2016 Titleist Performance Ball Range Revealed

In this article and video we take a look at the 2016 Titleist performance ball range, which includes the NXT Tour duo, the Velocity and the new DT TruSoft

The Titleist Pro V1 and Pro V1x may grab all the headlines when it comes to balls, but Titleist thinks its new 2016 Titleist performance ball range will offer something just as good.

The four balls that make up this range – the NTX Tour, NXT Tour S, Velocity, and the all-new DT TruSoft – may not have the top end control of the Pro V1, but thanks to some new innovations, they do offer a lot of performance at the other end of the price scale.

The new 2016 Titleist performance ball range upgrades centre around new core and cover designs that, in short, make the new NXT Tour longer, the NXT Tour softer, the Velocity powerful and playable, the DT TruSoft a new type of low compression ball that is controllable around the greens.

Michael Mahoney, director of golf ball product management at Titleist, told GM: “When we look at the results of our extensive robot and player testing, we are exceedingly confident that the new models will outperform their competition and deliver meaningful performance improvements relative to distance, short-game performance and soft feel.”

All four models are available now, and here’s what they offer…

Titleist NXT Tour golf ball - £34 per dozen

For the 2016 Titleist NXT Tour update Titleist focused on delivering faster ball speeds for more distance.

This was achieved thanks to new dual core with a larger centre that lowers driver and iron spin for more distance.

The 2016 NXT Tour (below left) also features a soft, thin Fusablend cover designed and used exclusively by Titleist and unlike the thermoplastic urethanes which most similar performance balls use, it feels soft on all shots, rather than clicky.

The NXT Tour's spherically tiled 302 octahedral dimple design also has shallower edge angles than the version found on the new NXT Tour S (below right), which delivers a higher ball flight.

Titleist NXT Tour S golf ball - £34 per dozen

Feedback Titleist received when developing the 2016 Titlesit performance golf balls revealed that amateurs wanted to further differentiate NXT Tour S from NXT Tour in terms of feel.

So with the new Titleist NXT Tour S, the core has been reformulated to be lower in compression so it will feel softer, while the cover formulation has had its percentage of the softening agent increased to make it feel softer for better short game feel and feedback.

Titleist DT TruSoft golf ball - £20 per dozen

The new Titleist DT TruSoft is a completely new addition that takes the DT Solo and makes it even softer.

The key to its deisgn is that Titleist believe in doing this they haven’t had to sacrifice either short game spin or distance.

Explaining where the new ball sits in its range, Titleist ball expert Matt Hogge told GM: “When it comes to making low compression balls, what’s often sacrificed is spin performance on shots into the green, meaning shots release quickly, making it difficult to hold the green.

“There is clearly a point of diminishing returns, so we’ve moved away from that trend by maintaining really good short game spin relative to those products.”

The result is a low compression core and Ionomer cover made from the softest blend Titleist has ever used, while a 376 tetrahedral dimple design ensures a consistent flight.

2016 Titleist Velocity golf ball - £24 per dozen

The new Velocity golf ball provides even more powerful distance with a more playable feel thanks to its larger, faster LSX core and the resulting thinner cover.

The former is now 1.575” in diametre to help produce faster speeds for extra distance, while the latter should feel better off the face.

The 2016 Titleist Velocity also benefits from an aerodynamic 328 dimple pattern that produces a penetrating trajectory with more roll, and new double-digit numbers at 00, 22, 77 and 99, a feature implemented after Team Titleist feedback.