Callaway Chrome Soft Golf Ball Review Thread

Played 18 today with this ball. Good off the tee, minimal spin. Off the driver and irons it felt fantastic. Off the putter, it's quite soft, will take some getting used to. Greenside I didn't see a lot of spin, on short pitches I saw quite a bit of roll out. That could be that my short game was horrible today... durability was great. Rotated 2 balls for the entire 18 and they looked brand new after. Will play again tomorrow so will find out more
 
I want to add my initial thought on this ball to darnall's above. As he said, it was beyond brutal here Sunday, but he's understating it (maybe to keep the guys with straight jackets from hunting us down). I've golfed in 30+ mph winds on days it never reached 25F before and also in chilly steady rains and in the snow, but never has it been remotely close to this brutal. Even before we started, a thick frigid mist blew in that would've looked very much like those mist machines that provide relief at summer festivals except it was blowing straight sideways on the 25mph NW wind. Every surface (ie the steering wheel, flag sticks, us) was soaked within 3 seconds of toweling them 'dry'. After a couple holes my right hand was frozen - zero feel of the club, muscles were clenched, and I shivered more and more violently as the round progressed. Still, as darnall alluded to, the ball presented some intriguing results that I can't wait to investigate further.

I played the same Chrome Soft the entire round and it was my first time playing this ball. The course we played (Bill and Payne Stewart in Springfield Mo) is the course I play most often, probably 30-35 times in the past 14 months. I know where I'm supposed to be per the quality of the swing and I have a good understanding of how different sections of those greens react. darnall was unfamiliar with the course but we are pretty familiar with each other's games as we've played together 6-8 times since May. I'm older, swing slower (85 mph driver), hit it lower with more topspin, and get less back spin into greens than him.

I hit a couple drives that I'm at a complete loss to explain. They were struck well but hit into that heavy cold mist filled 25 mph wind. Neither would've been the longest I ever hit on those holes but both would've easily made the top 5 and about 25-30 yards past where I expected to find them. That includes all the hot summer rounds when the wind was helping? I just don't know how to process this? I'm hesitant to just extrapolate this and assume Chrome Softs will completely blow away my normal drives when the weather gets nice until I can verify it. I mean they could just be the ideal cold wet weather wind cutting construction for me, but I really don't think so. My gut (until I can test further) tells me at least some of this distance is legit. Also playing into this take was what I saw from darnall when he started using it half way through. His first tee shot with Chrome Soft would've been jaw dropping were my jaw not frozen in a clenched shut position.

I didn't have feel most of the round so wasn't trying any real spinny pitches or chips but, for the short game shots I did play, this ball performed as I'd expect my typical Wilson FG Tours to. I also frequently play E5s and I think trajectory wise the Chrome Softs fly a little lower, similar to the FG Tours. I really only had one fullish wedge approach (hole #1) before my right hand froze and it told a good story too. It was dead downwind to a semi frozen (and typically firm) green, and as soon as I hit it I knew I overcooked it and yelled for it to get down. I fully expected it to end up over the bank behind the green but it stopped just off the putting surface on the fringe.

Feelwise, WOW, soft yet solid feeling, and with every club too. I mean, I knew how windy it was going to be so I even put my 1 iron back in the bag for that round. The first time I swung it I caught it off the bottom grooves toward the toe, impact that would normally be harsh even on a nice day, but it felt pretty decent with Chrome Soft. The other couple times I hit that 1 iron, impact was better, and it felt super (or I was too frozen to know?)

One potential negative issue I need to look into further was a couple offline shots. As stated, I was basically showing darnall a course I was real familiar with. When I hit those two offline shots (a driver left and 5 iron right) I had to admit to him I had no idea if I was open or blocked, as I'd never been in those spots before. Not sure if the ball offers more sidespin or if my shivering wasn't timed well with impact? Looking forward to learning more there.

Durability wise this ball literally shines. (I hate how dull/stained FG Tour covers get by comparison) I played the same Chrome soft ball all 18, bounced a tee shot hard off a cart path and scooted one several bounces on another path. My blow up hole also provided a unique trifecta. My tee ball hit a pine in the adjacent fairway, I followed that by hammering my 1 iron into an oak between the fairways, and then cut down a 1.5" diameter apple tree branch when I tried to hood a hybrid underneath it. I'll use that same ball next round. It's almost pristine.
 
