Forum Member Reviews: Callaway Whitebox Testing

[ZackS]

Interesting, I did expect the white box to be the new tour balls since they had already been announced. 

[Indy_Oz]

Nice! Can't wait to receive them tomorrow and get testing on Sunday. So who is going to be first to cut them open? LOL

I was expecting them to not have model markings on and just say 'test', or similar. Cool that they're the new tour and tour x balls, as they are being touted as more ProV1/X worthy challengers than the Chromesoft from a few things I've seen. Now to try to to ignore the youtube reviews of the balls so they don't influence 'feels' when testing them. Ha ha

[Guest-0]

13 hours ago, JC from SA said:

Just opened the box. As a first-time tester, it felt a bit like Christmas because I thought it was a random Amazon package with something boring like a refrigerator filter! I received 2 sleeves each of the Callaway Chrome Tour and Tour X.

I’m a 56-year-old lifelong golfer, who played on the high school team on West Texas hardpan in El Paso. I currently live in San Antonio, which allows for year-round golf. Currently an 8-handicapper. My typical gamer ball is the Srixon Z Star Diamond. I recently have been giving the Wilson Staff Model a whirl. The Srixon gives more confidence and spin around the green, but I seem to get a little more pop from the Wilson.

My driver swing speed hovers around 97-98 mph with the Callaway Mavrik 10.5 degree. My irons are Callaway Apex 19s 5 iron through AW. My wedges are Cleveland CBXs and  my putter is a Cleveland Huntington blade.

I’ll be putting the Callaway balls in play this Sunday at San Antonio’s historic Brackenridge course. Great track. Originally designed by Tillinghast and recently renovated.

 

Thanks for sharing it will be interesting to keep up with the testing as I have often wondered how golfers under that one hundred mile an hour swing speed do with Tour Golf Balls. I often wonder if most would benefit from a different ball but they are about as sexy as a game improvement iron right?? Looking forward to the results and numbers!!

[Bangsuk]

16 hours ago, TJ Hall said:

Excited to see these starting to show up for the testers…looking forward to hearing how these perform all around.

How do I get a lefty signature box like yours?

[MuniGolfer]

Intro:

About me:

Hey everybody. My name is Riley. This will be my third forum member test for MGS. Previously, I tested SwingU and the Sacks Parente putters. Which reminds me, I owe an update on the Sacks Parente this weekend with some new findings. I am from Utah, and have been playing golf since around 6 years old. As my username suggests, I mostly play little munis around my home. My handicap has fluctuated over the years, based on my mindset and how much I am able to play. Lately I enjoy the journey of practicing more than playing, but still play at least 9 holes a week. Hopefully I will be able to test these balls outdoors, but that will be dependent on the Utah weather. I do have a membership at an indoor facility, using Uneekor simulators, as well as my little Earnest launch monitor I will be able to use. I have found the Earnest to be quite accurate, when I have compared it to the Uneekor and a couple other systems. It is a little better outdoors, however, being radar based.

My game: 

I'm fairly long off the tee. My driver swing speed tends to hover around 117mph and my ball speed averages in the high 160s to low 170s, depending on strike. I have a fairly shallow angle of attack, and hit a slight draw with everything but my driver, which is a slight fade. I do produce a decent amount of spin, due to my speed, but generally like a mid-spin profile in my golf ball. My strengths are driving, I am also fairly straight with my driver, generally. My weaknesses are approach and putting. Putting has gotten better with the switch to the Sacks Parente, but I need more on course data come spring/summer to see how it translates. 

