It’s easy to tell the difference between TaylorMade’s three premium new golf balls: just bounce them on your wedge. Each will make a different sound.

If that test was done with the previous version of TaylorMade’s Tour Preferred and Tour Preferred X golf balls, however, the sound, which golfers equate to feel, would be nearly identical.

Both the Tour Preferred and Tour Preferred X were previously 88-compression golf balls, but they had two different constructions. The four-piece Tour Preferred was designed to give golfers more iron spin to help them stop approach shots more quickly on the green, while the five-piece Tour Preferred offered less iron spin for more distance. Off the tee and around the greens, the performance of the two balls was relatively the same.

“We wanted to make the differences more noticeable,” said Eric Loper, TaylorMade’s director of golf ball R&D. “One way to do that is to make the golf balls feel different.”

Loper and his team conducted a study with TaylorMade’s PGA Tour Staff players and found that they were much less sensitive to the feel of a golf ball than its performance.

“[PGA Tour players] are more focused on, ‘How is that ball going to perform as it comes off the face and lands on the green?'” Loper said. “But as you go out and work with consumers, you find that they are much more focused on feel.”

Users of TaylorMade’s Tour Preferred X include four of the top 11-ranked golfers in the world: Jason Day (No. 1), Justin Rose, Dustin Johnson and Sergio Garcia, each of which said they’ve been happy with the performance of the Tour Preferred X from tee to green.

“The TaylorMade ball surprises people,” Justin Rose said. “The last two Ryder Cups, we’ve played my ball [in alternate shot].”

On each golfer’s wish list was more spin on shots around the greens, however, which TaylorMade achieved with a small tweak. The Soft Tech cast urethane cover of the ball was made slightly thicker — from 0.030 to 0.035 of an inch — and the adjacent layer was made thinner by the same amount. It sounds like a simple change, but it took more than 43 prototypes to perfect, according to Loper.

“YOU CAN HIT THAT LOW SHOT AROUND THE GREENS WAY EASIER NOW,” DUSTIN JOHNSON SAID. “IT TAKES TWO HOPS, AND THEN BOOP.”

TaylorMade made more substantial changes to the Tour Preferred. It’s still a four-piece golf ball, but the compression has been reduced — from 88 to 80. That’s thanks to a new inner mantle layer, which surrounds the core of the golf ball. It’s called Speed Mantle 2, and boasts 65 percent more flexibility.

“It offers the same speed of the original Speed Mantle, but is that much softer,” Loper said.

Like the previous Tour Preferred, the ball will appeal to golfers who need more spin from their iron shots, and now a much larger crowd — golfers who prefer a softer feel.

The Tour Preferred and Tour Preferred X will sell for $47.99 per dozen when they arrive in stores on November 6.

Project A

Unlike the Tour Preferred and Tour Preferred X golf balls, the Project A is designed for golfers with average clubhead speeds. A TaylorMade study revealed that from 150 yards, amateurs with handicaps of 10-24 missed the green by an average of 35 yards. For that reason, the Project A was given the same cast urethane cover as the Tour Preferred and Tour Preferred X, which will give average golfers the maximum amount of greenside spin to enhance their chances of getting up and down.

“[All three balls] will have about the same spin off the tee,” Loper said. “Where you will see the difference between the three balls is with the irons,” Loper said. “The Project A has the highest iron spin, the Tour Preferred is in the middle and the Tour Preferred X has the least iron spin. Around the greens, the balls will perform about the same.”

Like the Tour Preferred, TaylorMade’s Project A golf ball will resonate with golfers who prefer a softer feel. TaylorMade developed a new, softer core for the ball, which uses special additives that allowed the compression to be dropped from 86 to 70 without compromising distance.

The Project A will be in stores on November 6 and sell for $34.99 per dozen. 

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