TaylorMade TP5/TP5X Golf Balls! - 2024 Forum Review

[GolfSpy_APH]

Testers Announced!

It seems to be the year of new golf balls! We are certainly not complaining, though. With a few other major brands already putting up their new golf balls for member testing, we now have the opportunity to get the new TaylorMade TP5 and TP5X in the hands of our testers to see how they really perform.

What’s changed?

TaylorMade has completely revamped both their TP5  and TP5X models with a significant investment to the tune of $100 million for golf ball-related business. This investment went into several key areas, which included buying the Nassau ball plant in South Korea and huge investments in their golf ball R&D. Over the last three years, TaylorMade has built a new state-of-the-art indoor test range and completely remade its outdoor test area with Trackman units to capture performance data for every stage of ball flight.

As for the golf balls themselves, the TP5  and TP5X now have what TaylorMade calls “Speed-Wrap.” This is a new technology that TaylorMade claims produces “significantly faster with a better feel and a softer feel.” This is done by allowing the material to control the sound without affecting speed. As sound often directly relates to feel, the new TP5 and TP5X can be firmer golf balls without feeling or sounding firm.

Finally, the initial three layers are now progressively firmer, allowing them to “truly perform like completely different products.”

The bottom line is TaylorMade feels they have really upped their standards with their new golf ball lineup and want to make significant gains in the ever-competitive golf ball market. Being a distant third in market share to Callaway and the far-and-away leader Titleist, TaylorMade hopes the new TP5 and TPX will be their launchpad to further success.

Please welcome and congratulate our testers!

@OdinSnipes414 

@Wib081 

@ronnieg 

@Emag315

@MissionMan 

@DiscipleofPenick

[OdinSnipes414]

What’s up spy’s!

For those that don’t know me my name is Alex, but Odin works just fine!  I’m from the Bipolar weather state of Wisconsin and I’m totally addicted to golf here!

I have been golfing on and off since I was 2! The love for the game came from watching a guy named Tiger woods play golf on TV with my father. I love things local so the fact he made his rookie start here at the local Brown Deer golf course up the road from me made it more special!

For a long time I was a woods warrior, foraging any ball I could find in the trees! That was my local pro shop and cheep cheep prices lol! Then I found out some of my favorite players played TaylorMade - Tiger, Rickie, Fleet daddy, The Canadian bomb shell Brook, US gold medalist Nelly Korda, and Morikawa the newest favorite on my list! So I played TaylorMade for 7 years and then Odin walked in my life and charmed me!

Dont get me wrong I still have TaylorMade in the bag along side my X1s! Can’t wait to test these out so I can continue pretending to be like my Idols!

 

Claims to mythbust!

I chose to test the TP5x Pix for a few reasons! I like the look ORANGE for Rickie and I love the alignment set up for putts! More to come as the days roll on……

 

Unboxing!

After receiving my package I was impressed with the speed from when the package was shipped to reaching my front door! I love the look of the ball the pattern is much more vibrant than the older model! 
 

Front ball is new model and the orange line is more prominent than the older line!

 

Testing

its been snowing on and off for a week and the corses were closed! However this weekend it’s sunny and I  have some time set aside to get some work in! 
however I have been chipping around at home with my daughter and the balls are holding up surprisingly well due to my kiddo hitting into the rocks a and the wall! 

Aesthetics (19 out of 20) 

I love this ball the way it looks the way it feel everything! I went ahead and bought a dozen of the doughnut and the peach TP5X pix! Safe to say there will be some play in my bag!
Only reason for a point off is the cover of one of balls I was using scuffed up pretty bad to the point that it may have ended up in the bottom of a water hazard! So it didn’t effect the sinking ability!

The Numbers (19 out of 20)

After about 4 weeks I was able to hit the practice areas around 8 times and got in a round of golf once a week! I played early in the am as the sun was coming up to allow me to be the only one out there! I played several balls while testing TP5 and TP5X both pix and standard in this years model and the old model , Odin X and X1, and the Bridgestone mindset tour XS! The new TP5 balls did hold up it claim to be about half a club longer than the old models and with that I’m very pleased! Spin didn’t change much but the putting alignment with the new square pattern is substantially greater than before!

Driving data

For distance the TP5x and the Odin x1  came out almost dead nuts tied with a slight edge to the TaylorMade (1.5yards) 

spin rate was amazing! I was able to place the ball where ever I wanted and it would almost always stay there! Unfortunate as well because now I see why Tommy Fleetwood always has those long putts it hits where it lands and almost doesn’t roll out!

 

 

On The Course (20 out of 20)

There is something about orange on the course that is pleasing to the eye! Every shot, good or bad, was the perfect height in ball flight and distance was absolutely incredible! With all the talks of a roll back might as well make a ball now that makes up the difference!

The Good, the bad, the inbetween (19 out of 20)

The good?  The distance, alignment, the entire ball!

 

The bad? Slightly weak outer cover on one or 2 balls! Oh and price price price price! But you pay for a name! And I’ll always keep a few on hand!

 

The Inbetween: This really is the bees knees of premium golf balls! 

 

 

Play it or Trade it? (17 out of 20)

I’m going to game them for 2024 to really see how the covers hold up! But I feel like I’ll always have a few in the bag!

Conclusion

Outside of the price and the occasional Slice (Working on it) these balls definitely hold up their claims to be longer than their former self! If you got som jangle in your pocket don’t sleep on the TP5X pix!

 

 

 

 

Final Score (94 out of 100)

Edited April 25 by OdinSnipes414
Final

[Wib081]

Hello From Ohio

Introducing myself to all of you Spy's, hi I'm Ian and you can probably guess from the title where I live. I have been given many nicknames and the 2 that have stuck the longest are WIB and Beandip. Any and all work for me so you all can chose whichever you like best! 

I started playing the game when I was 12 at Rolling Greens on my birthday and was hooked. The course was 3/4 of a mile from the house garage to range mats! Sadly it is now a housing development but the memories I have of that course are comforting. I still have the TM <Tour Preferred> 5 Wood that was in the bag back then!

