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Ball Lab: Spalding SD Tour
MyGolfSpy Ball Lab is where we quantify the quality and consistency of golf balls. Today, we’re reviewing the Spalding SD Tour. To learn more about our test process, click here.
About the Spalding SD Tour
The SD Tour is one of two urethane-covered golf balls sold under the Spalding brand (the other being the presumably firmer SD Tour X). It caught our attention because the dimple count matched a couple of other interesting balls. Oh, and it also sells for less than $20 per dozen which sounds like a hell of a good deal, especially for golfers looking to save big on golf balls.
Like looks, sounds can sometimes be deceiving.
While it was previously listed on the USGA conforming balls list, the Spalding SD Tour appears to have dropped off. That could suggest the ball is at the end of its life or, at a minimum, the manufacturer, Reliable of Milwaukee, has chosen not to pay the cost of keep the Spalding balls on the list.
Spalding SD Tour Construction
The Spalding SD Tour is a three-piece ball with a 344-dimple cover. For what it’s worth, it’s the same dimple count you’ll find on the RZN series of golf balls as well as the Vice Pro Zero. Given that those models are produced in Vietnam and the cover patterns are consistent across all three, it’s not a huge leap to presume the Spalding balls are manufactured by Feng Tay.
Compression
On our gauge, the Spalding SD Tour has an average compression of 81. That puts it alongside the RZN MS-TOUR and just a point firmer than the prior-generation Srixon Z-Star.
While relative to the market as a whole, that places it in the firm category. As far as urethane-covered balls are concerned, it leans to the softer side.
Compression Comparison Chart
We’ve had several requests for a standalone compression comparison tool. As it turns out, that tool exists. We created it as part of our Golf Ball Compression FAQ page. At some point, we may merge the two charts but, for now, the plan is to include this chart in future Ball Labs.
Diameter and Weight
All of the balls in our Spalding SD Tour sample conformed to USGA rules for both diameter and weight.
Two balls in the sample failed to meet our standard of roundness. Accordingly, both were flagged as bad.
Inspection
Centeredness and Concentricity
To say the Spalding SD Tour suffers from concentricity issues would be an understatement. In total, we found a significant concentricity defect in 17 balls (47 percent of the sample). The issues were a mix of thickness variations in both the cover and mantle, with a thicker cover area often resting on a thinned area of the mantle.
It’s the highest percentage of layer defects we’ve identified in any sample we’ve tested to date.
Core Consistency
For what it’s worth given the concentricity issues, core color was consistent throughout the sample with no unusual material observable in the sample.
Cover
No notable cover defects were identified.
While it falls outside of our scoring parameters, there was quite a bit of color variation in covers across the sample.
Spalding SD Tour – Consistency
In this section, we detail the consistency of the Spalding SD Tour. 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
Weight consistency falls within the Average range. Box 2 was slightly less consistent.Diameter Consistency
Diameter consistency falls in the Average range. Two balls within the sample failed our roundness test. The average diameter of the Spalding SD Tour is so large that we had to adjust the scale of our charts to show the balls.Compression Consistency
While there is some variation in the chart (most notably in Box 1), compression consistency across the sample falls within the Average range. The compression delta across the Spalding SD Tour sample was only 9.7 points which is effectively Average. With an average diameter of almost 1.686 inches, the Spalding SD Tour is the largest ball we’ve measured to date. This is less than ideal for a ball with “Tour” construction.
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.
Summary
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.
Spalding SD Tour Golf Ball Quality Summary
Despite the lure of its sub-$20 price point, our quality tests suggest the Spalding SD Tour is a golf ball to be avoided at all costs.
It’s a textbook example of why we look at both the consistency across the sample as well as the quality of the individual ball. While it was consistent across our gauge measurements, the size is problematic, a couple of balls weren’t round and we found nearly as many balls with concentricity defects as without.
Your money would be better spent on basically anything else.
The Good
Average quality across the board with concentricity defects It’s cheap.The Bad
Two balls weren’t round. Significant concentricity defects in nearly half the sample and 53 percent of the total sample failed at least one quality test. An exceptionally large (oversized) ball by any standardThe Score
The True Price for the Spalding SD Tour is $38.01. That’s an astonishing 112-percent increase over our $17.95 purchase price.
At the time of testing, the Spalding SD Tour golf ball receives a Ball Lab score of 53. That’s 20 points lower than the current average of 73.
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