New TaylorMade TP5 Golf Balls

[mvmac]

This Wednesday I was able to attend a TaylorMade media day event yesterday at the La Costa Resort.  Want to thank all the great TMAG staffers (Christa, Michael, Dave and Mike) for having me and sharing this exciting line of prodcuts.  I was even able to play a round with Tom Kroll, the global product lines manager for woods.

For more on all of TaylorMade's New line of products, check out these links:

R11S Thread

RocketBallz Driver, Fairway and Rescue

RocketBallz Irons and RocketBallz Max Irons

PENTA TP5 Balls

The Penta had a pretty good year in '11.  Darren Clarke won the British open, currently 3 players in the top 10 in the world use the Penta and 25 million Penta balls were put into play.  Taylormade golf balls also doubled it's market share.  Illustrating just how committed TMAG is to being #1 in every category.  There will also be some surprises with some of the new tour players that will be playing the TP5 in 2012, but I've been sworn to secrecy about it

The New Penta TP5 continues the 5 Layer technology —cover, outer mantle, middle mantle, inner mantle and core—engineered to optimize performance in five key shot categories: driver, long irons, middle irons, short irons and wedges.  The big changes for the new ball is the 28% lower core compression which equates to a reduction of spin.  The lower compression also results in a softer feel, TMAG measures by sound in hertz.  Compared to the ProV1 it's softer than the ProV1 and spins less that the ProV1x.

Taylormade claims distance jumps of 10 yards.  I got to play with the latest version of the Penta line and was pleased.  The balls definitely felt soft, something that to me is most evident in hitting putts.  Can't say I hit it 10 yards farther, would be tough to tell anyway since I was hitting a lot of the new TMAG clubs, but would confirm that the balls performs well into the wind and is great for shots around the green.  The greens at La Costa North course, where I was playing in the TMAG media day, are new and newer greens tend to repel balls.  But I was able to hold greens with long and mid irons.

The Penta TP 5's will be $45 a dozen

[LuciusWooding]

Yes, but are they Rocket Balls?

[Kobey]

Originally Posted by LuciusWooding

Yes, but are they Rocket Balls?

Only if you hit them with the Hammer X.

[sparko]

these look good but just wished they would do away with the seam,for me personally i dont like it,but i will still keep playing these balls :)

[mvmac]

Originally Posted by LuciusWooding

Yes, but are they Rocket Balls?

No but there will be RocketBallz balls

[Beachcomber]

Good stuff. I'll definitely game these after my six dozen of the current Pentas that I have in my closet expire on the course. Hard to not like the current deals you can find on the 2011 ball (buy 2 dozen get one free).

[BuckeyeNut]

I hear rocket balls fly farther to MC Hammer "You Cant Touch This".........................

[Beachcomber]

When do these go on sale? 2-4-12??

[mvmac]

Originally Posted by Beachcomber

When do these go on sale? 2-4-12??

I haven't gotten confirmation yet, but yeah I would figure Feb release.  Seems you can get them online at Dick's and says it will ship in 3-4 weeks

[k-troop]

TGW says available 2.7.12.

http://www.tgw.com/customer/category/product.jsp/SUBCATEGORY_ID/40917/refScid/1061

[Beachcomber]

Originally Posted by k-troop

TGW says available 2.7.12.

http://www.tgw.com/customer/category/product.jsp/SUBCATEGORY_ID/40917/refScid/1061

Yeah, I just read on another forum that they won't be available until March...

[FGUSA]

Just got a sleeve of these to test on Thursday. Can not wait and great review as always.

[mdl]

I haven't done lots of investigating on the physics of golf balls, so maybe this is something one should know.

How do spin and compression and maybe other characteristics interact to trade off between control (workability, stopping power through spin) and distance?  The TP5 has lower compression for less spin.  I've read less spin means greater distance but less control.  How does lower spin allow a 3i-4i to stop on a new, hard green?  Was the current Penta (my ball, I LOVE that ball) already high spin so lowering it a bit doesn't sacrifice all workability and stopping power?  Are there other characteristics associated with the 5 layer ball that allows lower compression and spin but also gives more stopping power than a hard 2-piece distance ball?  Is it just that near scratch or better players are swinging hard enough and hitting the sweet spot frequently enough that they create plenty of spin regardless, so a slightly harder ball with less spin potential isn't a problem except for maybe some green side shots where you might prefer a super spinny ball to get a hop and stop on a hard green that's not uphill?

[WarEagle]

I've heard of people using water to find the light point of a ball, marking it, and somehow aligning it that way to gain yardage.

Originally Posted by mdl

I haven't done lots of investigating on the physics of golf balls, so maybe this is something one should know.

How do spin and compression and maybe other characteristics interact to trade off between control (workability, stopping power through spin) and distance?  The TP5 has lower compression for less spin.  I've read less spin means greater distance but less control.  How does lower spin allow a 3i-4i to stop on a new, hard green?  Was the current Penta (my ball, I LOVE that ball) already high spin so lowering it a bit doesn't sacrifice all workability and stopping power?  Are there other characteristics associated with the 5 layer ball that allows lower compression and spin but also gives more stopping power than a hard 2-piece distance ball?  Is it just that near scratch or better players are swinging hard enough and hitting the sweet spot frequently enough that they create plenty of spin regardless, so a slightly harder ball with less spin potential isn't a problem except for maybe some green side shots where you might prefer a super spinny ball to get a hop and stop on a hard green that's not uphill?

[Beachcomber]

I picked up a dozen on Friday. The new TP5 is a solid ball. Hard to tell a difference between it and the Penta from '11. But I will add that I don't notice the scuffing on the new TP5 like reported with last seasons Penta. So in that respect, the new ball out performs the old.

[Merfal]

I have been playing them since they came out and I like them for the most part. I have found that I can only play one for about 6 holes before it is cut up bad enough to be a practice ball. Also, it spins quite a bit more than the last Penta around the green. I have spun them off of the green on several occasions and did not find that to be an issue with the old Penta. I like them, but I'm still shuffling between the Titleist Pro V1X and Bridgestone B330 to figure out which I like best.

[Derek02]

I'm surprised you experienced this b/c I listened to an interview with TM's chief golf ball designer and he stated that the newer version was designed to have less spin on (shorter) approach shots.  This was b/c pros were indicating they were having difficulty attacking pins set at the back of the green.

Originally Posted by Merfal

Also, it spins quite a bit more than the last Penta around the green. I have spun them off of the green on several occasions and did not find that to be an issue with the old Penta.

[Merfal]

I talked to a rep at the PGA show who said something similar to me, except he said they were trying to reduce driver spin. I have talked to a few other guys I play with about the ball and they had mostly the same things to say about the new Penta.