These days I'm trying to get down below a 10 handicap I try to play at least twice a week in season. 1 weekday round and at then at least 1 weekend round with the best playing partners ever!

 

Testing Goals

I have mainly played Titleist lines for the last 20 years. I enjoyed the NXT Tour and Pro-V1 lines, and for a brief blip the DT So-Lo. Recently I have been gaming a Kirkland Signature based upon value and the quality/durability has seemed to be worth the cost. 

 

I am planning on running the TP5 Pix through its paces next to both of these ball lineups. Distance, stopping, green side control all the standard ideas. However, my father in law has a stock pile of older TM balls so I want to also run the TP5 next to some of those to see how far the TM line has come. 

The Pix ball has fascinated me since I saw it on a shelf when TM debuted it. I really like the idea of extra alignment assistance, but the 2 grey and black aid marks on the poles of the ball have me pretty intrigued. I have on occasion had issue focusing on one spot on the ball. This aid off the tee I'm hoping will help keep me focus and help in FIR's. I'm aware of the 5 layer progressive speed construction and I like this idea. Combine that with more spin help and a soft feel, sign me up. 

The things I'm really looking for in the ball are durability and alignment aid assistance. If the ball is equivalent to the Pro-V1 and Kirkland in durability and feel the tie breaker is how well the Pix system helps me to focus on the ball on all shots across the course. If that helps me play even 3-5 strokes better I'm willing to put the TP5 in the bag for the long haul!

The Review 

TaylorMade TP5/TP5 Pix – Official MGS Forum Review by WIB081

First Impressions-  10-10

Opening the brown shipping box from TaylorMade the boxes of both versions of the TP5 just popped! Not just visually but physically! The logos and ball on the cover of each are raised and provide a cool tactile feel that really stood out, and this continued with the individual sleeves inside.

The balls themselves felt of very high quality. The cover itself feels soft to the touch with a very minimal sheen. Of the 2 balls I was more interested in testing the Pix to help with putting alignment, but also to help on focusing on the ball when hitting off the tee and the balls definitely impressed me in this regard upon first inspection.

TaylorMade claims the TP5 is softer and faster than previous models with a 5 layer speed wrapped core being the workhorse of these advances. What this means to me an average golfer is the ball is fast but also feels and sounds soft at the same time. The Clearpath Alignment aid was changed with this model and provides easier alignment and better visual feedback while putting. 

The pix alignment aid helped me quite a bit lining up put on greens and while putting inside on foul weather days. I specifically like the greed out mark as thsi was a great focal point on the tee!

Aesthetics- 7-10

As I highlighted in the the first impressions the presentation of the balls in the packaging was top notch and is going to be heard to beat. Absolutely no problems here the design of product and packaging present very well.

However it is in the area of durability that I have concerns about the TP5 line this year. Using a few of the balls for a 9 hole round I really liked how they felt off the clubs however on pitches between 20 to 30 yards with a 56 degree Vokey spin milled wedge I noticed the cover took a beating. 

 

Considering the Pix model this for me is a stand out in alignment. Using the pix images made this process I have always dreaded much easier! Again though the standout for me is grey and black alignment aid at the mid point on both sides of the ball. Focusing on that one spot while teeing off gave me a lot more confidence  compared to my old Kirklands.

Sound and Feel

The sound and feel of the new TP5 is one of the best things about the ball! Driver it feels solid at impact and the sound is an impressive but not obscene crack. On shots I could immediately tell where the ball was on the club face. Hybrids and irons were great as well the solid THWACK at impact leets you know you audibly at the same moment you feel it leap of the face of the irons and they are buttery soft coming off my P790's. Wedges are more of the same but this is where you really can feel those good ones. The soft click off the face and the minimal perception of contact as the ball pops up in the air just solid. Putter, oh baby the feel of the balls off my putter was terrific. A soft click and the balls rolls away. On hits out of the center the feel is almost not there it's so soft and smooth. On toe and heel mis hits the ball makes it's presence a bit more known but the feel is by no means bad. 

The Numbers-  19-20

The TP5 out performed my regular ball far and away off every club in the bag I saw an increase in distance by 5-10 yards. I was able to hit on a indoor trackman range and the results between the Kirkland and the TP5 were incredible

 

 

On the Course- 18-20

From tee to green the TP5 performed very well for me. Gains in distance across the bag and the ability to hit the pop and stop again is something I love seeing. The smooth rollout off the putter face and the way the alignment aids well aid me in lining up a putt just awesome! I loved the spin and ease of alignment with pitching and putting, but the one area the ball lacked in on the course was wedge shot durability. The cover just doesn't like the shots where you're trying to generate more spin. 

 

The Good, The Bad, and the in-between- 19-20

The good, the distance gains I wasn't expecting to see and did were exceptional! 

The bad, cover durability is an issue with wedges and may need to be addressed.

The in-between, I thought we were just testing either the Pix or plain TP5 and as I had selected the Pix was a little shocked to see the regular model. Again this is not a huge issue but it did stick out to me. 

 

Play or Trade? 19-20

For me this is a play it for the time being. I am going to watch the shots off wedges to see if I can mitigate some of the grove bites that I have noticed. For me I feel more confident with the Pix ball in the bag and that's all I need to give it a chance. I feel if your a golfer that is working to lower your handicap this is a ball that could help. I'm around a 15 these days and it helps in every aspect of my game!

 

Conclusion- 92-100

The TaylorMade TP5 swung for the fences this year and boy did it deliver! The ball is hot and I'm not just talking about the various Pix models that have been released already this year, but off the face of the club. Ball speed and distance increases were jumping for me like my kids on their trampoline, suffice to say it was high! Impressive most impressive to quote Darth Vader. However, the cover durability with wedges in hand also makes me think of Vader when he said, "The Force is with you, but you are not a Jedi yet'. That is the one piece of the puzzle that's missing. All in all its a solid product that I'm going to play and continue comparing against my Kirkland and some other brands this season.

