There’s a good chance you’re familiar with TaylorMade’s TP5 and TP5x golf balls. Maybe it’s even your pellet of choice. The Tour offerings in TaylorMade’s ever-expanding ball matrix are used by some of the best players in the world, including Rory McIlroy, Collin Morikawa and Tommy Fleetwood.
Both balls feature a redesigned Tour Flight dimple pattern that’s shallower in depth with steeper walls to reduce drag during ascent, and then maintain lift on the descent. The rest of the construction, however, is different when comparing the two models.
The TP5 now includes a larger reactive core for more speed while still maintaining the soft feel and high greenside spin from the previous iteration. The urethane cover on the five-piece TP5X was softened to improve groove interaction at impact and greenside feel. However, even with the cover modifications, TP5X still offers a firmer feel and launches higher with more speed when compared to its TP5 counterpart.
Depending on needs (feel, spin and launch), a golfer might be better off going with the TP5 over the TP5x, or vice versa.
As we’ve discussed plenty of times on this site, the only way to find out which ball is better for your game is to put them in a head-to-head test, preferably with a launch monitor in tow to capture the data.
In a recent edition of GOLF’s ClubTest Live from Tulsa, Oklahoma, site of the recent PGA Championship, GOLF’s managing editor of instruction, Luke Kerr-Dineen, put TP5 and TP5x to the test with Foresight’s GCQuad launch monitor.
What are the key differences between TP5 and TP5x when hitting a driver and a 50-yard wedge shot? Check out the video to see the testing results.
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