Equipment Review:
Callaway Golf Tour i, Tour ix Golf Balls
by Jeffrey Reed, Editor, LondonOntarioGolf.com

How do you design a golf ball to follow in the enormous footsteps left by the HX Tour and HX Tour 56? If you’re Callaway Golf – one of the most respected and innovative golf industry manufacturers – you put your best lab personnel to work and come up with these two beauties: the new Tour i, and Tour ix golf balls.

Indeed, Callaway set the bar high with its HX Tour and HX Tour 56 golf balls. Both three-piece offerings, these pills are some of the longest and most accurate balls ever made. The HX Tour is slightly longer, while the HX Tour 56 offers more short-game spin and overall feel. I’ve hit both balls, and was nothing short of amazed at both distance and greenside feel. Putting is a breeze, too, especially with the HX Tour 56 – and how often do you say that about the flat stick?

Move over, HX Tour and HX Tour 56: the Tour i, and Tour ix balls are ready to take the golf world by storm. Note to Tom Morris: this is not your daddy’s ball. These are carefully-designed weapons of mass trajectory, and here’s why.

The new Tour i golf ball is, according to Callaway, the “most technologically advanced tour ball ever developed.” A four-piece ball, the Tour i incorporates perimeter weighting to increase MOI. Inertia technology uses a tungsten-infused outer core to shift weight away from the centre of the ball, reducing driver spin for maximum distance and straighter shots; and a softer core for what Callaway describes as “unparalleled tour feel.” We won’t argue: these balls are long on distance and soft on feel.

A softer urethane cover on the Tour i golf ball generates more short-game spin, and thus precision control which induces the confidence to go for the pin. The now-famous HEX Aerodynamics has been refined, too, for longer distance due to reduced drag.

The Tour ix – my golf ball of choice – boasts a slightly firmer construction for even more explosive distance. Callaway calls this “the longest tour ball we’ve ever made.” Thank you, Callaway. I may be a low single-digit handicapper, but I’m not getting any younger. Yet despite its awe-inspiring distance, this ball still dances off a wedge with remarkable shot-making ability. In addition to the new Thermostat Urethane Cover, and refined Hex Aerodynamics with Sub-Hex design for distance and stability, Callaway uses Reaction Injection Molding (RIM) – a seamless cover with uniform thickness for consistent shot-to-shot consistency.

If a tour-type golf ball isn’t your weapon of choice, Callaway offers a complete line of balls, one of which is sure to suit your individual game, including the HX Hot Bite, and the new HX Pearl.

If there is one thing about golf that is for certain, it’s this: do your thinking at the range, and just trust it on the course. From tee to green, the Callaway Tour i, and Tour ix golf balls let you concentrate on alignment, stance, swing and course management, while they do the rest. And that’s a good feeling.

For more on all of Callaway Golf’s ball offerings and 2008 equipment, visit the company web site, www.CallawayGolf.com.