Forum Member Reviews: Callaway Whitebox Testing

[Bohnson]

Excited to test these out! Did the ball fitting tool on their website. Great baseline to see what is recommended ‍️link below. 

Callaway Ball Fitting

 

 

 

Edited February 14 by Bohnson
Spelling

[gregh729]

I had plans and tee times to play tomorrow and Thursday to start my test. Apparently, Mother Nature decided that I shouldn't play. Heavy rain overnight changed to about 2" of snow this morning. Looks like testing will start next week 

[Rob Person]

4 hours ago, Jeff in the Mitten said:

@Rob Person good question!  For me it all comes down to spin.  I have two MAJOR issues that I've faced with spin in my game, centered around Driver and Wedges.  With the Driver, I can get the ballooning spinner that just drops straight down and cuts my distance by 30+ yards at time.  That tends to be when I get 3,000 RPM from getting a little too forward lean and hitting my driver like a 7 iron swing (that's on me, not the club), but when it happens I know it immediately and kick myself for not hitting up on the ball on a tee.  So, for the Callaway balls I NEED it to be lower spinning off the driver.  We all know the idea of swinging the club perfectly 100% of the time is not a real expectation, so my review will somewhat center on what the ball does when I make those mistakes and hopefully minimize the damage.  

With wedges it'll come down to full swing shots.  I don't flush it every time there either, but at times when I'm playing a spinnier ball like a Kirkland, I'll hit it pin-high and then zip it 30 yards back off the green and that has to be one of the most frustrating things in the world!  It's a roller coaster to hit the shot and think, "OMG that is the one!" and then see the ball come back at you like a yo-yo.  So again, I think I'll watch for CONSISTENT spin numbers within a range regardless of whether I absolutely flushed it or not.  

 

I'd love to know if the videos are helpful.  I've posted some around putter feel, and after watching them back I personally think you can hear the difference, which was my goal, but I'd love to know if other Spies out there agree?  If you can, check out my earlier post about putting with the videos.  I'd love some early feedback so I can incorporate it into my future posts. 

CHEERS!

Well, I have never been able to yoyo a ball. it's either a stop and hop, or a skip and run!

I played the CS TT in yellow 90% last year. Loved the feel and control of them. I definitely heard and felt the difference between them and the Titleist testers, and other balls too, including from Callaways other lineups, while putting.

 

4 hours ago, Jeff in the Mitten said:

@Rob Person good question!  For me it all comes down to spin.  I have two MAJOR issues that I've faced with spin in my game, centered around Driver and Wedges.  With the Driver, I can get the ballooning spinner that just drops straight down and cuts my distance by 30+ yards at time.  That tends to be when I get 3,000 RPM from getting a little too forward lean and hitting my driver like a 7 iron swing (that's on me, not the club), but when it happens I know it immediately and kick myself for not hitting up on the ball on a tee.  So, for the Callaway balls I NEED it to be lower spinning off the driver.  We all know the idea of swinging the club perfectly 100% of the time is not a real expectation, so my review will somewhat center on what the ball does when I make those mistakes and hopefully minimize the damage.  

With wedges it'll come down to full swing shots.  I don't flush it every time there either, but at times when I'm playing a spinnier ball like a Kirkland, I'll hit it pin-high and then zip it 30 yards back off the green and that has to be one of the most frustrating things in the world!  It's a roller coaster to hit the shot and think, "OMG that is the one!" and then see the ball come back at you like a yo-yo.  So again, I think I'll watch for CONSISTENT spin numbers within a range regardless of whether I absolutely flushed it or not.  

 

I'd love to know if the videos are helpful.  I've posted some around putter feel, and after watching them back I personally think you can hear the difference, which was my goal, but I'd love to know if other Spies out there agree?  If you can, check out my earlier post about putting with the videos.  I'd love some early feedback so I can incorporate it into my future posts. 

CHEERS!

Well, I have never been able to yoyo a ball. it's either a stop and hop, or a skip and run!

I played the CS TT in yellow 90% last year. Loved the feel and control of them. I definitely heard and felt the difference between them and the Titleist testers, and other balls too, including from Callaways other lineups, while putting.

 

4 hours ago, Jeff in the Mitten said:

@Rob Person good question!  For me it all comes down to spin.  I have two MAJOR issues that I've faced with spin in my game, centered around Driver and Wedges.  With the Driver, I can get the ballooning spinner that just drops straight down and cuts my distance by 30+ yards at time.  That tends to be when I get 3,000 RPM from getting a little too forward lean and hitting my driver like a 7 iron swing (that's on me, not the club), but when it happens I know it immediately and kick myself for not hitting up on the ball on a tee.  So, for the Callaway balls I NEED it to be lower spinning off the driver.  We all know the idea of swinging the club perfectly 100% of the time is not a real expectation, so my review will somewhat center on what the ball does when I make those mistakes and hopefully minimize the damage.  

With wedges it'll come down to full swing shots.  I don't flush it every time there either, but at times when I'm playing a spinnier ball like a Kirkland, I'll hit it pin-high and then zip it 30 yards back off the green and that has to be one of the most frustrating things in the world!  It's a roller coaster to hit the shot and think, "OMG that is the one!" and then see the ball come back at you like a yo-yo.  So again, I think I'll watch for CONSISTENT spin numbers within a range regardless of whether I absolutely flushed it or not.  

