best golf balls for better players

PXG Xtreme Tour, Xtreme Tour X golf balls

PXG’s newest golf balls were also made to be more durable and provide a better feel.

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Gear: PXG Xtreme Tour, Xtreme Tour X golf balls
Price: $49.99 per dozen
Specs: Three-piece, urethane-covered golf balls. Both balls are available in white, Xtreme Tour also in yellow.

Who it’s for: Golfers who want a soft feel, low spin off the tee and high spin around the green (Xtreme Tour); Faster-swinging players who want a firmer feel, maximum ball speed and higher spin with irons.

What you should know: Both the Xtreme Tour and the Xtreme Tour X are designed to deliver maximum spin around the green, but PXG’s newest golf balls were also made to be more durable and provide a better feel.

The deep dive: Parsons Xtreme Golf released its first golf ball, the Xtreme, in February 2023. At a price of $39.99 per dozen, they were made for golfers who wanted loads of greenside spin with solid distance off the tee. Two years and thousands of test shots later, the Scottsdale, Arizona-based equipment maker has two new balls that it is touting as more durable, softer-feeling and still long off the tee.

The new Xtreme Tour and Xtreme Tour X balls are both three-piece balls that have a large rubber, firm mantle layer and a soft urethane cover. However, the cover of the Xtreme Tour and Xtreme Tour X balls is thinner than the cover on the original Xtreme because, counterintuitively, it boosts durability. Balls that have a soft, thick cover can have the cover material compress against the grooves of wedges very easily, which can be great for spin but lead to ripping and sheering.

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PXG Extreme Tour X golf ball. (David Dusek/Golfweek)

According to PXG, the original Xtreme ball had a compression of 110, making it a very hard ball. By PXG’s measurement, the new Xtreme Tour is at 97, and the Xtreme Tour X is at 107, so both balls can still be thought of as firm, which is good for speed, but they are softer than PXG’s first ball.

Interestingly, the yellow version of the Xtreme Tour has a compression of 101, which puts it between the firmness levels of the white Xtreme Tour and Xtreme Tour X. The difference in compression is due to the additive that gives the yellow version its color.

To test the Xtreme Tour and Xtreme Tour X balls, PXG tested them using a robot at three different speeds using a driver and a 7-iron, then full-swing wedges shots and partial-swing wedge shots. In those tests, the Xtreme Tour and Xtreme Tour X both created slightly more ball speed off the tee with lower spin rates. They also produced a slightly higher launch angle but a lower peak height.

PXG Extreme Tour golf ball. (David Dusek/Golfweek)

The same relationship held with 7-iron shots as well, while on 60-yard pitch shots with a 56-degree wedge, the Xtreme Tour and Xtreme Tour X both produced nearly the same spin as the original Xtreme ball.

Compared to each other, the Xtreme Tour should feel softer than the Xtreme Tour X, fly slightly lower and spin marginally less. In PXG’s tests, the Xtreme Tour X created 0.5 mph more ball speed off the tee and about 2.5 yards more total distance, with nearly identical launch angles. The Xtreme Tour X also generated about 200 rpm more spin on wedge shots than the standard Xtreme Tour.

TaylorMade TP5 Stripe, TP5x Stripe golf balls

TaylorMade is bringing its 360 ClearPath Alignment Stripe to its most premium balls.

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Gear: TaylorMade TP5 Stripe, TP5x Stripe golf balls
Price: $57.99 per dozen
Specs: Five-piece, urethane-covered golf balls with a 360-degree, 22-millimeter stripe pattern
Available: NOW

Who it’s for: Golfers who want tour-level distance off the tee and spin around the green, along with a visual aid that helps with aim and putting performance.

What you should know: TaylorMade is bringing the 360 ClearPath Alignment Stripe, previously available only on Tour Response balls, to its most premium balls.

The deep dive: Golfers have been drawing a line on their ball and using it to aim putts for decades, and several manufacturers have printed thin lines on balls too. In early 2022, however, TaylorMade took things to another level with the introduction of the Tour Response Stripe. The ball features TaylorMade’s 360 ClearPath Alignment Stripe. At 22 millimeters in width, the bright yellow (TaylorMade calls it lime) stripe made it easy to aim down your intended target line. After you hit your putt, if the line rolled smoothly, you knew you had made a good stroke. If the line wobbled, it was a clear indication that you either pulled, blocked, or mis-hit your putt.

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The TaylorMade TP5 Stripe golf ball makes it easier to align and aim when you putt. (TaylorMade)

Now, TaylorMade is bringing a version of the 360 ClearPath Alignment Stripe to the balls that tour players like Rory McIlroy, Nelly Korda, Rickie Fowler and Collin Morikawa play—the TP5 and TP5x.

