Callaway HX Tour Golf Ball Review

CALLAWAY 2006 HX Tour Golf Ball

Grade: B+ / A for better players
Teacher's Comments: I don't think I have the game for this ball. Better players will probably love it.

Since I tried the several other companies’ premium balls this summer (TaylorMade, Bridgestone, Titleist), I thought I’d also play a couple of rounds with the Callaway HX Tour.

I’ll say at the outset that I have never thought of myself as a premium ball player. Unlike most amateurs, I will readily confess to the fact that I do not swing at pro level speeds and I typically hit my driver around 230 - 250 yards. I hit my irons somewhat better—my 150 club is an 8 iron (thank you TaylorMade R7XDs) but that’s not exceptional. I do, however, have a good short and putting game that keeps my score down.

So I probably do not get as much out of the Tour balls as I should (and lets fact it, you don’t either).

With all of that in mind, my impression of the Callaway HX Tour is that it offers exceptional distance at the price of some accuracy and short game play.

In two recent rounds, I alternated between the Callaway HX Tour, the Bridgestone E6 and the TaylorMade TP Red (a premium ball I really like). On the second of those rounds, I played two balls on every hole, one always being the HX Tour.

With the ball, I hit some exceptionally long shots with each club. But I paid a price in accuracy.

My normal shot off the tee (indeed, with practically every club) is a fade. I don’t hit it really long, but am generally able to keep it in the fairway. The problem for me with the HX Tour was that the ball would start left and then keep going. I lost three on one tee as each time my shot headed into the woods. (My alternate shots with the Bridgestone stayed in play. There was just no curve. It’s a tendency that I have also noticed throughout my use of the HX Hot, but I think its more pronounced with the Tour.

Callaway touts the ball’s low spin off the tee, so that probably explains both the distance and the direction.

But the solution should be easy, right. Just aim straight down the middle. Only it’s not that simple when you have spent years thinking fade, setting up for a fade and swinging for a fade.

I also am not sure that my distances were as consistent with the HX Tour. My most reliable club these last couple of months has been the pitching wedge. Even when I have been playing poorly, I have been able to deliver the ball to the green from anywhere inside 120 yards with the pitching wedge. With the HX Tour,consistently either long or short. I hit very few greens.

Part of that surely is getting used to the ball. But I routinely play a mix of balls when I’m out, and have not had this problem before.

My suspicion is that I just don’t hit the ball hard enough for the HX Tour to play well off the pitching wedge. If I hit it harder, it would fly higher, spin more and stop faster. As it is, on fuller swings, the ball bounces off the back of the green and keeps rolling.

There may also be a similar dynamic going on with my shorter shots. My preferred shot within 20 yards or so is to pitch it low, and let the ball roll toward the hole. With the HX, I have just been unable to get it up and rolling. I have never left so many short.

On the brigher side, the HX putts well. As with the HX Hot, I was sure that the hex pattern would do something strange to the putting, but that isn’t the case. I had more three putts that I would have liked with the HX Tour, but that was mostly a function of being so far away from the hole on the first putt.

It’s also pretty durable. I found two of those balls that I had driven into the woods. They had bounced around amongst the trees ( I could hear them pop a couple of times), but the cover was undamaged.

I would spend any more money on the HX Tour. For my level of play, they’re not worth the extra cash. But if you are a better player, I am sure that it would be an excellent choice ... especially if you are looking for a ball that delivers distance.