TST 2015 Callaway Chrome Soft Ball Testing

[mvmac]

Thanks to Callaway Golf, Sand Trap Forum Leaders and Supporters were able to test the new Chrome Soft balls .

This thread will serve for those members to post about their experiences with their Callaway balls.

Want to become a Supporter and get to test out new products? Go here

[Lihu]

Too bad, I missed out on the balls. . .

[Club Rat]

@mvmac

Thanks Mike and TST.

Just sent pm.

Club Rat

[meenman]

Nice ball, great value for price

Pros: Good feel, a step up from most balls in this price range

Cons: Close to a premium ball, but just misses

I was sent a box of the Callaway Chrome Soft Balls for the purpose of writing this review.

First impressions of this ball were great. My normal ball is the Bridgestone RX 330 and this one felt comparable for a few less dollars. Unfortunately during my test rounds, Florida weather was not what we consider normal. This ball did not see any play in temperatures above 60 degrees and was played mostly in temperatures of 35 to 50 degrees.

Callaway claims that this ball will allow me to compress (deform) the ball like a tour player and I am obviously a bit out of that skill level, even with the chrome.

Overall, this ball felt great in every step of the game - driver, hybrids, irons wedges and the putter. I tend to have a slight fade when hitting the driver correctly and a hook/draw with pretty much all of the rest of my clubs. This ball gave me the same flight I was accustomed to. I was really excited about my results with the ball until I compared the numbers with my usual ball.

These tests were conducted over 3 separate days, with best and worst shots pulled, in addition to shots that hit trees or anything else that would affect results.The Chrome Soft was compared against my usual Bridgestone RX 330.

First we will take into consideration that the Callway costs about 25% less than the RX 330.

Distances off of the driver were about 5% greater for the Bridgestone. Hybrid distances were close with Bridgestone having an edge well within any margin of error. Iron distances were very similiar.

Off of the putter both felt great and with the wedges, the Bridgetone had a little more spin than the Callaway in my tests.

None of this is any kind of knock on the Callaway ball - just tried using real numbers to see where it all really stood.

Overall, I really liked the Callaway Chrome Soft and look forward to testing it in a little warmer weather when I am dressed more like I am used to. This ball does have a chance at sneaking into my bag on a regular basis.

[Hammer 4]

Here's my review of the Callaway Chrome Soft golf balls. I'd like to thank TST, and Callaway for the opportunity to try these out.

Pros: Low spin with driver, good soft feel around the greens, and distance was a bit better than the golf balls I've used previously.

Cons: Can't think of any Cons.

Previously, I used the Srixon Z Star XV, and the Wilson Duo, granted the Z Star is much harder than the Chrome Soft, and the Duo to me felt not as soft as the Chrome Soft.

What I did notice during my round was, that the Callaway Chrome Soft was about 5 yards longer off the tee with driver, and with my irons, on a well struck shot, the Chrome Soft was about 3 yards longer, yet held the green very well. Also, having played Balata balls in the 90's, the Callaway balls brought back a feeling I had with them.

I did have to get use to the feel of the ball with my putter, the first 3 holes, I left my putts pretty short, but once I got use to the feel, my putts went as usual

One thing I noticed was the durability of the Chrome Soft, after 18, it barley looked used, so I feel these are a very good value for what I would consider, a better golf ball.

I want to thank Callaway for giving me the opportunity to review these balls, because I just found my new golf ball. I think you like  a softer feeling ball, the Chrome Soft should be a ball you should try.

[Golfingdad]

My review:  (Happy to answer any specific questions anybody might have as well, as best as I can ;))

When I was offered the opportunity to test out the new Callaway Chrome Soft golf ball, I jumped at the chance.  Not because I was unhappy with my current ball(s), but because of their claims of being the Holy Trinity of golf ball performance – low spin for exceptional distance off the tee, low compression for incredibly soft feel , and excellent control .

The promotion material from their website boasts:

Low Spin Off The Tee For Exceptional Distance

Low spin off the driver for maximum ball speed and distance with the SoftFast Core. The core is the key to long, straight distance off the tee, and our optimized HEX Aerodynamics makes Chrome Soft even longer by reducing drag and increasing lift.

Low Compression For Incredibly Soft Feel

The low 65 compression lets you compress the ball on iron shots for incredibly soft feel, and it’s amazing around the greens. Now, all golfers can compress the ball like a Tour player.

Excellent Control

A high level of control for aggressive shots into the green comes from soft feel and the Tour Urethane Cover. It’s built for consistency that you can depend on with every shot.

