Bridgestone has been making golf balls for a while now but it’s only really been since Tiger Woods joined the brand as an ambassador that it gained a serious presence in the golf ball market. Tiger, alongside PGA Tour players Jason Day and Matt Kuchar, use the Tour BX golf ball but this review is about the Bridgestone Tour B RX golf ball - a ball designed for golfers with driver swing speeds under 105mph who want to increase their distance from the tee.
As a golfer who typically swings the driver at around 116mph, I channelled my inner Fred Couples for this review, swinging with a slower, smoother tempo to see what performance I would experience and if it could be considered one of the best golf balls for slower swing speeds. As it happens, the Tour B RX golf ball is actually the choice of the aforementioned 1992 Masters champion.
I tested this ball at the same time as testing the Tour B RXS and it was immediately noticeable that the RX ball was built for added distance compared to the RXS golf ball. The feel was much firmer off the face through impact. The brand has introduced a gradual compression core which allows for high initial ball speed and low spin. This was certainly evident on the golf course with the driver, seeing a high but penetrating ball flight through the air.
I struggled with the ball wandering from my target line when the wind picked up with the RXS golf ball but there was no such issue with the RX ball. It felt like there were good levels of stability with this ball and even when I made a more aggressive swing at my normal swing speed, the ball didn’t climb up like I expected to and performed just as well as other premium golf balls I have tested in the past year.
One area where I feel as though I struggled a little with the Bridgestone Tour B RX golf ball was from hitting iron shots from the rough. Where this ball did produce slightly less spin, I feel as though I struggled to control the ball a little when hitting from the first cut. I saw a lot of balls fly fairly low with a lack of stopping power, which made it difficult to hit greens having missed the fairway.
Where I saw the RXS ball perform so well around the greens because of its soft feel, I was expecting the RX golf ball to be slightly harder to control and with less spin due to its firmer feel but that wasn’t the case. While it does feel firmer with a wedge or putter in hand compared to the RXS ball, it features the same Reactiv Smart Cover technology which is designed to create friction and keep the ball on the face for longer - thus creating more spin. I’m someone who prefers a firmer feeling ball around the green anyway, like the Titleist Pro V1x and some of the other firmer feeling best golf balls.
Bridgestone has now added the ability to purchase its Tour ball franchise with MindSet technology, which I absolutely love. This three-stage process gives you a solid pre-shot routine which you can follow implement using the visual cues on the golf ball. This was created with tour player feedback through Jason Day who is regarded as one of the best putters in the world. While I normally putt with a line on my ball and it took a while to focus on a dot, it gave me a repetitive cycle to revert to before striking my putt.
I would say the Bridgestone Tour B RX golf ball is perfect for golfers of all abilities and to be honest even all swing speeds. Despite the ball aimed at golfers with driver swing speeds of 105mph and less, I would argue that the lower spinning nature of this ball means that golfers of swing speeds up to 115mph would be absolutely fine to use this ball without suffering from excessive spin.
Coming to retail at $49.99 these aren't the cheapest golf balls on the market but they do offer superb performance, while retailing a touch cheaper than other major manufacturers' premium golf balls.
