In what is shaping up to be the year of the golf ball, a new name has recently entered the market. Presumably named for the jets with similar names, Quantix Golf currently sells the F35 Control golf balls and will shortly launch the F18 Tour. Although winter is not always ideal for golf ball testing, the weather has been decent and I spent a few weeks testing the F35 Control ball.
So, who is Quantix Golf? Don’t let the currently unknown name dissuade you from considering the company because while the brand is new, the company has a very known name as the company “ball scientist,” Larry Cadorniga. Larry, who has patents related to golf balls with some current and formerly leading ball companies, has been designing golf balls longer than I have been alive, so obviously there is a huge wealth of knowledge behind the brand. Of course, most of the publicly available information indicates that Larry’s major contributions are at least a decade old, including with various Balata balls, but that does not diminish the knowledge. According to the Quantix website, the company has more than 100+ combined years of “golf experience in golf balls, golf clubs, design expertise.”
All told, it is clear that Quantix Golf is trying to assure golfers that they know what they are doing and can live up to their claims, however, whether the messaging is on point and reaching its intended consumer is up to you. With all that said, let’s get to the real questions – what is the F35 Control made of and how do they perform?
Right up front, the F35 Control is a three-piece ionomer ball. Per Quantix Golf, it features an “ultra-high energy core” and has an HPF resin layer under the “proprietary” TriTech™ blend cover. Based on what I can determine from trademark records, TriTech features a partial PVC blend for whatever that is worth, and the F35 Control ball comes with a lofty set of claims, although the exact claims have changed over the last month. Originally, they said it was longer and with tighter dispersion than the competition. Those lofty claims, however, have been abandoned for, among other things, “low driver spin,” “tour level distance,” and “maximized control with irons and approach shots.” I was both suspicious of the claims and excited to test them out.
I’ll admit that the F35 exceeded some of my expectations and was just about where I expected in other places. I found that the driver spin was indeed “low” in that it was within the typical range I saw with other ionomer (like surlyn) and urethane covered competitor balls. As a result, I saw pretty similar distance numbers off the driver too. It is worth noting that the F35 Control tended to launch lower than many of the competitors fairly consistently.
The performance was also pretty darn good on full iron swings. I consistently saw high spin numbers compared to competitor ionomer balls. We aren’t talking about 100 rpm higher here, and we are talking about several hundred and sometimes nearly 1000 rpm higher on full iron swings. I do not understand why this occurred but if that is something you are looking for, the F35 Control should get a shot at becoming your ball (assuming you are OK with the following).
In sum, full swings perform well with the Quantix Golf F35 but, partially as expected, the performance is not all that great on partial swings and touch shots if you are counting on a bit of spin to help stop the ball. These partial shots resulted in a lot of rollout and required playing for it when planning for greenside shots. Not a huge deal (and expected for many), but the higher spin from full iron strikes did not translate to other parts of the game.
The biggest drawback of the F35 Control (at least in my opinion) is the sound off the putter. It has a higher-than-normal pitch audible click that is noticeable and, based on forum comments, is a big turn off to some golfers. It may not affect performance, but it may bother golfers, nevertheless.
All-in-all, the F35 Control is an interesting ball at a difficult price point, $29.99 a dozen. With so many good golf balls +/- five dollars of this price point (including the forthcoming F18 Tour), will the F35 Control draw enough golfers in to take a chance on the new brand? The F35 Control may not make my bag this year but it met or exceeded my initial expectations and Quantix Golf might just have a bright future ahead and could become the gem of Fort Worth, Texas. You can learn more about Quantix Golf at www.quantixgolf.com and you can join the conversation on the forum, here.
Given that Quantix is a new name on the market and a recent start-up, I would be remiss to not mention that it’s new “tour quality” golf ball, the F18 Tour, is coming soon. Early indications are that the F18 Tour will be a three-piece urethane tour ball and will cost $34.99 a dozen.
The Details:
Available online at www.quantixgolf.com
Price: $29.99 per dozen (discounts available based on volume)
Color: White
