Bridgestone Golf has released a new range of Tour B golf balls for 2024 including the RX, RXS, X and XS. In this review I will be looking at Tiger Woods’ ball of choice the Tour B X and seeing if it sits amongst the best golf balls of 2024.
Tiger isn’t the only PGA Tour player using the Tour B X, with Matt Kuchar also putting it in play, and Jason Day gaming the ‘MindSet’ version. More on that later…
The previous iteration of the Tour B X was very popular with our Golf Monthly Editor Neil Tappin who awarded it a very strong 4 and a half stars out of 5 in his 2022 review so I was keen to see how things had moved on.
Bridgestone says that the new Reactiv X system creates more rebound on tee shots to increase distance and stays on the face longer on approach shots which provides more spin and a softer feel on shorter, more precision shots.
In testing, I tried to spend as much time on and around the greens as I did hitting full shots to provide a comprehensive and rounded review. In terms of the long game performance, I found the ball speeds to be consistent and very close to my current gamer the TaylorMade 2024 TP5x.
It would be fair to say that the spin numbers were on the lower end of the spectrum throughout my long game testing. With driver, I was at around 2100 rpm, 7 iron produced an average of 6300 rpm and my pitching wedge was spinning at 9100 rpm, which was enough to remain playable while providing some real stability of flight in the wind.
Around the green, I found the Tour B X to be a decent performing ball. Finding a middle ground in terms of feel, not too firm but also not super soft, it produced a pleasing dull click at impact and seemed to stay on the face a touch longer than the previous iteration. Whilst not loaded with spin, there was still ample to provide a good level of control even on particularly firm surfaces, as you would expect from a ball in the bag of some of the world's best players.
I did put these balls through quite a lot of punishment during testing and they stood up really well from a durability point of view. Only minimal scarring to the cover was apparent after a few mid range bunkers shots but nothing to raise any concern.
Bridgestone has also introduced a new concept which it refers to as MindSet. Essentially this is a new logo that has been printed on the side of the ball, scientifically designed to help you separate analytical thoughts from athletic performance.
It is designed to provide a visual cue to remind you of a three step process to get your mind ready to perform the shot at hand. These steps are; identifying your target, visualizing the shot path and finally focussing on the dot to clear your mind and help you execute.
It may sound a bit complex when reading this, but in practice it is actually very straightforward, and although I was initially skeptical I actually found it quite an effective way of adding a bit of structure to my pre-shot routine.
At $49.99 a dozen, I think the Tour B X is well priced and is a ball certainly worth testing for the higher swing speed player looking to optimize their distance with a premium feeling golf ball.
