The TaylorMade TP5 golf ball has been updated for 2024, so I have taken it for a thorough test to see if it remains amongst the best golf balls on the market.
The big technology story centers (ironically) around the core of the ball. TaylorMade has altered the material that makes up the core, now using a lower density acoustic material that sounds, and in turn feels, softer than before. Being so much softer in its original state allows TaylorMade to make it harder and faster to boost speed without losing out on feel or acoustics.
As Michael Fox, Senior Director of Product Creation, Golf Balls says: “Our learnings from countless player and Tour tests show that golfers, unsurprisingly, favour a softer more muted sound with added distance. Historically, the challenge has been the inability to improve one without negatively impacting the other. With this understanding, we've evolved our golf ball design process by uniquely decoupling feel and speed through material advancement, a complete departure from the conventional.”
There often isn’t too much to say about the looks of a golf ball, but that isn’t the case with the TP5 range. TaylorMade has invested heavily in the visual technology side of ball design and there are still some developments to come in that regard (watch this space).
Performance wise, the TaylorMade 2024 TP5 is an interesting one. It provides everything it suggests it will - tons of greenside spin and a seriously soft feel throughout the bag, but it does just feel a bit niche to me. Its sibling, the 2024 TP5x, also produces fairly high levels of spin around the green, but in addition, gives a decent ball speed advantage, and I don’t know how many players there are out there that would prioritize a few extra rpm over mph! That’s not to say that those players aren’t out there, they definitely are, I just feel that the bulk of the TP5 family sales will be from the TP5x in 2024 and beyond.
Whilst it was around two mph slower off the driver face for me, the spin didn’t jump up excessively. It only produced approximately 200 rpm more at the top end of the bag than the TP5x version, and produced a very consistent and manageable ball flight. Nothing too aggressive and certainly nothing too floaty, just in a really nice window.
Around the greens is where the TP5 starts to really excel however. The feel is marshmallow soft and the ball seems to stay on the wedge face for an eternity, rolling up the grooves and imparting very impressive levels of grab of the green, to the point where I almost felt it helped my technique! Just knowing that the ball was going to grab that much allowed me to be more aggressive and free with my delivery, not worrying that a chip or pitch might get away from me.
Durability was another plus point. I seriously put these balls through their paces, particularly around the short game area and and wear was impressively minimal for one of the best soft feel golf balls.
As I said, I do feel that these are somewhat of a specialist offering and most people would see more benefit from the TP5x version, but in the right circumstances and for the right player, the new TP5 will be really useful.
There are a new Pix version of both the TP5 and TP5x ball which have a slightly different look to them. The familiar triangle pattern has now been updated to a new square shape and the orange accent color has been made even brighter based on player feedback.
TaylorMade is also adding never before seen customisation options by elevating its TP5 Pix limited edition programme and adding a new MySymbol collection in Europe. MySymbol will offer a large range of fresh, individual logo options for consumers to choose from.
The Taylormade 2024 TP5 comes in both white and yellow and is available at a recommended retail price of £44.99 and the pix version at £47.99.