Stock Yardages (Carry):

Driver: 295 yards, 4 wood: 275 yards, 5/6 wood: 248 yards, 4 hybrid: 225 yards, 5 iron: 212 yards, 6 iron: 200 yards, 7 iron: 188 yards, 8 iron: 176 yards, 9 iron: 164 yards, PW: 152 yards, GW: 140 yards, SW (55*): 123 yards, LW (60*): 108 yards (However, I rarely hit my 55 and 60 full)

Equipment:

I currently game a Ping G425 LS driver 9* at 7.5 with an Otto Phlexed UST MP5 A-flex shaft. My fairways are old Nike Covert Tours set at 16* and 19.5*. My 4 hybrid is a Titleist 913H set in D4 to get it at 23* and a little flat. Irons are Taylormade 1st gen P770 5i-GW, with KBS C-Tapers. My specialty wedges are Taylormade MG3 in the TW grinds, also with KBS C-Tapers.

Current Ball:

My preferred golf ball is a TaylorMade TP5. I am testing the Maxfli balls right now, and am leaning towards switching to the Maxfli Tour. It seems to play fairly comparably, but is a little longer and more stable in the wind. Also, much cheaper!

What I Want From This Test:

I used to game Callaway balls. My favorite was the SR2. It was probably the longest, at the time, and most predictable ball I have played. I also gamed the Chromesoft X for a couple years, but it started to have durability issues and the spin started to get a little high as my swing changed. I would be interested to see if this ball is as durable as the TP5 and the Maxfli, or a ProV1, which is probably my next favorite. I am hoping I get something that isn't too spinny and doesn't drop too much spin on off-speed iron shots. I would also like to see if it is longer than the Taylormade, which I would say is the TP5's main drawback. It isn't the longest. I am also hoping I will have time to game these outside and test wind stability, Callaway hex dimples have always done the best in wind for me.

How I'm Going To Test This:

I will do some indoor putting and short game stuff for feel. I would prefer to test outside from the green, back, but may not get that opportunity. I won't be able to see the check and performance, like normal, but hopefully can compare spin rates with my other balls on the indoor sim. I will then track spin rates on all my clubs, as well as carry distance consistency, using the sim. I will also want to see dispersion, if there is any improvement with the Callaway ball, vs my current gamers. Then finally, the driver. Will this ball spin in an optimal range. How long is it? Does it compare on carry distance to the other balls I play? I will also do a moisture test and track spin. If I can also get it outside, I will test wind performance, and total distance averages with my driver, as well around greens and strokes gained in all aspects of my game.

Edited February 9 by MuniGolfer

[TJ Hall]

14 minutes ago, Bangsuk said:

How do I get a lefty signature box like yours?

Just request it from the MGS mods:

 

[Madden B]

I am in school and my dad just sent me this picture! Look what showed up ay my house, I am super excited! I am going to be in the simulator right when I get home from school and hope to have some videos and first impressions up tonight or tomorrow! Let's Gooooooooo!

He intentionally made it blurry so I couldn't see any of the other details about it, I asked him if he knows what the ball is and he just sent me a laughing emoji! It is going to be really, really hard to focus in math today!

[Cfhandyman]

As people are starting to receive and test their balls, one critical thing to remember is to not do this on the first shot on the first hole.  That was always my worry when testing. 

[TSauer]

For some reason, I was under the impression that white box meant testing a sort of prototype ball without knowing what it is.

Regardless, still looking forward to everyone's thoughts.

[Digiburdie]

It's HAPPENING!!!!!! 

[TG8]

Unboxing time! 
It’s always exciting opening new golf stuff. 
 

inside the box:

6 chrome tour triple tracks 

6 chrome tour x triple tracks

I am pumped to do the test but I will say I was a bit disappointed that callaway labeled the ball model   Was really hoping for a blind ball test.

Edited February 9 by TG8
More info and photos

[Rob Person]

44 minutes ago, TSauer said:

For some reason, I was under the impression that white box meant testing a sort of prototype ball without knowing what it is.

Regardless, still looking forward to everyone's thoughts.