 

I'd love to know if the videos are helpful.  I've posted some around putter feel, and after watching them back I personally think you can hear the difference, which was my goal, but I'd love to know if other Spies out there agree?  If you can, check out my earlier post about putting with the videos.  I'd love some early feedback so I can incorporate it into my future posts. 

CHEERS!

Well, I have never been able to yoyo a ball. it's either a stop and hop, or a skip and run!

I played the CS TT in yellow 90% last year. Loved the feel and control of them. I definitely heard and felt the difference between them and the Titleist testers, and other balls too, including from Callaways other lineups, while putting.

 

[TylerC31]

Testing Session 1: Putting

I had my first testing session yesterday, where I focused on putting. 

Alignment:

In terms of alignment, I ended up performing approximately the same with each ball. While I visually liked the new triple track better, each performed about the same for me at the end of the day. 

Feel: 

For me, the chrome tour was noticeably softer feeling than the chrome tour x and chrome soft x. It felt much softer off the putter face and had a pleasing feeling no matter the quality of the putter strike. Because I know the ProV1 is the target competitor, I dropped one down and rolled a few against the chrome tour. I think the chrome tour profiles favorably against the ProV1 and feels premium on the putter face. I felt as if the chrome tour x and chrome soft x felt approximately the same. If I were to identify a difference in the putter feel, it would be that the chrome soft x felt a touch clicky compared to the chrome tour x, though I would say that's just nitpicking differences because it certainly wasn't a massive difference. 

Roll: 

All of the balls rolled true. This is not shocking to me, as they have similar covers and the same putter was used for each. None felt as if they were more prone to skidding or skipping and all rolled exactly how they were struck, which was an encouraging result. 

 

Bonus: Driver numbers

I had a little bit of extra time, so I decided to hit some drives with each ball before leaving. The chrome tour and chrome tour x were compared against my gamer, the chrome soft x. I plan to use a spreadsheet to keep running results totals from each session to post at the end of each data session to help remove any random variance in results on a given day. As I start to test other clubs, I will post the running totals at the bottom of my testing sessions. I currently plan to use driver, 5 wood, 6 iron, 9 iron, and 50* wedge for full swing data. If anyone has anything else they'd like to see, drop a comment! Initial results are shown below:

While the chrome soft x had a larger total distance than the chrome tour x, the ball speeds and spin were the same. The chrome soft x launched a degree higher today and thus got a little extra carry. We will see if this is a long-term finding or if it is a one-off anomaly as we keep the data spreadsheet up to date. Both x models were approximately 3 mph faster than the chrome tour, which was an expected finding for me. Interestingly, the chrome tour launched a little bit higher than the chrome tour x, and the overall distance was similar despite equal spin and lower ball speed. All shots were similar strike profiles: 121 mph club head speed, 6 I>O, 2.5 face to path. I have the ball flights under the numbers to help show the similarities and differences in ball patterns, but I tried to only keep data from similar strikes to reduce any noise from my end. I hope to get a full set of data for each swing tomorrow, so stay posted! 

[2puttbogey]

They have arrived. Unfortunately not making it to do some practice at the course today, but going to hit them into the net in the back yard. Tomorrow I’m playing so I’ll be using both and see how it goes. I will be updating my intro post with first impressions either later today or tomorrow after the round.

["Mr. 72"]

Putting and Feel

Alignment Aid:  I hit some putts on my Perfect Practice putting mat. As I said, I do use the alignment aid on a golf ball.

My favorite alignment aid is on the TM Tour Response. I don’t play that ball often, BUT I play in 5-10 scrambles throughout the year, and that's the ball I use most often on the green. It's the easiest to line up, and gives the best feedback when rolled perfectly. The Triple Track is easy to line up as well, but I'll need some on course experience to see where it stands on feedback.

Side note: I mentioned in the last post that stamping more than one line needs to be perfectly done. Unfortunately, in a new dozen of Chrome XLS, the 360 TT isn't centered on the three #1 balls. It's hard to notice in the picture, but I could tell just by looking. You can see how the bottom of the Chevron is closer to the line on the bad ball. I won't use the TT on the bad balls.

Feel: For me, this was a real struggle. I did a blind test which is easy to do because the numbers are red on both models. There were times I thought the CT was softer and other times I thought the CTx was softer. After hitting a TON of putts from 7', I moved up to 2' and hit a bunch of putts up the hill just enough to roll back to me. I still couldn't tell, so I tested a ProV1 and ProV1x at 2'. I could tell the difference right away in those two balls in sound and feel. I went back to the Callaways at 2' and finally felt a bit of difference in sound and feel with the CTx being the firmer ball. They seem SO close in feel to me that my answer might be different if I did the test tomorrow. ...At one point, I started to think that Callaway only gave me one model for a sort of a trick test within the test!

This process was also disappointing because I was set up to record the putting but the test took such a ridiculously long time that I bailed on the video. You also missed a chance to see our dog, Chance, sunning at the front door, so....

Yes, that's a Kirkland driver in the background.

My Take: Both of the models felt pretty soft to me, certainly softer than their ProV counterparts. They both felt good off the putter face. Also, they did not have a clicky feel to them.

If you're someone who has shied away from ProV only because it's too firm, one of these Callaway models could be a really good fit. ...For feel, at least.

Next Up: I was hoping to catch a flier day with some warmer weather, but that's not looking good. Time for a sim session!

[KenRider]

1 hour ago, "Mr. 72" said:

Putting and Feel

Alignment Aid:  I hit some putts on my Perfect Practice putting mat. As I said, I do use the alignment aid on a golf ball.

