Inesis Tour 900 Golf Ball Review
Joe Ferguson takes a look at the new three-piece urethane golf ball from Inesis…
![Photo of the Inesis Tour 900](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/RCJRbfQpAFBz7Z4XSdHdvj-415-80.jpg)
There is a lot to like about the Inesis Tour 900 ball. A very soft feel and high levels of spin throughout the bag are the standout performance features, while the sophisticated aesthetics give off a very premium vibe. Slightly down on distance versus some of the other premium models on the market, but the Tour 900 still represents good value.
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Pleasantly soft feel
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High levels of spin, particularly around the green
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A good looking ball with a handy putting alignment strip
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Slightly down on ball speed versus competitors
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Inesis is a very interesting golf manufacturer. Sitting under the umbrella of Decathlon, a value sports equipment behemoth, with 2080 stores in 56 countries, it has been making some waves in the value golf equipment market in recent years. I was recently sent the Inesis Tour 900 ball to test so I took it out onto the course to see what it had to offer. Looking to sit amongst the best balls in golf, it has some stiff competition…
In terms of the tech, the Tour 900 is a three-piece urethane-covered ball. Inesis has lowered the compression slightly from its previous iteration, dropping to 95 from 100 which should have the effect of softening feel. A new faster core has been added to boost ball speed and a thicker Surlyn mid-layer has also been implemented in search of more distance.
My first impressions were strong. The Tour 900 features an “ice blue” color on the cover, which to the naked eye is still essentially white, but the subtle hint of a blue tinge makes the cover very sharp and comparable to the best premium balls. I also enjoyed the solid black line on the side of the ball. As someone who does use a line to help me on shorter putts, this is a handy addition that negates the need for messing around with marker pens pre-round.
However, the look of the ball is far less important than its performance characteristics, so I took the Tour 900 out for 9 holes at Saunton Golf Club, before hitting the pitching area to see what it could offer me. The most notable positive for me was the feel which I found to be extremely soft and particularly enjoyable on and around the greens. On greenside pitches, the Tour 900 seemed to just stay on the clubface for a fraction of a second longer than some of the other best soft feel golf balls, which I found both a nice sensation and also useful in terms of control. There were none of those jumpy strikes that I sometimes see on more value-orientated golf balls and the levels of spin were exceptional. Similarly, with the putter, the feel off the face was lovely. Very subtle and a very muted sound at impact.
Further up the bag, the performance was less comprehensive. The extremely soft feel and high levels of spin did translate to some significant distance drops in my testing. On my FullSwing KIT launch monitor, I found it to lag behind my gamer TaylorMade TP5x ball by around 6 mph on average with driver and 3-4 mph with 7 iron, which coupled with some fairly high spin numbers translated to a not insignificant reduction in distance output.
I should say however, that I am a fairly high-spin player in general and seek out golf balls that reduce spin, so this is not the ideal profile of ball for me. Lower speed and spin players would probably see some far better results than me in the long game with the Tour 900.
Flight-wise, other than the high spin number and slightly reduced speed, the Tour 900 was a very stable golf ball and distance numbers were consistent which is the mark of a well-constructed ball.
The Inesis Tour 900 ball will be retailing for 35 euros per dozen and is available to purchase from the Inesis website.
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Joe has worked in the golf industry for nearly 20 years in a variety of roles. After a successful amateur career being involved in England squads at every age group, Joe completed his PGA degree qualification in 2014 as one of the top ten graduates in his training year and subsequently went on to become Head PGA Professional at Ryder Cup venue The Celtic Manor Resort. Equipment has always been a huge passion of Joe’s, and during his time at Celtic Manor, he headed up the National Fitting Centres for both Titleist and Taylormade. He’s excited to bring his knowledge of hardware to Golf Monthly in the form of equipment reviews and buying advice.
Joe lives in North Devon and still plays sporadically on the PGA West region circuit. His best round in recent years came earlier in 2023 where he managed a 9 under par 63 at Trevose GC in a Devon & Cornwall PGA Tournament.
Joe's current What's In The Bag?
Driver: Switch between Ping G430 Max 10K & TaylorMade Qi10 - both with Fujikura Ventus Black 6-X
Fairway wood: TaylorMade Qi10 Tour - Fujikura Ventus Black 7-X
Irons: Callaway Apex CB 24' 3-11 - Project X LS 6.5 shafts
Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM10 54D and 60M
Putter: Odyssey Toe Up #9
Ball: TaylorMade 2024 TP5x
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet 60R
Bag: Vessel Player IV Pro DXR Stand
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