Played a round with the new TaylorMade TP Red ball today

[mediaguru]

A "friend" of mine at TM got me some TP reds to play with. The Red is comparable to the ProV1 and the Black comparable to the ProV1x.

Started out with 9 straight pars. I found the ball to compress nicely. I hate the really hard balls that don't compress easily. The length and flight off the driver was great. Very nice trajectory off the irons and woods. I didn't play in much wind so I can't really say how good of a wind ball it is. But with the big dimples I bet it's similar to the V1x with regards to the wind.

I had a couple of shots which required me to manufacture trajectories and curves.....Ok, I was behind a tree and had to hit a low running hook around it. The ball did exactly what it was supposed to and from 188 yards I ran that hook up to about 5 feet. Not the best putting day for me. I didn't make that putt for birdie.

Putting with the ball felt great. The TP Red print lines up with the seam just like ProV1's and that's how I line up the ball on the green.

Only problem was shearing. I shredded the ball 2-3 times with full 56 degree wedges. On one 70 yard lob I flew the ball over the green into the 2nd cut and the thing spun back onto the green to pin high! Major spin. The ball had shavings sticking up on it from that 70 yard shot. So durability wise you might wear one out with a bunch of full wedges.

Over all it's a great high performance ball.

[Youngun5]

interesting, didn't know taylormade was dabbling back in the ball industry again... good review, any idea on the msrp of a dozen of those?

[dave.]

If it shreds that easily it must be re-badged Blackmax and nothing more

[Davebud]

I just thought that meant the grooves were in good shape, I eat a Noodle ball every 5-6 holes. My Cleveland wedges are worse about this than my other clubs so I thought that it was just a sign that my grooves were in good shape. This is not the case Dave?

[dave.]

No,sharp grooves add some spin compared to older blinted clubs,but its the quality of the strike that matters more.

[slicknick515]

So what you are saying Dave is that in fact it's not the ball but the strike? Just don't want to be confused. Thanks