 

Thanks to TaylorMade and MyGolfSpy for making this test possible!

Edited April 29 by Wib081
Typo

[ronnieg]

Hello Spies!

My name is Ronnie and I'm very excited to have my first testing opportunity with such a great product. I selected the TP5 pix as my test ball.

I am a former D3 collegiate golfer. I quit playing for 10 years after college due to some back issues. I got that under control a few years ago and decided to pick the game back up in the summer of 2023.

I live in West Tennessee and am a member at a local course, Woodland Hills, which is where I'll be doing the bulk of my testing. Since picking the game back up I have gone harder than ever. I work 2nd shift, so I sacrifice quite a bit of sleep to play 3-4 morning rounds each week along with range sessions 2-3 times a week as well.

 

 

 

 

 

Playing so much has knocked the rust off pretty quickly and I'm close to where I was in college, currently a 3HCP. I'd say I'm probably even more consistent now then I was in college. My goal is to get to scratch by the end of this year.

I'm a serial golf ball dabbler although I usually end up back at the standard ProV1 as my gamer. I like the low flight and low spin with driver but wish it had a bit more bite around the greens.  I want to see if I can finally find a ball that gives me the lower flight I need without sacrificing the spin I'd like to have with my irons and wedges, yet someone not spin too much with driver. Oh, and a soft ball is a must; A big ask, I know. However, I have high hopes for this iteration of the TP5. 

From all I have read about this ball, it could provide what I'm looking for. I like the sound of the speed wrapped core for better feel. 

I chose it over the TP5x based on expected feel and spin around the green. I chose Pix design because I like visual aids, but haven't liked previous Pix/clearpath designs. It looks cool but did nothing for my alignment. So I'm curious if the tweaks to the design will benefit me. There is a lot of hype around this ball so I hope it lives up to it.

Almost all of my testing will be on course or on the practice greens. I don't have access to a sim or launch monitor so I can't provide raw data, but I'm pretty adept at reading my own shots for things like launch and spin. I play a lot so I know what my shots should look and act like. I plan to compare this ball to other balls I have use from this cycle: ProV1, Chrome tour, TP5, and the previous version of the TP5x, that I used for a while last year. I liked a lot about the previous TP5x. The only thing that kept it out of bag is that it was waaay to spinny off the driver for me. If they have tapered that down in this year's version without losing what I already liked, then it could be a keeper.

 

 

2024 TP5x Ball Review

First Impression! 9/10

The main thing I focused on during my unboxing is the redesign of the Pix, which TM says ”features a longer centerline and additional color contrast”. I also tried to judge the overall look of the packaging and the “shelf appeal”.

Both boxes for the Pix and Standard white ball are generally appealing. The Pix box matches the ball itself, carrying on with the orange and black/grey. It shows the pix ball on the cover, letting you know what to expect inside. The sleeves are a muted shade of beige, which I don’t mind considering how loud everything else about this ball is. As usual, on the back of both boxes is information about the ball, along with the ever useful side by side comparison between the TP5 and TP5x in case you need help deciding which ball suits what you are looking for.

The white ball comes in a grey/charcoal box, showing off the ball’s 5-layer design on the cover. The sleeve inside however, are a very nice shade of red, similar to the numbering on the ball itself. I can’t put my finger on exactly why I like TM red sleeves and numbering so much, but I really do. Both model’s sleeve have a circular cutout so you can see the actual ball. This also allows you to perform the extremely scientific fingernail softness test without opening the sleeve if you subscribe to this test. I do. From this test, I gathered that the cover certainly feels softer than previous generations. Usually a softer cover will generate more greenside spin, which is great. However, in my experience this usually comes at the cost of lowered durability. Check my on the course review further down for more information on how this played out. Last thing I’ll note from unboxing is that TM did not use the number 4 on these balls. It goes 1,2,3,5. I have heard varying things like “it’s for the Japanese markets because the number 4 is unlucky in their culture” or “they want to use 5 for the 5-Layer design.” It doesn’t matter to me but I know golfers are superstitious creatures and I’m sure someone really likes using balls with a 4 on it, or wants to avoid the number 4 so this information could be useful.

 

Aesthetics 6/10 (sound/feel, visual aspects, durability)

Feel/sound:

The TP5x don’t feel particularly soft off the club face compared to balls like the ProV1, Srixon Z-Star or Chrome tour. But they also don’t feel quite as firm as balls like the Left Dash or Chrome Soft LS. I would put them somewhere in the middle, ever so slightly on the firmer side. Let’s call it Mid-Firm by my standards.

They sound solid off the clubface. I would classify the sound as a clicky thud. Its not as clicky as a left dash, but you don’t feel like you’re hitting a marshmallow. It feels solid and crispy. It has a pretty satisfying feel. Driver feels solid and explosive with the combo of the TP5x and my QI10 Max. With the irons and wedges, its give a nice hollow thud. Off the putter face I would say its slightly clickier, but I have a copper insert in my putter so results may vary here. As I said, I usually prefer a softer ball like ProV1 or Chrome Tour, but I didn’t find the TP5x’s feel and sound lacking in any way.

Visual Aspects:

I’ll mainly focus on the Pix model here. In my opinion this is the thing that really defines the TP5 and TP5x models vs the other major ball manufacturers. I had previously tried last year’s model of the Pix. For me, the two-tone black and orange triangles just felt too abstract for me to be able to properly use it for alignment. I did still like it, if only just for the overall design aesthetic and as a visual aid that helps with focus on the ball. That said, I definitely feel that TaylorMade has made significant improvements with this iteration of the Pix design. They have changed from a triangle to a diamond pattern. For me, this was much easier to read as an alignment aid. It feels easier to line up, especially since you can combine it with the logos. It also gives you great feedback on your roll, showing 3 large, solid looking lines with black, white and orange if you roll it end over end. It looks like a tornado of mismashed colors if you don’t roll it well. Both are easily readable straight off the face. There is also one diamond on either side of the ball that is just black, no orange, which I’m sure would be good to use off the tee to help you have single point of focus. Although the new Pix design is MUCH improved as an alignment aid, it still feels ever-so-slightly abstract compared to something more straightforward, like the Callaway Triple Track. That said, I still think it’s the nicest looking ball overall on the market.

