellent. I really think it falls in that Goldilocks category of not too hard, but not too soft. That's something I focus on throughout the whole bag, but it's especially important on wedges and putter and this ball is excellent with those sections of the bag.
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This is a good point. I'm very middle of the road on what I like for firmness, and the CT feels very good to me. I have not hit the CS or CTX. I've played Pro V1X and Maxfli TourX...I play well enough with those but I don't like the clicky sound/feel.
 
Papa 3-Putts said:
Some more fascinating information about these golf balls.



Everyone had 2-3 mph faster ball speed - and there are some interesting launch and spin conversations as well.
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This was a really cool video and awesome to see how we all want/need something different. I wish I could do a fitting like this and really nail down what I need.
 
JB said:
short game later today and bringing Chrome Soft and Chrome Tour to see about short game difference
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I don’t recall, but were you firmly gaming the Chrome Soft at any point before moving to Chrome Tour or were you always Chrome Tour?

Is there anything you’d need/want to see out of the new Chrome Soft in the short game test that would get you to move to it?
 
KEV said:
One other thought. I've talked about feel several times, but it's such a huge part of what I look for in a ball that it's something I keep coming back to. The feel is excellent. I really think it falls in that Goldilocks category of not too hard, but not too soft. That's something I focus on throughout the whole bag, but it's especially important on wedges and putter and this ball is excellent with those sections of the bag.
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Totally agree. The feel off the face is exceptional throughout the bag
 
Got some numbers today.

First compared 24 CT and CTX to their new counter parts. And hit the new CS as well. These are all full swings on 54°. 10 shots. None thrown away. There were 2 low spinny poor strikes with the 26 CTX but for some reason the system wasn’t letting me delete shots today.

IMG_9974.jpeg


I then moved to 8 iron but was quickly out of gas. I wasn’t getting thru it and was coming up about 10 yards short from what I’m used to seeing. I only did CTX because of that and this is only 5 shots each. Ignore the middle line as that as a terrible strike but because it wasn’t letting me delete I just added another club. These shots were all good quality strikes, just not as much club speed as I normally have.

IMG_9976.jpeg
 
0dom said:
I did a comparison of all three balls with full swing 54°s.

View attachment 9403833

Results were what Callaway described.

Chrome Soft spun less and went higher. Chrome Tour X went lower and spun more.

I would be happy with any of the 3 balls in the lineup with wedges and driver. The numbers work and feel of them all is great. But its the irons that show the CTX is the best for me. I have time today and it's raining, so I'll try to get comparisons posted later.
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This is the exact reason why I would go to the Chrome Soft instead of the Chrome Tour X if I were to move in either direction. The lower spin yet fast enough ball to not lose anything distance wise. Really curious about the Soft
 
e1iterate said:
Cool, we are getting dumped in today and I’m playing tomorrow once it’s cleared up but it’s going to be a slop fest. Should be a good test for the ball in sub optimal conditions.
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I wanted to play in the rain today and the pro told me he would take my money but it wasn't worth it haha I stayed home
 
MikeG said:
This was a really cool video and awesome to see how we all want/need something different. I wish I could do a fitting like this and really nail down what I need.
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There's where I'm at - in between the CT and CTX.

When they're in stores, I'm going to get a sleeve of each...get some sim data, roll some putts, and see some short game performance.

I tend to lean toward the X models because I like the spin on approach and around the green.
 
Papa 3-Putts said:
There's where I'm at - in between the CT and CTX.

When they're in stores, I'm going to get a sleeve of each...get some sim data, roll some putts, and see some short game performance.

I tend to lean toward the X models because I like the spin on approach and around the green.
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I’ll be putting up some partial wedge swing data between the CT and CTX at some point today. By and large, there wasn’t a massive difference. Now this is on Rapsodo so take it with a grain of salt but was interesting nonetheless
 
amarkabove said:
Got some numbers today.

First compared 24 CT and CTX to their new counter parts. And hit the new CS as well. These are all full swings on 54°. 10 shots. None thrown away. There were 2 low spinny poor strikes with the 26 CTX but for some reason the system wasn’t letting me delete shots today.

