6 months into playing Chrome Soft X…WOW, didn’t see that one coming.

As I have mentioned before, I played the same companies golfball for 25+ years. Yes, the profile of the ball changed but I trusted the company mandate consistently, and honestly, it never let me down. At WRX I did try multiple nuggets and in some cases learned that I was leaving meat on the table whether it be distance, spin, feel, etc.

HOWEVER, the golf ball is the most important part of the bag. Without question. It’s literally the glue that holds the whole bag together. With that said I was yet to find something that literally checked off every box which for me is spin, speed (they all go fast), off-speed spin, and wind stability.

Since becoming a father, my swing speed went way down. I was consistently a 115MPH/165-170 ball speed player but over the past 5 years, I live in the 108-110MPH and Low 160’s. That’s a big loss. The problem was I couldn’t find a ball that would compliment how I play TODAY. Honestly, they just didn’t spin enough and when they did they were sketchy in the wind.

Then I started the Callaway journey in March and Yes I understand that this article will get the “but you work for them” banner hung on it so I’ll quell that with this statement.

I AM SO PASSIONATE ABOUT WHAT WE ARE DOING WITH GOLF BALLS THAT IF CALLAWAY SAID “Johnny, just focus on the balls and leave the rest”, I’d do it in two seconds no question. I’m that jacked up on what Loper and Jason Finley have planned. The competition is a MONSTER but we continue to excel and although the odds are stacked to become the #1 ball in all of golf, it’s just the kind of situation I love.

Ok. Let’s get to the main things that I have gained from switching to CSX. I’m ok saying that I played a Titleist ball religiously for 25+ years. That relationship served me well. So much to the fact that I literally refused to really try anything else. The last ball I was in before CSX was the 2019 Pro V1X. It was a great ball that I trusted, especially around the greens. HOWEVER, there were two issues…

1) I didn’t hit it all that far which in all honesty was fine, I wasn’t hitting anything far 2) I STRUGGLED with it in the wind.

I’m not blaming this on the ball in all honesty as I know many players that swear by Pro V1X in the wind and for ball speed.

When I switched to CSX not only did my ball speed spike back up into the mid 160’s, I now had a ball that was PHENOMENAL in the wind.

CHECK OUT Gerritt Pon and I testing all 3 Chrome Soft Golf Balls

What does that look like?

Well for me I recall a shot last March at Hammock Beach in Bryan Laroche’s Annual Battle at The Beach. It was the final day and the wind was HOWLING. It was cold, raining, and most likely the toughest Tournament conditions I have ever played in (both days). The 14th hole is a 550yd Par 5 that played dead into the teeth of the wind. The 3rd shot was to a front pin and onto a green that sloped back to front.

The point is you have ZERO margins for error. I was 118 yards out into a 30+ MPH wind. I had to hit a perfect little chippy 8-iron that did 3 things:

1. Held its line in the wind
2. Had enough spin to stay in the air without ballooning
3. Stop around the hole without ripping back into the water AND not skipping forward leaving me an impossible downhill putt. Not to mention losing spin and just flying like a rocket to the back section.

Ask anyone who has played there, the shot is a nightmare. Needless to say, I hit the shot that checked off every box and I had a 4-footer for birdie. My partner and I just looked at each other and laughed. That ball was not supposed to do that. Typically you hit that shot, it balloons and you barely cover the water OR you hit it solid, the ball doesn’t have enough spin and it flies 30 feet by. At least in my experience, that is what happens. Maybe I’m just no good lol.

So there’s that…and this.

I picked up speed and spin with the longer clubs. Full stop. I STRUGGLED for a while with balls that would give me the ball speed but they just didn’t spin. The ball wouldn’t stay in the air and unless I hit up on it 5+, it would carry 260 and just fall out of the air. Every time I dipped my toe into the “lower spinning” balls I suffered. I constantly went back to the balls that spun knowing I was probably giving up 10 yards at least. Not with CSX. I now get the low spin speed with high spin performance. And I’m talking driver, 3-wood, 5-wood, 4, 5, and 6 irons. That’s huge for me. The whole top of the bag just woke up and I was zapped back to 2013-2014 when that part of the bag was efficient.

Now my bag is in harmony and I’d love to say it’s because of all the Tour Issue Callaway swag, it’s not. It’s the ball. It’s the Wunder Nugget and my new Ride or Die.

I haven’t seen this much of an uptick since 2000 when the BroV Uno launched. Anyone old enough to remember that knows exactly what I’m talking about. Well, Callaway just went full tilt on these ones and next year what we have coming is even better. In my opinion, we will have Callaway golf balls in nonstaff players’ bags. Not one, multiple. It’s that gnarly.

Think I’m spewing Callaway marketing noise? I’m not.
I dare you. Go try it. Prove me wrong.

LFG

JDub