Daddio reminded me of one thing I forgot to mention....the durability of the appearance of this ball was hard for me to believe. ON the same hole Daddio had the tree trifecta I smoked a cartpath pretty hard with my teeball and I clipped a low hanging limb trying to get under a tree with a fairway wood on the next shot. Ball still looked pristine after those 2 incidents. Course was so wet that every time I hit a second shot I was compressing the clinging mud into the dimples pretty hard. A quick wipe with a towel and it looked shiny and new every time. When my iron ballstriking is on I typically injure the cover of my golfball with regularity without hitting trees and concrete. I normally can't play 6 holes without scuffing or whiskering the cover on a ball, but after 9 holes with one chrome soft it still looks as good as when it came out of the sleeve.

At first glance Daddio and I look like idiots for even playing a full round in Sundays conditions....but we may actually be idiot savants because we may have found a ball that will significantly improve our games when actual golf weather is present. When he picked up his dozen Wednesday or Thursday he was very anxious to try them out. I was anxious as well so I reminded him that even though they were a bit higher priced than he wanted to pay they were still a good 10 bucks per dozen cheaper than the most overrated...I mean most widely used ball in the game so he should feel no guilt about paying for them. Then I pitched him the trade so I could try em. When we got to the course and realized how bad the weatherman had misled us we were both resigned to the fact that it wasn't going to be the kind of day that we could actually learn anything, which is why I didn't even mark one and start using it until the back 9. In spite of the weather I really think we did learn something about these balls.
 
A few more comments on the Chrome Soft golf ball. After having played about a round with this ball, in fairly soft conditions, and spending a couple hours or so chipping and pitching with it, the only area where it seems a bit weak to me is pitching and chipping. Seems to provide some spin but not as much as a ProV1/B330S/Srixon Zstar, but for chipping you don't want a lot of spin anyway, so not a big deal there. It seems to roll out a little more for pitch shots than the above golf balls, but yet still seems to be pretty manageable in that regard. Some folks are seeing more spin than I am evidently. I can generally get fairly good spin on pitches and chips. I am going to take a few Chrome Softs and B330RXS golf balls and spend an hour or two working on pitches and chips to see if there is much of a difference between the two. For me, it appears that Chrome Soft might be a good enough ball in most or all other aspects, to overcome any kind of weakness in short game spin. It is most definitely longer off the irons, seems to be a little longer off the driver, and with less sides spin, seems to be exceptional with fairway woods off the deck, and good on iron approach shots hit so far. If the Chrome Soft is fairly comparable around the greens as the B330RXS, it will most probably replace it in the bag, and I really like the RXS.
 
Last edited:
I wonder how this ball compares to the Taylormade Project (a) as far as spin or distance? Anyone done a comparison?
I've not compared Chrome Soft to (a) directly but last March I was just as perplexed by how short (a) was off the tee for me then, as I am surprised by how long CS was for me a couple days ago. I even took (a) out to test it thoroughly to verify if it was infact real short. If you read what I saw with CS and compare it to my takes on (a) here (see page 12): http://www.thehackersparadise.com/f...ylorMade-PROJECT-(a)-Golf-Ball-Preview/page12 you'll see the difference I personally experienced.
 
Last edited:
Just found out that a store close to where I work has the Chrome Soft in stock, for €30/dozen, 1 day store promotion on today, normally €38. I 'll be hitting the store on the way home.
 
Got a chance yesterday to spend a couple hours around the practice green hitting various pitches and chips with the Chrome Soft and B330RXS. Imho the CS seems to be just as effective as the RXS around the greens, with a somewhat softer feel. The CS might launch a little higher on a 20 or 30 yard pitch than the RXS, but if so, probably not a lot higher. The CS has pretty good spin vs. the RXS and the two might be pretty close on that too. The CS has the better putting feel to me, a little softer. Based on everything between the two, I like the CS better, a little softer, a little longer, good durability, with pretty good spin, especially for a soft ball. Neither of these two golf balls probably create the amount of greenside spin of the Pro V1/B330S/Srixon Zstar, but both seem pretty manageable around the greens. The CS seems to live up to quite a bit of the hype given to it from what I can tell.
 
Got a chance yesterday to spend a couple hours around the practice green hitting various pitches and chips with the Chrome Soft and B330RXS. Imho the CS seems to be just as effective as the RXS around the greens, with a somewhat softer feel. The CS might launch a little higher on a 20 or 30 yard pitch than the RXS, but if so, probably not a lot higher. The CS has pretty good spin vs. the RXS and the two might be pretty close on that too. The CS has the better putting feel to me, a little softer. Based on everything between the two, I like the CS better, a little softer, a little longer, good durability, with pretty good spin, especially for a soft ball. Neither of these two golf balls probably create the amount of greenside spin of the Pro V1/B330S/Srixon Zstar, but both seem pretty manageable around the greens. The CS seems to live up to quite a bit of the hype given to it from what I can tell.
did you hit anything longer? Thanks
 
I haven't hit anything longer with the latest RXS but have with earlier versions of it and also the Chrome Soft. I think the Chrome soft is at least equal to the latest RXS with the driver and a little longer with the irons. The spin on approach wedge and short irons seems to be pretty good with the Chrome Soft on the somewhat soft greens I have been playing on lately and probably similar with the latest RXS. Hope this helps.
 
