Pull back the cover on any golf ball and you’re guaranteed to find several different components — the most prominent of which is the core.
Known as the engine, the core determines how the golf ball is going to perform with every club in the bag. In recent years, engineers have found ways to decouple long-game distance and short-game spin with mantle layers and reformulated cores. Or, in the case of Srixon’s latest Q-Star Tour, “core layers.”
The FastLayer core housed inside Srixon’s latest ball offering has been reformulated for a slightly higher compression rating that’s the result of thousands of layers creating a gradual soft-to-firm transition. With a firmer outer core, speed and distance increase at faster swing speeds. However, the ball still retains its soft feel and greenside performance through a supple inner core.
“The new Q-Star Tour is a high-caliber option for players wanting to hit the ball farther, see more spin around the greens, and have more control across the course,” said Brian Schielke, Srixon’s general manager. “Players can work the ball tee to green with confidence and with an updated FastLayer Core, they can generate more ball speeds and distance without compromising feel.”
How do you maintain greenside spin when the core gets firmer? With Q-Star Tour, the urethane cover was made even softer to allow the wedge grooves to grab the material for increased zip and control. The cover also features a Spin Skin super-polymer called SeRM (“Slide-Ring Material”) that allows for “unprecedented levels of shearing force without breaking its molecular bonds.”
In layman’s terms, the super-polymer is what makes it even easier for the groove to grab the urethane cover and generate efficient spin, especially around the green.
To help reduce drag and increase lift, a 338 Speed Dimple design was added to the cover to produce ideal aerodynamic conditions. The lower drag coefficient means the ball cuts through the air with less resistance for a penetrating flight. Reducing drag also leads to a more consistent, straighter flight in windy conditions. The higher lift coefficient lifts the ball throughout the descent, improving carry distance numbers at the same time.
Q-Star comes in two colors (white and yellow), along with a second-generation Divide design that splits the urethane cover into two colors — blue/yellow, orange/yellow and red/yellow. The 360-degree, 50/50 design makes it easier to see how the ball is spinning on putts, chips and pitch shots.
Srixon’s Q-Star Tour and Q-Star Tour Divide retail for $34.99 per dozen.
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