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Why are the new balls branded TaylorMade® and not Maxfli®?
TaylorMade is recognized as the best performance brand in the world. It’s synonymous with innovation and the highest possible performance. Our metalwoods, hybrids, irons and putters are second to none. Likewise, our new ball delivers a higher level of tour-caliber performance than any ball currently on the market. Because of that we’ve branded it TaylorMade TP.
What does TP stand for?
Tour Preferred®. TaylorMade’s Tour Preferred line of golf equipment is made for, and with input from, some of the finest players in the world, and is built for meet the requirements of tour professionals and players who swing like them.
Who is currently playing the TaylorMade TP Red and TP Black on Tour?
Sergio Garcia, Hale Irwin, Justin Rose, J.L. Lewis, James Driscoll and Robert Damron.
What convinced the above-mentioned tour pros to switch balls?
Four key reasons.
1) The boost in ball speed that the TP Red and TP Black deliver, which gave them more distance. That alone made a big impact, especially now, with distance at an all-time premium on the PGA Tour.
2) The exceptional distance-consistency off the irons, a product of the dimple design and dimple pattern.
3) The tremendously stable and penetrating trajectory especially in the wind, also due to the advanced dimple design and pattern.
4) The exceptional spin off the short irons and around the green, which is consistent with what’s delivered by other competitive tour balls.
Have pros demonstrated a preference toward the TP Red or TP Black?
Among the tour pros and club professionals that we’ve furnished with both balls for trial, the split has
been about 50-50.
When Sergio joined TaylorMade-adidas four years ago it was announced he would play a Maxfli ball. Why did it take so long to get him to consistently change his ball?
Very simply, we hadn’t been able to create a ball that Sergio was comfortable playing. During the three years that have passed since Sergio joined the TaylorMade Tour Staff, he’s been our golf ball department’s biggest critic. Now, since the creation of the TP Red (his choice), he’s their biggest fan.
Why did Sergio choose the TP Red over the TP Black?
Sergio generates a lot of driver-spin for a tour pro, which makes him something of an anomaly. He needs a ball that helps minimize his spin to keep his trajectory lower and more penetrating. The TP Red does that. He’s been very pleased with the overall performance, especially in terms of distance. His five longest drives from the first two-and-half months of this year average 11 yards longer than his longest five drives the entire 2005 season. Plus, he’s hit two drives this year longer than 400 yards. There’s no doubt in Sergio’s mind, and the stats prove it, that he’s getting a lot more distance with the TP Red than with his previous ball.
Why isn’t John Daly playing the TP Red or TP Black?
John’s swing characteristics naturally generate a lower-than-optimal spin-rate off the driver, yet he prefers a high, long-carrying ball flight. That’s why he’s playing the BlackMAX, because its firmer core generates more spin off the driver, which helps keep the ball in the air longer, giving him more carry and more distance.
What’s the performance story?
We wanted to build a pair of tour-quality urethane-covered balls, called the TP Red and TP Black, which were faster and longer than any other on the market, while offering the same kind of spin qualities. Our journey to make that happen involves not just one performance story, but several.
To make the TP Red and TP Black faster and longer we had to find a faster core material and we had to develop improved aerodynamics. To appeal to the needs of a wider group of players, the TP Black had to spin low off the driver and launch high off every club, while the TP Red had to spin low off the driver and launch lower off the irons. And despite the TP label, we wanted even average players with slower swing speeds to be able to reap the speed and distance benefits of the TP Red and TP Black. We made both balls go fast and spin low off the driver with a new high-COR/low-compression core material called NdV4. We made both balls stay in the air longer for greater carry and distance with our advanced PDP dimple design, which also gives both balls great stability in the wind and great yardage consistency from club to club and from shot to shot.
To make the TP Black launch high off every club we gave it a smaller core-diameter and made the multiblend ionomer mantle thicker. To make the TP Red launch lower off all clubs we gave it a larger corediameter and a thinner multi-blend ionomer mantle. (The Black’s smaller core/thicker mantle combination also contributes to its slightly lower driver spin compared to the Red.)
