Callaway Chrome Soft 2018 – Golf Ball Review
Can a golf ball really make a difference to your game?
Aren’t these “high-end’ golf balls only for professional golfers?
How can these golf balls help a beginner like me?
These are all valid questions and I hope to answer each one of them – and more – by the end of this golf ball review article.
First off, these Callaway Chrome Soft Golf Balls are new for 2018. They replace the 2016 version of their Chrome Soft balls. The real question is: Are they better?
Overview
As you may already be able to tell from just the name, these golf balls have a soft feel. The Truvis design is new for 2018 and can help maintain visual contact with the golf ball.
The urethane cover is soft and forgiving, but that belies what is inside this ball. The core of these Chrome Soft balls is made from some of the strongest material known to man. The material is called graphene and it is supposedly stronger than, both, steel and diamonds. We’ll find out in this review what the benefits and drawbacks of such a uniquely constructed golf ball are.
The Feel
I’ve played many different golf balls over the years and it wasn’t until I started using some of the ‘more expensive’ ones that I realized there IS a difference between these tour-level golf balls and your basic ball. There is that nice cushioned feel when playing an ultra-soft golf ball like these Callaway Chrome Soft 2018 Golf Balls that I believe can benefit beginners in a few ways.
First off, it doesn’t feel like you are hitting a small brick whenever you have the inevitable off-center hit.
Beginners don’t always hit the golf ball as squarely as more experienced golfers so it’s nice not to hurt your hands whenever this occurs.
Second, these balls felt great when chipping and putting. It’s easier to put backspin on golf balls with soft covers like these so I was able to stop my chip shots on a dime when using them around the greens.
They also felt great off the face of my putter. These Callaway Chrome Soft 2018 Golf Balls are absolutely, without question, the softest feeling golf balls I have ever played in my life.
Off the Tee
Soft golf balls are said to compress more easily, according to Callaway and the more easily a golf ball compresses, the more forgiving it is said to be.
This ease-of-compression helps beginners and golfers with slower swing speeds to still get decent ball speed – even on off-center hits. More ball speed equals more distance so your tee shots tend to go further.
I’m not one to complain about getting more distance!
Around the Greens
As we discussed above, these golf balls are a true joy around the greens. My chip shots felt smooth and silky off the face of my lob wedge and it was easy to get enough spin to stop them on the green.
Off the face of my putter, these golf balls transmitted a gentle vibration through the shaft of my putter that instilled confidence that my putt would go where I intended and the roll was flush with the green and not too bouncy.
Insider’s View
Here is an inside view beneath the cover of these new golf balls from Callaway.
The urethane cover is smooth and soft and the Truvis (a.k.a. soccer ball design) is easy to see, but the real magic happens when we peel back the layers of this truly advanced golf ball.
Beneath the cover is the outer core, which is made from Graphene – one of the lightest and strongest materials know to man.
By manufacturing the outer core (the part of the golf ball that surrounds the inner core) using Graphene, Callaway was able to create an ultra-thin, ultra-strong layer right beneath the cover.
Having a thinner outer core, enabled these Chrome Soft 2018 Balls to be designed with a significantly larger inner core, which is made from a hard rubber composite material that compresses and expands easily.
The difference between the softness of the large inner core combined with the extreme hardness of the outer, graphene core, produces tremendous compression and the result is faster ball speeds even on less-than-perfect hits.
Callaway Chrome Soft 2018 Video
Check out the video below from Rick Shiels Golf
The Price
These golf balls generally sell in the range of about forty to forty-five dollars. While these are definitely not the most expensive high-end golf balls available online, they are an excellent Tour-level golf ball that is great for experienced golfers, but with many of the features the serious beginning golfer can benefit from. Check today’s price on these Callaway Chrome Soft 2018 Golf Balls on Amazon.
Conclusion
Callaway has really outdone themselves with the design of the the new Chrome Soft golf balls for 2018. Infused with space-age technology and full of desirable features for golfers of all levels, Callaway has developed a soft golf ball that produces higher launch angles, more ball speed, and lower spin on tee shots, while at the same time providing the ultimate spin and control around the greens.
Through the use of a recently discovered new material called graphene, Callaway has revolutionized golf ball design and, effectively, produced a high-end golf ball at a reasonable price point that can really help beginners shoot lower scores.
But don’t just take my word for it, read all of the Callaway Chrome Soft 2018 Golf Ball reviews on Amazon before you buy!