Thanks...
 
So I got to play with this ball finally. I played the 9 hole course at OCN and it was fairly empty so I got to play around with hitting 3 balls during the round, I played the Chrome soft, Supersoft, and SR2. As far as drive distance this was the longest but not by much on average I'd say 3 yards over the SR2 and maybe 7 more than the supersoft. On iron shots it felt great like the SS does and grabbed the greens so well I found myself constantly having to clean the ball. Putting felt great too. Out of the 3 balls I did like it best, price wise it's absolutely better than the SR2 but the SS is still such a great bargin for an amazing ball.
 
Played this today for the first time. Wow just wow what a great ball. It was 37 degrees when I teed off and it still felt greatv
 
Callaway Chrome Soft Golf Ball Review Thread

Put this in ball in play today while playing with Erky, was very solid with my short irons, and quite long with my driver. it was soft enough where I didn't feel like I had to swing out of my shoes to compress it, which left me several iron shots to within 15 feet or closer. Made six birdies on the day, which is pretty darn good no matter what ball you're playing.
 
Put this in ball in play today while playing with Erky, was very solid with my short irons, and quite long with my driver. it was soft enough where I didn't feel like I had to swing out of my shoes to compress it, which left me several iron shots to within 15 feet or closer. Made six birdies on the day, which is pretty darn good no matter what ball you're playing.

A lot of par 6's at this course? I kid of course. Six birdies is outstanding. Perhaps there is something to this.
 
I'm really liking it as well. My drives seem really straight and you can actually feel the ball staying on the club a bit, can't say I have ever felt that with my driver before. Nice off the putter once you get used to it. Was one over on the back 9 today, first time I played the ball for a whole 9 holes!
 
A lot of par 6's at this course? I kid of course. Six birdies is outstanding. Perhaps there is something to this.

I wish. I putted out of my mind on the front 9. Birdied 2, 4, then stuck approaches at 7 & 8 and then made a 10 footer on 9. Pushed a short birdie attempt on 14 and didn't really hit anything to a makeable chance till 18. Hit an iron 8ft below the hole and hit low side and spun around. Tap in birdie's are nice but dropping an eagle would have been much nicer. Really hard to complain though about how well I was controlling the ball into greens. It gave me some confidence that I'm gonna give it a really good chance, so just give myself looks at it. We've played together enough, usually double digit greens hit is solid. 14 today.
 
Just got two to try out from a guy that reshafted my clubs for me. He added it in the box when he sent them back. Certainly ready to see what all the good reviews are about!
 
A lot of par 6's at this course? I kid of course. Six birdies is outstanding. Perhaps there is something to this.

Surprisingly enough, the birdies weren't the highlight of Wardy's day. Seeing my friend helicopter his SLDR driver into a tree and snap it in half had to be the highlight.
 
Surprisingly enough, the birdies weren't the highlight of Wardy's day. Seeing my friend helicopter his SLDR driver into a tree and snap it in half had to be the highlight.

Neither the tree nor the driver were very forgiving for him that day.
 
Neither the tree nor the driver were very forgiving for him that day.
Was that a "wow that escalated quickly" moment
 
Was that a "wow that escalated quickly" moment

Last hole of the day, but yeah.. I've always wondered how people were physically capable of breaking a club. Side toss it at a tree I guess is the winning formula.
 
I'm 100% gaming these this season, I figure, a solid year of gaming it going into December can't hurt, right?

The other factor for me though is price, its easier to swallow the price of these than the B330-RX's I also love.
 
Last hole of the day, but yeah.. I've always wondered how people were physically capable of breaking a club. Side toss it at a tree I guess is the winning formula.

It was epic. He feels bad, but it is not the first club I have seen him break. I have seen him snap a wedge, and his putter is still in the top of a tree at Rogers Park 3 or 4 years after he threw it up there.
 
Last hole of the day, but yeah.. I've always wondered how people were physically capable of breaking a club. Side toss it at a tree I guess is the winning formula.

Crescendo by the sounds of it lol
 
Anybody tried these and previously used the Chrome+? The Chrome+ is still my gamer ball at the moment (mainly because i picked them up 3for2) but im curious on the Chrome Soft with the lower compression. Anybody see any gains in the chrome soft compared to the old Chrome+
 
Back
Top