Volvik Condor and Condor X Golf Balls Review

[gkeller813]

First off, I think the Condor lineup presents itself well. Condor X is a bit brighter white than the Condor. Difficult to capture on camera. I cannot see the seam, like was mentioned above, but I've also only putting with them inside. Something I will keep an eye on. Condor X has the red number.



Went through a little putting test with the Condor and Condor X. I put it up against some of the balls I typically game:

The Condor felt very similar to the previous version of the Callaway Chrome Soft. Solid feet off the putter face, not clicky, not too soft either. Very pleasant feel.

The Condor X felt very similar to the previous version of the Callaway Chrome Soft X-LS. A bit of a click sound off the putter face, but definitely not as firm feeling as some others I've played.

The other ball I was putting with was the Bridgestone Tour B X. I feel like the Tour B X was a little bit firmer than the Condor, and a little bit softer than the Condor X.



The one thing I did notice, especially since I had the XT Soft out as well, was the alignment aid. The Condor lineup has a very simple Condor as the alignment aid. But I really wish it has something like the XT Soft, shown in the middle. I use the Triple Track from Callaway, so this look was familiar for me. And I like the added dot in the middle, that my eye can focus on.

 

[Coloradomrg]

Step 1 for me: Testing each ball out on the putting mat. I spend a lot of time putting at home. I'll putt during meetings, for a break, and generally sometime every evening I've been rolling putts for 30 minutes or so. Some of the information in this review will align with my XT Soft post, but I wanted to make sure all information was in one place for each ball type.

To start with, I rolled 10 putts with my current gamer (Srixon QStar Tour) to make sure I was in the right frame of mind. I setup a target at 8'. Put 9 of 10 in the target. Pretty typical result for me.

Switched to the Condor and hit a few aiming for 3', and they were all within a few inches of each other. I then went to the 8' length and was able to put 8 of 10 in the target. The two that missed, I blew them past the target. Then I spent about 30 minutes kind of playing around with mishits, shorter putts, faster putts, etc. Each time I setup a new scenario I would compare it to my current gamer so that I could have a baseline.

The sound/feel is very different than my current gamer. I'd call the Condor medium firm off the putter. Much more solid feel than the XT Soft. The sound is a little clicky, but not in a bad way.

For me, off the putter, the Condor and CondorX were basically identical. I couldn't tell a difference in sound or feel, and the results were basically identical.

 

[TransplantHacker]

Today was the start of one of my leagues and I put the CONDOR in play. Conditions in OH today: Light Rain this morning that finally let up around 1030am. My tee time is 1;30, weather was clear, gusting winds of 20-30MPH so some holes will benefit others....well.
I teed up the Condor fresh out of the sleeve, first look was that I liked the "whiteness" and that the logo didn't effect my line of sight on the tee. First drive, very clean sound off the club and I could track it with no problem. The opening hole is a Par 5 and I got about 225yd out of my hit. I then tried my 3W from the fairway and again, nice clean sound off club and good distance. Now my irons; I play ZX4's and the ball really jumped off my 6 iron; I had the same feeling that I had with my woods, 3rd shot placed me on the collar with about 30yds to pin. 4 was a chip in which I did some spin and bite but to be honest I really couldn't give you a qualified answered. Left that shot within 18" and made putt for par.

So I used the same ball for 8 holes and loved how it came off my clubs however, tee shot on hole 8: CONDOR musta got homesick and headed to the woods never to be found. In first text, I like this ball, it's nice construction and the way it felt of the faces of my clubs satisfied me on what this ball was to do and be like.

Next week, the CONDOR X gets the call to the tee:.

 

[jdtox]

After yesterday’s experience with the condor I really wanted to give the X a try, @ddec gave me a couple and I really enjoyed the experience today. A little firmer and a little more spin that the regular version. Again no issues off the tee but definitely more spin with irons and wedges, even chipped one in today.

The ball in many ways reminds me of the Mizuno RB Tour Ball and I dig it especially at the price point these are coming in at

 

[ddec]

After yesterday’s experience with the condor I really wanted to give the X a try, @ddec gave me a couple and I really enjoyed the experience today. A little firmer and a little more spin that the regular version. Again no issues off the tee but definitely more spin with irons and wedges, even chipped one in today.

The ball in many ways reminds me of the Mizuno RB Tour Ball and I dig it especially at the price point these are coming in at

I forgot to ask how you enjoyed them today! Sounds like they made a good impression. I get the feeling that when testers start getting some volvik in their hands they will be impressed.

