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WRX Spotlight: Bridgestone Tour B X and XS Golf Balls

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What Brigestone tells us: Both the Tour BX and XS models have REACTIV cover technology, which according to Bridgestone:

“REACTIV is a smart Urethane that acts as an ‘impact modifier’ to deliver a shock absorbing cover on slow impact shots for more spin and control (wedge) – and high resilience on high impact shots for more power and distance (drive). The cover reacts differently depending on the force of the impact.”

In a demonstration at the PGA Show, Bridgestone’s Elliot Mellow showed us in simple terms what the REACTIV tech does. When you hit it hard like with a driver, it firms up, and on a softer shot like a wedge it stabilizes adding up to a softer feel. Keep in mind that Tiger Woods himself is their point of reference for R&D, so something good is going on here.

What Each Ball Does

TOUR B X: For driver swings over 105 MPH. High speed, low spin off the driver and plenty of spin off of the wedges.

TOUR B XS: For driver swings over 105 MPH. High Speed, lower Spin off the driver, and probably more spin off the short clubs than any ball out there.

Bridgestone V Fitting System: We experienced this at the show, and I must say it’s pretty solid as far as a quick ball testing goes. A Bridgestone rep, authorized fitter or even a friend can record one driver swing on a phone camera, submit the swing and launch data to an offsite Bridgestone ball fitter and based on that one swing will give you the recommendation. Doesn’t seem like an exact science but Bridgestone attests that it’s within a few percentage points vs a full on-site fitting.

Overall Thoughts

I have been in a Titleist Pro V1x for years and am just now truly messing around with other brands to see what’s out there. Both of these balls perform. Even representatives at other companies admit that Bridgestone consistently is one of the best, so my expectations were high.

The Tour BX is the ball I thought would be more my speed, it’s great off the driver and serviceable around the greens (maybe a touch less spin than my Pro V1x), but after getting the XS in my hands, especially from 150 and in, it was a no brainer. Around the greens (60 yards and in) it reminds me of a tick or two above a balata and its very easy to keep down into the wind.

Off the driver, I’m giving up very little. I maybe get 150-200 RPM more spin, which for me, is welcome and it’s also very stable into a crosswind. All in all, if you are looking around for a new golf ball this season, definitely give this one a spin (no pun intended).

 

 

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3 Comments

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  1. BRAD LANEY

    Feb 7, 2020 at 12:39 pm

    Are you going to do a spotlight on the RX and RXS? I would like to read that.

  2. Where's Matt?

    Feb 6, 2020 at 6:44 pm

    What about Matt Kuchar?

    • Kduooche

      Feb 6, 2020 at 6:45 pm

      Kduoooooooooche, Kduoooooooooooooche, Kduooooooooooooooche, Kduooooooooooooooche, Kduoooooooooche, Kduoooooooche…….

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Equipment

Spotted: Tommy Fleetwood’s TaylorMade Spider Tour X Prototype putter

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Tommy Fleetwood has been attached to his Odyssey White Hot Pro #3 putter for years now. However, this week at the Wells Fargo Championship, we did spot him testing a new putter that is very different, yet somewhat similar, to his current gamer.

This new putter is a TaylorMade Spider Tour X head but with a brand new neck we haven’t seen on a Spider before. A flow neck is attached to the Spider head and gives the putter about a 1/2 shaft offset. This style neck will usually increase the toe hang of the putter and we can guess it gets the putter close to his White Hot Pro #3.

Another interesting design is that lack of TaylorMade’s True Path alignment on the top of the putter. Instead of the large white center stripe, Tommy’s Spider just has a very short white site line milled into it. As with his Odyssey, Tommy seems to be a fan of soft inserts and this Spider prototype looks to have the TPU Pure Roll insert with 45° grooves for immediate topspin and less hopping and skidding.

