Bridgestone returns to the North American club market with three new forged irons made for low- and mid-handicap golfers.
Gear: Bridgestone 220 MB, 221 CB, 222 CB+ irons Price: $1,050 with Nippon PRO Modus3 Tour 120 steel shafts (220 MB, 221 CB); $900 (222 CB+) with Nippon PRO 950 GH steel shafts. Specs: Forged stainless steel Available: December 2024
Who it’s for: Elite ball strikers, tour players and college golfers (220 MB); low single-digit handicap golfers seeking feel and control with a touch of forgiveness (221 CB); single-digit handicap players who want more height along with classic-iron looks.
What you should know: Bridgestone is reentering the iron and wedge market with forged offerings for accomplished golfers, ranging from a classic muscleback blade to a better-player’s cavity back to a dual-cavity iron for golfers with powerful, repeatable swings.
The deep dive: In North America, Bridgestone is best known as a leading golf ball brand and the maker of the Tour B X balls played by Tiger Woods. However, the Japanese company had stopped offering clubs in this market several years ago, focusing its club sales in Asia.
Now, Bridgestone is returning to the iron and wedge category with the launch of the 220 MB, 221 CB, and 222 CB+ irons, along with the BRM2 wedges.
Bridgestone 220 MB irons. (Bridgestone)
The 220 MB is a pure muscleback iron designed for players with powerful, repeatable swings. It prioritizes control and precision over power and forgiveness. The club features traditional lofts, with a 5-iron at 26 degrees and a pitching wedge at 46 degrees. Of the three models, the 220 MB has the thinnest topline, narrowest sole and least offset.
Bridgestone 221 CB irons. (Bridgestone)
The 221 CB offers a cavity-back design and, like the 220 MB, is forged from a single piece of stainless steel. Its 4-iron and 5-iron incorporate a dual pocket-cavity design that lowers the center of gravity, helping players hit higher, softer long-iron shots. The 6-iron through pitching wedge have varying center-of-gravity locations to optimize spin and improve control on approach shots.
Bridgestone 222 CB+ irons. (Bridgestone)
The 222 CB+ is the most forgiving of the three irons, featuring a dual pocket-cavity design throughout the set, not just in the long irons. This lowers the center of gravity and increases launch angles across all clubs. Bridgestone also added a slightly thicker area in the center of the face to soften feel. The 222 CB+ has a wider sole, which helps the irons glide more easily through the turf, particularly for players with steep swings.
Get the golfer in your life what they really want this holiday season, some high quality golf balls.
You can never go wrong with golf balls during the holiday season. Most amateur golfers run through them like breath mints, so grabbing a box or two for the golfer in your life this time of year is always a good idea.
We’ve searched the internet for some of our favorite golf balls from the game’s best brands. Some of those included in this holiday gift guide are Titleist, Callaway, Bridgestone and more.
Why you’ll love it: The PGA TOUR Superstore has Callaway’s Chrome Soft 360 Triple Track labeled as one of its gifts of the year, and for good reason. These balls are perfect for players who struggle to align their putts correctly on the greens.
Why you’ll love it: TaylorMade’s TP5x golf balls are another one of PGA TOUR Superstore’s top gifts and are used by the world’s best players, including Rory McIlroy.
Why you’ll love it: Vice is one of the most popular brands for amateur players. They perform almost as well as tour balls but come in at a much lower price. If you don’t love the drip pattern, this ball is also available in white.
[afflinkbutton text=”Shop Vice Golf Pro Air” link=”https://pga-tour-superstore.pxf.io/nX1107″]
Why you’ll love it: Another one of PGA TOUR Superstore’s top gifts for 2024, TaylorMade’s TP5x Stripe golf balls are perfect for players who want a little more help with alignment on the greens.
Why you’ll love it: If you want to make sure the golfer in your life can get through several rounds of golf without having to buy balls, this gift pack of two dozen Callaway Chrome Soft Triple Track balls should do the trick.
Check out some of the best Amazon Prime Day golf deals where the items on sale cost less than $50.
Amazon Prime Day is here again and it’s the perfect time to save some money on your next golf purchase. Whether you’re looking for a new club, some new apparel or anything in between, Amazon has some fantastic golf sales.
In this list, we’ve done the work for you. We’ve searched Amazon for some great deals on products under $50. We’ve included training aids, golf balls, accessories and more.