To permit average players with slower swings to access the speed and distance benefits of each ball we chose a high-COR mantle compound. Thus the TP Red and TP Black’s distance-enhancing benefits start in the mantle and extend to the core, making them easier to access by slower swingers. Finally, we made both balls spin exceedingly well off the irons and around the greens by employing our proprietary, ultra-thin thermoset urethane cover, which also promotes soft feel and delivers superior durability.
What sets the TP Red and Black apart from other tour-type golf balls?
Very simply, the key difference is speed. Both balls employ a new core material called NdV4 that combines a higher COR with a low compression. The NdV4 core works in conjunction with the multi-blend ionomer mantle to boost ball speed. Every tour pro and club professional we tested the ball with reaped a least one or two mph extra, while some gained as much as 4 mph. At the same time the cast thermoset urethane cover feels great and works with the mantle to promote terrific response and spin off the short irons, both on approaches and around the green. This combination of speed and spin is why we like to say that the TP Red and TP Black are “built for speed yet handle with ease.”
How long did the TP Red and TP Black take to develop?
TaylorMade’s Chief Technical Officer Benoit Vincent and Senior Direct of Golf Ball R&D Dean Snell started work on what would eventually become the TP Red and Black more than three-and- a-half-yearsago. What’s the breakdown in terms of components?
The TP Red and TP Black are both three-piece balls consisting of a core, mantle and urethane cover.
What generates the TP Red and Black’s exceptional distance?
Two things, the NdV4 core and the PDP dimple pattern.
What makes the NdV4 core special?
It combines remarkably high COR, which equals ball speed, with remarkably low compression, which helps minimize spin off the driver while contributing to soft sound and feel.
What does NdV4 stand for?
NdV4 is a neodymium catalyst which produces an advanced rubber formulation that has high elasticity
and results in a core that combines high COR with low compression.
What function does the multi-blend ionomer mantle serve?
The multi-blend ionomer mantle fulfills two crucial functions. One, it helps regulate each ball’s launch angle off both the driver and the irons. Two, its high-COR compound works with the core to boost ball velocity, making the high-speed qualities built into each model accessible to not just higher swing speeds but average swing speeds, as well.
What’s special about the PDP dimple design?
A golf ball’s aerodynamics promote “lift,” to get the ball in the air, but “drag” slows the ball down. You need to strike the proper ratio between both to achieve optimum trajectory and carry to maximize distance. We recognized that many competitors’ balls don’t have aerodynamics that compliment low driver-spin. Their problem is too much drag, which causes the ball to drop from the sky too quickly. The PDP dimple, thanks to its carefully designed combination of shape, size, depth and edging, delivers a ratio of lift and drag that works with the TP Red and TP Black’s low driver-spin qualities to promote greater hang-time. That extends the back-half of ball flight, equaling longer carry and increased distance.
What’s special about the urethane cover?
There are two types of urethanes, thermoplastic and thermoset. The TP Red and TP Black each incorporate a thermoset urethane cover, which we feel is superior to thermoplastic. Thermoplastic urethane is heated and injection-molded into the form of the cover, where it cools and turns into a solid. It can be reheated and cooled again and again. Thermoset urethane is created by mixing numerous ingredients that react chemically, generating heat and combining to create a new material that’s stronger than the sum of its parts. It cannot be reheated and reused like thermoplastic. Thermoset urethane is more durable and resistant to the shearing that’s often inflicted on the cover by square-grooved wedges. In other words, if both types of covers are created to an equal level of softness, the thermoset urethane will be more durable and shear-resistant than the thermoplastic urethane. TaylorMade’s proprietary and patented thermoset urethane cover delivers a tour-caliber blend of spin, soft feel and superior durability. We believe it makes for the best-performing, best-feeling, most durable urethane cover you’ll find.
What are the key differences between the TP Red and TP Black?
