Srixon Q-Star Tour
The new Srixon Q-Star Tour golf ball aims to deliver premium, Tour-level performance, for players with more moderate swing speeds. It’s designed to provide maximum distance for golfers in the 75-95 MPH driver club head speed range, without sacrificing greenside spin and control. As Srixon puts it, the Q-Star Tour is “a premium, 3-piece golf ball built with 100% Tour technologies.” How do they do it? By producing a ball with a urethane cover similar to Tour-level balls, while implementing a softer core to help with slower swing speeds, unlike the firmer core of traditional Tour-level balls.
How Does it Feel?
The feel was probably the most impressive part of the new Srixon Q-Star Tour golf ball. The Q-Star Tour is a lower compression golf ball, designed to give players with more moderate swing speeds more distance. This typically leads to a “softer” overall feel. The feel around the greens and off of the driver are much better than I expected for a $30 ball, and it was extremely soft off of the putter as well. The ball is soft enough to feel smooth on the hands with the driver and irons, but also doesn’t feel like you’re hitting a marshmallow. In the wedge game, you still get some feedback from knowing you hit it solid, but again, it’s a soft, “smooth” feel.
I think Srixon found the sweet spot in the feel department with this one. If you’re a slower swinger who is looking for a little more feel out of your golf ball, the Q-Star Tour is a great consideration, especially at its price point.
Off the Tee
While the Srixon Q-Star Tour features the same urethane cover as the Z-Star and Z-Star XV balls, the core is a soft, rubber core that is easier to compress for slower swing speeds. What does this mean exactly? Slower swing speeds can compress the ball more at impact, allowing the ball to “spring” more off of the face. This results in more ball speeds off the driver.
I also experienced a mid-high to high ball flight with the Q-Star Tour ball. The ball launched a little higher than I’m used to, and that’s coming from a high ball hitter. The good news, however, is that the ball didn’t spin a ton more, so I wasn’t sacrificing distance with the added height. If you struggle to get a Tour-level ball in the air, this might be a solution.
With that, the Q-Star Tour is definitely long. The carry distance is especially great with the added launch, and moderate swingers might see some distance gains compared to comparable golf balls in the same area of the market. A golf ball that adds some distance without feeling like you’re hitting a rock should be a plus in anyone’s book. Kudos, Srixon. Well done.
On the Approach
Similar to the driver, the Srixon Q-Star Tour had a pretty high ball flight in the irons as well. What does this mean for you? It means holding more greens. Again, the ball launches high, but doesn’t add a ton of spin, so the ball wasn’t ballooning on me by any means. The good news is this helps hold more greens, since the ball lands softer. I also found the Q-Star Tour to have a pleasantly consistent ball flight, so I knew what I was going to get when striking the ball well. For slower swingers, this will be particularly beneficial when hitting longer irons into the green that would typically have a ton of roll out from lack of compression, spin, or height.
Around the Green
Around and on the greens is where Srixon touts the “performance and feel of a Tour-level ball” characteristic of the Q-Star Tour. On partial-swing wedge shots and chips where I wanted the ball to check hard, I found that the Q-Star Tour to to stop fairly quickly, with a little bit of roll out at the end. I will say that it does check up faster than your average ball geared towards moderate swingers, but wedge contact will of course be key. Again, a distance ball that you can stop and control on the greens? Sounds like a win to me.
Off of the putter face, the Srixon Q-Star Tour is extremely soft, yet responsive. Similar to wedge shots, it’s very soft on the hands, yet doesn’t feel “dead” or “mushy.” The ball does tend to come off of the face rather hot though, so make sure to get some practice strokes on the greens before putting the Q-Star Tour in play. It’s not what you typically expect from such a soft feel, so it may take some getting used to. Overall, I found the Q-Star Tour performed much better than the competitors in the “moderate swing speeds” category or its price point.
Final Thoughts
If you are a golfer with moderate swing speeds, who wants more control and softer feel, without sacrificing distance, OR you want a little jump in your ball flight, you might want to check out the new Srixon Q-Star Tour golf ball. It has great, soft feel, phenomenal distance, and a good all around performance out on the course, a package many of your average golfers have been searching for for a long time.