My favorite alignment aid is on the TM Tour Response. I don’t play that ball often, BUT I play in 5-10 scrambles throughout the year, and that's the ball I use most often on the green. It's the easiest to line up, and gives the best feedback when rolled perfectly. The Triple Track is easy to line up as well, but I'll need some on course experience to see where it stands on feedback.

Side note: I mentioned in the last post that stamping more than one line needs to be perfectly done. Unfortunately, in a new dozen of Chrome XLS, the 360 TT isn't centered on the three #1 balls. It's hard to notice in the picture, but I could tell just by looking. You can see how the bottom of the Chevron is closer to the line on the bad ball. I won't use the TT on the bad balls.

Feel: For me, this was a real struggle. I did a blind test which is easy to do because the numbers are red on both models. There were times I thought the CT was softer and other times I thought the CTx was softer. After hitting a TON of putts from 7', I moved up to 2' and hit a bunch of putts up the hill just enough to roll back to me. I still couldn't tell, so I tested a ProV1 and ProV1x at 2'. I could tell the difference right away in those two balls in sound and feel. I went back to the Callaways at 2' and finally felt a bit of difference in sound and feel with the CTx being the firmer ball. They seem SO close in feel to me that my answer might be different if I did the test tomorrow. ...At one point, I started to think that Callaway only gave me one model for a sort of a trick test within the test!

This process was also disappointing because I was set up to record the putting but the test took such a ridiculously long time that I bailed on the video. You also missed a chance to see our dog, Chance, sunning at the front door, so....

Yes, that's a Kirkland driver in the background.

My Take: Both of the models felt pretty soft to me, certainly softer than their ProV counterparts. They both felt good off the putter face. Also, they did not have a clicky feel to them.

If you're someone who has shied away from ProV only because it's too firm, one of these Callaway models could be a really good fit. ...For feel, at least.

Next Up: I was hoping to catch a flier day with some warmer weather, but that's not looking good. Time for a sim session!

@"Mr. 72", did you get the 360 Triple Track on your test balls?

Edited February 13 by KenRider

["Mr. 72"]

26 minutes ago, KenRider said:

@"Mr. 72", did you get the 360 Triple Track on your test balls?

No. Both models are Triple Track, but not 360. The 360 are on a dozen Chrome Soft XLS that I got at the end of 2023.

[Bohnson]

Got on trackman today! About to dive into it. Both balls are good. The Chrome Tour feels closer to the ProV1 that I currently have in the bag. 

[Glenmore5]

Well done to all the testers...

[Rob Person]

@"Mr. 72" do you think its the lines that are offset, or the logo? 

Has anyone put them in one of those ball balancers with a marker to see how they align to the factory tracks?

[Ryan Luke]

Hello Ladies and Gents!

My name is Ryan Luke from central New Jersey right next to Princeton.  I've been playing golf for about 30 years and was hooked from my very first time hitting a ball and still hooked to this day!  I love being outside and I've played just about everything in both team and individual sports and nothing compares to golf for me!  

I play both recreationally and competitively in tournaments on both county and private courses as well as through GAP which is the Golf Association of Philadelphia where I am on a team of 12 guys where we compete against other teams on some really nice courses.   

I'm a low single digit handicap usually floating between a 0 and 2.5 but last year I did not get to play or practice my usual amounts for various reasons and my handicap jumped up to 4.2 currently.  I am very competitive and expect a lot from myself while also having never once thrown a club regardless of my frustration with my game.  I have been going to Club Champion for the last 9 years and all of my clubs are custom fit to me.  I never buy anything off the rack anymore as I have found the custom fitting process to be worth my time and money to help me play my best. 

This is my very first time ever being picked to test anything not just here but in my life anywhere.  Excited and grateful to be part of this and I hope I can express that in ways at least some of you can relate to.   I tend to be fairly detail orientated and will do my best to share details without hopefully being too tedious. 

Being brand new to testing and not understanding the process up front (my fault)  I didn't know about the unboxing part so I'm going to skip over that and do more of the reviewing.  I am purposely NOT looking at what these balls are supposed to do or compare to as I am a self taught feel player and I only know one ball, the ProV1x.  My goal is to give my honest feedback on both the Chrome Tour and Chrome Tour X from what I see with my eyes and feel with my clubs along with some ProV1x comparisons as well. 

I did get out this past Sunday in upper 40's weather and played 18 holes with the Chrome Tour ball and used one ball the entire round.  I was on my way out to the course when I found the box on my door step so I just threw it into my truck, colored up a few balls in the parking lot, and honestly did not even notice there were both Chrome Tour and Chrome Tour X balls in the dozen box.  Luckily I played well and was able to use just the one ball the entire round.  

I've made some review mistakes already on my own and hopefully I will make up for it in my review data to come in the next day or so as I gather my pics together so I can post them. For now I will conclude with my "unboxing" pic of the balls which both look and feel equally as top notch as my ProV1x's do!

Hello All!

Part 2 of my review...

I have zero preconceived notions about Callaway or the balls as I've only played Titleist balls for the vast majority of my 30 yrs. playing golf.  My objective is to be me and go by what I see with my eyes regarding ball flight, ball workability to hit draws or fades, durability, etc. in conjunction with what I feel with my clubs while striking the ball. 

