2021 Bridgestone e12 Golf Ball

The review you’re about to read covers what might be one of the most versatile golf balls I’ve ever hit. Earlier this season, Bridgestone launched their new e12 Contact golf ball. This ball was designed for straighter and longer flights by utilizing new “Contact dimples” which prevent side spin while also allowing for more contact with the club face at impact. I gathered feedback from two other golfers of differing skill sets to combine with my own experience in testing the Bridgestone e12 golf ball.

Just for some background on the players to consider in this review, I’ll provide a brief synopsis. The first player swings driver around lower 90s (normally plays the e6), the second player is around 105-110 mph, and I’m swinging around 115 or so these days. Every player is solid throughout their bag and their input about a golf ball is pretty valid. Of course, keep in mind, there will always be some subjective feedback with a ball as well as “unique personal interaction” with their swing and equipment.

How Does it Feel?

There was one common theme among all three players testing the Bridgestone e12 Contact ball. Even with a large range of differing swing speeds, each player felt the e12 Contact felt soft on and around the greens, but plenty firm on longer shots. Bridgestone’s “Active Acceleration Mantle” helps the ball achieve faster speeds at impact and, combined with the new cover, provides an active and responsive feel throughout bag. In my opinion, the e12 Contact is soft enough for a good feel around greens, but firm enough to get enough power on long shots. My fellow players I asked for feedback emphatically agreed with this belief as well. The e12 Contact has a really good overall feel, especially for a $30 a dozen ball.

Off the Tee

Off the tee is where Bridgestone’s e12 Contact ball stood out the most to me in terms of its versatility. First, I’ve hit the previous e12 Soft version before off the tee, and “soft” was a fair description. Going into this testing, I expected somewhat of a similar feel with my faster swing speed. However, all of us testing found the ball to feel firm and powerful with a lot of jump. I was quite impressed that it had a good distance feel across such a wide range of swing speeds.

In terms of performance, the new Contact dimple is designed to make the ball leave the club faster and straighter. The outer “ring” of the dimple and the elevated center allow for more contact with the face (38% more to be exact) as it creates more contact points back into the ball. This results in greater “core activation”, meaning more of an energy transfer takes place. The biggest distance gain came with our slowest swing speed, but the faster swings had the same distance they would expect out of a premium distance ball.

The Contact dimple is also designed for a straighter ball flight. With a unique structure where two portions of the dimple are elevated, the ball’s horizontal spin is slowed down. That means the ball will have less slide spin so you’ll have better control with a straighter flight. Don’t get me wrong, a bad slice is a bad slice, but all three players felt they could easily keep the ball in play off of the tee box.

On the Approach

Approach shots were nice and reliable with the Bridgestone e12 Contact. I wouldn’t say there was anything that really jumped out at me a ton, but that’s fine. What I look for from a ball with approaches is being able to easily control it and hold the greens. I’m not a big “zip it back” guy so I’m not expecting that, but I also don’t want a ton of roll out. Just fly true and respond on the green the way I intend you too, ball! And that’s what I got. Feel was a nice moderate blend of soft touch, yet firm enough for good feedback throughout all the irons. Our lower speed player had similar sentiments.

Interestingly, our “mid-speed” player saw the most impact on his approach shots. He found the e12’s Contact dimple made it easier to flight the ball as desired without having to “fight it”. Like built-in shot insurance, if you will. He felt like he could just swing away and barely think about it.

Around the Green

The concept of “38% more contact” in the new Bridgestone e12 is fairly significant around the greens. By making more contact with the club face, more friction is created between the ball and the wedge face. This means there will be more “grab” on the ball so you should get more spin. Our 110 player found this to be a standout feature as well. Prior to the new e12, he was playing Bridgestone’s Tour B XS because he specifically liked how it performed around the green. However, after putting the e12 Contact to work around, he switched to this ball. He felt he had much better control with his wedges and was able to stop the ball just as well, if not better.

Much like the rest of the sections in this review, the e12 has a great moderate feel off the putter face. The ball is soft enough to get a smooth and clean feel, but there’s still enough presence to have good feedback in your hands. If I had to compare it to something, I’d say the e12 Contact feels similar to the Tour B XS off of the putter, but a touch softer. I really liked how the ball rolled and was very comfortable putting with it on any green.

Final Thoughts – 2021 Bridgestone e12 Golf Ball

I think the review makes it pretty clear that I/we think pretty highly of the new Bridgestone e12 golf ball. I’ll be honest, I fully expected the ball to be just ok going into this. Historically, Bridgestone’s e series balls have always felt too soft for me and a little too mushy. To be fair, the e series is generally not designed for me either, so that’s more than fair. But there’s just something about this e12 Contact ball… It felt really good throughout the bag and the control was really good. To see it perform similarly for three totally different swing speeds really stood out to me. At $30 a dozen, the Bridgestone e12 Contact might be one of the most widely-appealing golf balls on the market. I know I personally wouldn’t think twice about putting it in play, that’s for sure.

If you want to learn more about the e12 Contact, and Bridgestone balls in general, you’re in luck. Earlier this year, Kris McEwen and I talked to Elliot Mellow from Bridgestone about it on our YouTube show, That Range Life. You can watch that episode here. Don’t forget to head over to Kris’s YouTube channel and subscribe too!

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