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TMaG's New TP Red & Black

January 1, 2008 - TaylorMade Golf says they
are making the golf ball business a top
corporate priority second in importance only
to their very successful driver business.
To that end their ball line up has been
reorganized adding some new models with
improved technology to achieve the goal of
becoming number two in the golf ball market
behind Acushnet who dominates ball sales with
Titleist and Pinnacle.

At the top of the new offerings are the Tour Preferred Red and Tour Preferred Black with the Red
designed for players generating high spin rates and who want a mid-to-low ball flight. The Black is
for those having lower spin rates and it tends to fly with a mid-to-high trajectory. Red is a four-piece
ball with cast Urethane cover while the Black is three-piece also with a cast Urethane cover. Both
feature TMaG’s proprietary NdV4 low compression neodymium-based core.

Both have a new dimple configuration, billed under the Low-Drag Performance (LDP) label, which
basically means dimples have been reconfigured with several different designs on each ball plus
the dimples are shallower and have an improved edge angle and symmetry.

The result according to Dean Snell, senior director of golf ball research, is much better
performance on off-center hits. Research showed even touring professionals hit the sweet spot
with only 30-40 percent of their drives while recreational players miss the center with a much
higher proportion of their swings.

“We found the great majority of off-center hits occur on the upper part of the club face, above the
club head’s center of gravity”, said Snell. After extensive testing of mis-hits with a variety of balls it
was shown in many instances spin rates dropped enough so the ball couldn’t sustain lift. “When
that occurs, drag slows the shot down and the ball ‘knuckles’ and drops from the sky, seriously
cutting carry and distance”, according to Snell.

Snell and the TaylorMade team developed the LDP design to counteract the problem and regain at
least some of the lost distance and control from an off center hit.

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