WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: Callaway launches new versions of its three most popular balls with changes that range from core to cover. First, a completely rebuilt ERC Soft, the result of some 20 million iterations analyzed through artificial intelligence, reveals a firmer mantle and softer core and cover for better distance and feel. Second, Supersoft, the company’s popular low-compression two-piece ball, will offer nine different versions. Finally, Callaway’s tour-played multilayer urethane cover stalwart Chrome Tour adds an extra model, the ultra-lower-spin and firmer feeling Chrome Tour ◆◆◆ (Triple Diamond).

PRICE: ERC Soft, $40 per dozen. Supersoft, $25 per dozen. Chrome Tour ◆◆◆ (Triple Diamond), $55 per dozen. All at retail Jan. 31.

3 Cool Things

1. ERC Soft. This ball has occupied its own space in the golf ball landscape since its introduction in 2019 as “a distance ball that isn’t your conventional distance ball.” The three-piece design attempts to find resonance as a lower-spinning for longer shots with a special polymer cover and mantle combination aimed at increasing short-game spin compared to typical non-urethane cover designs. (Urethane cover balls are the balls preferred by tour players and generally offer uncompromised performance through the bag.) The new ERC Soft looks to push its distance potential while not overlooking improved short-game effects, said Eric Loper, Callaway senior director of golf ball research and development. The key was making use of the company’s commitment to artificial intelligence. Loper said there were more than 20 million iterations considered before the right set of possibilities came into focus for the design team.

“A.I. is much more than just pressing a button and getting an output. It’s about having the best data scientists that can extract insights from this data set and then handing that information off to some of the best materials and design engineers to pull this into a package that ultimately performs out on the course,” Loper said of the five-year project. The use of A.I. was particularly crucial in developing the intermediate mantle layer and how it worked together with a 16-percent softer cover. The softer cover leads to better greenside performance, Loper said, but the mantle insured ball speed isn’t compromised.

“[A.I.] changed our design principle for this product, completely different than the direction we were headed in the past,” he said, noting the new mantle layer is three times stiffer than the previous generation. “That acts like a spring. When that golf ball is compressed, it’s going to act like a spring. It’s going to come off the face faster, but it also allows us to reduce driver and iron spin stress you when you combine that with a much softer core.”

The new ERC Soft cover also will again incorporate the aiming elements and visual cues of the Triple Track design, as well as the “soccer ball” Truvis pattern.

2. Supersoft. Callaway’s most popular non-urethane cover franchise is fueled by it low-compression design. Loper said the Callaway ball team learned specifically was resonating about the ball’s overall softer feel after extended study of what impact was like for average golfers. “Players love this golf ball because it’s low compression, it’s soft feeling,” he said. “And we wanted to better understand that. Like what are some of the metrics around that? What we found was this golf ball across the face is going to have about a 30 percent lower impact force than a Tour golf ball. That leads to softer feel. It leads to more forgiveness. Just overall a good shot feeling. Especially for the player that may hit it a little over a bigger area.”

The Supersoft lineup will come in an array of colors and patterns. They include traditional white and yellow, also matte colors (pink, red, green, orange) and the company’s 360-degree “Splatter” pattern in blue, pink and red

3. Chrome Tour ◆◆◆ (Triple Diamond). Callaway’s made significant inroads on tour with its Chrome Tour and Chrome Tour X balls last year, and now will build on that lineup by adding a niche product for higher speed players looking for even lower spin and a firmer feel than they’re seeing from Chrome Tour X.

“It’s really designed for the player who spins the ball too much,” Loper said. “It’s a golf ball that’s going to help bring that spin down, optimize trajectory, maximize distance, and be more consistent into the wind.

“It will be fast off the tee, and it has its own aerodynamics, its own surface geometry designed for that low spin.”

The Chrome Tour ◆◆◆ will feature the same urethane cover formulation as Chrome Tour and Chrome Tour X, and as Loper calls it, will perform like “a lower-spinning Chrome Tour X.”

It will be offered in white and Triple Track designs.

This article was originally published on golfdigest.com