FIRST LOOK: Mizuno unveils long-awaited RB Tour golf balls

When most golfers think of Mizuno, they don’t think of golf balls. Even though the manufacturer is best known for its golf clubs, it quietly has been offering golf balls for years, even launching its first worldwide golf ball line in 2020 with the RB Tour and RB TourX.

After three years in the “lab” with a focus on improving ball flight, lowering spin and increasing durability, Mizuno’s newest iteration of the RB Tour and RB TourX is here.

It took some 99 prototypes and three years of R&D for Mizuno to develop the RB Tour and TourX’s new, low-spin, 272-dimple configuration, but the end result was the manufacturer’s most complete ball design to date.

Mizuno’s decision to align a new, U.S.-based golf ball design team with its original design team in Japan contributed to the three-year lead time, but for good reason. The additional investment helped to ensure Mizuno’s highest-performing ball to date, utilizing robot testing and player feedback to ensure the new RB Tour and TourX reached all performance goals.

One of the distinct features of the new RB Tour line of balls is Mizuno’s AXIAFLOW dimple design, which helps generate a higher, low-spinning trajectory with the driver and a lower, high-spinning trajectory with wedges.

“We purposefully slanted the performance of both RB Tour models towards our younger elite players,” said Chris Voshall, Mizuno USA’s director of product. “Both models launch high off the driver, yet both balls demonstrated a flatter flight from full wedge shots. A remarkable accomplishment from the aerodynamics team in Japan.”

Pricing and availability

The new RB Tour and Tour X golf balls are available now in North America, and the UK, and will be rolled out through the rest of Europe in early 2023. Both balls are priced at $43.00 a dozen.

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