So far I’ve only played one round of 18 holes with just one Chrome Tour ball and my initial impression is I’m definitely very impressed all around. It was somewhat chilly in the upper 40’s with some wind, but I still got good distance with all clubs and very comparable to my ProV1x’s.  Spin on wedge shots and chips despite the temperature was also excellent & I had a very comfortable feeling doing what I intended to do with the ball from tee to green as well as chipping and putting.  I’m not so much a technical person regarding golf with dimple design, 3 piece vs. 4 piece, core & cover materials, etc.  For me it’s all about what I see and feel since I am 100% self-taught and trial and error has been my best teacher in this game so far.

Up front my first impression of the Chrome Tour would have to be 10/10.  For me, the ball did everything I wanted and hoped that it would.  I hit draws, fades, high shots, low flighted shots, great spin with wedges and great feel putting.  One ball lasted all 18 holes and 77 shots and the cover still looks good even with some wedge scuffs which are illustrated by the pics.   I fully intend to use this same exact ball again next time I play and hope that I can get 36 holes out of it and see how it lasts. I can get 36 holes from my ProV1x’s when I’m not hitting too many wedges attempting to get lots of spin so I’m hoping durability is better with the Chrome Tour which so far I would say it seems to be in better shape than the ProV1x after 18 holes.

Here are some pictures of the ball after the round with scuffs etc.  One good hard wedge shot and I sometimes have to use a knife to cut off all the “hairs” that occur on the ProV1x ball during the round to keep it playable.  I did not touch this ball other than to clean it with my towel.  You can see a few "hairs" sticking up on the ball, but definitely less than normal on the ProV1x with the amount of spin I generated from my wedges.

I took some pics to illustrate the spin I was able to get on the Chrome Tour with an approach shot and a tee shot.

I was 95 yards from the pin on an approach shot slightly uphill and wind a little hurting from the right side.  I hit my 56 degree wedge from the fairway and my goal was to land past the pin and spin it back towards the pin.  Good swing but only landed pin high with a decent hop forward and then it spun back about 10 feet leaving me a nice uphill putt of about 8 feet.  I marked the ball mark where it landed with a leaf on the left.  You can see where the ball landed and where it came to rest below the pin.  This was only the 3rd hole and the first real shot at generating spin and the ball performed great!  I burned the edge of the cup for the birdie but had a 6” tap in for par. 

The next pic is a par 3 shot from 170 to the pin uphill into a right to left wind.  I played it at 180 yards and used my 6 iron.  May have pulled the shot a little to the left but ball landed pin high 20 feet left of the pin.  This pic shows the ball mark where it hit and stopped.  The Chrome Tour had great stopping power in the cold into the wind with a 6 iron so I was very happy with the result. 

I have always ordered my ProV1x’s with customization for name and I also created my own alignment with the customization.  Here is a pic of my ProV1x vs. the Callaway Chrome Tour to illustrate alignment comparison.  I have to admit that the Callaway alignment is just way better and easier to read/see when lining up putts as well as I used it to line up a few tee shots too as illustrated in the picture on a 185 yard par 3.  The alignment on the Chrome Tour balls for me was super impressive as it definitely helped me get my aim points better.  It allowed me to feel confident I had the right aim and then I was able to just focus on my swing or putting stroke, essentially allowing me to remove the aim factor out of the shot equation up front and feel confident that if my swing or stroke was good, the ball would end up where I intended it to.

As stated earlier, I am self-taught and I keep stats on each round to see what and how my score ended up.  This was my first round in a while due to winter so I was definitely rusty but sometimes that works out as my expectations aren’t set too high and I am more relaxed.   I thought I would be more uncomfortable with using a new ball for the very first time, but the visual look and feel of the Chrome Tour and my drive straight down the middle about 260 into the wind on hole 1 removed any potential uncomfortableness and I just played my game from there.  I took pics of front and back scorecard to show how the ball performed over the 18 holes with stats as follows:

Fairways hit off tee:  Front 6, back 6 – Total 12

Greens hit in regulation:  Front 6, back 5- Total 11   

Sand shots/sand saves:  Front 0, back 2 ss/1 ss -  Total  2 sand shots/1 sand save

Putts:  Front 18, back 17 – Total putts:  35

Score front 38 – score back 39 -  Total score -  77

The alignment for putting on the Chrome Tour is great and helped me a lot.  The fact that I had way too many putts at 35 was more due to the impending snow that was expected 2 days out and the course not rolling the greens much as well as just general winter conditions with bumpy & or not so smooth or consistent green speeds.  I actually putted/rolled the ball better than the amount of putts shown as I burned a lot of edges with just a tad too much speed or a tad too little. 

Overall, I’m extremely happy with the aesthetics, feel, and performance of the Callaway Chrome Tour and excited to get out and play more with the same ball as well as to test the Chrome Tour X too!

 

Hello All,

Part 3 of my review…putting.

 

I apologize for not posting more often but my laptop needed to be replaced under warranty and I finally got the new one and now up running again.  I attempted to use my phone and I’m not a technical computer phone person and I just couldn't figure out how to navigate and post via my phone like I do on a laptop.

I took some videos of putting with the Callaway Chrome Tour, Callaway Chrome Tour X, and my current ball the Titleist ProV1x.  Honestly, they all putt and felt very similar to me in my basement on a putting mat.  Potentially on a real green with further distances maybe I would see a bigger difference but up front they all felt similar enough I struggled to tell the differences between them.  I made about the same number of putts with each ball and the ones I missed were due to my putting stroke, not the balls performance.  