 

[Steve2100]

Tested the Condor and the Condor X yesterday at an indoor trackman facility. Visually both look pretty much the same. Condor is an 85 compression 3 piece ball while the Condor X is 95 compression 4 piece ball.

With my PW the Condor ball avg 112 yds with an avg spin rate of 7182 and with the Condor X similar distance of 111 and spin rate of 7487.

With my 7 iron Condor ball avg 150 yds with an avg spin rate of 5337 and with Condor X 148 yds with an avg spin rate of 5001.

With Driver Condor ball avg 232 yds with spin rate of 3506 and with Condor X 231 and 4194.

Both balls felt pretty similar off club face and putter. Both balls do not have the alignment aid that XT Soft does which is a shame as I really like that. Now that my league starts in 2 weeks I'll be able to get out and see how they perform in the elements.

 

[gkeller813]

Both balls felt pretty similar off club face and putter. Both balls do not have the alignment aid that XT Soft does which is a shame as I really like that. Now that my league starts in 2 weeks I'll be able to get out and see how they perform in the elements

I agree. Would really enjoy the XT Soft alignment aid on the Condor line..

 

[LLIB]

I agree. Would really enjoy the XT Soft alignment aid on the Condor line..

Yep, I didn’t think I’d like it but it made a difference from the first putt.

 

[cnl390]

Played 9 with the XT Soft Yellow yesterday. Initially I didn't care for the bright and shiny color, but after a few shots it didn't bother me and the ball was easy to spot even in high grass. I really like the texture (?) of the cover. It fells really grippy, if that's a word. It felt good of the driver. Not much difference, if any, to the Q Star Tour with pretty much the same distances. Also there's a noticeably different (not bad) sound. I am by no means a spinner of the golf ball, but it was quite evident that chips and pitches were not running out nearly as far as usual. I will being doing another 18 on Saturday and will update after.
P.S. I was going to do comparisons on on my MLMPro of all three balls but had to take down my net to store some stuff in the garage. I will get the testing done in a couple of weeks.

 

[gkeller813]

Hit a bunch of wedges with both balls today. Really like the feel of each. Both are solid, but never border on too hard. The X may be a touch more firm, but it's hard to distinguish honestly. Like where these both sit.

 

[Templet0n]

In play today. It is a windy but sunny day. Will be a good test

 

[ddec]

View attachment 9258319View attachment 9258320
Tested the Condor and the Condor X yesterday at an indoor trackman facility. Visually both look pretty much the same. Condor is an 85 compression 3 piece ball while the Condor X is 95 compression 4 piece ball.

With my PW the Condor ball avg 112 yds with an avg spin rate of 7182 and with the Condor X similar distance of 111 and spin rate of 7487.

With my 7 iron Condor ball avg 150 yds with an avg spin rate of 5337 and with Condor X 148 yds with an avg spin rate of 5001.

With Driver Condor ball avg 232 yds with spin rate of 3506 and with Condor X 231 and 4194.

Both balls felt pretty similar off club face and putter. Both balls do not have the alignment aid that XT Soft does which is a shame as I really like that. Now that my league starts in 2 weeks I'll be able to get out and see how they perform in the elements.

Good stuff here. I probably missed it, but what ball do you normally play and how does it compare to some of the numbers you have here?

 

[pumbaa]

Will be testing these out tomorrow in my round. Will get them on the mlm pro 2 shortly as well.

 

[Templet0n]

Ok. I want to try to break down my experience today with the condor balls.

First off. I want to talk conditions today. They were tough. Lots of wind. To try and give you a clue as to how much wind. Today I tried to hit a flighted 9 iron at a 179 yard target and few it. Then a couple holes later I hit a 9 iron to a 125 yard target and tried again to flight it under the wind and came up short. So conditions were fun.

First things let’s talk about the good. This ball may be the best wind ball I have ever played. It really bucked the wind well. The challenge for me was adjusting. Playing in the wind is both a huge challenge and I think it is fun. I don’t shy away from wind. The condor and condor X did really well in the wind. I hit a few other balls to compare randomly around the courses from the tee, wedge shots, iron shots etc. the Volvik did very well and was really controllable.. I enjoyed it a lot I. The shot making category.

The one area I would say for me that it lacked was around the greens. It feel clicky to me and firm. Both models. I felt like on chips and pitches it would launch higher and not really grab and run out more than I thought it should. It could just be a me thing. I am not super comfortable with wedges these days and feel like that is among the weakest part of my game. But I did feel like this ball struggled for me there.

As far as looks go. It’s fine. The white is pretty white. The logo is fine, but I am really not picky about aesthetics like that.

