Masters season is always full of fun golf gear releases and announcements. Even more special this year is the Tigers Back 22 limited edition golf ball, celebrating the return of Tiger Woods to golf after his horrific auto accident. Thanks to Bridgestone for sending me a sleeve. They’re sweet.
The ball is a special edition of the Bridgestone Tour B XS ball. The Tour B XS is a professional ball, designed for swing speeds of 105mph and over, and for those players who require “tour” spin.
In for review from Bridgestone Golf is the new Tour B XS Tiger Woods Edition. I really dig the packaging and presentation in the box and sleeves. Each ball is marked with the word TIGER.
The Tour B XS is designed for golfers with a driver swing speed over 105 miles per hour. Probably right on the edge of my range at this point in my golf career, with age and a major shoulder surgery in play.
Distance
According to Bridgestone the ball delivers even “more distance.” I have yet to see a new golf ball come out that claims, “less distance.” 🙂
Tour Spin
The cover of the ball features REACTiViQ technology; a smart cover that reacts to the force of impact. The ball stays in contact with the club longer, allowing the player to impart more control in the short game and work the ball with the irons and metal-woods.
I may actually play golf in 2020. The shoulder hasn’t really hurt for a good month or so now. You have NO idea how awesome it is to not have shoulder pain. Having been in pain for a solid 1.5 YEARS, I’m thankful for modern medicine.
I’m sure when I finally pick up a golf club, the swing will be very bad. My club-head speed right now has to be about 15mph. Not sure any golf company makes golf balls soft enough for that. But hopefully I’ll eventually be able to get that speed back up to where I can hit real golf shots, and play real golf balls like the 2020 Bridgestone Golf Tour B lineup. Now I’ve got some proto’s to test out.
When will this happen? Not soon. We are in about a six month frost delay in northern Utah. It’s called winter. The golf clubs are in storage and the powder skis are in the trunk. When the snow melts and the courses open, I’ll be trying out those swings.
In for review are samples of the four different Bridgestone Golf “Tour B” golf balls.
The Tour B series is the modern day B330 series of recent years. All of these balls feature a urethane cover, the magic ingredient for short game control found in most “Tour” balls. Other features include a gradational core and dual dimple design. You can see the dual dimple design in the photo below.
The Tour B X and Tour B XS are for higher swing speeds and the Tour B RX and Tour B RXS are for slower swing speeds.
I’ve gamed the Tour B330 for a long time and I’m anxious to check out these and see how the Bridgestone Tour B series has changed and improved.
I’ve got a few golf ball entries I’m still in the midst of reviewing, so it will be a few weeks before I will be posting my full Tour B review, so stay tuned.
I’ve been putting in lots of practice this season compared to the last few. I live next to one of my home courses now, so it is more convenient. The last couple of years my ball striking has been quite suspect, especially the irons. This season the work has me feeling much better physically, and hitting the ball very solid and farther than the last couple of years. But I’m not hitting the irons accurately. I’ve been averaging 33% greens in regulation (thanks to Shot Scope V2 statistics), which is not good for where I want to be. I’m a deadly putter, but if I’m missing 66% of my greens, my deadly putting is trying to save par or bogey, instead of trying to make birdie or at the worst, par.
I started this season gaming my old 2002 Hogan Apex Edge Pros because those were what I hit the best early in the season. I’m still hitting them solid, but not accurately. The last two 9-hole league days which were 3 GIR and 2 GIR respectively, where the last straw. Tonight I hit the range for an open audition with three sets of irons I own. I had many, many more sets, but scaled them down in the fall when I moved.
Tonight it was a test between my Hogans, the Bridgestone J15DF Driving Irons, and the Miura Series 1957 Limited Edition Small Blades.
I had to put the Miuras away last season because I started s****ing them. But early this season I s****ed a couple with the Hogans too. I changed my setup as part of my move was pulling me closer to the ball at impact. That seemed to solve the problem (knocks on wood).
In tonight’s audition I all but re-fell in love with the Miuras. They flew very high and straight, and felt like butter. The only club I had issues with was the 4-iron. It’s so damn small it’s like the club face is the size of a quarter. Still, with how great I was hitting the rest of the set, they have won the starting position once again. I’m tempted to put the Hogan 4-iron in with them, as it still is a great club for me, and probably easier to hit than the Miura.
The Bridgestones, as great as they are, just didn’t work. I think something has changed in my swing and the shafts aren’t quite a match at the moment.
Blade-a-licious! Could you hit this?
So there it is. I’m switching irons two weeks before the biggest, most important tournament of the season, and the one that means the most to me. Nothing much to lose. I can only hit a couple less greens in regulation per round before I’m down to zero.
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