 

 

Above is the Callaway Chrome Tour X.  You can see the Callaway ball alignment rolling end over end nicely when I hit the putt properly as it tells me that it was a purely struck putt.  I really like the alignment on the Callaway Chrome Tour balls as it’s so much easier to line up putts and shots compared to what I add on my Titleist ProV1x’s in the customization process I use. 

 

Above is the Chrome Tour ball.  

 

 

Above is my current Titleist ProV1 Ball.  Not sure the video quality is good enough to see my self created alignment vs. the other Chrome Tour videos with Callaway's aligment but it is a very helpful tool in my opinion.

I will attempt some chipping with these balls next and post again very soon.  Again, very sorry for the poor quality videos but I did enjoy the putting with the balls.  

 

Hello All!

Sunday was very cold but also very sunny with about 10+mph winds.  Today was my day to test the Callaway Chrome Tour X ball for 18 holes.  It was 32 degrees when we teed off hole #1 so much colder conditions than when I tested the Chrome Tour ball at 48 degrees.  I was bundled up good to keep warm but it doesn’t exactly leave a lot of room to swing properly.  This test was not as “telling” for me as the Chrome Tour test was due to the amount of clothing I needed to stay warm.  With that said, I still found valuable data to share.

Below is a picture of both the Chrome Tour, Titleist ProV1x, and the Chrome Tour X on the putting green.  I think it’s very clear to see again that my customization attempt with Titleist pales in comparison to how easy you can see the Triple Track System on the Chrome Tour Balls which I really enjoy personally for both aim off the tee boxes and especially for putting alignment.

 

With the temperature staring just above 30 degrees and only getting up to about 38/39 degrees (weather said high of 42 degrees for the day but we never got there during our round) it was tough to gauge club selection as the ball wasn’t traveling the distance that I believe it is capable of and also, I was clubbing up most shots to account for the temps/wind as well.  The driver still was getting out there 240-260 but my swing was limited by clothing. 

I did have 2 really good shots into greens on par 4’s that had great spin to them and in fact way more than I expected to get with the cold conditions and the ball maybe not compressing well.  The 1st shot I had 117 yards to the pin from the middle of the fairway into the wind.  I hit my pitching wedge pretty full and usually get about 125-130yds out of it.  I landed about 5 yds short of the pin, took a hop forward a few feet then somehow it spun back super-fast and spun off the green about 20ft just into the fringe around the green.  Still easily puttable but I was very surprised how much it spun.  Picture shows where my ball hit with my ball mark tool sticking out of the ground next to my ball mark and my towel just behind it for contrast.  You can see where my ball finished about 20ft behind that mark. 

The 2nd shot was from 150 yds slightly downhill with slight helping wind.  Used an 8 iron and came up a little short and still spun it back almost 10ft. 

It was harder to judge the sound and feel of the ball due to thick wool hat to keep my ears warm and the fact that the cold would make any ball feel firmer than it actually should be but it was still close to both the Chrome Tour and ProV1x on a super cold day of golf.   Distance, spin, etc. was all pretty good overall compared to ProV1x and the Chrome Tour as well.  I did not experience anything extraordinary due to the temperature except the 2 shots above that I must have caught perfectly to spin that much.  With that said, I can only compliment the ball as well because I used one ball again for all 18 holes and the cover held up great.  If I had to make a “complaint” about the Chrome Tour X it would be that I got more left to right (fade) side spin off my driver than I did with the Chrome Tour or usually get with my Titleist ProV1x however, that could be my swing being altered due to 5 upper body layers of clothing (I despise being cold!) so my swing path just may have been off and I was creating that more than the ball actually has more side spin to it.  I still hit a reasonable number of fairways and when I did miss right I wasn’t off the fairway by more than 10ft so I never got in trouble hence why I was able to use one ball for all 18 holes.  Again, the cold temps did not allow for the best testing but it’s what winter usually provides so did the best I could.

Below are several pictures of the one Chrome Tour X that I used for all 18 holes.  There are some marks on the ball but less than the Chrome Tour had.  That may be due to less wedge shots this round than the test round for the Chrome Tour. 

For winter golf with a ball I’ve never used before I was very happy with both my and the balls overall performance and score.  The Chrome Tour X preformed to me as good as my ProV1x in these conditions.  I really hope that I can keep enough of these balls to test further on warm days with proper golf attire and full swing capabilities.  So far, I’m impressed enough with both the Chrome Tour and Chrome Tour X balls to consider switching from ProV1x… but I really need to play them in warmer weather to know their true performance as I don’t usually play in temperatures less than 45 degrees and depending on winds too. 

 

Here is a pic of a puddle that was left over from the previous rains that was still frozen solid the whole day as it was on hole 17 for us and I doubt it melted with the remaining afternoon time after we finished.

Overall, I am very impressed with both Chrome Tour and Tour X balls.  This round was a 79 total score with 40 on the front and 39 on the back.  I hit 10 fairways and 6 greens total for the round.  I struggled with my club selections due to cold temperatures and kept falling short and long of greens but not terrible misses where I could still salvage a par or bogey.   32 putts in total and the ball felt firm but so did my ProV1x and Chrome Tour, again probably due to how cold it was. 

Hoping to catch some warmer days soon by using the same Chrome Tour and Chrome Tour X balls I used with these two rounds to test both more performance as well as durability.   Hope everyone is having fun with this like me! 

Edited February 27 by Ryan Luke
Review continuation part 4

[Rob Person]

9 minutes ago, Ryan Luke said:

Hello Ladies and Gents!