Save big on golf balls with Amazon Prime Big Deal Days including brands like Titleist, Callaway, Srixon and more.
One of the best days of the year to save some serious money is here: Amazon Prime Big Deal Days! And luckily for you, several golf brands are offering great sales on their products!
We’ve searched Amazon for the best deals on golf balls and found options from Bridgestone, Titleist, Callaway, Srixon and more!
Whether you like colorful golf balls, premium balls or anything in between, we’ve included it in this list.
The system can help develop a routine to turn your brain off when overthinking can get in the way.
It’s incredible how many things you can think about in the time it takes between starting your downswing and making contact with the ball. In reality, it’s only a fraction of a second, but you can notice the stretching of a golf cart’s tires two holes away, see subtle movement of a shadow near your ball and suddenly remember a tip you overhead in the clubhouse about swinging up on drives to get more distance. Before you finish your follow-through and spot the ball, you know it’s gone, sliced into the woods like three other brain-dead shots you’ve hit off the tee that day.
With the release of the Mindset pattern on its new Tour B family of golf balls for 2024, Bridgestone is trying to help golfers — both recreational players and elite competitors — adopt a system that can help them develop a routine to turn their brain off when overthinking can get in the way of hitting good shots.
Developed with the help of Jason Day and his mental-game coach, Jason Goldsmith, the Mindset pattern is comprised of three circles and a series of three small arrows, with each part of the pattern representing a step in the pre-shot process.
The large red circle represents the time before the shot when you consider things like the hole location, hazards, the wind direction and where you want to hit your next shots. Inside that circle is a smaller yellow circle, which represents the time when you want to envision what that shot will look like. If you have ever seen Jason Day on television closing his eyes for a few seconds before hitting, this is what he’s doing, imagining what hitting his desired shot will feel like and how it will look.
The Bridgestone Tour B Mindset ball is designed to help golfers improve their pre-shot process and quiet their thoughts as they play shots. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
After going through those steps, golfers should focus on the green dot in the pattern, the smallest circle, and stop thinking. The idea is you want to consider all of the analytical things that will go into an intelligent shot, allow your body and mind to think about what hitting that shot will be like, and then mentally get out of the way and let it happen.
“What Mindset is actually doing is trying to get the amateur prepared to hit the best possible shot they can hit,” Day said. “You’re setting up these steps for an amateur golfer to be able to perform from tee to green so much better.”
The arrows in the Mindset logo allow players to line up the ball on the greens before putts and use the logo as an alignment aid while also lining up the ball when they tee off.
Aside from the mindset side stamp, the Mindset golf balls are identical to the other just-released Bridgestone Tour B X, Tour B XS, Tour B RX and Tour B RXS balls, and if all of this feels a little too Kumbaya-inner-peace-zen for your taste, consider this: In testing with accomplished golfers, Bridgestone reports that golfers who were told about the Mindset process and used Mindset balls in a study averaged over 4 mph more ball speed and 12 yards more carry distance than when they used all-white golf balls. On the greens, golfers made five percent more putts using a Mindset ball than a black, all-white ball from 10 feet. The improved performance is attributed to golfers trusting the preparation process and then being more relaxed and free when they swing.
Bridgestone Tour B Mindset golf balls should be in stores starting February 16 for $49.99 per dozen.
“The ball fits my game extremely well, increasing my ball speed without sacrificing control.”
Lexi Thompson is the new face of Maxfli. The 11-time LPGA winner has signed an endorsement agreement with Maxfli for the 2024 season and will play the Maxfli Tour ball. She will also take part in a series of marketing campaigns for the brand.
The Maxfli Tour Series is sold exclusively at Dick’s Sporting Goods and Golf Galaxy for $39.99 per dozen.
“I’ve been testing the Maxfli Tour Series for a few months now, and the Maxfli Tour ball exceeded my expectations,” Thompson said in a release. “The ball fits my game extremely well, increasing my ball speed without sacrificing control. I’m excited to be joining forces with a brand that has such a longstanding, proven reputation for high-quality and performance.
Thompson begins her 13th season on the LPGA at this week’s Drive On LPGA Championship at Bradenton Country Club in her native Florida. Last season, Thompson’s game took a nosedive as she struggled with her ball-striking.
