Non Tour Golf Balls

After surveying thousands of average golfers and listening to what they wanted from a ball, TaylorMade came up with the Tour Response. It has many of the hallmarks of a top tour ball – three layers, 100% urethane cover – but costs a lot less.

With confusion surrounding blended covers at this price point (which aren’t actually urethane) TaylorMade aren’t shying away from calling out other manufacturers for misleading consumers on their cover materials. The confidence comes down to being able to prove that the Tour Response is better than its rivals, and when we tested it on an indoor launch monitor, we found the numbers were more than a match for a Pro V1.

Three years ago, Srixon introduced a new ball to the USA, and as they didn’t have AD333 Tour in their range at the time, called it Q-Star Tour. Essentially, though, it was exactly the same ball golfers in the UK knew as an AD333 Tour. So with Srixon revealing a third gen Q-Star in the US this spring, now seemed like the perfect time to bring Europe and the US in line. The good news is that it’s still really good value.

For very reasonable money you get the same Spin Skin cover found on the Z-Star, a new Fastlayer Core which delivers tour-level distance and short game spin, but also a softer feel which you won’t find from tour balls, and new Speed Dimples which boost distance and keep shots straighter, even in windy conditions.

Wilson Duo Soft – £19.99 per dozen

If you put golf balls into categories like irons, Wilson’s new Duo Soft+ fits perfectly in the game-improver segment. It’s aimed at the majority of club golfers – where 60% of Wilson’s ball sales come from.

For 2020 Wilson wanted to lead the low compression ball debate, so set themselves a stringent brief – come up with the softest, longest and straightest ball. It sounds like a very tall order, but according to ball supremo Frank Simonutti the new Duo Soft+ ticks those boxes.

It replaces the extremely popular DX2 Soft, and Wilson say that thanks to a new core it adds 1.5mph of ball speed to a golfer’s game along with six yards of extra carry. That’s a hell of a claim, especially when a dozen of the two-piece Duo Soft+ are just £19.99.