Bridgestone Golf Balls

1Bulldog · September 27, 2022

I've been playing the Bridgestone Tour B RXS for a couple of years now and totally love the balls (2020 Balls). Now comes the 2022 balls with a new cover that lacks the spin, distance and feel of the older ball. I spent lots of dollars looking for this ball and now to do it all over again....wth.

Edited September 27, 2022 by AB Swift
misspell

MNUte · September 27, 2022

That's been an interesting point I've heard from friends and playing partners over the year. Some say that they're fine spending the first few rounds of a season getting used to that year's ball. Others say that they really wish the companies would offer "legacy" or "classic" iterations of balls so that they can keep playing the style of ball they love and are used to.

Byrnzee · August 23, 2023

I've been playing the 2022 Bridgestone B XS (aka the "Tiger" ball) for most of this year and I've been a big fan of it. I've always enjoyed playing Bridgestone balls, even before they did their rebranding to the "B" logo. I used to find Bridgestone B330s on the course and liked the feel of them off the face.

While shopping at the PGA Superstore the other day, I decided to stock up on balls for an upcoming golf trip. I was about to grab a box of my typical 2022 B XS balls, when I noticed the "value" section. I saw 2018 B XS balls on sale for a huge discount. The 2018 version was for $30/dozen compared to $50/dozen for the 2022 version. It seemed like too good of a deal to pass up, so I grabbed a couple dozen of the 2018 version.

Obviously as the years go on, golf ball technology has improved. However, was I crazy to take this opportunity to save a few bucks by buying the 2018 version over the 2022 version? I feel like the ball hasn't changed that dramatically in a few years and had great reviews at the time of its release.

Would be curious to hear others' thoughts about buying/playing previous models of balls. I'm probably not good enough to notice too much of a difference, but others might think I'm handicapping myself. Let me know!

GregGarner · August 23, 2023

33 minutes ago, Byrnzee said:

I've been playing the 2022 Bridgestone B XS (aka the "Tiger" ball) for most of this year and I've been a big fan of it. I've always enjoyed playing Bridgestone balls, even before they did their rebranding to the "B" logo. I used to find Bridgestone B330s on the course and liked the feel of them off the face.

While shopping at the PGA Superstore the other day, I decided to stock up on balls for an upcoming golf trip. I was about to grab a box of my typical 2022 B XS balls, when I noticed the "value" section. I saw 2018 B XS balls on sale for a huge discount. The 2018 version was for $30/dozen compared to $50/dozen for the 2022 version. It seemed like too good of a deal to pass up, so I grabbed a couple dozen of the 2018 version.

Obviously as the years go on, golf ball technology has improved. However, was I crazy to take this opportunity to save a few bucks by buying the 2018 version over the 2022 version? I feel like the ball hasn't changed that dramatically in a few years and had great reviews at the time of its release.

Would be curious to hear others' thoughts about buying/playing previous models of balls. I'm probably not good enough to notice too much of a difference, but others might think I'm handicapping myself. Let me know!

This makes me think of Tony's summary of how every new ball iteration has basically the same instructions from Tour players: don't change anything, but make it better. I have NO data to back this, so take it with many grains of salt, but I would wager that the 2018 vs the 2022 is reasonably close. The 2022 likely has a little more ball speed, a little more differential in spin through the bag (a little less spin on the long clubs, maybe a little more on the wedges), but is otherwise pretty dang close to the 2018. It's the Tiger ball, after all. The XS was always about how to create a ball that was as close to a balata as you could get while taking advantage of urethane's durability.

Byrnzee · August 23, 2023

20 minutes ago, GregGarner said:

This makes me think of Tony's summary of how every new ball iteration has basically the same instructions from Tour players: don't change anything, but make it better. I have NO data to back this, so take it with many grains of salt, but I would wager that the 2018 vs the 2022 is reasonably close. The 2022 likely has a little more ball speed, a little more differential in spin through the bag (a little less spin on the long clubs, maybe a little more on the wedges), but is otherwise pretty dang close to the 2018. It's the Tiger ball, after all. The XS was always about how to create a ball that was as close to a balata as you could get while taking advantage of urethane's durability.

This is a great way to think about it - I appreciate your input! Maybe I'll have some additional insight this weekend after trying out the older model compared to the newer one I've been playing this year.

Fred Mitchell · August 24, 2023

On 9/26/2022 at 7:25 PM, AB Swift said:

I've been playing the Bridgestone Tour B RXS for a couple of years now and totally love the balls (2020 Balls). Now comes the 2022 balls with a new cover that lacks the spin, distance and feel of the older ball. I spent lots of dollars looking for this ball and now to do it all over again....wth.

Went to the BXS for the same reason

Another Steve · September 12, 2023

On 8/23/2023 at 11:24 AM, GregGarner said:

The XS was always about how to create a ball that was as close to a balata as you could get while taking advantage of urethane's durability.

This is a primary reason I switched to B-xs. That and I got tired of constantly needing to figure out which current version of ProV plays the same as my goldilocks ProV ball version from ~15 or so years ago. I think I have 4 or 5 dozen of the 2018/2020 B-xs balls sitting there now and may see if I can find a couple more left over dozens. I know where i can grab at least 2 dozen more at ~$35/dz. May stop on the way home and add them to the stack!

I may be wrong here, but I believe that the mfg’s are designing balls for specific performances from the newest spec clubs. (Jacked lofts/lower spin/higher flight/steeper descent angle). That’s all fine and good, but i doubt that the majority of golfers - even the low index players- are changing clubs out very often.

I definitely believe that you need to innovate or die, but there is a fine line between innovation and change for the sake of change/marketing.

Edited September 12, 2023 by Another Steve

KevB_44 · November 21, 2023

I can't speak much to changes to Bridgestone balls from one year to the next, but interestingly I asked the wife to pick up some yellow or lime balls while she was out as the leaves are making things difficult for me. The shop didn't have what I asked for and the fella there had two choices in yellow and he suggested the Tour B (not the XS). I went out the next day and used them for the first time and couldn't have been happier. They were long, straight and had a nice firm feel which I tend to like.

I think I will stick with them.