Sometimes when a new ball floods the market they look.for as much feedback as possible.  Titleist did a pre-release TEST ball months in advance. Bridgestone only marked their sleeves as prototype and released the ball within weeks. Callaway flooded the market at the pga show and released for public testing. Taylormade just announced testing of the TP5/6x similar to Titleist pre-release. but no idea of release date yet. Haven't seen srixon enter this, but announced a new ball weeks ago for public.

[KenRider]

UPS delivered my box of Chrome Tour and Chrome Tour X golfballs about an hour ago.

Since this morning's light snow in Colorado has melted, I took them out to the backyard putting green.

My first impression is they look very much like the Callaway Chrome Soft golfballs I've used in the past. However, they do feel firmer than I remember them being. I like the sound of them coming off the putter head. (My putter is an Odyssey Versa Jailbird 380.)

Since I still have some work left to do today, tomorrow I'll compare them to the TaylorMade Tour Response and TP5x golfballs I currently use.

Edited February 9 by KenRider

[Erin B]

@Derek Eskam and I just finished our sim session and I am glad he and I went together, but for some reason we just couldn't get the sim to work properly and had some pretty peculiar shots recorded. For instance, every shot we hit, the sim said we were hitting the ball high on the face of the club. In actuality we were hitting the ball in the sweet spot. Very inaccurate. So I made a decision to just get a good feel for the balls and go with that for today.  (SIDE NOTE, we are going to go to another sim on Wednesday that has a better set up and the Trackman is in a better position.) Anyway, we wasted a lot of time messing with the sim so no data. I just don't trust it. We hit both balls with an 8 iron and a driver and were impressed with Callaway and these versions of their Triple Track. With that being said, lets talk about the Chrome Tour. Bottom line, it felt very similar to the Pro V1 but just a little firmer. We both felt like it was very easy to hit, felt firm but not too firm, and had good interaction with the clubface. Now, the Chrome Tour X. We both really like this ball. It felt similar to the Chrome Tour but it just seemed better. Sorry I wasn't able to provide numbers, but I should have some data on Wednesday. Happy Birdie Hunting!!!

Edited February 12 by Erin B
Grammer

[CFreddie]

2 hours ago, TSauer said:

For some reason, I was under the impression that white box meant testing a sort of prototype ball without knowing what it is.

Regardless, still looking forward to everyone's thoughts.

Same - I thought it was an error on Callaway's part once the first set of pictures starting rolling in (compared to Titleist with the "TEST" ball).  Regardless, looking forward to the results - have always liked the CS line!

[GolfSpy_APH]

58 minutes ago, CFreddie said:

Same - I thought it was an error on Callaway's part once the first set of pictures starting rolling in (compared to Titleist with the "TEST" ball).  Regardless, looking forward to the results - have always liked the CS line!

In fairness due to the official timing of it they were under embargo so couldn't officially be stated even though 99.9% of the world new about them. 

[CFreddie]

3 minutes ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

In fairness due to the official timing of it they were under embargo so couldn't officially be stated even though 99.9% of the world new about them. 

Totally hear you - timing is everything!

[MuniGolfer]

That was fast! Already impressed by Callaway. However, I got to say, I was sort of hoping there would be a delay, just to give me a better shot at getting these balls outside.

[unccross]

Can't wait to read the reviews on how these perform!

[Guest-0]

34 minutes ago, MuniGolfer said:

That was fast! Already impressed by Callaway. However, I got to say, I was sort of hoping there would be a delay, just to give me a better shot at getting these balls outside.

But wait, at the top of your screenshot it says your Driver is on the way??? You got a driver and Golf Balls??? Lucky man

[Rob Person]

I realize the CT X may be more like the prov1, but curious if the CT is more like the CS. Inquiring minds  want to know!  Thanks

Edited February 9 by Rob Person

[MuniGolfer]

21 minutes ago, Marlin Dave said:

But wait, at the top of your screenshot it says your Driver is on the way??? You got a driver and Golf Balls??? Lucky man

Funny you say that, because when I saw the email i thought the exact same thing.