The expectations are high, soooo … does the ball live up to the hype?  Let’s find out.

*First off, a disclaimer that will likely always accompany a golf ball review of mine;  I've always found it hard to really compare balls over short periods of time simply because I am not that good of a golfer.  I’ll never know for sure if many of the performance differences are due to the ball or how good or bad I happened to have been playing that day.*

Anyway, I have had the balls for a few weeks now and have had the chance to play 54 holes exclusively with them, as well as spend some time on the chipping and putting greens hitting them alongside some of the other balls I like using.  So, for comparison sake, let’s just review them based on the same categories they are advertised upon.

Low Spin Off The Tee For Exceptional Distance

As many of you may know, I use a GameGolf stat tracker to record all of my rounds so this is an easy test to perform.  Since I’ve been using the system, I’ve averaged 252 yards off the tee (over about 15 rounds or so), with a long drive in that time frame of 301 yards.  I hit the fairway 31% of the time and miss left and right virtually equally.  Over the course of the last five rounds, 4 of which were while using the Chrome Soft, my average has dropped to 242 yards, with a long of 295.  I also have only hit 15% of the fairways over that time frame.  Now, I would not consider the ball to be the cause of that (see previous disclaimer), but I am willing to go on record to say that the ball didn’t appear to provide me with any extra distance over the ProV1 or the KickX Tour Z that I have been playing.

That goes for my irons and wedges as well.  The ball appeared to play quite well to the distances I am used to with all clubs.

Low Compression For Incredibly Soft Feel

The easiest way to answer this one is …. Yup.  This claim is most definitely true.  The ball feels quite soft.  I took it out to the putting green late last night for one final spin.  I lined up a ProV1, a Tour Z and a Chrome Soft all side by side and hit 10-15’ putts back and forth for 10 minutes.  The ProV1 and Tour Z both felt and sounded very similar.  The Chrome Soft clearly felt(sounded) softer coming off the putter face.  I am confident I could replicate this test with a blindfold and pick out which was the Chrome Soft every time.

Putting stats from GameGolf are too reliant on GIRs and things unrelated to actual putting so those aren’t going to mean much here, but I can say that the putting performance was also quite comparable between the Chrome Soft and the other balls.  And I especially love how it felt off the putter face.

Excellent Control

Similar to the distance results, in this category, I found that the ball kept up nicely with the other balls, however, it did not stand out as far as having exceptional control above and beyond what I see from the Titleist and Kick X balls.  With wedges, it seemed to sit quite nicely near it’s pitchmark without kicking forward like a typical distance ball might or spinning back too much like tends to happen when I play a B330-S.  The reason I’m currently enjoying the Kick X is because it usually just sits right down, and the Chrome Soft was pretty good at doing that as well.

I also pitted the ball against the others in a pitching “contest” on the practice green, and as you might expect at this point in the review, it held its own, but didn’t stand out.

So, in conclusion, I believe that this is a pretty solid ball.  It doesn’t really stand out above and beyond the others on the course, but it does perform quite comparably.  If feel off the putter face is your primary concern, though, you should definitely give these a look.  Especially considering that it currently sells for about $8 less than ProV1’s per dozen.  I think you will like it.

Here are a couple of pics.  (Sorry, I forgot to take pics of the actual balls before I marked them up)

[cliffj]

Pros: soft feeling low spinning ball reasonably priced

Cons: nothing really

I was given a dozen of these balls to play and test out.. I have played these for over 6-7 rounds now and have shot some good scores for me  (Mid-70-s).  As such, I kept the same ball for a few days.  I saw no degradation of the ball or performance.  And.. being a generous type, I passed out balls to my regular partners and asked them what they thought. I would not tell them what level ball they were (entry level, cheap, premium, etc etc).  Everyone really like them and thought they were getting more distance with less "deviation"  i.e slicing..  They noticed they did not get as much spin around the green and all commented at the soft feel off the putter.  Everyone had something different to say about the putting softness.. Some liked it, some thought they could never putt with something so soft, and most thought they could get used to it...

Me... I really liked the ball and thought it a good ball for the price and given the price point below the premium Titleist and Bridgestones..  I am not at a level where the difference between these and the next level are worth the difference.  The one nice thing is that these are available in yellow unlike Titleist ProVs.

