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Joel Tadman tests the Tour Edge Exotics ball on the launch monitor and the golf course to see what golfers can expect from the performance.
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00:00Now TourWage makes some very impressive golf clubs, but it's trying to take on the titans
00:04of the golf ball market with this. It's the Exotics Golf Ball. It's a three-piece urethane
00:09covered golf ball that the brand says produces incredible numbers. It's time I put that theory
00:15to the test to see if it's all hype or if the Titleist Pro V1 has something to worry about.
00:20Okay, so here it is. This is the TourWage Exotics Golf Ball, and this is the technology. I'm not
00:33going to go into it now in this video. If you want to read more about that, hit pause, check it out,
00:37but I'm going to open the box and see exactly what we're dealing with with this golf ball. I've got
00:42one ready out of the box, and this is it. It has a pretty good looking feel to it, I would say. It's
00:48got a little tacky feel to the cover, and I've got a Titleist Pro V1 to compare it with, latest
00:54iteration. You'll see, actually, the Titleist does have a slightly more brighter white sheen to it
00:59versus the TourWage, which is a little bit duller, but it's not too dissimilar. The TourWage has got
01:04the new TourWage logo on it. It's undergone a little bit of a rebranding here, which I quite like.
01:09The Exotics side stamp looks pretty good, going to help you with alignment if you usually align on
01:14the greens. But what I have noticed with the Exotics Ball in particular, it does have that
01:18visible seam that runs all the way around the equator of the golf ball. Now, I think Titleist
01:23did have a seam back in the day, but they've obviously gone to a seamless construction now.
01:27Obviously, every golf ball, when you're joining two halves of the cover together, there's going
01:31to be a joining point, but Titleist have managed to cover that or sort of made it a bit more
01:35seamless, so to speak, whereas the TourWage, that is visible, but it's not going to affect
01:40performance. There was a time back in the day where if you line the seam up with the golf
01:43ball, you get a few more yards off the tee. That's not the case anymore with the
01:47asymmetry test that the USGA run. I'm going to test it in a couple of different orientations
01:51to make sure golf balls don't perform differently depending on how you align the seam. So you're
01:55not going to have any concerns there. Generally speaking, it looks like a pretty good premium
01:59ball. I think it's time we put it to the test. I'm going to hit some wedge shots here on the
02:03practice screen at Peter Vermilson, see how it reacts on those shorter shots, and then
02:07we'll get some data.
02:08Right, so I'm just going to chip a few away. I've got a pretty standard chip shot here,
02:12tight line to a pin about 10 yards away, but before I do, I'm just going to do a little
02:18wedge bounce test, and I think that was the TourWage. That's the Titleist. I think the Titleist
02:24feels a little bit more lively, a little bit more click to it, a slightly louder sound versus
02:30the TourWage, which I think does feel and sound a little bit softer. So that's interesting.
02:35Let's hit a chip shot here with the TourWage, see what sort of reaction we get when it lands
02:42and what sort of flight we get. That popped up quite high. Ooh, a little bit of grab,
02:49but not loads. I've got my towel here. Let's just make sure the face is nice and dry and
02:54hit one with the Titleist because it'll be interesting to see how they compare on a pretty
03:02bog-standard chip shot. Right, you can see how much lower that came out. Way more spin
03:09on that one. I don't know if you... Hopefully you picked that up. Loads more grab on a shorter
03:15shot. Let's try the TourWage again. That was really interesting. Like chalk and cheese,
03:20those two flights. TourWage, I've hit that a bit hard. Again, that's releasing out quite
03:27a lot. Let's try the Titleist. Revert back to that one, see if we can hit a similar shot.
03:33Maybe a little bit too hard. Again, much lower. Way more check. So the differences between the
03:44two balls are becoming a little bit clear. One more with the Tour Edge.
03:52Well, to be fair, that one came out pretty low and gripped up nicely. Maybe I spoke too
03:57soon. So I think inconclusive. Looks like the Titleist might be giving me a slightly lower
04:01flight, which suggests a little bit more friction on the face and a little bit more spin on that
04:06second bounce. But then that Tour Edge, that last ball, definitely put the cat amongst the
04:10pigeons, was very similar to the Titleist in terms of flight and spin. So not massive difference.