[Bob Jerabek]

Just received my white box today. They are Chrome Tour X all #1 and 4s.

[Bob Jerabek]

Going to do some putting work tonight. Will be doing aim line and feel testing.  Tomorrow I tee off at 8:40 and will be playing the Chrome Tour x.

 

 

[Javs]

Congrats testers! Great intros and pictures so far!

Edited February 9 by Javs

[Erin B]

2 hours ago, Rob Person said:

I realize the CT X may be more like the prov1, but curious if the CT is more like the CS. Inquiring minds  want to know!  Thanks

I felt that the CT was more like the Pro V1 and the CT X was something a little more. I felt like they were both more firm than the Pro Vs though. The Pro V feels softer off the club face. More to come, and today was just to get a feel for them. I hope that helps. Happy Birdie Hunting!

Edited February 10 by Erin B
Added Comment

["Mr. 72"]

Callaway White Box Review - Two sleeves of Chrome Tour and Two sleeves of Chrome Tour X

HDCP - 8, Swing Speed - 95ish, Strengths - Iron Play and Putting

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

The Good: No false advertising here, the box is white(!) which is standard for a "test" ball. Like others have mentioned , I expected that there would be a "test" side stamp. The fact there isn't one is a good thing. A "test" ball is good for the OEM as it provides unbiased feedback. It's not so good for the tester as I've never found out the model of a "test" ball or even if the ball went to market. If I really liked it, I wouldn't even know if I could buy it down the road. Quite frankly, if these were true "test" balls, this process would be completely useless for this forum. The readers would gain nothing. Not that you're going to gain much from me anyway.

The triple track on all of the balls were perfectly centered. You can easily line up a single line side stamp, but if a triple line isn't stamped perfectly, it's no good.

Minor points: I do like the gloss white finish on the golf ball. I also like using an alignment aid while putting and occasionally while teeing the ball, so I'm looking forward to trying the triple track.

The Bad: One of the Chrome Tours had what I'm going to call a paint pimple - a tiny protrusion on the surface. I noticed it right away out of the box. I've found them on ProVs as well. Typically, I would try to "pop that pimple" by picking at it to smooth the service. It ussually doesn't work. Balls are expensive, so I wouldn't throw it out, but I wouldn't use it in a tournament. I'm not sure how much it would affect the ball flight. I might try to find out on a sim, but I wouldn't expect to find out much. Probably a job better suited for a robot. (I wonder how MGS would rate this in the Ball Lab.  ???) Besides that, this ball will be removed from the testing.

I also don't like that red was used for the numbers on both models. I prefer how Titleist does it. Black numbers for ProV1. Red numbers for ProV1x.

The Ugly: I've never liked the number being above Callaway, but not a huge deal. What I really don't like is that they put the model type below Callaway. There's just too much going on there. I prefer it as a side stamp. The good news is that if you like to only use an alignment aid for short putts, you can still position the ball to see only white for longer putts. And who knows, with the way I typically tee my ball, the model name might help me square the club face to the target line. (Did I already change my mind on this ugly???) I also would have matched the shades of red. The red in the number is much darker than the red in the triple track. The red on that line pops.

Next Up: Putting and Feel

Edited February 10 by "Mr. 72"
Typo

[KenRider]

21 hours ago, KenRider said:

UPS delivered my box of Chrome Tour and Chrome Tour X golfballs about an hour ago.

Since this morning's light snow in Colorado has melted, I took them out to the backyard putting green.

My first impression is they look very much like the Callaway Chrome Soft golfballs I've used in the past. However, they do feel firmer than I remember them being. I like the sound of them coming off the putter head. (My putter is an Odyssey Versa Jailbird 380.)

Since I still have some work left to do today, tomorrow I'll compare them to the TaylorMade Tour Response and TP5x golfballs I currently use.

My plan to compare the Chrome Tour and Chrome Tour X golfballs to the TaylorMade TP5x and Tour Response golfballs on the backyard putting green had to be put on hold today. For some reason, I can't get the ball to the hole.

