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Ball Lab – Bridgestone Tour B X Golf Ball Review

Wednesday, 10 February 2021

MyGolfSpy Ball Lab is where we quantify the quality and consistency of the golf balls on the market to help you find the best ball for your money. Today, we’re taking a look at the Bridgestone Tour B X, which is arguably the most popular range ball on the market right now. An overview of the equipment we use can be found here. To learn more about our test process, how we define “bad” balls and our True Price metric, check out our About MyGolfSpy Ball Lab page.

The Tour B X is my favorite Bridgestone ball. That’s probably not enough to get you to order a box (nor should it be) so it’s probably worth mentioning that it’s also the ball used by Lexi Thompson and Bryson DeChambeau. While Tiger’s B XS is more popular at retail, the B X gets more play on the PGA TOUR.

All of that said, what might be of interest from a fitting perspective is that the Bridgestone Tour B X is a low-launch, low-spin ball. If you hit it the ball a bit too high or with too much spin, it might be for you. Factor in the higher compression and, if you’re willing to forgo the softer feel of the XS, the B X should also prove to be one of the longest balls on the market.

About the Bridgestone Tour B X Golf Ball

The Bridgestone Tour B X is made in the USA at the company’s factory in Covington, Ga. It’s a three-piece, injection-molded urethane design with a 322-dimple cover. As noted, Bridgestone says the ball offers low launch and low spin. Keep in mind that these types of descriptions are relative to the other balls in a given lineup so it’s perhaps it’s better to say that most will find it lower-launching and -spinning than Bridgestone’s other Tour B offerings.

Bridgestone Tour B X – Compression

The Bridgestone Tour B X clocks in at 98 compression on our gauge. It’s significantly firmer than the Tour B XS which, at 86 compression, is one of the softest Tour balls in our database. A reasonable point of comparison from a feel standpoint is the now prior-gen Pro V1x. That measures just a tick softer (97) in our database. It’s a reasonable point of comparison where feel is concerned, though you can reasonably expect lower launch from the Bridgestone Tour B X.

Bridgestone Tour B X – Diameter and Weight

Bridgestone’s Tour B series, especially the X and XS tend to be relatively problem-free so it’s not the least bit surprising that none of the balls in our sample was over the USGA weight limit (1.62 ounces).

None of the balls measured failed to meet our standard of roundness.

Bridgestone Tour B X

Centeredness and Concentricity

Bridgestone’s Tour B Series features three-piece construction. With most three-piece balls, concentricity issues typically manifest themselves as unevenness in the mantle or cover layers. With that brief explanation out of the way, we flagged six percent of our sample as bad for concentricity issues in the mantle and/or cover layers.

As we start to increase the number of inspected models, I’d venture to say that’s pretty good.

Core Consistency

When cutting the balls, we observed two distinct core color formulations. One of the boxes was a light-pink while the other was more of a neutral putty gray. Bridgestone confirms that when demand was high last season, it imported some mixed core material from its Japanese factory. The pinkish box was a few ticks firmer on average but otherwise, there were no discernable differences between the two.

Cover

Bridgestone’s injection-molded covers are generally blemish-free. While we found no significant issues, we noted a minor defect (a small spot on the seam which wasn’t fully polished) on a single ball.

Bridgestone Tour B X Consistency

In this section, we detail the consistency of the Bridgestone Tour B X golf ball. Our consistency metrics provide a measure of how similar the balls in our sample were to one another, relative to all of the models we’ve tested to date.

Weight Consistency

Relative to the other balls in the Ball Lab database, the weight consistency of the Tour B X falls on the high end of the average range.

Diameter Consistency

Diameter consistency fell in the middle of our Good (above average) range. Only one ball we’ve measured to date (OnCore ELIXR) had tighter consistency for diameter.

Compression Consistency

The Bridgestone Tour B X rates Fair (below average) for compression consistency.

As was the case with our analysis of the Srixon Q-Star Tour, further explanation is needed.

Under our simple compression metric (how similar the average compression of a ball is to the others in the sample), the Bridgestone Tour B X rates as average. However, when we look at the similarities between the three compression points measured on each individual ball (what we call the In Ball Compression Range or IBCR), the Tour B X rates on the low end of the fair range.

Digging deeper into the data, a clear pattern emerges. The average of the IBCR is 3.7 points. That’s among the widest gaps in the Ball Lab database. More specifically, the pole measurement was found to be 3.2 compression points firmer than the average of our two individual seam measurements. For reference, the database average for that same metric is 1.56 compression points.

To put this in simple terms, our sample of Bridgestone Tour B X golf balls was consistently (though not universally) higher compression when measured at the pole than on the seam.

For six percent of our sample, the pole versus seam compression measurement was wide enough that we flagged the balls as bad.

True Price

True Price is how we quantify the quality of a golf ball. It's a projection of what you'd have to spend to ensure you get 12 good balls.

The True Price will always be equal to or greater than the retail price. The greater the difference between the retail price and the True Price, the more you should be concerned about the quality of the ball.