04:15I do think the Titleist has a little bit more action on the greens on this sort of standard
04:19chip shot. Going to hit a few more shots, different lies around the greens, and then
04:22we're going to head inside and capture that all-important launch monitor data.
04:26Right, so I've come indoors to the studio here at Peter Milton Golf Club. I've got the
04:43Foresight Sports GC Quad Launch Monitor ready to go, and I'm going to hit a 50-yard pitch shot,
04:48a 7-iron and a driver with the Tour Edge Exotics Golf Balls, and I will do the same with the
04:53latest iteration of the Titleist Pro V1 Golf Ball to see how the data compares. Let's get
04:58the test underway.
05:00Okay, so I've done all my testing here on the Short Game Area at Peter Milton Golf Club. I've hit
05:24chip shots, pitch shots, bunker shots, shots out of the rough, you name it. I've hit them all, and then I've
05:29gathered my data indoors in a controlled environment on the launch monitor to see exactly how the
05:34Tour Edge Exotics Ball performs and how it compares to the Titleist Pro V1. And the data and the findings
05:40are really interesting. So starting with a 50-yard pitch shot, there's hardly any difference between
05:46these two golf balls. I'll flash up the data on the screen. You can see here the Titleist Pro V1 was
05:51spinning around about 100 RPM more, but hardly anything in it. Very similar ball speed, similar
05:57launch angle, and obviously a very similar spin. So not really much in it. And I have to say, hitting
06:03some additional short game shots around the green here, I noticed the Tour Edge Ball was spinning just
06:08as much with the Titleist, to be honest. It does feel a little bit softer than Titleist, but in terms of
06:12control and spin, it's very comparable. And that theme continued with the 7-iron. You can see here the
06:20numbers are almost identical. Pretty much exactly the same ball speed, exactly the same launch, exactly the
06:26same spin, just under 6,000 on the 7-iron, exactly the same peak height, and exactly the same carry
06:32distance at 169 yards. Very competitive, but exactly the same. And now we move on to the driver. And here there's,
06:39you could argue where the biggest difference in between the two balls lie, but it's not a big
06:44difference by any means. And I'll flash it up on the screen. You can see here the Titleist was around
06:48about a mile an hour quicker than the Tour Edge Exotics, but not a great deal in it. But the Tour Edge
06:54ball did actually launch about a degree higher and created a two-yard higher peak height than the
07:00Titleist. So that is a considerable difference compared to all the other clubs that I've tested
07:04between the two golf balls. Spin was very similar, and the Pro V1 was a yard
07:08longer on average than the Tour Reds. So very, very competitive. And it's really interesting to
07:14see, looking at the numbers and the experience that I had around the green here, not much in it
07:18between these two golf balls. But there's one test I really just want to do, because when you're
07:22testing golf balls indoors on a launch monitor, it's using algorithms to calculate the ball flight
07:29and the distance and the total distance. So I want to put this to the test out on the golf course
07:35in a real-world environment, hit some shots with both of these golf balls, really assess the effect
07:39of the dimple pattern and the overall design to see exactly, actually, on the golf course,
07:44are there any significant differences in distance between the Tour Edge Exotics
07:48and the Titleist Pro V1. So let's get on to the golf course and hit a few shots.
07:51Okay, so the Tour Edge ball has passed every test, I have to say, with flying colours. But this is the last
07:57hurdle. It has to overcome a real-world environment test with driver. Now, we're looking at things like
08:02stability of flight, the consistency of the flight, but also to see if the differences we saw in the
08:07launch wanted to actually materialise out on the golf course. And then we're also going to see where
08:11these tee shots finish. So I've got pink castle tees to make sure I'm teeing the ball up the
08:16same height every time. I'm going to hit three hopefully good drives with the Tour Edge Exotics,
08:21then three with the Titleist Pro V1, probably interspersed, switching between the two as we go through.
08:26But I just want to see what actually transpires in a wheel-world environment. We've got a little
08:31bit of wind in two off the left, so it'll be a really tough test on this difficult hole here
08:35at Peter Milston, the fourth hole. Let's see what we do. This is the Tour Edge golf ball first.
08:45I've hit that one pretty nicely. Just down the left, in the rough, but it was a good hit. And obviously, we saw
08:53on the launch monitor that the Tour Edge did fly a little bit higher than the Titleist,
08:59but actually went lower than I was expecting. So let's hit another one with the Tour Edge.