A new swing thought from new instructor Tony Ruggiero, however, turned things around in time for the Solheim Cup in Spain. After a 3-1-0 performance for Team USA, Thompson went on to tee it up on the PGA Tour for the first time at the Shriners Children’s Open, where she carded a second-round 69. Thompson averaged 301 yards off the tee over two rounds in Las Vegas and tied for 13th in driving accuracy against the men, hitting 20 of 28 fairways.
She was back.
“Lexi is a remarkable golfer, and I can’t think of a better player to have join the Maxfli family as an exclusive partner for the Maxfli golf balls,” said Aimee Watters, VP Vertical Brand Marketing, DICK’S Sporting Goods.
“Becoming only the seventh woman to compete in a PGA event is so impressive, and we know there is more to come! We feel honored to have Maxfli be a part of her journey and are confident that she will continue to break records, while using our Tour series ball on the course.”
Lexi Thompson will wear the Maxfli logo on her visor this season on the LPGA. (Photo: Courtesy Maxfli)
Thompson told Golfweek in Bradenton that she took one week off after the Grant Thornton Invitational and then got back to work.
“It’s definitely a big year with the Olympics and Solheim Cup,” said Thompson, who has a tattoo of the Olympic rings on her left wrist. “Anytime I can represent my country I want to be on those teams.”
Thompson also hired a new full-time caddie in Colton Heisey, who worked for her four times last season. Heisey, a six-year caddie veteran of the PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour, had previously worked for Thompson’s brother Curtis.
“We just make a great team,” said Thompson. “I just want somebody out here, obviously I depend on him a lot with numbers, don’t carry a yardage book, but big personality for me. To just keep me relaxed in between shots and have a good time.”
Heisey first caddied for Thompson at the Kroger Queen City Championship where she tied for 19th, her best finish of the season after eight missed cuts.
“She stripes it,” said Heisey. “It’s nice too because we’re the same age so we get along great. It’s refreshing for sure.”
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:
Take a look at how Tiger’s bag has evolved over the last 13 years.
At this point, every time Tiger Woods tees it up and competes, it becomes appointment television for golf lovers and sports fans around the world. It has been 27 years since Woods turned pro, but few celebrities or athletes have his star power, and it is fair to say that nearly every shot he has hit since he won the 1997 Masters has been photographed or captured on television.
Golf equipment lovers have always paid close attention to the gear Woods plays, from the days when his bag was filled with Mizuno irons and Cleveland wedges with a Ping putter, to today, with 13 TaylorMade clubs and his trusty Scotty Cameron putter.
Take a look at the gear the 15-time major winner has used since 2010.
Bridgestone has been named by the FIA as the tire supplier for the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship starting with the 2026-27 season that will mark the series’s revised GEN4 cars and continuing through 2030. The Japanese brand will replace …
Bridgestone has been named by the FIA as the tire supplier for the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship starting with the 2026-27 season that will mark the series’s revised GEN4 cars and continuing through 2030. The Japanese brand will replace Hankook as the all-electric series’ sole tire supplier.
Bridgestone intends to make its Formula E involvement a cornerstone of the company’s sustainable global motorsports strategy, helping it to continue to develop and refine sustainable technology and accelerate innovation to deliver value where it “produces” and “uses” tires, and then “renews” them to raw materials.
“Motorsports is Bridgestone’s passion. Always has been, and always will be. I am delighted to be able to announce our return to an FIA world championship this year as we celebrate the 60th anniversary of our motorsports activities,” said Shu Ishibashi, Global CEO and Representative Executive Officer, Bridgestone Corporation. “As we face our next stage, Bridgestone aims to evolve sustainable global premium motorsports products with our enduring passion to embrace the ultimate challenge and to pursue excellence in every moment. The core of our supply arrangement with the FIA will be the expansion and enhancement of ‘ENLITEN’ tire product technology, enabling ‘ultimate customization’ that we define our ‘new premium in the EV era.’”
Starting in 2028, golf’s governing bodies will change how golf balls will be tested for conformity to reduce the effects of distance in the sport (to learn how balls are tested, click here).
Nearly every golf ball being sold today – including the Titleist Pro V1, Callaway Chrome Soft, TaylorMade TP5, Bridgestone Tour B and Srixon Z-Star – would go too far and fail the new test. Balls that had previously been legal but failed the new test will be removed from the Conforming Ball list, making them illegal for official play starting Jan. 1, 2028.
The news produced quite a reaction from golf equipment companies, professional tours and their players. Here’s what they had to say about the USGA and R&A’s news of a golf ball rollback.
