Nope, all feedback and thoughts welcome, made sure to put that in the OP. Just gives us all, and those who come looking for more info on the new golf balls, a centralized place for feedback,
I am hoping to sneak out this week to get some time in with the golf balls and with my Nitron then have a round in the AZTHP league this coming weekend.
Okay. I Put the RB tour side by side with the chrome soft (previous year’s model)
I didn't see anything that would have me concerned with durability, but I'll definitely keep an eye on it. So far I'm liking the RB Tour and I'm looking forward to the next round.
Great write up.I received my plain white box of Mizuno RB Tour golf balls on Saturday and went out for 18 holes yesterday and came away impressed. My current gamer ball is the Srixon Q-Star Tour and so that's my baseline for how the new RB Tour performs. I'll provide some quick initial thoughts from tee to green below.
Driver:
First swing with the RB Tour and I was 271 yards right down the middle of the fairway. The ball just seems to keep going. I mis-hit one bad on the toe and still ended up right at 250 yards, which I wouldn't complain with on a well struck shot, much less a mis-hit. The ball feels a little firmer than the QST and so I don't feel like I'm compressing it as much and I kept expecting it to be much shorter than it actually was. It also seemed to launch a little lower than the QST. I did lose my driver swing for about half the round, but that's not the ball's fault. Honestly the ball really seemed to want to track straight, even on poor swings. I did not lose a single ball off the tee and that's always a win for me.
Irons:
Again, the ball felt a little firmer than the QST, but not so much so that it was unpleasant or anything. Distance was right in line with QST for me and I could play my normal yardages. I wasn't hitting a lot of greens yesterday, thanks to my hot mess of a swing right now, but I did get one good example of iron spin on our par 3 15th hole. I hit a smooth 7 iron to 167 and it one hopped and stopped. So I feel like spin is at least comparable to the QST, if not slightly better, but I'll need more time with this ball to really make a determination.
Wedges:
This is where I started to notice a difference in spin with the RB Tour. Everything was one hop and stop or spun it back a little. It surprised me a couple of times with how much spin I could put on the ball. For example, I was hitting uphill into the green about 75 yards out with the pin in front. Hit my 58* and landed it perfectly just beyond the false front and it skipped forward and I'm thinking I'm going to be just a few feet below the pin. That thought quickly vanished as the ball threw it in reverse and spun back off the green. I can pretty confidently say that I couldn't get the QST to spin that much. Seeing that though, gave me some confidence when it came to the short game.
Short game:
I really had fun with the RB Tour around the greens. I could definitely get more spin out of it than the QST and it really saved me a few times. Shots that I carried a little too far and expected them to release and roll off the green just hit the brakes and stopped. It was a lot of fun playing high spinny shots with the 58 around the green and watching it land soft.
Putting:
Like the other clubs in the bag, the RB Tour felt a bit firmer off the putter. I've gotten used to the QST which is pretty soft, so most premium balls feel firmer. The RB Tour isn't clicky or harsh feeling at all, just firmer than what I'm used to. I'll try to compare to the Z Stars that I have as well. Overall though, my putting was decent (for me). Lag putts were really good throughout the round and that's usually where I struggle. I do wish the alignment aid was a little larger, but that can be remedied through other means.
First impression:
18 holes is a small sample size, but so far, I'm really liking the RB Tour. Distance is good and not too spinny with the longer clubs. Spin on approaches is good and around the green was excellent and it felt good off the putter. As I said before, my swing was pretty terrible, but I managed to keep the ball in play. I only lost one and that was me attempting a long shot over water out of the rough that came up short. Durability also seems to be pretty good for me. I know there was a lot of talk about durability of the old ball, but the new RB Tour seems to hold up just fine. I hit several full swing wedge shots, out of sand, and one may have even had a close encounter with a tree.
Oh, I will say, I thought it was pretty cool to look down and see the running bird logo on the ball.
RB Tour vs Q Star Tour
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You mean in their stuff? It's not up on their websites yet.
Yeah I wasn't saying anything about the exact number at first, but it's on the sample boxes and they're out and about now so there's no real secret. It's a big change.
Word on the streets is $42.99.
Not a terrible price..
Glad to hear they improved!Here's my impressions from playing them at Sawgrass. Now first know that the Sawgrass event was my first THP experience so I had no idea what to expect. It all went so fast that I essentially lost or forgot everything. I was a mess of emotions of awe and excitement and bewilderment and any other verbiage you could add to your first experience. Seriously - I was an internal mess and that didn't help with figuring out the ball itself.
What I do remember about that balls is that they are completely different than the last version. Modeled after the PV1 and the PV1x and they used them as baselines - you can tell. Durability, feel, and spin was so much better than the last version. I played the RB Tour while at Sawgrass and really didn't notice much difference distance-wise from my other gamer ball (CSX) besides spin. Ball performed the way I wanted it to, backed up when I wanted it to, and I was overall impressed with the new product.
I wish I could tell you all the ins and outs of the ball, but I played so poorly during that time that I don't have many of the RB Tours left. If there was water near any part of the hole, I found it. Not only while there but also once I returned home.
These balls are going to be in the discussion for me once the snow melts around here as the price point is something worth paying attention to. I also believe that the price point as well as the improved design will make other players take a chance on trying a dozen. Once they try that first dozen, I do think they'll be coming back for another dozen down the road.
While they may not take a significant market share right off the bat, they will continue to add to the discussion that Mizuno is more than irons - but a leader in the golf industry.
Matty - they are so so much better. The previous versions were duds and they spent the time and money needed to bring a high quality product to the consumers that will be at a price point that many will take a chance at. $42.99/doz. I believe.
