Taylormade TP Penta Golf Ball 1st Impressions

[JB]

I thought this needed its own thread.

Played 18 holes with it today and so did the rest of the foursome I played with. All four players normally play premium balls. 2 of them play Pro V1x and 2 of them Bridgestone B330RX.

Distance - 2 out of the 4 players thought the ball was longer off the tee. I was not one of them. Both players that played the Pro V1x were getting (according to them) about 8 yards more distance off the tee. I did not lose any distance, but found it about the same.

Approach Shots - Crisp, pure, and solid check up. Even hitting an R9 6 iron into the green (new grooves) the ball was one hop and stop. Good ball flight and overall solid feeling.

Greenside - Spinny as all get out. The ball would just flat out check on everything. Bunkers were fabulous. Good feel and solid spin as the ball flies out.

Putting - Despite my putting woes today, all four of us liked the sound of the ball. There is no alignment arrow, but the word Penta is used as the arrow. Good sound, great feel and good pure roll.

Durability - Less durable than my B330RX however more durable than the Pro V1 and Z-Star. Played with one ball for 18 holes (luckily) and it still looks quite good.

Overall - A true gem so far. The two long hitters in our group (Prov1x players) were in love the ball. One guy shot his year's best round of 73. Very playable it seems for all the guys and the spin is great.

 

[JB]

From TM

Both Sergio Garcia and Retief Goosen are playing the new Penta TP golf ball at Hazeltine.

While TaylorMade did not plan to launch the ball on tour this week, Sergio and Retief insisted on switching (rare for a major championship) after testing Penta TP a few weeks ago.

Penta TP is the first tour ball with five solid-layers, with each layer engineered to optimize performance in five key shot categories that skilled players need – driver, long-irons, middle-irons, short-irons and partial wedges. The five layers of Penta TP include the core, inner mantle, middle mantle, outer mantle and cover, and each one plays a critical role in optimizing the performance of each of the five key shots.

 

[provisional]

Like I posted before I will give a sleeve of them a try. My local pro shop guy says they may be available as early as sometime in November for around $14 a sleeve, if TM allows him to sell them by the sleeve. Then again business has been so poor he might not even be open in November. :confused2:

 

[JB]

The launch date for the ball appears to be 11/1

 

[JB]

After continuing to use the ball for another practice session, I am liking it more and more. This is going to sound a little off but it seems like they have taken the best properties of the golf balls and put them into one ball.

It is definitely as if they molded the TP Red and the TP Black together. You get the spin and short game feeling of the TP Black, but without the driver issues that many had off the tee. While at the same time you get the Tee shots of the TP and the great trajectory of the TP Red off the tee.

I have never been a fan of Taylormade Golf Balls. However I think if people give these a shot compared to the other premium level balls, they will come away impressed.

 

[JB]

We will have our review of the Penta Golf Ball up tomorrow on the main site. I have used them for 4 rounds and locally we have 12 rounds played with them. And do not forget we will also have a few forum members be posting their review of the Penta Ball on our forums.

 

[whatsamatta]

Wow! These sound like THE perfect golf ball! Will they retail for around that? Like $14 a sleeve?

 

[JB]

The street price will be the same as most of the other Tour premium golf balls.