WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: Srixon’s ninth generation Z-Star golf ball hasn’t even hit retail shelves and already it owns a record. Hideki Matsuyama used the 2025 Z-Star XV model to break the PGA Tour’s 72-hole scoring record at 35 under this past week at The Sentry, which is a nice way to kick off the release of your flagship golf ball. All models in the lineup are buoyed by redesigned cover and core constructions, as well as a micro-urethane coating that delivers increased greenside spin and control.

AVAILABILITY/PRICING: Z-Star, Z-Star XV, Z-Star Diamond, Z-Star Divide and Z-Star XV Divide will be available Jan. 24 for $50 per dozen. Z-Star, Z-Star XV and Z-Star Diamond come in both white and yellow, while Z-Star Divide and Z-Star XV Divide feature a two-tone yellow-and-white cover design.

3 Cool Things

1. Eco-friendly. The cover construction of Srixon’s Z-Star is different—but not in the way you might think. Instead of simply taking a look at the previous design and making modifications to an existing platform, Srixon’s R&D team chose to flip the script and make the urethane cover from Biomass.

That would be a renewable, plant-derived material needing fewer carbon emissions to manufacture. Indeed, Z-Star’s cover is eco-friendly.

According to Jeff Brunski, Srixon’s vice president of research and development, constructing an extra thin urethane cover out of Biomass doesn’t negatively impact performance attributes. It still offers an impressive level of greenside spin, feel and control.

“Our approach to this generation of the Z-Star series was to produce a more durable ball without compromising performance,” Brunski said. “This generation’s unique cover and stronger coating help improve the spin performance specific to each ball, while our team has improved distance and control to provide golfers purer performance from tee to green.”

And speaking of control, Srixon’s Spin Skin+ coating remains a staple of the 2025 cover design.

The thin layer of specialized urethane increases friction to enhance approach shot and greenside spin. The latest iteration features a urethane paint that’s slightly stronger than its predecessor for more resistance to dirt and grime.

2. Personalized cores. With three different models in the lineup, the newly formulated FastLayer DG Core 2.0 wasn’t designed to be a one-size-fits-all core. A unique formula was added to the three-piece Z-Star, Z-Star XV and Z-Star Diamond to get the most out of each offering.

Each core is softer at the center and gets progressively firmer from the inside out. Varying the firmness helps improve how the ball rebounds off the face at impact for optimum launch and spin characteristics.

Of course, if you add the same core recipe to each ball, there’s a chance the performance distinctions could be blurred. To differentiate the three models, Srixon made subtle alterations to the core constructions, beginning with a reduced compression at the center of the Z-Star that’s designed to reduce driver spin and deliver a softer feel at impact.

Adding firmness midway through the core of the Z-Star XV—best known as Hideki’s ball—increases ball speed off the tee while ramping up iron spin at the same time. Lowering compression near the center of Z-Star Diamond’s firmer core aims to lower spin for more distance at the top of the set.

3. Splash of color. Srixon has added a multitude of colors to its ball lineup in recent years, including bicolored options with last year’s Q-Star Tour Divide. There’s nothing wrong was shaking things up in the looks department, provided it doesn’t impact performance.

The second iteration of Q-Star Tour Divide confirmed the two-tone cover was anything but a gimmick. In fact, Srixon is doubling down on the visual cover technology by adding it to Z-Star and Z-Star XV.

The yellow pigments are infused into the cover, as opposed to being painted on, to maintain cover performance. Making half the cover yellow and the other white creates a natural 360-degree line that makes it easier to align putts and track how the ball is rolling coming off the face. It can also be a benefit on short wedge shots.

“For visual players who like to track their ball in the air and around the greens, the Divide is a game changer,” Brunski said. “The yellow/white contrast creates a spinning strobe effect, allowing golfers to easily gauge the rate of spin with their wedges.”

This article was originally published on golfdigest.com