09:08Oh, that's a nice shot. A little bit higher, a little bit down the right.
09:12Okay, let's hit one more with that, the Tour Edge, and then we'll hit some with the Titleist, so
09:23dealing between those two would be lovely.
09:29There we go. Right, we're in business. Three pretty good ones with the Tour Edge. Let's hit three with the
09:35tight, this Pro V1. Oh, that is nutted. I mean, that was probably a better hit than what I did with Tour Edge, but...
09:51Oh, that's a bit left, down where that first Tour Edge ball went.
09:54Okay, not the best hit. I mean, looking at the flight, pretty similar in terms of height.
10:02You know, I'm watching it in the clouds, there's not much difference there.
10:09Oh, oh my goodness me, that is absolutely nutted. Right, let's go and see where those golf balls finished.
10:16Very interesting. I have to say, curvature of the flight, sort of stability of the flight, trajectory, peak height, very similar.
10:22So, comparable in terms of the viewing experience of the tee, let's go and see where they finished.
10:28Right, so we're up on the fairway here, six shots, no gimmies, these are exactly where they finished, I've not touched them, I promise.
10:34And here is one of the shots I hit with the Tour Edge golf ball.
10:38And you see, if you walk along, so the tee's up there, so this is the sort of rough hitting area.
10:43That is the straightest one I hit with the Tour Edge, and then the other Tour Edge ball is over in the rough.
10:49So I hit two in the rough, one with each ball, actually the Tour Edge went a little bit further than the Title Edge, but they weren't very good hits, either of those.
10:56So, just in the rough there, sort of similar distance to where these were.
11:00And then, obviously I hit two good shots with the Title Edge Pro v1.
11:03This is the first one, so it's only, you know, one or two yards further than where the good shots with the Tour Edge ball finished.
11:09But, if we go a little bit further up, you'll see here, now this is where that last shot I hit with the Titleist ball finished.
11:18It's a good, well, should we pace it out? Let's pace it out.
11:21So, that's the best shot with the Tour Edge, so we're talking 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 paces longer than a decent hit with the Tour Edge.
11:39So, I think, in summary, I'm speculating here, but maybe the dimple pattern, the aerodynamics, just cut through the wind a little bit better with the Titleist,
11:50and as a result, as you can see, gave me a lot more distance than I got with the Tour Edge.
11:54The Tour Edge ball was comparable on decent hits, but on really well-struck drives, I think you might get a little bit more out of the Titleist Pro v1 than the launch one I suggested earlier.
12:04Right, so hopefully this video has given you a really clear idea as to the performance of the Tour Edge Exotics balls,
12:10and how it compares to arguably one of the very best in its category, the Titleist Pro v1.
12:15As you can see from the data that we got, performance was very comparable.
12:19I do think, on the course, you might experience a little bit more performance out of a ball like the Titleist Pro v1.
12:25As I said, it just gave me a little bit more penetration through the wind in this particular test,
12:30but the real kicker here, with the Tour Edge Exotics ball, it's £39.99 a dozen.
12:36That is considerably less expensive than the Pro v1.
12:39So in terms of value for money, I do actually think you're probably getting a little bit more from the Tour Edge Exotics,
12:45and this is a real game-changer for me.
12:48At this price point, the performance you're getting around the green, 7-iron, it was very similar,
12:53and off the tee, you're not sacrificing a great deal.
12:56So I think Titleist maybe needs to be a little bit worried.
12:59We've seen a lot of other brands, Mizuno making really good balls,
13:02Chanel making really good balls, Legato, and now Tour Edge.
13:05There's a lot of competition at that slightly lower price point.
13:09I think it might get Titleist a little bit worried.
13:11Obviously Titleist potentially edging it here in this test, but there's not a lot in it at all.
13:16Hopefully you enjoyed this video. If you did like it, click the like button,
13:19subscribe to the Golf Monthly YouTube channel,
13:21and let me know down in the comments below, I really want to hear from you.
13:25Are you considering Tour Edge as a golf ball brand?
13:27Is this a ball you would play based on the experience I've had in this video?
13:31I'd love to hear from you in the comments.
13:33But that's all from me here at Peterby Milton Golf Club.
13:36I'll see you next time.
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