101: The Chrome Soft Family

Choosing the right golf ball is more important now than its ever been. Why? Well, with the way clubs are being designed these days it’s important to understand that yes, distance is fun but it’s spin and where it’s optimized that holds the whole thing together.

I can use myself as an example, I’m 44 and looking to hit the ball as far as I can with the driver. That endeavor becomes more challenging as each day passes, I travel a lot, often sitting at a computer and in between chasing my kids around. The point is flexibility and the ability to hit balls is nil. Nonetheless, the chase continues and what I’ve found is that no matter how good the Driver/Irons/wedges are, if my ball is wrong, it doesn’t matter. My experience has shown that if I want to play well I need to work from the green backward to find a ball that I can actually play well with. Every time I found a Driver/Ball combo that was on fire, the rest of the bag suffered somewhere. Either the irons didn’t spin enough, the wedges didn’t launch and spin like I was used to, or Vice Versa.

Since joining Callaway I prioritized the ball more than anything. I wanted to understand each ball and the “why for me”. Hopefully, this breakdown steers you in the right direction. Gerrit Pon (ECPC Master Fitter and Phils guy) and I did a great video a couple of weeks back that tested each ball side to side with LW/6 Iron/Driver. The Video is attached here.

Where did I land?

Well, I’m looking for SPIN SPIN SPIN. Literally everywhere. I’m very low spin with the Driver/3W/5W/4-6. For whatever reason, my spin numbers get quite efficient once I hit 7-iron. So for example with a 5-iron, my RPMs are in the low 4000’s but once I get to 7 Iron the numbers get to the high 6000’s to low 7000’s. Based on a 1000 to 1 ratio (RPMs to club number) my 7-LW numbers are awesome. To take it even further, on off-speed shots with my short irons (which I hit 90% of the time) I want more spin. Lower speed kills spin, I don’t want that. CSX gave me everything I wanted. Literally. Everything.

The easiest way to explain the differences/similarities to the masses is to break them down by WHAT they do and WHO they are for. …kind of like CLUE lol.

Here we go!!!!

*all of these balls are brick walls into the wind and in crosswinds. IE VERY STABLE

Chrome Soft (Red Box)

WHAT:
Key Words: Forgiveness, Ball for the masses
Driver: Long/Mid-Low Spin/Higher Launch
Irons: Higher Launch/Mid Spin/Steep Decent angle
Wedges: High launch/Mid spin/soft

WHO:
It’s played on plenty of professional Tours but the Chrome Soft is a ball that will fit the greatest percentage of players across the board. It’s plenty hot off the driver but more importantly, its lower spin higher launch profile creates a lot of forgiveness and stability for players. Reducing the curve was the goal here. Basically, it’s a VERY forgiving golf ball that gives you all the other stuff players want.

Chrome Soft X (Black Box)

WHAT:
Key Words: Tour Ball, Workability, Spin
Driver: Very Fast/Mid-Low Spin/Mid-High Launch
Irons: Tour Spin/Mid Launch/High rate of workability
Wedges: Skip and stop/Low launch/Owness is on the player

WHO:
Higher speed/lower handicap players who prefer to move the ball around in the air and prefer a ton of spin around the greens. Yes CSX is fast off the driver but that’s not the selling point of this ball, it’s the variety of shots it offers as well as how good this ball is in the wind.

Chrome Soft X LS (Silver Box)

WHAT:
Key Words: LONG, Low Metal wood spin, soft around the greens.
Driver: FAST/Low launch/Low spin
Irons: Low launch/lower spin
Wedges: Soft/Players who play with loft around the greens

WHO:
For the high-speed players (steeper angles of attack, faders for example) that have a tendency to over spin shots with longer clubs or want launch angles to come down. CSX/LS still has what you want around the greens but it won’t give you the type of spin CSX does. The players that need this ball already spin it enough.

FYI: CS, CSX and CSX LS are available with Triple Track and in Yellow

Hope this helps 😉

JDUB