[Hamhandsbill]

UPS just arrived!  Missed the chance to use these for my round this morning but I will be in the simulator this week looking at the performance against my regular ProV1x as well as the Chrome Soft X ls and the new Mizuno RB TourX. Should be interesting as I was prepared to buy a box of each of these as soon as the weather broke. 

 

As an introduction I am 55 years old and playing golf for 30 years  I am currently playing to an 8 handicap but have been much better than this within the past 3 years leading to a lot of frustration.  The opportunity to test these Callaway balls couldn’t have come at a better time, not only because I have wanted to be a tester for years but this also now gives me an opportunity to look at all of these ball attributes in earnest and finally pick and stick to one ball .  Because I don’t know about all of you but when my game starts to struggle I start changing everything.  I live in NJ and the weather since receiving the balls has not been good so off to the Golf Cave in Eatontown NJ I went this weekend  

After warming up I went with driver with the 2 Callaway test, Pro V1x and Mizuno RB Tour x balls head to head

TCX

TC

ProV1x

Mizuno RB Tourx

After a couple of weekends of being rained and frozen out I was finally able to get out on the course with these and they did not disappoint.  Of course I am not hitting the ball exactly the same each time but I like the slightly lower flight of the tour ball.  I do have to say the cover did seem to get pretty beat up but the course conditions were also not ideal so I would have to wait for warmer drier and firmer conditions to really make a call on cover durability.

I will say I am sold.  My ball speed numbers in the simulator on the tour modeltold the story for me which led to some extra yards, I went out and bought a box of the gold tour ball at full price.  I did not take advantage of the buy 3 get 1 because I do not particularly care for the triple track.  I like either the triple track 360 or plain white which was not part of the offer.  I love that these are made in the US just like the Pro V.  II will certainly be interested when MS does a quality score on these unless its already been done and I missed it.  I have to think Callaway took extra care that the quality is as good or better than what Titleist has been the leader on.

Edited March 14 by Hamhandsbill
Adding

[Jeff in the Mitten]

Let the fun begin!!!  Got the white box golf balls from Callaway today and I'm pumped to get testing!  Let's begin with my UNBOXING experience...

IN A FEW WORDS:  No surprise they feel premium and have a nice urethane cover!  Glad they provided both Chrome Tour and Chrome Tour X options as I am very curious to see the different spin characteristics.  Triple track alignment aid will be awesome for putting testing too!  Feel and look like a premium golf ball even before you tee it up! 

THE GOOD:  They really do feel like they can compete with the best of balls out there.  Time and testing will tell, but I'll be looking for performance compared to the balls below, but also will definitely have my eye on durability.  I know balls get worn out or cut up, but I hate when I have a brand new ball in a greenside bunker and one swing later it's trashed.  I hope these don't just perform great, but last as well. 

THE BAD:  No complaints yet!  Sorry to see @"Mr. 72" had a blemish on one of his, but nothing seems to be off with my dozen thankfully.  Callaway have put a lot of $$$ into their ball manufacturing from what I've heard, so I hope they really do deliver consistency like they are marketing a lot. 

HOW I'll TEST:  Going to be testing these against several balls on Trackman.  I will be comparing feel, sound, spin, and performance against Titleist Pro V1x Left Dash and Callaway Chrome Soft (2023) as the premium ball comparison, but also wanted to go head to head with the Callaway Diablo Tour and Wilson Triad to see how they compare to mid priced balls on the market.  (maybe I'll throw a Kirkland in there for fun, but I'm sure the K-Sig will be super spinny in comparison)

FIRST TEST:  I'll be doing some indoor putting tests to evaluate feel and sound next. 

Excited to get testing soon!  Check out the pics and video of my unboxing for more   Thanks to Callaway Golf and My Golf Spy for the opportunity! 

 

Edited February 10 by Jeff in the Mitten