Normally I find it easy to find something to write in reviews such as this but this has me a bit stumped.  This ball is basically virtually a premium ball that is softer than the norm, spins somewhat less and has a different feel off the putter face and irons.  It is cheaper than the premiums but still not a bargain ball.. I will definitely play this ball as it has no real downside for me.  Of the softer balls that are quite the thing these days, this is the one I would pick.  Pick up a dozen and give them a try.. You might just find a perfect fit..

[abdul]

Callaway chrome soft golf balls white. Just bought these golf balls will find out how they perform over the weekend. So far good reviews online.

[rebby]

I just wanted to say thanks for the reviews here. I am going through a "ball test" this year to replace the Penta that I have been playing since 2010 (and am finally starting to run out of). I was going to skip the Chrome Soft due to how unimpressed I have been with Callaway balls over the years. The comments here have changed my mind on that however and, unexpectedly, I will be including the Chrome Soft in my test this year. Thanks everybody!

[Golfingdad]

Since my review, I have kept playing with these balls and decided that I like them enough that I'm going to stick with them.  I have a bunch of other good balls to get through before I need to buy more (3/4 dozen B330-S and a full dozen of Kick X) but once I'm ready to buy again, I think I'm leaning towards the Chrome Soft.  Especially if they can stay under $40.

[Jakester23]

Since my review, I have kept playing with these balls and decided that I like them enough that I'm going to stick with them.  I have a bunch of other good balls to get through before I need to buy more (3/4 dozen B330-S and a full dozen of Kick X) but once I'm ready to buy again, I think I'm leaning towards the Chrome Soft.  Especially if they can stay under $40.:beer:

How would you compare the chrome soft to the kick X?

[Golfingdad]

How would you compare the chrome soft to the kick X?

Very similar in every aspect, except the feel (read: sound) off the putterface.  The Kick X "clicks" a little more than the Chrome Soft, and I like that muted sound when putting.

[Jakester23]

Very similar in every aspect, except the feel (read: sound) off the putterface.  The Kick X "clicks" a little more than the Chrome Soft, and I like that muted sound when putting.

Cool I'm going to have to pick up a dozen. I like the kick X and the Bridgestone 330 rx. The Bridgestone 330 rx is what I played most of last year. I like the kick x a little more but they are a little expensive for how often I lose them.

[benkross]

Did anyone notice sidespin reduction and higher launch vs ProV1x and Srixon Z Star XV? It seems like all I can do is hit it high and straight, which sounds nice, but I play a windy course with a fair amount of greenside bunkers, with greens that almost all slope back to front, so working the ball around danger and letting it run to the hole is important. I also felt on chips it had a higher launch than the ProV1x or Srixon. Off the putter face it felt soft and sometimes seemed to explode. Drives launched higher than the ProV1x or Srixon and seemed to roll less and sounded much mushier. Anyone else notice those things? For reference I'm a 7 handicap, play Putter - Odyssey Metal X / Superstroke Squared Wedges - Vokey SM 60 / SM4 54 Irons +1/2, 2 Up, Project X 6.0 - Taylor Made Forged TP 3,4 CB / 5,6,7 MC / 8,9,P MB 913D3 9.5 (neutral) - Tour AD Di 6s (tipped 1 inch) 913FD 15 (.75 upright) - Tour Ad Di 6x 910h 17 ( 1.5 up) - Ahina 90 Stiff Thanks, Ben

[Natural Patrick]

The Callaway Chrome Soft golf ball. Has won me over as my new favorite ball to play.

[vangator]

I'll be playing the Chrome Soft for the first time today.  Looking forward to it with all the positive accolades here.  I post my experience.

[vangator]

Well, I tried them out last night and they felt great off the driver and the irons.  I normally hit any tour ball about the same distance especially with the irons.  However, the Chrome Soft seemed to jump off the face.  I gained probably 10 yards with the same iron swing over any other ball.  Needless to say, I was hitting the ball too long on the greens.  I didn't hit it too much with the driver because I didn't want to lose any before my tourney.

During the scramble today, the Chrome Soft probably cost me the tournament.  I was hitting my irons too long.  When I chipped the ball, it jumped off the face and was past the hole too much.  I normally chip my ball stoney.  The ball jumped off the putter face and I hit my putts too long.  When I switched to another ball I was coming up short on the putts.  We tied for first , but came in third when cards were compared.  When I switched to another ball, I left 2 long putts about an inch short in the jaws which cost me $300.  Argh!!!!!

Since today was a scramble, I was hitting a rock off the tee, so I need to do a little more testing with the driver.

I will be switching to this ball.  I just can't switch back and forth between other balls.

The Chrome Soft almost feels illegal.

Edited October 11, 2015 by vangator