Courtesy of Callaway Golf Ball Research & Development:

Background

It has been over a decade since extremely soft Tour Level golf balls have been in the market. You have to go back to Balata-covered golf balls to find a soft construction that golfers at the Tour Level consistently played. The reason Balata balls became extinct was the innovation of the solid core, multi-layer, cast-urethane covered golf ball. First introduced by Callaway in March 2000 as the “Rule 35” golf ball, and soon after made very popular by Titleist ProV1, this solid core construction changed how balls were made. With this construction golfers could achieve incredible distance gains with the longer clubs due to less backspin, higher launch angle, and faster ball speeds, while still experiencing great greenside control provided by the urethane cover. The downside of this new construction was the firm compression gave a noticeably harder feel. Despite the harder feel, this construction became the benchmark for distance and all-round Tour level performance. While a softer feel is still consistently reported as highly desirable to golfers, no golf ball manufacturer has been able to make a performance golf ball significantly softer feeling without sacrificing distance and all-round performance of the benchmark harder balls.

Callaway has invested years of scientific and engineering resources to develop a technology that we believe regains the soft feel while providing unique playing characteristics in speed and spin rates that golfers will instantly notice and appreciate. Our technology has allowed us to develop a ball that will challenge the existing benchmark for feel, distance, and all-round performance for amateurs and also, importantly, for the top golfers in the world. Our new core technology, the SoftFast™ Core, delivers a remarkable combination of soft feel, high ball speeds and low backspin in the long part of the game. We have further combined this with our softest Duraspin urethane cover to create Chrome Soft. Chrome Soft is a Tour-quality golf ball with an extremely soft feel, reminiscent of the Balata ball, without the sacrificing ball speed, distance, and control around the green demanded by the highest levels of the modern game. After trying Chrome Soft, golfers will understand this is a paradigm shift in ball technology and performance.


What exactly do golfers get in Chrome Soft?

Simply put, the benefits of both a hard core golf ball and soft core golf ball – all within one!

Less spin for longer, straighter shots:Chrome Soft Illustration

  • Soft compression leads to more deformation of the ball at impact, particularly with clubs that impart more force into the ball (driver, woods, long irons, etc).
  • As the ball deforms, the mechanism which is responsible for generating spin, called the ‘Moment Arm,’ shrinks due to the impact force. When the ball is sitting still before impact, the moment arm is equal to the radius of the ball. At the maximum point of impact, the ball is compressed and its moment arm becomes much smaller. Torque is a product of the force applied and the end of the moment arm about the center of the ball.
    • For the physics majors: Torque = Force x Moment Arm
    • Torque is proportional to the resultant Spin of the ball
  • The result is less spin for a ball that compresses more on the clubface. The smaller moment arm is not physically able to generate as much torque.
  • In comparison, a firmer, higher compression golf ball won’t deform as much under the same impact force and, because of its longer moment arm, would generate more torque and more spin.
  • When it comes to distance, less spin equals longer distance mainly because lower spinning golf balls generate less drag and less sidespin throughout their flight

Control around the green:Chrome Soft Illustration

  • Around the green, golfers generally want higher levels of spin in order to control distance and to make the ball stop in a predictable manner. Chrome Soft is able to still have Tour-Level control around the green because we mold an extremely soft urethane cover on the outer layer. This soft DuraSpin™ urethane grips the clubface and is able to get into the grooves of the wedge for more spin around the green.
  • Additionally, as the ball is able to compress more, the area of impact on the clubface is larger and results in more repeatable spin characteristics. Golfers are able to aggressively control their ball and rely on it to check up consistently every time.

Anatomy of the Chrome Soft Golf Ball
Chrome Soft Core

SoftFast™ Core

  • Typically as the materials inside of a golf ball become softer, they also get slower. We’ve been able to minimize this tradeoff with our SoftFast™ core, which achieves a higher COR at lower compressions than conventional cores.
  • Our SoftFast™ core is made with the highest quality materials and a state of the art manufacturing process to ensure that each core maintains the maximum amount of energy through impact.
  • This energy retention combined with a reduction in spin results in incredible distance off the tee and from the fairway.

Mantle

  • The high performance ionomer material is stiffer than the soft core and is designed to help recover the energy that is temporarily stored in the highly deformed SoftFast™ core during impact. The mantle layer forces the core to regain its un-deformed shape and helps turn the energy stored in the core into kinetic energy, which translates to faster ball speeds.

Soft DuraSpin™ Cover

  • Our softest and most durable urethane cover does a great job gripping the clubface and getting into the grooves. This results in Tour-level control around the greens, while also being the most durable golf ball we’ve brought to market.

HEX Aerodynamics

  • Our HEX pattern is designed to have optimal performance at low spin conditions without sacrificing performance on high spin shots. Chrome Soft’s characteristic of low-spin off the tee matches perfectly with our optimized HEX aero pattern to generate long distance.
  • HEX aerodynamics perform exceptional with all clubs, all head-speeds and in all weather conditions.

Final Thoughts

Callaway Golf BallsCompression is a key characteristic in developing a golf ball, but golfers should avoid using overall compression of the golf ball as an indicator of any particular performance characteristic other than feel. We believe Chrome Soft is unique because its SoftFast™ core is optimized to harness energy, while reducing spin to generate massive distance gains. Add the extremely soft and durable DuraSpin™ cover for Tour-Level consistent control around the greens, and it’s unlike any other ball ever invented.

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