Gear: Srixon Q-Star Tour, Q-Star Tour Divide golf balls
Price: $39.99 per dozen
Specs: Three-piece, urethane-covered ball with 74 compression. Available in white, yellow and two-color Divide versions in yellow-blue, yellow/red and yellow/orange.
Available: Jan. 11
Who They’re For: Moderate- and slower-swinging golfers who want distance off the tee and extra spin around the green.
The Skinny: By modifying the core, updating the dimple pattern to improve aerodynamics and softening the cover, Srixon’s updated Q-Star Tour ball aims to provide soft feel, solid distance and more spin around the greens for recreational golfers.
The Deep Dive: When a pro golfer like Brooks Koepka or Keegan Bradley hits a shot, it stays hit. These major winners generate elite levels of clubhead speed, and they strike tee shots and iron shots solidly almost every time. When it comes to a golf ball, they demand something that can handle their speed and maximize their skills.
Recreational golfers, however, don’t typically generate a clubhead speed of 120 mph, and the firm balls elite golfers gravitate to often feel too hard for players who shoot in the 80s, 90s, and 100s. Instead, weekend players want a soft-feeling ball that provides distance off the tee and spin around the greens, and with the fifth generation of the Q-Star Tour, that is what Srixon aims to deliver.
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Srixon has made three significant changes to the Q-Star Tour for 2024, starting with the core, which is gradational. The core, which Srixon calls a Fast Layer Core, transitions from soft in the center to firmer around the outside. This design allows the Q-Star Tour to behave like a multi-core ball and transfer energy from a moderate swing to the center more efficiently.
The core is encased in a firm mantle layer, which in turn is encased by a soft, ultra-thin urethane cover. Srixon used a softer urethane in this generation of the Q-Star Tour, so the grooves in wedges and short irons should be able to grab it more effectively and generate more spin on greenside shots and on shots hit with scoring clubs.
To further enhance spin around the green, Srixon applies a unique coating called Spin Skin to each ball. It gives the Q-Star Tour a slightly rubbery feel and does not affect tee or iron shots. On shortgame and wedge shots, however, the coating amplifies the friction between the grooves and the urethane cover.
Finally, the cover has been designed with a new 338-dimple pattern that is more aerodynamic, produces less drag and encourages lift. That combination of high launch, less drag and more ball speed should result in more overall distance for recreational players.
In addition to traditional white and yellow, the Q-Star Tour is available in three Divide combinations. The Divide balls have yellow on one half of the ball and another color (red, orange or blue) on the other. The Divide design can be used as an alignment aid while putting and also shows how much spin the ball has on short-game shots. Many golfers also use Divide balls as training aids to hone their putting stroke.
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