 

Durability:

Now to the main thing that hurt the TP5x for me, durability. Durability is a big factor for me. I go through balls pretty quickly, as is. I spin my wedges well around the green and can rip them back on fuller shots when I want to, so I tend to scuff balls up pretty quickly. That said, the TP5x seemed to scuff up quicker than any premium ball I’ve ever used. It was essentially a 100% scuff rate on well hit, full wedge shots. It didn’t seem to matter whether I was actually trying to spin it or even if I was taking spin off. It would also occasionally scuff on well hit iron shots. I hit a few balls on the cart path during my testing, and although I don’t expect a ball to survive that, the TP5x was totally destroyed.  It literally ripped the cover off where contact was made with the path I normally go through 2-5 balls a round just based on scuffing them with a wedge. During testing, I was going through 5-8 balls per round. I probably even used the TP5xs a little longer than I normally would, just for the testing.  This was definitely a major letdown for me, as performance on the course for the TP5x was very good.

The Numbers: 19/20

The TP5x stacked up really well versus the other balls I have tried in the last year. I would say it is the longest premium ball out right now, which is good because that is something TaylorMade has been pushing with this ball release. I normally play a ProV1 and gained a solid 10 yards carry with driver, without sacrificing much rollout. I gained 3-5 extra yards in my irons as well. I wasn’t really looking for extra yardage, but it never hurts!

I found the TP5x to be higher launching then my gamer, especially in the longer clubs. Again, not something I need but useful for most golfer. I didn’t ever feel like I was lacking spin throughout the bag. I still got the irons to drop and stop pretty well. Maybe rolled out a foot or two more than my usual with ProV1, but nothing crazy. I would say it’s higher launch but lower spin than then the ProV1 overall, which averaged out to pretty similar results when hitting into greens.

On the course:19/20

This ball is high and long with driver. It would almost feel like I was hitting them too high, but they still got out there a good 10 yards past my average.

It has a crisp feel with irons and wedges. Same high launch as with the driver. I like to flight the ball down, and would occasionally see a shot go above my preferred window. The high launch seemed to help with lower spin, as the ball still stops rolling out where I would expect with my Gamer.

 

Something that surprised me about the TP5x was it’s performance in the short game. I play a lot of high spin shots around the green and was concerned about how the TP5x would stack up since it’s the lower spinning of TaylorMade’s premium line. I am happy to say it did very well. It’s not zipping like a ProV1x, but it was more than comparable to my gamer ProV1s. You have to strike it well to spin it hard, but when you do, the new cover that TaylorMade has put on this ball does deliver. I even managed to spin a few back from within 30 yards. Generally, I felt like I could do what I needed to with this ball. If I wanted to skip one in and hop and stop, I could. If I wanted to let one release, I could. I can see why so many pros play this ball. It really feels like you are in control of the spin around the greens. I was very impressed with this aspect.

With putting, the Pix design was great. I always line up my putts, so having a visual aid is a big plus for me. It’s firmer than the ProV1 off the face, but not clicky. It rolled true.

 

I didn’t find the TP5x lacking on the course in any way for my game. Maybe a little too high launching, if anything. I like to flight the ball low very often and occasionally would get one that would pop up above the window I felt like it should’ve been in. This would occasionally lead to the ball ballooning a bit more than I wanted if conditions were even slightly windy.

The Good, The Bad, The In-between: 18/20

It’s a solid ball. In my opinion, it holds its own vs. any premium ball on the market as far as performance.

I love the new Pix design and cover they have added with this release.  

The durability issues I had were definitely the main concern I’d have going forward if I wanted to make this my gamer.

Play it Or Trade it? 14/20

Based only on performance, I could see myself playing this ball. I have gushed over the Pix design in this review. It plays like a distance ball without sacrificing all the things you want from a premium ball; and who doesn’t want more distance? I wasn’t lacking any spin, control, or feel. The price is competitive against other similar balls like the ProVs and Chrome tours.

 

The only issue I would have with making this ball my gamer is the aforementioned durability, which leads to cost issues. While they are the same price as other balls on the market, I would end up going through twice as many compared to a ProV1 due to scuff marks. This could be a issue exclusive to me. I clip my wedges hard and scuff even the most durable balls, but it definitely felt excessive with the TP5x. I’ve also heard from many golfers that scuff marks don’t bother them. I wish that were me, but once I can feel and see a sizeable mark on the cover, it’s hard for me to keep playing that ball without feeling like I could be losing something.

Conclusion:

This ball delvers on all the hefty promises made by TaylorMade for its release. The distance gain is real. TaylorMade said this ball is ½ a club longer and I, personally, found this to be exactly the case.

With that gain in distance, you’d imagine you would sacrifice in feel and control around the green but no; with the 5-layer construction, speed wrapped core, and tour flight cover you can have distance and control.

In my opinion, the new Pix design is the best visual aid. Period. They took something good and made it even better. The feeling when you line up a putt and see those orange and black lines rolling at the hole is indescribable. Same thing when you nip a wedge around the green and see the rotation as it flies in. It’s an awesome sight.

I just have such a strange, conflicted feeling about this ball. It does everything I want, feels good, good control and adds effortless distance. I have to say that the only drawback I have found with this ball is the durability. It’s hard to play freely when you step up to hit an 80 yard wedge shot on the first hole and you know you will need to change balls on the next tee due to a massive scuff mark. Like I said earlier in this test, I had near a 100% scuff rate on wedges outside 20 yards. Full, partial, or pitches; it scuffs the ball.

