The headline is new version of TaylorMade Tour Response but the subhead should prove far more interesting.
A brief recap: The 2022 Tour Response represents the second generation of what was once Project a. What was true with Project a remains true for Tour Response. It’s a three-piece urethane-covered golf ball designed for everyday golfers. That is to say, golfers with moderate swing speeds or who are otherwise “force limited.”
Basically, Tour Response is best suited for slow to mid swing speed golfers.
Where Tour Response Fits
From a competitive standpoint, TaylorMade looks at Tour Response a couple of different ways.
If you’re looking at the price point, the comps are Titleist Tour Speed, Titleist Tour Soft and Callaway ERC Soft. The most direct comparison is likely Tour Speed, though Taylormade is quick to point out that Tour Speed is a firmer offering with an injection-molded cover (the Tour Response offers a cast urethane cover).
From a performance perspective, TaylorMade sees the primary competitors as Callaway Chrome Soft and Titleist AVX, with perhaps the Bridgestone Tour B RX in the mix.
When considering performance and feel, Chrome Soft is probably the most direct competitor, though on paper it looks quite a bit like a softer take on Tour Speed.
Tour Response – Performance and Feel
As urethane-covered balls go, the Tour Response qualifies as soft (TaylorMade puts the compression around 70) and, while it remains true that soft is slow, at moderate swing speeds over-compression of a soft core shouldn’t be much of a concern. Whatever distance lost to soft off the driver will be minimal at worst while the combination of high flight, low spin and a new firm mantle layer should make for more distance off the irons.
Full disclosure: Not every element of the 2022 TaylorMade Tour Response golf ball is new and improved but, with significant enhancements to the cover and mantle layers, golfers can expect an all-around better ball.
Tour Flight Dimple Pattern
Perhaps the most notable improvement is better aerodynamic performance that comes by way of TaylorMade’s Tour Flight Dimple pattern. It’s the same pattern used on the company’s TP5 golf ball and, while that detail alone suggests it’s likely a bit better optimized for the latter, TaylorMade says it will give you more distance than the previous model.
The technical bits speak to a shallower dimple with a dual-radius design but what ultimately matters to golfers is that the new cover reduces drag. What you get with the 2022 Tour Response is a trajectory like the previous model but with a bit more hang time. Ultimately, that means more carry.
It’s undoubtedly an oversimplification but one could characterize the Tour Response as a high-launch, low-spin offering. Our 2021 Ball Test found it to be among the lowest-spinning urethane balls on the market. I have every reason to believe that will continue to be true.
HFM Mantle
The other primary area of improvement with the 2022 TaylorMade Tour Response is the addition of an HFM (high flex modulus) mantle layer. As with the cover, the mantle layer is borrowed from TP5. TaylorMade’s HFM mantle is stiffer and more resilient than the technology used on the previous ball. That additional stiffness paired with better aero performance is why TaylorMade says it’s able to gain speed without jacking compression.
Tour Response remains a soft ball within the urethane category.
While technically there is a small greenside spin benefit from the firmer mantle, TaylorMade says it probably won’t be noticeable to the average golfer. Golfers switching to Tour Response from an ionomer/Surlyn ball. However, you should notice significant improvement around the green.
TaylorMade Tour Response Stripe
As part of the 2022 Tour Response offering, TaylorMade is launching the Tour Response Stripe featuring a 360-degree alignment aid.
Apart from the obvious, TaylorMade’s Stripe is fundamentally different than the ClearPath approach used on the company’s PIX offerings. TaylorMade describes ClearPath as a feedback tool in that the pattern allows you to see how the ball is rolling, Tour Response Stripe builds on that by making the ball easier to align.
The stripe is a 22mm band painted across the diameter of the ball. It’s not unreasonable to suggest Stripe is TaylorMade’s answer to Triple Track though it’s also true that significant effort went into create the design, both in terms of research and development and in designing the equipment necessary to print the pattern.
Creating a Striped Golf Ball
On the R&D side, TaylorMade narrowed a countless number of ideas to a few final design prototypes. From there, the company built a circular putting green in its warehouse where it asked golfers to line up the Stripe golf ball from random positions. From there, testers aligned the Stripe to the hole. Then TaylorMade laser-measured each one to determine the accuracy of alignment.
The final Tour Response Stripe design was the one golfers aligned most accurately. As an additional benefit, TaylorMade says golfers were able to more consistently and more quickly align the Tour Response Stripe relative to a single line.
While the bright center portion of the Stripe will no doubt be what catches your attention, the Tour Response Stripe offers multiple means of alignment. You can think of the Stripe as the primary means of alignment but TaylorMade found some golfers will rely more heavily on the dotted patterns surrounding the stripe while others will take alignment cues from the lines that connect logo, sidestamp and player number. In reality, it’s likely that all three play a role in producing consistently accurate alignment.
TaylorMade Tour Response Colors
The stock design features a highlighter-yellow primary stripe. While it may seem simple to paint a stripe on a golf ball—and one would think the same machines that print PIX balls could do the job—that’s not the case. To make Stripe a reality, TaylorMade had to invest in new digital printers. We’re not talking about inexpensive off-the-rack stuff. It’s a significant investment which is reason enough to think the Tour Response Stripe won’t be a one-and-done.
TaylorMade Tour Response Stripe Offerings
For now, Tour Response Stripe retail packs will be offered in yellow-stripe only. As part of the push to make striped golf balls popular, TaylorMade will sell individual “jar balls”—the stuff you’ll likely see in actual jars in your pro shop. The approach is similar to what Volvik did with its matte balls several years ago. Intended to catch your attention (and hopefully pique your interest), jar balls will be available in navy, pink and blood orange.
If the Tour Response Stripe catches on like TaylorMade believes it will, it’s likely only a matter of time before the additional colors are more widely available.
As far as porting Tour Response’s Stripe to the TP5 line is concerned, there aren’t any concrete plans to do so but there have already been some requests so it’s probably not out of the question. Given the investment TaylorMade is making in the printing machines, it strikes me as likely.
Retail price for the TaylorMade Tour Response and Tour Response Stripe golf ball is $39.99. Availability begins March 18.
TaylorMade Soft Response
Also announced is a new version of TaylorMade’s Soft Response. Soft Response is a three-layer offering with an ionomer cover. As you can glean from the name, the low-compression (50 overall, down 10 points from the previous model) targets feel-driven golfers.
As with the Tour Response, the Soft Response is intended for golfers with slow to moderate swing speeds.
While three-piece construction helps maintain ball speed while attempting to mitigate spin loss, the combination of low compression and ionomer cover means a ball that’s not going to generate much spin around the green.
The TaylorMade Soft Response is available in white and yellow. Retail price is $29.99. Availability begins March 18.
For more information on the TaylorMade Tour Response, Tour Response Stripe or Soft Response golf balls, visit TaylorMadeGolf.com.
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