My name is Ryan Luke from central New Jersey right next to Princeton.  I've been playing golf for about 30 years and was hooked from my very first time hitting a ball and still hooked to this day!  I love being outside and I've played just about everything in both team and individual sports and nothing compares to golf for me!  

I play both recreationally and cometitively in tournaments on both county and private courses as well as through GAP which is the Golf Association of Philadelphia where I am on a team of 12 guys where we compete against other teams on some really nice courses.   

I'm a low single digit handicap usually floating between a 0 and 2.5 but last year I did not get to play or practice my usual amounts for various reasons and my handicap jumped up to 4.2 currently.  I am very cometitive and expect a lot from myself while also having never once thrown a club regardless of my frustration with my game.  I have been going to Club Champion for the last 9 years and all of my clubs are custom fit to me.  I never buy anything off the rack anymore as I have found the custom fitting process to be worth my time and money to help me play my best. 

This is my very first time ever being picked to test anything not just here but in my life anywhere.  Excited and grateful to be part of this and I hope I can express that in ways at least some of you can relate to.   I tend to be fairly detail orientated and will do my best to share details without hopefully being too tedious. 

Being brand new to testing and not understanding the process up front (my fault)  I didn't know about the unboxing part so I'm going to skip over that and do more of the reviewing.  I am purposely NOT looking at what these balls are supposed to do or compare to as I am a self taught feel player and I only know one ball, the ProV1x.  My goal is to give my honest feedback on both the Chrome Tour and Chrome Tour X from what I see with my eyes and feel with my clubs along with some ProV1x comparisons as well. 

I did get out this past Sunday in upper 40's weather and played 18 holes with the Chrome Tour ball and used one ball the entire round.  I was on my way out to the course when I found the box on my door step so I just threw it into my truck, colored up a few balls in the parking lot, and honestly did not even notice there were both Chrome Tour and Chrome Tour X balls in the dozen box.  Luckily I played well and was able to use just the one ball the entire round.  

I've made some review mistakes already on my own and hopefully I will make up for it in my review data to come in the next day or so as I gather my pics together so I can post them. For now I will conclude with my "unboxing" pic of the balls which both look and feel equally as top notch as my ProV1x's do!

Trust me, we almost are all nervous on tests!  The easiest thing to do is just go with the flow of your everyday golf.

Going to the putting range? Snap a couple of vids or pics of what you normally practice.

Going to a sim? Do the same and get some data comparisons. 

Playing a round? Try to get a head to head comparison, add your best and worst shots, etc

Most importantly,  have fun!!!

[Thegolferdude]

Hi everyone my name is Juan aka thegolferdude, I’m a first time tester.  I just got my box of Callaway balls today, I’m super excited to get to test these out. I like many others received 6 chrome tour and 6 chrome tour x. I did notice the alignment lines where reversed on 2 of the tour and tour x balls has anyone else noticed this?  Check out my unboxing photos below. 

Edited February 14 by Thegolferdude

[MuniGolfer]

On 2/12/2024 at 12:38 PM, Rob Person said:

Question for the testers; 

What area(s) are you hoping this ball will help to improve your game from? 

You know, I don’t know. Lately I have been looking for the best dtc for my game, to save some money. However, I am always leaning towards whatever the best ball is for me at any price. I would like to see it be on the longer end for me, with a spin range of the driver in the 2200-2600 range. I would love as much short game spin as I get out of the tp5, but I don’t want to back it up to much on full irons and wedges. I guess I want it all!

["Mr. 72"]

1 hour ago, Rob Person said:

@"Mr. 72" do you think its the lines that are offset, or the logo? 

Has anyone put them in one of those ball balancers with a marker to see how they align to the factory tracks?

It's definitely the lines. I can tell just by looking at the ball. Plus I used a plastic alignment guide that came with one of my Sun Mountain golf bags to verify. I lined up the red line as if I was going to draw a line there. In doing so, the two little guide line that a perpendicular to that main guide line showed the TT 360 was off.

I used the same procedure on all of the test balls, and they were all fine.

Also, don't have a Check-Go. ...And I'm NOT going to get the in salt water!

[GolfSpy_APH]

Appreciate the thoughts so far from all the testers! 

How do you find the durability so far?

["Mr. 72"]

57 minutes ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

Appreciate the thoughts so far from all the testers! 

How do you find the durability so far?

I durability of the golf balls while putting is excellent!

Unfortunately, that's the only testing that I've been able to do so far. More to come!

[Mike10487]

8 hours ago, MuniGolfer said:

You know, I don’t know. Lately I have been looking for the best dtc for my game, to save some money. However, I am always leaning towards whatever the best ball is for me at any price. I would like to see it be on the longer end for me, with a spin range of the driver in the 2200-2600 range. I would love as much short game spin as I get out of the tp5, but I don’t want to back it up to much on full irons and wedges. I guess I want it all!

Shhhh..Check out Maxfli tour and Tour X. It checks a lot of those boxes for me. 

[Digiburdie]

3 hours ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

Appreciate the thoughts so far from all the testers! 

How do you find the durability so far?

I've found a few tiny cuts from wedge shots (with recently sharpened grooves) but nothing I wouldn't expect from a urethane cover. So I would say these would hold up well during a round if you can stay off the cart paths . 