While the Tour Response Stripe is now available with a blue, red, orange, and light blue stripe, the new TP5 Stripe and TP5x Stripe are more subtle and are being offered with black-dot borders and a black line in the center that goes all the way around the ball. So instead of a bright-colored stripe, golfers who use this ball will see a white stripe in the center of a white ball. While fans of bright golf balls may be disappointed, this subtle introduction of the technology in TaylorMade’s tour balls will likely make it something traditional golfers are more willing to try.

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The TaylorMade TP5x Stripe golf ball. (TaylorMade)

From a performance standpoint, the TP5 Stripe and TP5x Stripe are identical to their non-striped counterparts.

The TP5 Stripe and TP5x Stripe are both five-layer balls that feature a three-layer core infused with an additive the company calls SpeedWrap. Developed by Dow Chemical, SpeedWrap changes the way the balls sound, allowing TaylorMade to elevate the compression for more speed without making the balls sound and feel too hard.

The TP5 should still feel softer than the TP5x because it has a lower overall compression. The TP5x should provide players with more speed with woods and long irons because it is firmer, and it will generate a higher launch angle too. The TP5, however, is designed to create slightly more spin than the TP5x with wedges.

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Bridgestone Tour B X, Tour B XS, Tour B RX and Tour B RXS golf balls

The 2024 Bridgestone Tou B balls provide distance off tee, spin around the green and come in four versions.

Gear: Bridgestone Tour B X, Tour B XS, Tour B RX and Tour B RXS golf balls
Price: $49.99 per dozen
Specs: Three-piece, urethane-covered golf balls in white and yellow
Available: February 16 (White and Tour B X TW), March 15 (Yellow X and RX

Who It’s For: Golfers who want more distance off the tee and tour-level greenside spin.

The Skinny: Bridgestone has modified the casing layer of the Tour B balls to help them generate more speed while complementing the unique urethane cover that provides more spin around the greens.

The Deep Dive: For golfers who may not be aware, Bridgestone has been making solid-core, urethane-covered golf balls as long as any brand in the industry, and the Nike golf ball that Tiger Woods used to win four consecutive majors (the Tiger Slam) was manufactured by Bridgestone. Nick Price won the British Open and PGA Championships using a Bridgestone ball, Nick Faldo won at Augusta National with a Bridgestone, and, more recently, Tiger won the 2019 Masters, and Bryson DeChambeau won at Winged Foot in 2020 using a Bridgestone ball.

Since 2020, the Japanese brand has focused on contact science, studying how different combinations of materials can enhance speed and distance off the tee while also providing more greenside spin and control for different types of players. The addition of impact modifiers to create the Reactiv cover of the 2020 Tour B X, Tour B XS, Tour B RX and Tour B RXS four years ago was the first fruit of that labor, followed by the ReactivIQ covers that were uniquely created for each ball in the 2022 Toru B lineup. Now, for 2024, Bridgestone is claiming it has taken another step toward creating the Holy Grail of golf balls by developing the new ReactivX system.

The ReactivX system is comprised of two parts: an Xclrnt mid-layer (pronounced accelerant) and a ReactivIQ urethane cover.

Instead of using multiple cores inside each of the four Tour B balls, Bridgestone has designed a gradational core that is very soft in the center and gradually gets firmer toward the perimeter. A firm mid-layer (mantle) is then applied over the core, but in the 2024 Tour B balls, that casing layer does a better job of transferring energy into ball speed.

The new Xclrnt mid-layer is also more dense, so golfers like Tiger and Jason Day, who started testing and using the ball in 2023, reported it has a lower, deeper sound at impact.

A ReactivIQ urethane cover encases the Xclrnt mid-layer, with the exact cover-material blend for each ball being slightly different. By using different combinations of impact modifiers, Bridgestone designers can make the urethane behave differently under different conditions. The cover behaves and feels firmer when hit with your longer, faster-swinging clubs like your driver and long irons but feels softer when you hit it with wedges.

Here is a breakdown of the four Tour B balls for 2024 and who each has been made for:

Titleist AVX golf balls (2024)

The new AVX provides more greenside spin without sacrificing its low spin and soft feel.

Gear: Titleist AVX golf balls (2024)
Price: $49.99 per dozen
Specs: Three-piece, urethane-covered golf balls. Available in White and Yellow.
Available: January 24

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Who It’s For: Golfers who want a softer feel, lower flight and less spin than a Pro V1 without sacrificing greenside spin.

The Skinny: The updated AVX has a new gradational core and a softer, thicker urethane cover to give it enhanced greenside spin, a lower flight and less spin with long irons.