If this ball held up even moderately well in the durability department then I’d probably have a new gamer. It does everything you want and need. It’s long, it’s high, and you can still control on approach and around the greens.

If the durability issues aren’t a concern for you, and you want a ball that adds ½ a club of distance throughout the bag, and still does everything you want it to on and around the greens, then I’d highly recommend the TP5x.

Maybe soon they will work out the durability issues and we really can finally have it all, in one ball.

Final score:85/100

 

Edited April 29 by ronnieg
Uploading full review, fix grading categories, fix a typo I found on reread

[MissionMan]

Hi Everyone

I'm one of the lucky testers of the TP5. Some background on me:

I’m a 50-year-old golfer on Phillip Island, a small island off the coast of Australia. Don't know where that is? It's the location for one of the MotoGP's, a beautiful island teaming with wildlife on the course. Got back into golf after a long break (20+ years) about 18 months ago. I have a full time job, run my own consulting company, but this also provides some flexibility on work hours so I can get out to golf and work in the evenings.

From a hobby/sports perspective, I play golf (obviously), do kitesurfing/surfing and enjoy watersports photography, mainly surfing/kitesurfing where I get into the water with waterhousing.

Aside from hobbies, I also volunteer for the Emergency Services. This is me with my two daughters doing fundraising for the Good Friday appeal, an annual fundraiser for the children's hospital. 

My gear

Mostly Titleist gear currently, with the exception of my putter which is a LAB broomstick. The reason my irons are Titleist is that I live about 2 hours from a major city and my local Pro shop only has Titleist fittings so I'm not explicitly tied to using Titleist. I’m currently using Srixon Z star divide balls, which I like due to the split line on the ball, the soft feel and it also performs similarly to a ProV1.

My golf

I’m currently at a 9 handicap. I tend to be a high spin, high hitting player. My coach has been pushing me away from low spin balls like the TP5X or AVX as he indicated I need to learn to control spin better through club selection.  This was also due to the limitations low spin balls impose on greenside chipping. I'm slowly getting to grips with this approach.

I’m a mid-distance striker, driver swing speed of about 100-105mph. 7 Iron is around 80-83mph. Chipping is good. Up and down about 70-80 % of the time. 

Some notes on my local course/s

I have two courses I'll be testing this ball at.

My main course is Philip Island Golf Course, a holiday destination course. Midweeks tend to be quieter, and the course allows us to play multiple balls. I also have a 4 hole loop I can use for days where I have 30 minutes to free which will work well for testing. The 4 hole loop is a 10th par 3 (175 yards), 16th par 4 (400 yards), 17th par 3 (180 yards uphill), 18th par 5 (497 yards) loop. In a good round, I’d expect to go par birdie par birdie for those four. The 18th allows for a good drive to cut the corner and occasionally I'll find myself with around 180 yards to the green for my second.

Fairways on our course are soft so we don’t tend to get much run at all. You hit short of the green, you stay short of the green. Greens are also soft and very receptive to spin. I have spun the ball back over 10 yards, hitting full wedges, hence the mention of controlling spin.

Wildlife on our courses is fairly commonplace, including snakes and wallabies. We don't have any of the dangerous snakes found on the mainland of Australia, although copperheads are still poisonous. Wallabies are really small equivalents of Kangaroos, and don't tend to try attack you.

What I'll be testing

I'll be testing the TP5 ball. I like drawing lines on my ball for alignment as I find the small line provided on most balls doesn't work for me. I'm looking forward to testing this ball as my primary gripe with the previous version was the distance sacrifice (TP5) and the stiff clicky feel of the TP5X when chipping and putting. The new TP5 could be a winner so I'm happy to consider a new gamer if the hype is real.

Tests

I’ll be testing the TP5 against a host of other balls, including Srixon Z star, Pro V1, AVX, and Callaway Chromesoft X (I recently won a dozen of the 2024 Chromesoft in an Ambrose comp). I tend to play 2-3 times a week. 

The tests I intend to cover are:

• Durability with full strikes
• Durability bunker play
• Full wedge play
• Chipping
• General play

 

Unboxing and first impressions (9.5 out of 10)

My balls arrived so I got to do a quick unboxing get them out onto the course. They look amazing, nice premium style box that match the quality of the balls. Taylormade claims its softer, longer and better than my current ball. I'll see if it can deliver on those claims.

On Friday afternoon, I took them out for 9 holes after a storm had come through. It inspired me with enough confidence to take them out for Saturday comp. Saturday was a little wet but after 18 holes, and I feel like I have good enough grasp to post my initial thoughts. Sunday, I got in another 9 holes, and shot a 2 over par so I feel like a fair spread of shots, and some good opportunities to test the ball. I also managed to get through 36 holes without losing a ball.

Starting with putting, I can say that I am happy with the feel of the ball. I actually prefer it over the ProV1 which came as a surprise, because I’ve always used the ProV1 as my benchmark for putting feel. It’s soft, but still firm enough to feel on the face. I find some balls like the new AVX way to mushy off the face. 

Spin is exactly what I'd expect from a high spin ball like this. On a par with the higher spinning ProV1X but a nice soft feel like the ProV1. It's a match made in heaven for me. The spin is strong, but controllable. I could easily club down and take the spin off it with a 3/4 shot.

Moving to irons, they get a big tick from me. I’ll start looking at the numbers this week with my launch monitor, but they seemed to at least match my Srizon Z star which I feel is in line with a ProV1. I do feel like the TP5 has a softer feel on mishits which I prefer.

Finally, on the driver. Whilst my first two outings weren’t good driver days, my third outing was exactly what I needed. The ball is explosive off the face, but still allows you to get a good feel for how you are striking it. My drives were as long as I’ve hit previous, and given the cold weather we are now encountering over the last two weeks, that’s a positive.