[David Staller]

Went to the course yesterday for some putting and chipping practice.  The course was too wet to play. I spent 45 minutes putting from 5, 25, and 50 feet using the Chrome Soft Tour and my gamer, Chrome Soft. The new Tour ball is a little firmer and came off of the face faster than the standard Chrome Soft which made speed an issue. Overall, I liked the way the ball rolled.  I spent another 45 minutes hitting chips and pitches from various lies and distances. I noticed a definite difference in spin.  The Tour ball checked up much quicker than the standard Chrome Soft.  This obviously allows more aggressive play from short sided shots. I was able to hit some really amazing shots with my Vokey 62 degree wedge with the Tour ball that I couldn't hit with my gamer. I took a little time to adjust on shots where I wanted the ball to run out. Unfortunately, my eyes are bad , and I didn't realize that I only brought the Tours and not Tour X as well.  It will be dry this week, so I will be getting to the course for 9 holes tomorrow, Friday and my normal money game on Sunday.  Very Excited to see how these balls compare.

[Ryan Luke]

4 hours ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

Appreciate the thoughts so far from all the testers! 

How do you find the durability so far?

Hi Jamie!

I only used the Chrome Tour ball in my round but I played all 18 holes with the same ball and despite it being in the upper 40's temperature wise, I was still able to compress the ball and spin it back when needed.  Durability was very impressive which I will cover in my next segment review update with pics. 

[Desous17]

5 hours ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

Appreciate the thoughts so far from all the testers! 

How do you find the durability so far?

As far as my first impressions after playing 9 holes with the Chrome Tour. I have to say durability seems to be above par!

To further test the durabilty I went down a dark path.... known as the stairs to my basement (my golf cave)... to test the durability of the Chrome Tour against the Prov1. 

Durabilty Test: My test is pretty simple and very archaic... Hitting a 60* wedge (Taylormade RAC) into a net off a mat... that's it!

Starting off the fun was the Prov1. These were the results after hitting 20 wedge shots of the Prov1 (this ball was new and didn't have any blemishes prior to testing)

 

Now here are the results of the Chrome Tour after the same 20 shots. Note that this was the same ball I had just played 9 with and had the one scuff from chipping prior.

 

 

Post-Testing Thoughts: DAMNNNN that Prov1 got Ripped up! I honestly was not expecting that. I have been playing the Prov1 and Prov1X for a few rounds before receiving the Callaway Testers and never have seen this much damage. During the test, I noticed that the Prov1 cover felt softer than the Chrome Tour but I wasn't anticipating this kind of carnage. This is an old wedge and the grooves were sharpened a few months back for the first time in forever, but still no brand-new SM10. I know I will play almost any ball in pretty much any condition, besides being almost chopped in half from a mower.....but I think that the Prov1 would be deemed "unplayable" by most. I think for me the shining light was that the Chrome Tour sounded and felt very similar to the Prov1 during my testing. the gold star goes to the Chrome Tour hands down, only minor scuffing and paint missing from the triple track but at the end of the day I would still deem this ball "playable".

Looking to get the Chrome Tour and Chrome Tour X on the sim soon!

 

[MuniGolfer]

4 hours ago, Mike10487 said:

Shhhh..Check out Maxfli tour and Tour X. It checks a lot of those boxes for me. 

I am actually testing those as well, side by side with the callaways. They compare very favorably to the tp5, just seem to be a little longer off the tee. We will see which model’s spin profile fits me better and how the two chrome models compare.

[MuniGolfer]

9 hours ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

Appreciate the thoughts so far from all the testers! 

How do you find the durability so far?

I have only chipped, pitched and putted with them so far. Look brand new still. Hoping to do the bunker test if it warms up. That or do an entire sim session with one ball, for each model, and see how it goes.

Edited February 14 by MuniGolfer

[MuniGolfer]

A quick update from my putting and chipping session on Monday.
I wore headphones with a book playing quietly to see if I could feel a difference without hearing, between the balls and some others I had in my bag. I noticed no discernible difference—except the Kirkland, which felt noticeably harder, and the BXS which felt heavier in a weird way—in this test, off the putter or a wedge. I liked how much easier the triple track is to line up, vs my single line I usually use. I didn’t notice a difference in feel without the headphones on my putting mat at home, so I wanted to try this. I will do another 20 foot putt test while being able to hear, just to see. For reference, here were the balls I had available:

ProV1x, Kirkland v3, Maxfli Tour, Maxfli Tour x, Chromesoft X, Bridgestone BXS

I then hit chips and pitches of varying heights, on the simulator. Anecdotally, the Callaway Chromes performed and felt like a high-end tour ball. The ranking of spin, from highest to lowest, is as follows:

1. ProV1x
2. Bridgestone BXS
3. Chrome Tour x
4. Maxfli Tour 
5. Chromesoft x
6. Kirkland v3
7. Chrome Tour
8.  Maxfli Tour x

 Now one thing of note, the differences between averages of the highest and lowest spinning balls was only about 600rpm. So, it’s not significant. They all seemed to perform similarly when they hit the virtual green. However, any spin advantage on short shots is always a welcome one, imo. Also, I need to get some more TP5’s, I am out currently, to compare as well. It was the ability to always put the right amount of spin on that ball that made me game it. 

 

Edited February 14 by MuniGolfer

[Randall Robbins]

Here are thoughts after 2nd round of testing:

The balls continue to hold up well, with the only thing noticed so far was minor marking from a sand wedge shot on the chrome tour, but not on the X on a similar shot.  Pretty good stopping power on greens, and control with chips has been excellent.  Noticed that I'm getting quite a bit of roll with both balls on drives and fairway woods/hybrids.  Feel with putting took a bit of time to adjust to the firmer feel of the ball, but I have adjusted pretty quickly.  The couple of bunker shots that I've had spun very nicely and stopped quickly allowing e to make saves.  I have a preference between the two, but I will hold that until I do a little more testing to finalize that.  More to come as I play more and can organize all of this into a formal report after next week or so.  Stay tuned!

