Callaway Hex Tour Soft Review

With so many balls already released I always wonder what makes the manufacturers release more balls every other year. Callaway hex tour soft review became a mystery for me after I checked on it specifications and it matched with superhot 55. I tried to dig into these balls a little deeper so I can educate the audience and explain why hex tour soft is suited for seniors, women and junior players.

It turns out the difference between Superhot 55 and Hex Tour soft is the outer cover material. The Superhot outer layer over is made up of Trionomer which has ionomer reinforced with glass while Hex Tour Soft is of injected Surlyn. Trionomer is relatively harder and more durable than the Surlyn. I will explain the injected Surlyn with in this post. So after clarifying the first confusion lets talk more about hex tour soft.

CALLAWAY BALLS COMPARISON

IS HEX TOUR A GOOD BALL?

Although, it may vary from person to person but we have to agree on a good ball definition before we analyse this ball from that perspective. A good golf ball spins very less off the tee and spins a lot on the short shots from the wedges.

Hex Tour Soft does exactly that it will go to big distances off the tee, quickly grip on the green on short game, flows from the putter and can take a beating. Without a doubt, I will place hex tour on list of good golf ball.

How is the ball able to do that?

Above I have discussed three points, first is long distance off tea, second is good on greens, great on putter shots and last is the durability. Let’s talk about both from the ball construction perspective.

How is it Good For Short Game and Putts?

The secret is due to the outer covering of the hex tour soft. It is made up of injected molded Surlyn. Surlyn is actually a plastic that sets into shape under heat and is made up of ionomer and polyamide. It allows the manufacturers to get a strong, durable mold that also holds softer properties. In comparison, another common outer covering is urethane which is denser than Surlyn. Urethane has a hardness metric of 75-90 in comparison with Surlyns only 62 hardness index.

A harder cover on short shots will be difficult to control on the putts because due to the harder outer cover the ball will face lesser resistance from the grass. A softer surlyn cover will grip quickly on the putts and it would be easier to sink the ball.

Another fact that makes Hex tour soft a good ball for the green is with the wedges. The ball has three inner layers of construction. As the number of layers increases the spin separation will come into effect. The short game that shots with the wedges will impart higher spin on the ball which helps to better control the ball on the short shots. As soon as the ball lands on the green because of its softer outer covering it will grip with the grass and not move too much away from the hole.

How it Gets Long Distance from Driver?

One of the most important shot is the drive. It can shape the way the rest of hole will play. A ball that has side spin will alter it route and it distance will decrease because it has not traveled in a straight line rather it has curved in the air and landed earlier then what it was aimed for.

Hex tour soft has three ball inner construction. The interior is made up of three-piece interior ionomer core. The three-layer construction and lower compression rating of the ball helps it to spring off the club head and sail in a straighter line.

Like we defined a good golf ball, lets talk about briefly about a good drive shot. An ideal ball of the tee has the ball intended line of aim and the axis of rotation aligned. It is impossible for any player to hit the ball absolutely straight because off the tee the ball has backspin induced and as it moves through the air, the drag turns it around at an angle. So a ball that only had backspin now is spinning at an angle. The 100% backspin from the launch now has a certain percentage in sidespin as well.

This side spin alters the course of the driver shot and makes it move away from the intended line of aim. A perfect ball has no side spin off the tee but they don’t exist. Hex Tour Soft is a softer ball, the inner ionomer has an average density of 0.966cc, an ultimate tensile strength of 4100 PSI which makes the inner core softer. This is what we call a ball with lower compression.

Hex tour due to its lower compression rating will have longer time on impact with the clubhead. As it compresses on the head of the driver it will spring off after launching. This is somewhat a recoil that added into the force of the swing. As a result, the ball will now travel more distance for those with slower swing speeds. Players who have higher swing speed will feel uncomfortable with the hex soft because the feel of launching from the clubhead would feel sticky.

Because of the lower compression, high force on the drive shot and the spring off action of the hex tour soft the tilt in the air will be resisted by the ball. Most of the backspin at the time of the launch will retain on the ball and it will continue in a straighter line. But am I saying that this ball is the best off the tee certainly not there are balls out there which travel more straight like TaylorMade TP5.

The hex structure reduces the surface area that comes in contact with the air during the flight. This is the reason why the ball tilts lesser in the air because the amount of drag is lesser which forces the ball to tilt and reduce its distance. Lesser drags also helps in lesser energy dissipation during the flight which allows hex tour soft to travel a longer distance.

So for those with slower swing speeds, hex tour soft can be a good compensator.

How is it Durable Given It is Soft?

Some of you reading may have thought that if the advertised name is soft how come the ball is durable? The question is quite legit especially if we consider the super chrome soft by Callaway, the ball gets scuffed on impacts with rocks. It is a different story with the hex tour soft because of the inject surlyn outer covering.

As I mentioned the most agreed definition of a good golf ball is to have a soft outer covering that allows it to grip on the green. The struggle to find such material that is soft and at the same time durable has lead golf companies to spend millions on research and development.

Injected Surlyn has an impact tensile strength of 1020 Kj/m². The ball upon getting molded naturally comes with high tolerance to strong impacts. So if your golf course has rough obstacles or is not properly maintained then hex tour can take that beating. The ball will also play great irrespective of the temperature. It has upper-temperature tolerance upto ~190°F and lower temperature tolerance till ~ -150°F. All these properties give Surlyn extraordinary resistance to scuffing, scratching and abrasions.

Callaway Hex Tour Soft is softer and feels a bit longer than Diablo Tour. Both balls seem to be the same in terms of specification but the softness is the main difference. It seems Callaway produces balls under certain tags for different outlets and keeps little differences to make different editions. If you compare them with K3 then they are will go further distance.

BOTTOM LINE

Get this ball set if you are someone who has slower swing speed, need a durable ball and want to increase the distance off the tee. Those who struggle with spin for the short game can get this ball as well but here are better options available. The lower compression of this ball will make it popular among beginners and seniors.