New Chromesoft

[Tsecor]

The blog post on the new chromesoft was great. It became a little confusing as the article went on, but the takeaway seems to be a win for the consumer.  I loved using the chromesoft 2 years ago and hopefully the QC issues are corrected. 

when do we get to see some testing? 

What are everyone's thoughts on the new lineup? 

[RickyBobby_PR]

Have never liked a Callaway ball and won’t be giving the new ones a go. Titleist and Bridgestone have full control over their ball making. Titleist always gets first crack at being my ball. Bridgestone b330 line was great and the tour line has been so so for me. TP5 has been a better performer as well for me.

Its nice to see Callaway putting money into fixing their issues after the ball study and the #finditcutit but overall. Its also interesting they have increased the compression in the previous csx triple track but passed it off as the same as the csx and now they are increasing compression either using the compression of triple track or more.
 

I’m not a fan of their gear so I’ll be passing on anything they put out.

[RickyBobby_PR]

Two things that really stick out to me is the number of people who preferred cs over csx and the percentage of pros they expect to play to the retail ball.

From an advertising perspective Bridgestone can claim their pros like tiger are playing retail ball. I believe most of their staff uses retail ball plus now they can include tiger helped design the current ball.

Titleist can say 85% of their staff play retail ball.

Only having 60% of your staff playing the retail ball could lead to more of the id it’s not good enough for the pros why would I pay almost the same price as prov or the same price as bridgetone and TaylorMade or more than Srixon for this ball? 

[perseveringgolfer]

Have Callaway fixed the off centre cores and other issues or is it just marketing for their new ball?

I liked the Chromesoft, but after some performance issues on the course (i.e a banana slice from nowhere and I dont banana slice anything) I stopped using, but would like to go back and try them if they are stating they have sorted the issues MGS proved.

[null]

8 minutes ago, perseveringgolfer said:

Have Callaway fixed the off centre cores and other issues or is it just marketing for their new ball?

I liked the Chromesoft, but after some performance issues on the course (i.e a banana slice from nowhere and I dont banana slice anything) I stopped using, but would like to go back and try them if they are stating they have sorted the issues MGS proved.

It's literally all in the blog post 

[RickyBobby_PR]

27 minutes ago, jlukes said:

It's literally all in the blog post 

Not to mentioned reported and Callaway iirc put out a “press release” last year they were spending $50million in the ball plant 

[perseveringgolfer]

23 hours ago, jlukes said:

It's literally all in the blog post 

thanks for pointing that out, must have scanned to fast as I'm busy.

I've now taken the time to read it entirely and it does answer my 'rushed' question. I'll be sure to check in future before asking about something that's easily read if I had the time.

[Kor.A.Door]

On 1/21/2020 at 9:09 AM, RickyBobby_PR said:

Have never liked a Callaway ball and won’t be giving the new ones a go. Titleist and Bridgestone have full control over their ball making. Titleist always gets first crack at being my ball. Bridgestone b330 line was great and the tour line has been so so for me. TP5 has been a better performer as well for me.

Its nice to see Callaway putting money into fixing their issues after the ball study and the #finditcutit but overall. Its also interesting they have increased the compression in the previous csx triple track but passed it off as the same as the csx and now they are increasing compression either using the compression of triple track or more.
 

I’m not a fan of their gear so I’ll be passing on anything they put out.

This is great. This is exactly how I feel about Titleist. I’ve been playin Chrome softs since they came out. Tried the Bridgestone last season, it is a good ball. Just for whatever reason Truvis black and yellow seem to work for me, and I and just stick in with it. 

[fixyurdivot]

On 1/21/2020 at 8:35 AM, RickyBobby_PR said:

Two things that really stick out to me is the number of people who preferred cs over csx and the percentage of pros they expect to play to the retail ball.

From an advertising perspective Bridgestone can claim their pros like tiger are playing retail ball. I believe most of their staff uses retail ball plus now they can include tiger helped design the current ball.

Titleist can say 85% of their staff play retail ball.

Only having 60% of your staff playing the retail ball could lead to more of the id it’s not good enough for the pros why would I pay almost the same price as prov or the same price as bridgetone and TaylorMade or more than Srixon for this ball? 

