Equipment

TaylorMade Tour Prototype Golf Ball — Project 5

Published

14 years ago

Sep 5, 2012

TaylorMade has started its prototype process for a new tour ball, calling it ‘Project 5’ for now.

This is the tour prototype golf ball that TaylorMade Golf Tour Staff Professional Justin Rose put into play at the Deutsche Bank Championship.

Prior to the start of the tourney at TPC Boston, Dean Snell, TaylorMade VP of Research and Development was on-site to test the new prototype ball. Rose put the new ball in play for 9 holes and was longer that the current model he was using.

Rose said, “This is what I’m looking for. Balls are staying on line so much better and carrying out longer.”

He liked it so much, he asked if he could play that week in Boston. He played 18 holes in the Pro-Am with the ‘Project 5’ and came back to Dean and said “I don’t how you did it, but outstanding work.”

Dean says “This is the first time in 24 years on tour for me that a player wanted to play a new ball that same day as proto testing. I called the plant, had 4 dozen overnighted and brought them back to him Thursday for the start of the tourney.”

We’ll have to see what the ball is called when it comes to production. Of course the TaylorMade prototype ball can’y just be put into play without USGA approval first, so this has likely been in development for a while. Some screen grabs from the USGA’s approved list are attached.

What do you think, current Penta and Non-Penta users? Click here to discuss in the GolfWRX forums.

Related Topics:golf balls TaylorMade

Up Next

Limited Edition True Temper Ryder Cup Shafts

Don't Miss

Five new Odyssey putters spotted on Tour

Rob Miller

11 Comments

mike

Dec 22, 2012 at 12:11 am

OK, I got up enough nerve to use the ball Darren Clarke’s caddie gave me. I didn’t pull it out my bag until the 16th hole because I was spraying my drives all day on a course that has a lot of trouble off the tee. I tee’d it up on a short par 4 with no water trouble. I usually hit my drives with around 230 yds of fly with little to no roll out. The tee shot flew out about 240 with no roll because of the terrain. Very soft coming off the club face. Hit a PW to 6 feet from the pin. Stuck like a dart to the green. Made my straight uphill putt for bird. Both the wedge and the putt very soft off the club face. Put the ball away for 17, because I usually block my drives into the jungle on that hole, which I did again. Took it out again on 18. long par 5. Ripped my drive about 270 with good roll out. Didin’t cautch my 3-wood clean and ending up in a bunker 110 from the green. Hit the green with a 9-iron on and sunk an 80-foot putt for bird. Used the ball on 2 holes and got my only 2 birdies that day. I wish I had a dozen of these balls so I could play a full round with them. Makes me wonder if what you hear is true that golf equipment manufacturers make one set of products for pros and another for us ameteurs.

Reply Report comment
mike

Dec 10, 2012 at 12:49 am

Darren Clarke’s caddie gave me a Project 5 ball yesterday at the Thailand Golf Championship where I marshalled the 3-ball he was in. Darren was obviously playing this ball that day. He was just as long off the tee as Hunter Mahan and Chapchai Nirat at over 300 yds. These 2 guys are 10+ years his junior. I’m going to play a round with it soon and I’ll post my opinion of the ball. The dimpling pattern is almost identical to the Titleist ProV1x but the ridges around the dimples are a little crisper.

Reply Report comment
Johnny

Oct 30, 2012 at 11:40 pm

Looks like Callaway Hex Golf Ball Pattern.

Reply Report comment
Andrew

Oct 17, 2012 at 10:21 pm

I have this golf ball. Justin gave me one. Its pretty sick

Reply Report comment
Elliott

Oct 9, 2012 at 10:40 pm

Looking forward to winning golf tournaments with it.

Reply Report comment
Danny

Sep 14, 2012 at 11:38 am

cant wait to game this ball!!!

Reply Report comment
Brody

Sep 11, 2012 at 10:15 am

This is to be the “Rocket Fuel”, right?

Reply Report comment
mmontisano

Sep 6, 2012 at 1:12 am

finally a seamless ball from TM!

Reply Report comment
Mike

Sep 5, 2012 at 7:42 pm

or maybe the Royal Plus 6 from eons ago!

Reply Report comment
Homer

Sep 5, 2012 at 5:32 pm

Looks like Callaway’s Hex Black Tour

Reply Report comment
Bryan

Sep 5, 2012 at 4:18 pm

Blah blah blah… 3 months repeat story.