Durability is a question at this point. I'm starting to see some wear on the ball, but I don't believe it's excessive for 36 holes. I don’t think it’s on a par with some of the more durable balls out there, but I’ll validate this side by side with other balls in my durability testing. 

Aesthetics (7 out of 10)

The balls are packed in premium packaging and feel like a premium product. The cover is sticky like most new premium balls, and as usual, new balls seem to have an added edge to spin, which reduces through the round if you aren’t cleaning every hole of the ball. The dimples follow a hex-like pattern similar to many other brands with a combination of small and large hex dimples. The dimple edges are less pronounced than the Callaway Hex dimple design. I picked up some small paint anomalies and spots on the cover, which shouldn’t occur for a premium ball. 

Taylormade offers the Pix option; I got the plain version. It would be great if Taylormade produced a conventional alignment ball with just a single line long line around the ball. 

The covers are soft, and making a light cut with your fingernail is possible. However, they still retain a nice solid feel when striking the ball, unlike the new AVX, which I find too soft for putting and irons. I would put softness between a ProV1 and an AVX. The feel on drivers, irons, and putters all strike a good balance. The sound off the face of the irons is pleasant; it has a little bit of a dull thud, but I find this less distracting than a higher-pitched click you get from harder balls. 

Durability is good but not outstanding. It wasn’t the worst of the ones I tested. It will be fine for most players and seems to handle most obstacles without too many issues, but hitting a few hard wedges does result in wear to the ball. A few bunker shots could result in a replacement. This video shows damage to the ball after 10 wedge shots. 

I suspect that more experienced and longer hitting players with higher club head speeds may need to replace balls more regularly. I swap balls every 18 holes in a comp and I’m comfortable these could make 18, but it may depend on how well I’m playing. I would happily play them in practice rounds for two more rounds.

The Numbers (17 out of 20)

I tweaked my back while doing my SkyTrak testing, so I had to try to limit my striking to ¾ swings. I also realised how tough it is to get similar strikes for 4 different balls to make accurate comparisons. I had to do a number of retakes which probably contributed as I discovered my swing speed had increased from the first batch of balls till the last. 

8 Iron (Don't ask me why I grabbed the 8 instead of the 7, I'll update this with the 7 when my back is a little better)

• Callaway 148.7 yards 
• TP5 148.5 yards
• ProV1 146.5 yards
• Srixon Z star 146.4 yards

Driver

• Callaway 262 yards, 
• TP5 259 yards, 
• ProV1 256 yards
• Srixon Z star 255 yards

The numbers from the TP5 are good. It’s marginally better than the ProV1 and Srixon Z star that I am currently gaming. Spin shows low off our mats so I'll see if I can get better readings cleaning the balls, mainly due to light rain and sand residue on the day. Its worth noting that the TP5X was longest although it isn't shown here as other people are testing it.

I'll also update this when I get some numbers back from my longer-hitting friend, who has been a little too busy to get out golfing. 

On The Course (18 out of 20)

During the testing, I spent time on the course, playing multiple club competitions, practice rounds, and spending some time on the simulator doing some durability and numbers testing. I was slightly worried as I hadn't been at the top of my game for most of this test, and I didn't feel like I was doing the ball justice. Towards the end, I found my groove hitting 12 fairways in regulation, all middled, and with that, the TP5 and I became friends. These are two examples of good drives for me, keeping in mind that it's meters, and we don't get much run at all. The first equates to 294 yards, the second was an uphill drive of 272 yards.

Our greens are very receptive to spin, but I still never felt like it was out of control. I could play to the spin, and play a 3/4 shot would result in the ball would check up without spinning too much. Wedge spin was amazing as expected for a ball like this. 

48 degree wedge

30 yard high spin chip shot

Chip and run still rolled out as expected. The pin is set on a little bit of a ridge hence the reason it goes left or right, or at least that's my excuse.  

 

The Good, the bad, the in-between (17 out of 20)

I honestly did not expect to like this ball, based on my experiences with the previous generation. I liked it enough that I bought some TP5X's to see how they compared. It confirmed to me that the TP5 was the better ball (for me). While the TP5X offers some additional performance, the feel wasn't as good and the durability was a real problem. I could easily get away with playing a TP5 for 18 holes, where I feel like I’d have to replace the TP5X before 18 and that could make this game more expensive than I like. 

If I was to sum up the things (the good) that I fell in love with using this ball, I would sum it up as:

• Feel
• The right balance of drive, iron and short-game spin
• Good distance performance

 

The bad really comes down to the durability, and in the case of the TP5, it isn't actually that bad. If you spend your life hitting cart paths, trees and hard obstacles, this may not be the ideal ball for you. I don’t have that issue, and our course isn’t that hard on balls.  I can use this ball for 18 holes so it checks that box. Anything beyond that, and my balls are relegated to practice rounds where my standards on ball cover condition are slightly lower. 

As far as the miscellaneous go, I would love to see TaylorMade bring out an alignment ball with a single line. Callaway has Triple Tracks, but I haven't seen anyone who really does a proper single alignment line, and many people I know are tired of drawing them on. If you have two balls with similar performance, you may just find yourself taking the one that you don't have to draw on. Please TaylorMade, it doesn't have to be Triple Tracks (I was testing them for putting), just a single line. 

Play it or Trade it? (19 out of 20)

I've tried many balls over the last two years. I've always returned to a Prov1 because while many balls are good, they just aren't a complete package. There is a reason the Pro V1 is the benchmark: It's complete in almost every category.

From my perspective, the TP5 is a better-performance ball than a ProV1, and that's a big achievement. It's longer, marginally, has a better feel (IMO) and carries the right balance of spin off the tee and around the green.

It does fall down slightly on durability, but I guess that's going to have different prioritisation for people. I value feel over durability, and If a ball lasts longer than 18 holes, I’m good with it.  As for play it or trade it, it’s my new gamer...for now.  I’ll be ordering some yellow ones as we move into winter as we have a lot of leaves on our courses, making finding white balls a little challenging. I do have some existing balls to get through before I load up with too many. 