I didn't realize such a large percentage of tour players were using retail balls (of most mfgs.).  That is a huge marketing point IMO.  My experience with CS has been good though I don't buy them.  I love the blurred out "top secret" segments in their how the sausage is made video.

https://www.callawaygolf.com/videos/product/golf-balls/#play-balls-product-videos-chrome-soft-flowmotion

[RickyBobby_PR]

9 minutes ago, fixyurdivot said:

I didn't realize such a large percentage of tour players were using retail balls (of most mfgs.).  That is a huge marketing point IMO.  My experience with CS has been good though I don't buy them.  I love the blurred out "top secret" segments in their how the sausage is made video.

https://www.callawaygolf.com/videos/product/golf-balls/#play-balls-product-videos-chrome-soft-flowmotion

From what I’ve been told all the pros under contract to Srixon ball use the retail version and there’s no additional tour ball only. I haven’t looked at the USGA conforming list to check if there are other balls out there.

reading the stuff on Bridgestone’s website about the new ball lineup it seems like all their staff uses each of the retail version as well.

Im not sure on TaylorMade and haven’t looked at USGA list for their balls either but hey have a relatively small staff and outside of tiger I believe everyone else is using their ball but rose and Sergio both had their own ball at one point.

 

[Slater]

My feelings are still hurt with the integrity issues at Callaway for the chrome soft.  I won't be patronizing them.  

[Tsecor]

For whatever reason, the TP5X always flew differently for me...in a bad way.....i used to use the Lethal which i thought was a great ball and the TP5 works well but the "X"......yuuucck.....not sure TM has any QC on that ball..lol

But the times i used chromesoft, it worked well. Maybe I got a good batch....and ill try the new ones, but maily i stick with the companies that supply their pros with the same ball as we can buy.....Srixon, Bridgestone and Titleist (because of their QC)

[Hoganman1]

Sorry, but I was "out to lunch" when the QC information on the Chrome Soft was released. Can someone let me know what problems were outlined?I tried a dozen last Summer and didn't like it at all. Maybe I got a bad batch. I do sometimes play the SuperSoft when it's below 55*, but generally play Titleist balls.

[cnosil]

Sorry, but I was "out to lunch" when the QC information on the Chrome Soft was released. Can someone let me know what problems were outlined?I tried a dozen last Summer and didn't like it at all. Maybe I got a bad batch. I do sometimes play the SuperSoft when it's below 55*, but generally play Titleist balls.

Cores were not consistently centered. Lots of info on the forum if you look. Or search for finditcutit.

[Quigleyd]

The new CS and CSX will be completely different from previous balls.The new CSX will be over 100 compression. That is not what I would call soft. There are only 4 companies that control their ball manufacturing from beginning to end. Titleist, Bridgestone, Srixon, and now Callaway. I think the core issue will be non issue moving forward. 

I am not saying you should jump on board. But, I think the quality issues are fixed. That being said, I am most excited for the new B stone ball. 

[RickyBobby_PR]

35 minutes ago, Quigleyd said:

The new CS and CSX will be completely different from previous balls.The new CSX will be over 100 compression. That is not what I would call soft. There are only 4 companies that control their ball manufacturing from beginning to end. Titleist, Bridgestone, Srixon, and now Callaway. I think the core issue will be non issue moving forward. 

I am not saying you should jump on board. But, I think the quality issues are fixed. That being said, I am most excited for the new B stone ball. 

Did Callaway start making their own cores now? I thought that was all still being done overseas and shipped to their ball plant

[Quigleyd]

1 minute ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

Did Callaway start making their own cores now? I thought that was all still being done overseas and shipped to their ball plant

 

With the build of their new ball plant. It will be 100% in house. 

[RickyBobby_PR]

13 minutes ago, Quigleyd said:

 

With the build of their new ball plant. It will be 100% in house. 

Thanks. Was that in the mgs article on the 2020 chromosome ball or another article on Callaway or somewhere else?

[Quigleyd]

6 minutes ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

Thanks. Was that in the mgs article on the 2020 chromosome ball or another article on Callaway or somewhere else?

Somewhere else. It could have been bad info, but that is what I was told. they are going all in this year. They want to take market share from Titleist really bad. 