The TP Red features a larger core and thinner mantle compared to the Black’s smaller core and thicker mantle. The Red’s larger core/thin mantle combination promotes a lower launch angle for more control and a slightly softer sound and feel. The Black’s smaller core/thick mantle combination promotes a higher launch angle with all clubs and a lower spin off the driver for more carry and distance, plus a slightly firmer sound and feel.
What is the core diameter and mantle thickness of each ball?
The Red’s core is 1.510” in diameter and .055” thick; the Black’s core is 1.480” in diameter and .070”
thick.
What makes the Red feel softer than the Black?
The Red’s thinner mantle gives it a slightly softer feel and sound compared to the Black.
What allows the Black to promote a higher launch angle than the Red?
The Black’s thicker mantle allows it to slide up the face slightly at impact, promoting a higher launch angle off all clubs and slightly lower spin off the driver, equaling increased carry and distance.
Why two TP balls instead of one?
We’re offering two balls in order to appeal to a wider range of performance and to appeal to a wider audience of players. It’s already proven a useful strategy as the breakdown among tour pros and club professionals using the ball is about 50/50 Red to Black. The same strategy has proven successful for Titleist with the Pro V1 and Pro V1x, and Callaway with the HX and HX Tour, and Bridgestone with the B330 and B330S.
What are the ideal driver launch conditions with driver that the TP Red and Black can help players
achieve?
It varies from tour pros and highly skilled players to average players. We define ideal driver launch conditions on the tour level, where ball speed is in the neighborhood of 170 mph, as a launch angle ranging from 11 degrees to 13 degrees and a spin-rate ranging from 2,500 rpm to 2,900 rpm. Average players should strive for a launch angle of 12 to 15 degrees and a spin-rate of 2,800 to 3,300 to optimize distance.
What is the optimum swing speed necessary to get the most out of these golf balls?
Anywhere from 60 mph and above.
Can you “seam” the Red or Black for more distance off the tee?
No, you’ll achieve the same initial ball speed and launch conditions no matter how you orient the Red or Black on the tee, whether the seam is aligned horizontally or not.
Are the Red and Black “seam-stamped”?
Yes, the TaylorMade logo is stamped horizontally on the seam of both the Red and Black. We’re doing this at the request of players who prefer to align the seam with the target-line when putting. Many such players find it distracting when the logo is stamped either perpendicular or at an angle to the seam.
What’s the difference between the BlackMAX and TP Red and TP Black?
The TP Red and TP Black have a new, faster core formulation and a new dimple design that promotes longer carry. They also use a new paint system and feature a new side-stamp orientation. The TP Black has a thicker, multi-blend ionomer mantle. Performance-wise, BlackMAX promotes a lower launch angle, more spin and a higher peak trajectory.
Can you build upon the technologies employed in the TP Red and TP Black to create even better
balls?
Dean Snell, TaylorMade-Maxfli senior director of golf ball R&D, is confident that additional breakthrough technologies lie ahead, thanks to the investment that TaylorMade-adidas has made during the past five years in R&D staff, product development assets and resources, and a patent portfolio. The TP Red and TP Black should prove the first in a long line of successful, high-performing golf balls that bear theTaylorMade brand.
TaylorMade’s TP series of golf clubs are engineered for tour players and strong amateur players.
Do you have to be that type of player to get the most out of the TP Red and Black?
TaylorMade’s TP clubs are indeed less forgiving and harder to launch for average players. However, average players can able to enjoy many of the performance benefits of the new TP Red and TP Black because the ball speed that both are engineered to promote is a function of the collaboration of the firm multi-blend ionomer mantle and soft-yet-fast core, not the core alone, making their speed-producing capabilities accessible to even slower swingers.
What is the MSRP for a dozen TP balls, and when will they become available at retail?
The TP Red and TP Black each carry the same manufacturer’s suggested retail price for a dozen, $55.
Availability at retail is scheduled to begin on May 19th.
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