 

[G-Man]

Im going to run a test on these with the driver, because early on, the Condor is giving me really really good results. Almost dead on numbers to Pro V1 and Srixon Z-Star

This is interesting!

 

[Templet0n]

I will add the durability I am seeing is really good!

 

[LLIB]

I will add the durability I am seeing is really good!

I’ll agree with this. I’ve used the same ball of each model for a ton of short game practice with new wedges and when I clean them off they still look new.

 

[Steve2100]

Good stuff here. I probably missed it, but what ball do you normally play and how does it compare to some of the numbers you have here?

I usually play a Srixon Qstar but while testing the Volviks I used a Bridgestone E6 (Southern Twang) ball.
With a 7 iron numbers were
Bridgestone E6: 153 yd avg- 5595 spin
Condor : 150.25 yd avg - 5500 spin
Condor x: 149.75 avg -5684 spin

With Driver
Bridgestone E6: 236 yd avg -3636 spin
Condor: 232- 3506
Condor X: 231- 3194

Something I need to work on is learning more about spin #'s and which are better for my game. I pretty much go by price and feel as to what golf ball I choose.

 

[pumbaa]

Got these on course today. 1st thing I noticed is the condor had some kind of mark on 1 of the dimples not sure what happened there.

1st tee used the condor. @Nick Kane and I both though it sounds like you're hitting a very hard ball but the feel wasn't at all hard. Flight was nice and distance seemed very comparable to my gamer the qst. I will say around the greens it didn't seem to spin as much but that could be the archer not the arrow as I'm not high spin but I can get some balls to hop and stop. The durability was very good as I had 2 wayward shots later in the round using it and the tree limb scuffs came right off. Ball felt nice off the putter and had a normal sound so not sure why my irons and woods sound so different with it.

Next up was the condor x. This ball is probably a little too high compression for my game but it feels good off the club face. Doesn't have the same sound it seems as the regular condor has more of your typical premium ball sound. Off the putter I liked this ball a little more than the regular condor it seemed to have more speed off the putter face. Around the green I really liked this ball i got it to check up on a couple of shots. Durability seems solid this one didn't hit any trees but didn't notice any scuffs or anything with multiple wedge shots.

 

[LLIB]

I plan on getting out tomorrow and putting these two into play at a fairly tough course that makes you hit a lot of different shots. Should be a good test for these.

 

[LLIB]

I plan on getting out tomorrow and putting these two into play at a fairly tough course that makes you hit a lot of different shots. Should be a good test for these.

I didn’t make it out to the course yesterday, too much stuff to do around the house. I will get them on the course this weekend and follow up afterwards.

 

[Hawk]

Ok. I want to try to break down my experience today with the condor balls.

First off. I want to talk conditions today. They were tough. Lots of wind. To try and give you a clue as to how much wind. Today I tried to hit a flighted 9 iron at a 179 yard target and few it. Then a couple holes later I hit a 9 iron to a 125 yard target and tried again to flight it under the wind and came up short. So conditions were fun.

First things let’s talk about the good. This ball may be the best wind ball I have ever played. It really bucked the wind well. The challenge for me was adjusting. Playing in the wind is both a huge challenge and I think it is fun. I don’t shy away from wind. The condor and condor X did really well in the wind. I hit a few other balls to compare randomly around the courses from the tee, wedge shots, iron shots etc. the Volvik did very well and was really controllable.. I enjoyed it a lot I. The shot making category.

The one area I would say for me that it lacked was around the greens. It feel clicky to me and firm. Both models. I felt like on chips and pitches it would launch higher and not really grab and run out more than I thought it should. It could just be a me thing. I am not super comfortable with wedges these days and feel like that is among the weakest part of my game. But I did feel like this ball struggled for me there.

As far as looks go. It’s fine. The white is pretty white. The logo is fine, but I am really not picky about aesthetics like that.

View attachment 9259241

Any guesses as to what resulted in the solid the wind performance?

 

[Templet0n]

Any guesses as to what resulted in the solid the wind performance?

Dimple pattern? That is typically what determines flight characteristics I think.. I couldn't tell you what they did there that is different, but it worked really well.

 

[Hawk]

Dimple pattern? That is typically what determines flight characteristics I think.. I couldn't tell you what they did there that is different, but it worked really well.

That would make sense. We didn't really have much when I was in TX, so I couldn't give that aspect much of a test.

 

[Templet0n]

That would make sense. We didn't really have much when I was in TX, so I couldn't give that aspect much of a test.

you have just sent me down a dimple rabbit hole.. Thanks lol.