[Quigleyd]

I am getting word that Callaway is struggling to produce the new CSX ball. They are probably going to be difficult to find for a while even after they are finally released. Apparently it is very difficult to produce the new dual mantel layer is really hard to make.

No issues with the standard chrome soft but the X is proving difficult. 

[RickyBobby_PR]

3 hours ago, Quigleyd said:

I am getting word that Callaway is struggling to produce the new CSX ball. They are probably going to be difficult to find for a while even after they are finally released. Apparently it is very difficult to produce the new dual mantel layer is really hard to make.

No issues with the standard chrome soft but the X is proving difficult. 

I heard similar and that qc issues with the ball are pretty serious 

[Quigleyd]

That’s what I am hearing. That it is really hard to make the new X and they don’t have it down yet. So they are not going to release it till it’s right because the know my golf spy is going to be cutting them up. 
 

[RickyBobby_PR]

3 minutes ago, Quigleyd said:

That’s what I am hearing. That it is really hard to make the new X and they don’t have it down yet. So they are not going to release it till it’s right because the know my golf spy is going to be cutting them up. 
 

What I’m curious about is Molinari and Phil were playing the new retail csx last month. Wonder if it’s once they start pumping out thousands at a time is when the problems occur 

[Quigleyd]

21 minutes ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

What I’m curious about is Molinari and Phil were playing the new retail csx last month. Wonder if it’s once they start pumping out thousands at a time is when the problems occur 

They are having production issues on the mass level. It seems they can make enough to keep your guys supplied.

 

[HardcoreLooper]

2 minutes ago, Quigleyd said:

They are having production issues on the mass level. It seems they can make enough to keep your guys supplied.

 

And my guess (just a guess) is that they can do more thorough QC on the balls they're sending out to their guys on staff.

I wonder if Spalding/Hogan had these issues when the Chicopee plant was theirs.  I still miss the old Strata Tour Ace with playing card suits instead of numbers (like the old Penfold balls from the James Bond books).

[RickyBobby_PR]

12 minutes ago, HardcoreLooper said:

And my guess (just a guess) is that they can do more thorough QC on the balls they're sending out to their guys on staff.

I wonder if Spalding/Hogan had these issues when the Chicopee plant was theirs.  I still miss the old Strata Tour Ace with playing card suits instead of numbers (like the old Penfold balls from the James Bond books).

The other interesting aspects are the money they were supposed to be investing in the plant plus qc process and now these issues and the other is they are supposed to be making the codes there now instead of getting them made and shipped from overseas. Lots of moving parts not playing well together 

wonder how this affects sales later in the year

[Berg Ryman]

31 minutes ago, HardcoreLooper said:

I still miss the old Strata Tour Ace with playing card suits instead of numbers (like the old Penfold balls from the James Bond books).

One of my two balls in high school... love that ball.

Also, I can't believe you throw all that money at the ball plant and still can't get it right. 

[Quigleyd]

11 hours ago, Berg Ryman said:

One of my two balls in high school... love that ball.

Also, I can't believe you throw all that money at the ball plant and still can't get it right. 

I am not sure that is completely fair. it takes a bit to get things up and running. Plus it is just just the CSX.

[Berg Ryman]

2 hours ago, Quigleyd said:

I am not sure that is completely fair. it takes a bit to get things up and running. Plus it is just just the CSX.

Quigley, let me ask a hypothetical question here.

Say you made two products which were supposed to top of the line products and they were found to be substandard. You invest an oodle of time and capital in making those products up to the level they need to be. After making that investment there still appears to be a problem with one of your two products, or 50 percent of your products. Don't you think it's fair to say that's a disastrous outcome?

[Quigleyd]

30 minutes ago, Berg Ryman said:

Quigley, let me ask a hypothetical question here.

Say you made two products which were supposed to top of the line products and they were found to be substandard. You invest an oodle of time and capital in making those products up to the level they need to be. After making that investment there still appears to be a problem with one of your two products, or 50 percent of your products. Don't you think it's fair to say that's a disastrous outcome?

I what you are saying is fair. I think this situation is a bit different though. Nothing has been released. They are catching the issue ahead of time and working to have it correct before launching it. That sounds like quality control over pushing a substandard product to me. 

My question to you is, would you rather them be late to market but have it right? Or push out a product that has potential issues still? Think Kirkland new ball.