I have to admit that the Titleist brand is a bit of a mystery to me. Most of my time in golf I have primarily played other brands on a regular basis. I have always prefered the feel of pro-level golf balls, even when I was just starting out. The price of Titleist Pro V1 and Pro V1S has always been a big barrier for me. That said, I shot my first 9 hole par with Titleist DT SoLo’s from 2012, and I have really liked the Velocity ball over the years. However, I haven’t spent much time with the NXT line, so after all these years I figured I would take the 2016 versions of the NXT Tour, and NXT Tour S balls to the course for a review.
I have played a couple of rounds now with each ball and I feel confident that I know them pretty well.
The NXT Tour is the firmer and longer of the two balls, and the Tour S is the softer version for folks who want more greenside feel. Out of the gate, I like the feel of both of these balls, the NXT Tour is a hot ball off the driver, and 4, 5 irons, and it has decent feel around the greens. Ok nothing out of the ordinary, long, firm but not hard, low spin off the driver, and ok stopping power with a bit more rollout with scoring clubs. The only issue is, if you replace the word NXT Tour with Velocity, you would have very similar ball characteristics. I know folks will say that the NXT is more like a three piece ball, but it is not. It has a dual core, but no real third layer, so for me I don’t really see the difference.The NXT Tour S in my opinion suffers from the same issue. The DT SoLo has improved a lot over the last 5 years, and it makes a really nice soft affordable golf ball, for the player who wants more feel on short irons.
That said, the NXT Tour S has a really nice feel, it does not seem to give up much distance to the NXT Tour, possibly a few yards because of less roll-out. Of the two balls, I like the NXT Tour S the best. It bites more on the greens, and I didn’t see much difference in distance.
Stopping power is where the two balls differ the most. The NXT Tour runs out on most shots down to your PW. I found it a bit annoying to hit a nice high 9 iron and not get it to stick and stop on the green. I had more than one shot roll off the back of the green when I went for a back pin. The Tour S did not have that issue and usually had hop and stop characteristics. You can even spin the Tour S back a little bit with a wedge.
Overall, I like the feel of the NXT, wish it would stop better. I like the Tour-S as well, better stopping power, and not much difference for me in distance. I still don’t know if I can recommend them over the Velocity and DT SoLo, especially when the difference in price is factored in. So even if they are not for me, I can see the appeal.