Gear: Bridgestone Tour B golf balls (2022): Tour B X, Tour B XS, Tour B RX and Tour B RXS
Price: $49.99 per dozen
Specs: Three-piece, urethane-covered golf balls
Available: February 18
In 2020, Bridgestone released the first Tour B golf balls that included an impact modifier inside the urethane cover. That adjustment to the cover material’s blend, Bridgestone said, helped the balls achieve more distance off the tee while also enhancing spin around the green.
Two years later, Bridgestone believes it has made significant improvements to the study of “impact science.” With the release of four new iterations of its Tour B golf balls, the Japanese company believes golfers should expect more length with drivers, fairway woods, and long irons with even better performance around the greens.
For readers who do not have a degree in chemical engineering, an impact modifier is an additive that can be blended into a material to make it more flexible and increase impact strength. They can help brittle things bend more and other substances absorb energy.
When Tiger Woods and Bryson DeChambeau first tested the prototype Tour B balls with an impact modifier, they immediately wanted to put them into play. They pressured Bridgestone to quickly release the balls with the Reactiv cover, the 2020 Tour B X and Tour B XS. Bridgestone cheerfully complied, then added the same Reactiv cover with the impact modifier to the 2020 Tour B RX and Tour B RXS, both of which were designed for golfers who do not have PGA Tour-level swing speed.
Since the 2020 balls were released, Bridgestone’s polymer scientists have studied and tested various impact modifiers, trying to find different mixtures that could be added to each ball to make it perform better for specific types of players.
The result is ReactivIQ covers. Designed differently for each ball, the urethane blends help the ball come off the face faster on long shots for more distance but stay on the face of short irons and wedges longer for increased spin and feel around the greens. So while these three-piece balls’ cores and mantle layers have not appreciably changed, Bridgestone said golfers will get better overall performance with them.
Already in the bag of Bryson DeChambeau, the 2022 Tour B X is designed for golfers who have a driver clubhead speed of 105 mph or higher and who are trying to maximize distance. This version has a lower, flatter trajectory off the tee but should produce more spin than the previous version – Bridgestone said tests involving 15-yard pitch shots produced almost 300 rpm more spin.
This is the ball Tiger Woods used at the 2021 PNC Championship in December. Tour B XS is also for golfers with a driver clubhead speed of 105 mph or higher, but it produces more spin than the Tour B X off the tee and flies slightly higher. Bridgestone said the specific impact modifier added to this ball’s urethane cover deflects less on less-than-full swings, producing somewhat less speed. That came at the request of Woods, who said it encourages him to be more aggressive with his chips and pitches. The Tour B XS also has a softer feel than the Tour B X.
Made for golfers with a driver clubhead speed of less than 105 mph, Tour B RX is used by LPGA star Lexi Thompson. For 2022, this is another ball that has increased spin around the greens thanks to an adjustment in the cover formulation.
The Tour B RXS is for golfers with a driver clubhead speed less than 105 mph who demand a high-spinning, soft-feeling ball. The 2022 version was designed to create more distance off the tee. This ball will inherently spin more than the Tour B RX, but player tests showed Bridgestone that by tweaking the cover, they could increase carry distance and total distance by about 5 yards over the previous version.
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