Understandably the first ball that springs to mind when talking about Titleist is the Pro V1 and Pro V1x. However, this year sees a new iteration of, in my opinion, one of the most underrated balls in golf - the Titleist Tour Soft. Coming to retail at $40/£34 per dozen, these balls are saving you a decent amount of money compared to the best premium golf balls but how does the performance stack up? I tested these mid-priced golf balls indoors on a Trackman 4 launch monitor at My Golf Matters in Berkshire and out on the course to get a good understanding of the performance package.
The first thing worth mentioning is how premium the packaging looks before you take them out of the box, and then how pearly white they are once removed. The reformulated thin Fusablend cover has been designed for reliable greenside spin but also adds a shimmer to these balls that really helps them standout. This actually became very helpful when looking for my ball in the thick rough out on the golf course. These balls are also offered in a yellow and green option for those wanting even more assistance in locating or tracking their ball through the air so the 2024 Tour Soft should be considered one of the best yellow golf balls on the market. As someone who currently plays the Pro V1, I have become used to the franchise name and two arrows as an alignment aid on the ball, but the additional thicker line and ‘T’ marking on the side of the Tour Soft golf balls was really handy, particularly when aligning putts from inside 10 feet.
The balls themselves are, as the name suggests, extremely soft. That said, they still felt powerful off the face and the data I captured suggests what I gained in soft feel, I didn’t actually lose as much as I thought I would when it came to distance. Yes, If you are looking for outright speed, choosing one of the best distance golf balls would provide the most, but the 2024 Tour Soft offers a balanced blend of performance attributes. Some of the best soft feel balls struggle to maintain speed but that wasn’t so much the case with the Tour Soft.
On an average of five well struck drives I saw an average ball speed of 168.7mph, just 3mph less than I average with my ball of choice, the Titleist Pro V1, and an average carry of 288 yards with the Tour Soft ball compared to an average carry of 299 yards with the Titleist Pro V1. The discrepancy here came by way of added spin. As a high spin player the Tour Soft did climb a little too high with spin and therefore resulted in a slight lack of distance but other than that, the performance was really solid.
Out on the course I did see good levels of spin with the wedges and around the greens. I managed to spin pitch shots and flighted wedges just as I would want to and the Tour Soft felt great while chipping and putting. The Tour Soft ball proved to be somewhat durable with one ball lasting multiple wedge shots and 9 holes while testing, but did suffer from a few minor scuff marks.
Pound for pound I think the Titleist 2024 Tour Soft ball holds its own with some of the best golf balls on the market given the rounded performance it offers from tee to green.