Conclusion

TaylorMade claims the new TP5 provides enhanced performance without negatively impacting spin. It also claims to be an ultra-soft, highly durable cover.

It's hard to fault those claims, with the exception of maybe durable, but that really depends on what you are comparing it to. A lot of premium balls sacrifice durability at the expense of performance. The performance is a step up on the ProV1, the benchmark for modern balls. It offers improved distance, low spin off the driver, and still maintains spin around the green and with irons. What's interesting is that TaylorMade has gone a different direction to Titleist, a high spin ball with a softer feel.  This is actually my preference and it's great that we have that sort of choice. I absolutely love the feel of this ball through driver, irons and putting. 

While it’s not perfect, I don't think the perfect ball exists. You will need to decide how important durability is for you relative to performance. If you lose a ball every round, durability won’t be an issue - it’s the guy who finds your ball’s problem. If you change balls every round, this won’t be a problem. The durability also only comes into play with hitting hard wedges, and even then, it depends on how pedantic you are with your balls. 

Final Score (87.5 out of 100)
 

Edited May 2 by MissionMan
Unboxing

[DiscipleofPenick]

Hi Spies! It's ya boi the Disciple back at it with another test. For those who are new, I've been on the forum for 7 years now and I've been lucky to a have had a few testing opportunities with MGS, but this will be my first time testing balls. So some of this will be the same to the OGs, but the newer members will be able to get to know me.

My name is Tom, I am 39 and play out of Cleveland, Ohio. I grew up on the east side in Geauga county, but now live on the west side suburbs and we just moved from Fairview Park to North Olmsted. So the new place is only about 2 miles from the old one, which is great because it doesn't change any of my golfing options and places to meet with my buddies. We needed to move to a new place as last summer we had an addition to the family, our second daughter Isobel was born in June. Here she is chilling with our hound dog Reggie. We did have two dogs, but our Berner Otis, we had to put down the day after Thanksgiving, 

Of course with two kids, I'm not golfing the 2-3 times a week like I was before 2019, but I still get out about 6 times a month. So my handicap has gone from a 3 to a 5 (sometimes as high as 7) over the last few years. And I know that's a bit of a 'first world problem' but I know my game can get better than it is. My biggest strength is short game, then irons and driver are pretty close as either can be #2 or #3 depending on the day, and putting is the worst. I don't feel like a terrible putter but I don't ever seem to make anything over 8 feet and Arccos can confirm that. Last year I got to test the MacGregor irons and I'm keeping those in the bag so I think with a full season my iron play will get better.

My current gamer is the Srixon Z-Star, and it's been my ball for several years. I was a Titleist guy playing the NXT Tour and ProV1 forever until I switched about 6 years ago or so. The Z-Star was longer off the driver and performed identically through the rest of the bag for me compared to the ProV1. This is when the ProV first went to $50 a dozen so and I was finding Z-Stars for around $30 so it was a no brainer to switch. I've been told in the past that I should play the X balls, and I definetly have the swing speed to do so, but I do not like the way they perform around the green, I've tried, ProV1x, Z-Star XV, TP5x, and Tour BX. I get inconsistent iron spin and too much roll on my chips with any of these X balls. I already hit the ball high so I don't need help there and I generally play for the front of greens as Northern Ohio has mostly old style courses with greens titled back to front. So balls that suck back some of the time are no bueno for me either. With the regular ProV or Z, I get the one hop stop as the ball is generally within 5 feet of the pitch mark on a well struck shot. 

Basically I want to get the same performance out of a TP5 that I am used to getting out of a Z-Star. I am expecting roughly the same distance off the driver, the same one hop stop on iron shots, and the same type of grab on chips, pitches, and bump and runs. For putting it's just the sound and feel, so if that's similar and not clicky, we'll be good. This offseason I also bought 2 dozen of the Snell MTB Prime on their $20 sale. So I will also be comparing that ball. Now, as the TP5 has been around for awhile, I've had a sleeve of them here and there and overall I do like the way it performs, but again like the ProV1, the $55 price tag has me looking for other options. 

These are supposed to arrive any day now, but courses in CLE aren't quite open yet and there's been snow on the ground 2 of the last 5 mornings so it could be another week or so before I get out. I am playing on Good Friday the 29th as that is traditonally opening day for the season. Current forecast is 48 and sunny so I hope that holds so I can play. If I have to hold of on going to the course because of weather, I can at least put them through the paces of the short game with my Birdie Ball mat and some chipping around the back yard. If nothing else that should give me a good idea of the durability of the ball. See how many wedge shots it takes to put some fuzz or a scuff on the ball. 

But that's the basic rundown and I'd like to thank MGS for the opportunity to be part of the test group for this. I'm an open book and I'll give you my opinion on anything so if anyone has any questions, please fire away. Looking forward to good testing and a start to the season with all the spies.

 

First Impressions:

Well after some unexplained delays, the balls were delivered yesterday. Rather than photos, I did a little unboxing video. Sorry if it's a little shakey as I had to hold the phone. I will not apologize for the bright color of the balls though.

One of the guys I play with regularly also will play yellow balls, and he also has TP5x sometimes. I've noticed that the yellow on the TaylorMade balls has a bit more of a lime green tint to it than any other companies yellow balls, Currently, he's playing yellow Bridgestones and I can tell the difference from quite a distance (30-40 yards) if our balls wind up in the rough close to each other.

So far I've played two rounds with the TP5 and for the most part I like them and they do not seem too different than the previous generation. However, it is a tale of two rounds because there were big differences in weather and the swing I brought to the course. The first round was nice, but humid weather and I had a decent swing going. I did hit a few trees with the TP5 and missed my fare share of greens, but I saw no marks on the cover from trees or wedge grooves. I noticed I was getting my normal distance and ball flight with the driver and irons, so all of that was good. I did have trouble holding the greens with longer irons, as I was able to go at some of the downhill par 5s in two, but it's hard for me to judge if that is something caused by the course, the ball, or just the fact that sometimes 4 and 5 irons don't sit down. I had none of those problems with the middle and short irons as I was getting the one hop stop I prefer.