[Erin B]

Good afternoon MGS Troops! Just finished the second session with the Callaway balls, it was interesting. First, I do not do well in sims. I never have. I get a little claustrophobic with my driver and woods so I won’t be bringing up any numbers on those for ya. I will say this: the Chrome Tour X is better for me than the Chrome Tour. The spin is lower, the feel is better, the distance (for me) is better. I was hitting a 7 iron today and here’s what I have to say about the balls. First the Chrome Tour. I was averaging right around 160 yards in the sim today. I was getting a lot of spin. Too much for my play. 6200 was the average for me with a ball speed of around 115 MPH. Not bad, but the ball to me just didn’t feel right. It felt heavy. Now for the Chrome Tour X. Same ball speed at around 115 MPH, but the spin was lower on average, at 5800. Distance was longer, on average 175 yards. I really do like this ball. It feels lively off the face. Better than the Chrome Tour. I tried to get some video of impact, but my phone would not cooperate and the sim here in Cheyenne is good, not top of the line though. I did take some video of some putts you can watch. Not really aiming them, just showing the reaction to the club face. Bottom line for today was the Tour X is Xcellent! Happy Birdie Hunting!!!

Edited February 14 by Erin B
Yards

[TylerC31]

Testing Session 2: 5W, 50, On-Course Chipping and Putting

Today I had a good amount of time to test the balls, so I took the opportunity to hit some wedges and woods on the simulator before moving out to the course! 

Wedges: 

A lot of my findings from the driver testing held true here as well. The chrome soft x spun the most by a fairly significant margin, but had the same ball speed as the chrome tour x. The chrome tour x continued to be the lowest-launching, but had an excellent descent angle and ideal spin to stop on firm greens. I found that the chrome tour was approximately four yards shorter than both the tour x and the chrome soft x and also spun the leas (as it is designed to do!). The chrome tour launched slightly higher than the chrome tour x and produced lower ball speeds. Overall, the chrome tour x provided my ideal launch and spin conditions for real golf with these full shot wedges, a welcome development with the sometimes excessive spin the chrome soft x could provide on well-struck wedges. 

5W: 

I'm starting to realize that the chrome tour x starts to shine the harder it is hit. While it provides all the spin in the world with the short shots and mid-irons, when it is crushed with a driver or wood, it lives in the 2000 rpm range like clockwork. One area I could lose consistency with the chrome soft x was when I would hit lower on the face with the driver or wood and it would produce monster spin and lose ball speed. I simply did not have this experience with the chrome tour x, and I felt as if I knew how the ball would perform every time. Once again, it produced huge ball speed and appropriate long game spin. The chrome tour matched the chrome soft x in distance while producing lower ball speed and spin. 

 

On-Course: 

Today I broke out the test balls for some short game testing. It is hard to describe how happy I am with the chrome tour x. I love to hit low spinners around the green and from 50 in. Typically the ball will skip once or twice and then stop on a dime. I felt as if I could consistently get this result from the chrome tour x with a tight distribution and consistent results. The chrome tour was able to match inside 15 yards, but the farther from the hole I got, the more the difference in the balls showed itself as the chrome tour would leak just a little bit more. By no means was the chrome tour bad, but the chrome tour x was a monster. I could even rip back low bullet partial wedges from 50 yards with the chrome tour x if I really leaned on it, something I can not do with most balls. Again, the consistency of the wedge results was what stood out for both balls. I feel like they allowed me to open up my creativity and trust that the ball would respond to the swing put on it. The results of the putting matched my indoor feelings. The chrome tour had a very pleasing soft feel, with the chrome tour x also feeling good but firm. I think both balls have improved acoustics over the previous generation. 

 

I plan to get a full set of testing data, including the mid and short irons, on Friday. At that point the data set will start to expand and I will be able to provide cumulative data next week. I also plan to post images of how the balls have stood up to the hundred-plus swings each they will all have at that point. See yall then! 

[2puttbogey]

Got on course with them today. I was very happy with the performance of both balls. They both have a soft feeling cover, but do have performance differences. As expected the X is has more of a click to  it off the irons , and a firmer feel off the driver. Around the green they both had a nice feel to them. Off the putter same thing, if I didn’t look I would not know which one I was using. The main differences I saw between them was the trajectory. The X was a noticeably different peak height. I was seeing similar distances from both balls. On paper the X would be a better fit for me, but I was enjoying the regular tour version a bit more, unfortunately I lost 2 of them. They held up well. I did get a scuff on the tour late in the  round from a wedge shot, but unfortunately I lost that ball to show a picture. Overall very pleased with my first experience with them.

 

 

X- Tour X

T- Tour

K- Kirkland 

First  picture was tee shot with driver and got slightly more distance with the Tour model.

Second picture tee shot with hybrid and again the standard tour was longer, with the Kirkland between them distance wise( only picture with Kirkland)

 

Last picture here the X just edged out the standard tour this time. 
 

As you can see for me distance wise is negligible between them. Trajectory was the biggest difference. Hopefully I can get some shot tracer shots of them next week.

Edited February 15 by 2puttbogey
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