The chase continues at TaylorMade Golf. Like many of the big-name golf manufacturers, they are all in pursuit of a giant competitor that has dominated the premium golf ball space for some time. Marketing alone does not win that war, or even chalk up a battle victory, it requires a product that performs better and that players can learn to trust. That’s how you build the loyalty that translates from the pros down to the everyday golfer.
TaylorMade is four generations into their TP5 golf ball project now, and with each iteration, upgrades have been incremental. Low handicap golfers, the real barometer in this market, have gone from hesitant to enthusiastic about the product. That’s been a big step. The 2024 edition of the TP5 and TP5X golf balls, along with the graphically enhanced TP5/TP5x pix, may just slipped the past the stairs and onto the elevator for some golfers.
Here’s why. In my opinion.
Golfers like speed. They like distance. They like a golf ball that delivers both of these. But it comes with a caveat. A barrier, if you will.
That roadblock is sound. Which, in golf, translates to feel. The tone you hear with the impact of a golf club face and a ball is an auditory cue that the golfer perceives as feel (remember, we’re not down squeezing the ball with our hands in golf).
TaylorMade staffers know this and that’s why they got to work, providing an all-new acoustic profile for their top golf balls, courtesy of what they call a “Speed Wrapped Core.” The goal being to have a fast but soft golf ball. The results if a TP5X that is their fastest one yet, and a TP5 that is their softest version to date, while blending in the other performance characteristics.
“Our learnings from countless player and Tour tests show that golfers, unsurprisingly, favor a softer more muted sound with added distance,” says Michael Fox, Michael Fox, Senior Director of Product Creation, Golf Balls for TaylorMade. “Historically, the challenge has been the inability to improve one without negatively impacting the other. With this understanding, we’ve evolved our golf ball design process by uniquely decoupling feel and speed through material advancement, a complete departure from the conventional. The material-level advancement positions our TP5/TP5x family as having the best feel in the industry with faster constructions.”
Being five-layer golf balls there is plenty of opportunity to vary up materials within the TP5 family, and the engineering team at worked to squeeze the most out of them. The progressive layers blend variable stiffness in the core and mantle layers to help derive lower spin rates on drivers and long irons, while boosting spin control on wedges.
This past December we had our first chance to test the new balls, and the results were promising. It normally takes a wide variety of tests under various conditions (indoor, outdoor, long clubs, short clubs, putting) to find a noticeable difference in new models (from all brands) but that was not the case in the 2024 TP5. In just a few swings it was clear that the sound and feel of the new golf balls was “denser” than past models, while not compromising ball speed.
We have continued that testing indoors and the opinion remains true. To be fair we have yet to test aerodynamics outdoors but we did work with a PGA TOUR AMERICAS member who not only agreed with our indoor results, but verified that the outdoor performance was consistent with the sound aspect, while experiencing a strong speed profile. (Mostly testing TP5x).
We’ll continue with more testing and will share any meaningful results on our social media channels. (X, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube).
For those seeking a golf ball with the TP5 and TP5x performance but more visual cues, pix models are also seeing some upgrades for 2024.
They still sport the all-over print visual tech but the new models have been enchanced with a longer centreline and richer colour contrast.
As the company explains, the changes were consumer-driven. “In response to consumer and Tour feedback, the new pix graphic has shifted from a “motion” triangle to a diamond shape and has been rearranged with a more centralized orange colour palate. This adjustment adds more colour and strategically moves black elements away from the centreline, enhancing visibility and making alignment even more user-friendly.”
Expect the visual additions to TaylorMade golf balls to have a bigger presence in 2024. Their TP5 pix limited edition program will be expanded. Not only will their special offerings but their MySymbol collection will see a significant boost with fresh personalized logo options and an exciting array of 20 retail-exclusive designs.
Team TaylorMade athletes will also get in on the action, showcasing their own MySymbol designs on tour.
Pricing & Availability
The 2024 TP5 and TP5x will be available at retail Feb. 15, 2024 at an MSRP of $72.99 CAD per dozen. The new TP5/TP5x pix and TP5/TP5x Yellow will also be available at an MSRP of $72.99 CAD per dozen.