The next round was a different story. The weather was cool and a bit windy, as it had rained most of the day before. The course wasn't cart path only, but it was on the soft side, with the 3-4 low holes along the creek having standing water. We were the first ones out so I decided to also hit some shots with my Z-Star to give a little comparison. Unfortunately, for the most part my swing was trash on Friday. Driver was ok, but iron play was terrible, just hitting thins and big pulls with everything. But chipping was still ok, and I am thinking I actually like putting with the TP5 more than the Z-Star, but that's just a feel thing. Even with the bad swing, there was really only one difference I noticed between the balls - into the wind. If the hole was playing into the wind the Z-Star carried further and straighter. My ball flight is similar with both balls, so I don't think it was that the TP5 was ballooning on me or something like that. It may just be a difference in the cover or dimple pattern aerodynamics that help the Z-Star in windy conditions. But that was it for performance differences, so far.

I have a round scheduled for Sunday morning, so the swing will be back and I can post more results and comparisons.

 

Edited May 14 by DiscipleofPenick

[Josh Ross]

Congrats! I haven't played a TaylorMade ball since the Penta but I always hear great feedback on them, should be a fun test!

[sirchunksalot]

Congratulations testers! I'm looking forward to seeing how the new version of the TP5 line performs. 

[acatalano32]

 Congrats everyone! 
can someone tell me if Taylormade skips “4” on the golf ball? My box goes 1,2,3,5. In just curious to see if Taylormade does that for every dozen.

[Josh Parker]

Congrats Testers!  Looking forward to the results and see what everyone things on these!  

[Wheelieb]

Congrats testers. 

["Mr. 72"]

Congratulations! I received a free trial 4 pack of the TP5s from Dick's.  I'm a fan after several simulator shots I hit with a 7 iron. Great feeling ball.

[MattF]

Congratulations all!

[ParFore74x]

Congratulations testers, definitely looking forward to your thoughts on these! 

[Bad Golfer]

Congratulations Testers! Looking forward to see how you guys like these balls. I got a free 4 pack from Golf Galaxy to try out and didn't get a chance to hit them yet. Hopefully they live up to Taylormade's claims.

[Rob Person]

Congratulations all!  Hit em well!!!

[Willie T]

Congrats to the testers of the new TM TP5 series balls!  This should be a great one - as number Two in the ball realm tries to gain share on the other ball that begins with the letter “T”……hit ‘em well and hit ‘em far! 

[nvizble1]

ENJOY GUYS! 

[RohanVster]

Congratulation testers. Going to keep an eye on this one!

[Leonvdwesthuizen]

Congrats guys, this will be an interesting testing opportunity as the 2024 edition of TP5 & TP5X looks like they can seriously make a claim to dethrone that other ball..

Make us proud!

[CFreddie]

Congrats testers! Can’t wait to see these results!

[Automatik]

1 hour ago, acatalano32 said:

 Congrats everyone! 
can someone tell me if Taylormade skips “4” on the golf ball? My box goes 1,2,3,5. In just curious to see if Taylormade does that for every dozen.

It appears that way, same for my order of TP5 Pix and TP5X's in high vis yellow. 

[TJ Hall]

Congratulations testers!

[GolfSpy_BNG]

4 minutes ago, Automatik said:

It appears that way, same for my order of TP5 Pix and TP5X's in high vis yellow. 

 

2 hours ago, acatalano32 said:

 Congrats everyone! 
can someone tell me if Taylormade skips “4” on the golf ball? My box goes 1,2,3,5. In just curious to see if Taylormade does that for every dozen.

Yes taylormade skips 4 in the tp5 balls and uses 5 because of the 5 piece ball instead of 4. I believe they started it as soon as they came out with it

[GolfSpy_BNG]

Also congrats testers. When the big 3 come out with a new ball it always piques my interest. 

[Jeffrey Straface]

3 hours ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

Testers Announced!

It seems to be the year of new golf balls! We are certainly not complaining, though. With a few other major brands already putting up their new golf balls for member testing, we now have the opportunity to get the new TaylorMade TP5 and TP5X in the hands of our testers to see how they really perform.

What’s changed?

TaylorMade has completely revamped both their TP5  and TP5X models with a significant investment to the tune of $100 million for golf ball-related business. This investment went into several key areas, which included buying the Nassau ball plant in South Korea and huge investments in their golf ball R&D. Over the last three years, TaylorMade has built a new state-of-the-art indoor test range and completely remade its outdoor test area with Trackman units to capture performance data for every stage of ball flight.

As for the golf balls themselves, the TP5  and TP5X now have what TaylorMade calls “Speed-Wrap.” This is a new technology that TaylorMade claims produces “significantly faster with a better feel and a softer feel.” This is done by allowing the material to control the sound without affecting speed. As sound often directly relates to feel, the new TP5 and TP5X can be firmer golf balls without feeling or sounding firm.

Finally, the initial three layers are now progressively firmer, allowing them to “truly perform like completely different products.”

The bottom line is TaylorMade feels they have really upped their standards with their new golf ball lineup and want to make significant gains in the ever-competitive golf ball market. Being a distant third in market share to Callaway and the far-and-away leader Titleist, TaylorMade hopes the new TP5 and TPX will be their launchpad to further success.

Please welcome and congratulate our testers!

@OdinSnipes414 

@Wib081 

@ronnieg 

@Marlin Dave 

@MissionMan 

@DiscipleofPenick

Congrats!

[DaLammer]

Congrats testers!!  Can’t wait to see the results!!

[Stevew911]

Good morning golfers..way togo testers on the tp golf balls.hit em straight..

[TSauer]

Congratulations, testers! 

[Mike10487]

Congratulations on your selection to test! Should be interesting to see what changes and how these balls stack up.