The sole is interesting as well in that the rear weights don’t look to be interchangeable and are recessed deep into the ports. This setup could be used to push the CG forward in the putter for a more blade-like feel during the stroke, like TaylorMade did with the Spider X Proto Scottie Scheffler tested out.

Tommy’s putter is finished off with an older Super Stroke Mid Slim 2.0 grip in blue and white. The Mid Slim was designed to fit in between the Ultra Slim 1.0 and the Slim 3.0 that was a popular grip on tour.

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Equipment

Rickie Fowler’s new putter: Standard-length Odyssey Jailbird 380 in custom orange

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Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from a piece our Andrew Tursky originally wrote for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report. Head over there for the full article. 

…The Jailbird craze hasn’t really slowed down in 2024, either. According to Odyssey rep Joe Toulon, there are about 18-20 Jailbird putter users on the PGA TOUR.

Most recently, Akshay Bhatia won the 2024 Valero Texas Open using a broomstick-style Odyssey Jailbird 380 putter and Webb Simpson is switching into a replica of that putter at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship.

Now, Fowler, who essentially started the whole Jailbird craze, is making a significant change to his putter setup.

Fowler, who has had a couple weeks off since the 2024 RBC Heritage, started experimenting with a new, custom-orange Jailbird 380 head that’s equipped with a standard 35-inch putter build, rather than his previous 38-inch counter-balanced setup.

According to Fowler, while he still likes the look and forgiveness of his Jailbird putter head, he’s looking to re-incorporate more feel into his hands during the putting stroke.

He told GolfWRX.com on Tuesday at the Wells Fargo Championship that the 38-inch counterbalanced setup “served its purpose” by helping him to neutralize his hands during the stroke, but now it’s time to try the standard-length putter with a standard-size SuperStroke Pistol Tour grip to help with his feel and speed control.

Although Fowler was also spotted testing standard-length mallets from L.A.B. Golf and Axis1 on Tuesday, he confirmed that the custom Odyssey Jailbird 380 is the putter he’ll use this week at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship.

Head over to PGATour.com for the full article. 

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Equipment

Details on Justin Thomas’ driver switch at the Wells Fargo Championship

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Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from a piece our Andrew Tursky originally wrote for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report. Head over there for the full article. 

So, with a couple of weeks off following his latest start at the 2024 RBC Heritage, Thomas sought to re-address his driver setup with the remote help of Titleist Tour fitting expert J.J. Van Wezenbeeck. About two weeks ago, Thomas and Van Wezenbeeck reviewed his recent driver stats, and discussed via phone call some possible driver and shaft combinations for him to try.

After receiving Van Wezenbeeck’s personalized shipment of product options while at home, Thomas found significant performance improvements with Titleist’s TSR2 head, equipped with Thomas’ familiar Mitsubishi Diamana ZF 60 TX shaft.

Compared to Thomas’ longtime TSR3 model, the TSR2 has a larger footprint and offers slightly higher spin and launch characteristics.

According to Van Wezenbeeck, Thomas has picked up about 2-3 mph of ball speed, to go along with 1.5 degrees higher launch and more predictable mishits.

“I’d say I’d been driving it fine, not driving it great, so I just wanted to, honestly, just test or try some stuff,” Thomas said on Tuesday in an interview with GolfWRX.com at Quail Hollow Club. “I had used that style of head a couple years ago (Thomas used a TSi2 driver around 2021); I know it’s supposed to have a little more spin. Obviously, yeah, I’d love to hit it further, but if I can get a little more spin and have my mishits be a little more consistent, I felt like obviously that’d be better for my driving…

“This (TSR2) has been great. I’ve really, really driven it well the week I’ve used it. Just hitting it more solid, I don’t know if it’s the look of it or what it is, but just a little bit more consistent with the spin numbers. Less knuckle-ball curves. It has been fast. Maybe just a little faster than what I was using. Maybe it could be something with the bigger head, maybe mentally it looks more forgiving.”

Head over to PGATour.com for the full article. 

 

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