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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: Aug. 29
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.
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.
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.