The Deep Dive: With several premium golf balls in its portfolio, including the top-selling Pro V1 and Pro V1x (which do not change for 2024), Titleist designers and engineers were given very clear instructions when it came to developing an update to the AVX ball. The new alternative to the X and V ball needed to be longer from tee to green, but the bigger task was to make it feel softer while giving it more greenside spin.

To achieve those goals in the new 2024 AVX, Titleist started by making the gradational core – which is extremely soft in the center and gets progressively firmer toward the perimeter – slightly smaller. The 2022 AVX also had a gradational core, but the firmness change in the 2024 ball is more substantial, making it more like a multi-core construction in a single-core ball.

Titleist AVX 2024 — The Titleist AVX ball for 2024. (David Dusek/Golfweek)

A firm casing layer (which is the dark ring around the purple core in the photo above) covers the core. That firm material over the soft core is the key to effective energy transfer on wood and long-iron shots. The casing layer also helps to reduce spin when the ball is hit with a less-lofted, more-vertically-faced club like a driver, fairway wood or long iron. The result is more distance with lower spin off the tee and from the fairway with long clubs.

However, on short-iron shots and wedge shots, when the clubhead speed is lower and the impact is made with a more lofted club, the updated AVX’s softer urethane and thicker cover, which is on top of the firm casing layer, can easily be grabbed by the grooves to generate spin. The softer, thicker urethane cover also helps to make the AVX feel softer at impact, even though the ball’s overall compression (80) has not changed.

Knowing that Titleist wanted to keep the AVX’s playing relationship with its other balls about the same, designers knew they needed to give the 2024 AVX a low-spin dimple pattern, but they wanted it to be better than the pattern on the 2022 ball. Ultimately, they chose a quadrilateral dipyramid catenary design (say that five times fast!) that had previously been used in the two-piece, distance-oriented Tour Soft balls. On the 2024 AVX, the cover pattern makes it more stable in the wind.

So where does AVX fit into the Titleist golf ball stable?

AVX spins less off the tee than Pro V1 and Pro V1x
AVX should have a lower launch angle than Pro V1 and Pro V1x.
AVX will feel softer at impact than Pro V1 and Pro V1x.
While the new AVX should generate more greenside spin than its predecessor, the Pro V1 and Pro V1x will spin more around the green and with short irons.

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Wilson Staff Model, Staff Model X balls (2024)

Check out the new Wilson Staff Model and Staff Model X golf balls.

Gear: Wilson Staff Model, Staff Model X balls
Price: $54.99 per dozen
Specs: Four-piece, urethane-covered balls, available in white and yellow.
Available: January 12

Who It’s For: Golfers who want to maximize greenside spin around the green and get elite distance off the tee.

The Skinny: Wilson reformulated the cores of the Staff Model and Staff Model X balls to improve distance off the tee and spin around the green.

The Deep Dive: Wilson makes all the footballs used in the NFL and all the tennis balls used in the U.S. Open tennis championship, so you can trust that the brand knows a thing or two about making high-quality golf balls too.

Wilson offers the Staff Duo for recreational golfers who want a soft, low-spinning ball to help straighten a slice and hit more fairways. For golfers who are looking to enhance their game with improved greenside spin, it offers the perimeter-weighted Triad. For elite players who want distance off the tee and maximum control around the greens, it has provided the Staff Model balls, and for 2024, the standard Staff Model and the Staff Model X have been updated.

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The Staff Model and the Staff Model X are both four-piece balls designed with a large rubber core that is encased in two mantle layers. To help golfers generate more ball speed and distance, Wilson has modified the core composition and added material that magnifies energy on full-swing shots.

Wilson Staff Model golf balls 2024 — The cores of the Staff Model (left) and Staff Model X balls have been updated to provide more distance. (David Dusek/Golfweek)

The core of each ball is encased in a soft inner mantle that is, in turn, covered by a firmer second mantle layer and then a thin urethane cover. The advantage of the two-mantle design is the softer inner mantle helps to reduce spin off the tee, while the firmer mantle layer helps the grooves in wedges and short irons grab the soft urethane cover more easily, so golfers should be able to create more spin on approach shots, chips and pitches.

The standard Staff Model has a slightly lower overall compression, so it will feel softer at impact, spin slightly less off the tee, and produce a lower ball flight with a golfer’s driver and long clubs.

The Staff Model X will feel firmer, produce a higher flight off the tee and generate slightly more spin around the green. The Staff Model X also produces marginally more spin off the tee, so golfers who like to work the ball from right to left or left to right with their woods and irons may be able to do that more easily with the X ball.

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