Reply Report comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Equipment

Slab city on the Korn Ferry Tour — Lead Tape Report

Published

4 hours ago

Jun 10, 2026

Andrew Von Lossow

This week, we have our Tour Photographer, Greg Moore, on the ground at the OccuNet Classic at Tascosa Golf Club in Amarillo, Texas, for the 14th event of the 2026 Korn Ferry Tour season. With that, we see some great things in the Lead Tape Report as we roll into Amarillo.

Joel Thelen

Monday Qualifier, Joel Thelen is in the field this week. He has played on the Korn Ferry Tour for a full season in 2023, and he is back in action this week. A couple of clubs caught my eye this week in his bag.

First off: His trusted Titleist 816 H2 hybrid. This club came out in October of 2015, and it still remains strong in the bag. Also, take a look at this Odyssey White Hot OG 7, putting a capital S in the 7S model. This custom neck has some impressive lean for an arm-lock-style putter. The bottom of the putter is covered in tape for optimal weighting.

Mitchell Meissner

Taking a look at Mitchell Meissner’s bag this week, we have some great lead tape coverage. Top to bottom working from fairway metals, irons, and wedges. We can see on the short irons and wedges that there is tape at the base of the grip, adding a little counterbalance. Along with that, some tape on the short irons and wedges as well. Moving to his putter, he rolls the Odyssey 7 Bird putter. Meissner putts left-handed and strikes the ball right-handed.

Whats in the Bag

Bud Cauley WITB 2026 (June)

Published

4 hours ago

Jun 10, 2026

Will Schube

Bud Cauley had >14 clubs in his bag when photographed prior to the Memorial Tournament.

Driver: Titleist GTS2 (8 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X

3-wood: Titleist GTS3 (15 degrees, B1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Chemical Tensei 1K Pro Red 70 TX

7-wood: Titleist GTS3 (21 degrees, D1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Chemical Tensei 1K Pro Red 80 TX

Irons: Titleist U505 (3), Titleist 620 MB (4-9)
Shafts: Fujikura Ventus Black HB 8 X, True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM11 (48-10F, 52-12F, 56-14F), WedgeWorks (60-K*)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400

Putters: Scotty Cameron Tour Prototype, Scotty Cameron GOLO 6.3 Prototype

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Align

Ball: Titleist Pro V1

See more in-hand photos of Bud Cauley’s clubs here.

Equipment

Name every set of irons you’ve owned – GolfWRXers discuss

Published

4 hours ago

Jun 10, 2026

Will Schube

In our forums, one user has offered up a prompt for the true sickos, inviting fellow forum members to share every set of irons they’ve ever owned. As to be expected, this is a lengthy forum topic.

@Lamosteve began:

Can you name every set of irons you’ve owned? Here’s mine

Spalding Dots
Spalding Eclipse
Ram Lazer FX
Lynx Parallax
Mizuno EZ Comp
Ben Hogans
Cleveland CG Red
Taylor Made R9s
PING i20
PING iE1
Taylor Made M6

Our members in the forum have been offering up their own collections. Here are a few posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.

macedan: “Started with a hand-me-down Golden Bear set from my brother when I was in high school, never really played more than once a year or got into the game until about summer of 2017. First purchased a set of Cleveland CG4’s (I actually really miss this set sometimes, soft & not terribly large for a GI iron), moved into Nike Vapor Fly’s by the end of the year. Those lasted until spring of 18 when I decided I wanted new, so I traded them in for TM Rbladez. Honestly, although I liked the Rbladez, poor decision on my part, I think this was really about the only time so far that after a week or two I was kicking myself for not staying with what I had. Rbladez stayed with me until late last summer when I switched to P790’s and (knock on wood) I am hoping this will be my longest lasting set.”
JimmyC59: “MacGregor Jack Nicklaus Triple Crown. Palmer The Standard. Still play these.”
jgrzask: “Tommy Armour 845u
Mizuno MP-32
Mizuno MP-33 (2 sets)
Bridgestone J33cb – still own
Srixon i-302 (2 sets) – still own
Tourstage X-Blades – still own
Mizuno Hot Metal – still own
Nike Forged Blades – still own
Titleist 714 AP1 – still own
Cobra Forged SS – still own”

Entire Thread: “Name every set of irons you’ve owned.”