View attachment 9403891

I then moved to 8 iron but was quickly out of gas. I wasn’t getting thru it and was coming up about 10 yards short from what I’m used to seeing. I only did CTX because of that and this is only 5 shots each. Ignore the middle line as that as a terrible strike but because it wasn’t letting me delete I just added another club. These shots were all good quality strikes, just not as much club speed as I normally have.

View attachment 9403892
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Good to see this data and the touch more spin out of the ‘26 models. I knew I wasnt crazy and was experiencing just a little bit more spin! That touch of added spin (paired with the speed), but not at CTX levels, is what makes me really like the ‘26 CT
 
Played my home course in a match today, unleashed the Chrome Tour. Had been only using on Sim so I wouldn’t lose them.

Shot a home course PB 77. Started on hole 11 in a shotgun, eagled the par 5 18th. Tripled hole 4 :(

With the lesson I had earlier in the week and the ball performance, I was getting sandbagger vibes from our competitors.

Thanks a lot Callaway!
 
amarkabove said:
Got some numbers today.

First compared 24 CT and CTX to their new counter parts. And hit the new CS as well. These are all full swings on 54°. 10 shots. None thrown away. There were 2 low spinny poor strikes with the 26 CTX but for some reason the system wasn’t letting me delete shots today.

View attachment 9403891

I then moved to 8 iron but was quickly out of gas. I wasn’t getting thru it and was coming up about 10 yards short from what I’m used to seeing. I only did CTX because of that and this is only 5 shots each. Ignore the middle line as that as a terrible strike but because it wasn’t letting me delete I just added another club. These shots were all good quality strikes, just not as much club speed as I normally have.

View attachment 9403892
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The 26’ CS is also pretty much on par with the ‘24 CT on spin with more ball speed. Very interesting.
 
mson said:
The 26’ CS is also pretty much on par with the ‘24 CT on spin with more ball speed. Very interesting.
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It's about 300 rpm less. But yes it's a bit faster. It also wanted to go more left than the rest of them for me.
 
amarkabove said:
It's about 300 rpm less. But yes it's a bit faster. It also wanted to go more left than the rest of them for me.
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I was comparing to 24 CT in looking at the evolution of the lineup. 7300 ‘26 CS vs 7200 ‘24 CT.
 
I am seeing really good spin on partial swings with a 56 degree with both the Tour and Soft. Similar honestly.

Where I found it interesting, is after about 12 balls each, alternating, the consistency is within a few hundred RPMs with every shot.

I realize that on the Internet, everybody does that with every shot, but I don’t see that. To give you an example, I did the same test 12 days ago with a maxfli, the X, and I saw 800 RPMs difference between shots.
 
JB said:
I am seeing really good spin on partial swings with a 56 degree with both the Tour and Soft. Similar honestly.

Where I found it interesting, is after about 12 balls each, alternating, the consistency is within a few hundred RPMs with every shot.

I realize that on the Internet, everybody does that with every shot, but I don’t see that. To give you an example, I did the same test 12 days ago with a maxfli, the X, and I saw 800 RPMs difference between shots.
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The consistency aspect is huge. I can hit my shots and know the ball will react the same which takes at least one variable out.

800 rpm difference between shots is actually pretty staggering. You can play two shots and have two pretty different results in the short game.
 
mson said:
I was comparing to 24 CT in looking at the evolution of the lineup. 7300 ‘26 CS vs 7200 ‘24 CT.
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You have to also include the side spin number. Because spin really only goes in one direction.
 
I was able to hit the practice area today for some chipping and putting. I used the CTX and a prov1X I had in the bag. I was working on under 20 yard short, sided chips with the 58*. Neither ball really stood out to me in the short chip but i did like the feel a touch better on the CTX. The best shots I did have that ended up closest to the cup were the CTX also. I did manage to kind of blade a CTX a bit. The ball actually stayed on the green because it still had a bit of bite. I was pretty stoked to see it was not in the rough on the other side.

When I got to the putting, I noticed when using both side by side that the CTX is a touch firmer but not in a bad way at all. The ball always stayed on the start line and rolled very true. I was not leaving the lags short they were all within 1-3 feet on some 30 foot putts. I am excited to get on course tomorrow it will be in the 40s at the start but warming up nicely pretty quick.
 
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