For what it's worth, here is my first-ever attempt at reviewing anything. This post will be in two parts: some background on my game (mostly to let you know you should take my golfing opinions with a few grains of salt), and then the review/comparison.
Background:
For starters, let me say that I do not have a fast swing speed... I am in the 85-90 mph range, so some of the more expensive golf balls I will never play... they have way too much technology for my skill level. Let me also say (in case you haven't read anything else I've posted) that I am not a good golfer -- but from what has happened so far this season, it seems my wood and iron play will be giving me a chance to shoot in the 80's every round this year... my putting will determine the final stroke count. I don't have an official handicap, but as an idea... if I shoot worse than Bogey Golf then I consider it a very bad day. I don't want to say that I always shoot in the 80's, because I don't... but it's happening more and more often.
Anyway, in case you can't tell, I'm not a pro. Not anywhere close and never will be. The feedback provided here is a amateur's account of what felt good out there. So here we go...
Until recently I've been using inexpensive 2-piece balls, based on my slower swing speed and a general cheapness I seem to have inherited from my father. From what I understand, a slower swing speed should almost always be matched with a lower compression ball, which is pretty much going to be a 2-piece. I'll let the rest of the internet tell you the science behind that, but basically a 3- or 4-piece ball is more difficult to compress (more layers!) and a slow swing speed will not let the ball do what it is designed to do. Anyway, I was using the Dunlop Loco (which golf shops don't even sell... you have to get them at somewhere like Sport Chek or even Canadian Tire), and the Maxfli Noodle (although I think the Maxfli name was recently purchased by ...?).
During a recent trip to Nevada Bob's, the dude suggested I try the Burner TP, which is Taylor Made's "middle of the road" ball - around $30/dozen - bewteen the Burner and the TP Red or TP Black. Much less money than something like the ProV1 from Titleist, which is over $50/doz. But Titleist does have the NXT Tour in that "middle" category. He said the TP did have a low compression/soft core, but was a 3-piece, which meant another layer between the core and the cover. My first round with the TP was a smashing success: 82... and that included three 7's! Not sure how much it had to do with the ball, but it must have helped at least a little.
I happened to have a few newer NXT Tour balls in the bag, so I tried them out a few days later. Here is my official non-professional opinion about how the two balls stack up against each other.
The comparison/review:
(disclaimer: this is simply what I discovered... every swing is different. So don't blame me if you stink it up out there with either one of these, Captain Hack.)
Driver: without using a tape measure or yardstick, I have concluded the TP got me some extra yards off the tee. How many? Probably between 5 and 10. Hard to say for sure, since I don't have the consistency of a swing robot to be able to tell how much of it was the ball and how much of it was the swing. The TP also found the fairway more often, as a result of straighter drives. The TP also felt like it launched better... I'm not sure how else to describe it. My brother-in-law said it looked like the TP jumped off the driver with a little more juice.
Advantage: Burner TP.
Irons: coming off the face of the club, both balls felt fairly similar. I can't say one felt better than the other. But I can definitely say the NXT Tour has a significantly greater amount of spin than the Burner TP. I just don't have the type of swing to make a ball back up on the green, and it's not as though I'm constantly firing darts at the flag. But the NXT definitely gave me a hop 'n stop into pretty much every green. The TP would roll more after landing on the green. The TP wasn't terrible by any means... in fact, with several NXT approaches, while the ball was in the air I was really liking it (because I thought it would release to the hole), and then it would check up and I'd have a longer-than-desired putt on my hands.
Advantage: NXT Tour (if for no other reason, the coolness factor of stopping it on the greens).
Putting: The NXT felt a little harder than the TP, which to me made it more difficult to gage distance-wise. I was 3-putting all over the place. The TP felt a little softer and I was very dialed in with it. Putting is such a personal, individual thing... the NXT could be good, depending on your likes and dislikes related to ball feel.
Advantage: Burner TP.
Overall, I really liked the iron-play with the NXT Tour, especially the sudden ability to stop the ball on the green. But the longer, straighter drives and the ultra-consistent putting feel I get with the Burner TP will keep me in the Taylor Made ball family for the time being.
Next time on Ball Wars: the Bridgestone e6+ (and it's suddenly lofty reputation) steps into the ring against the Burner TP.
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