I’m a little surprised by the price of the Rocketballz: to my mind, it’s a basic distance ball that shouldn’t be more than $20. The TaylorMade Rocketballz, Penta TP3, and Penta TP5 are price at $27, $35, and $46, respectively. The Rocketballz lagged considerably with 3000 RPMs less than the TP5 (roughly half the spin). The TP3 spun well, but about 650 RPMs less than the TP5. With a half swing 60* wedge (a 60 yard shot), the Penta TP5 had the most spin. Between the TP3 and TP5 there was a small, though measurable difference: the TP3 had about 250 RPMs more backspin than the TP5. As expected, the Rocketballz was the lowest spinning: roughly 1,500 RPMs less than either of the Pentas. When I got to the pitching wedge, each ball started to reveal a unique character again. This testing seemed to show me that most balls tend to perform similarly in the middle of the set, but reveal distinct characteristics with the long and short clubs. While I was surprised at first (and actually went back to confirm the results), it made sense to me after I thought about it: regardless of what ball I’ve ever played, I’ve never had a problem getting a 7I to stop on a green. The biggest surprise of the whole test was with the 7I: all three balls produced numbers that were virtually identical with regard to spin, launch angle, and ballspeed. The difference with the 4I was actually even smaller than the driver, with only about 400 RPMs separating the Rocketballz from the TP3. Much like the driver, the spin rankings with the 4I was Rocketballz, TP5, and TP3 (from lowest spin to highest). One thing to note is that I am quite low-spin with my driver, so players who generate more spin might see more discrepancy between balls. Of the three balls, the TP3 was the highest spinning off the driver, but only by about 300 RPMs compared to the TP5. For me, it spun about 300 RPMs less than the TP5.
#Do they still make the taylormade rocketballz driver driver#
Driver PerformanceĪs you would expect, the Rocketballz was the lowest spinning ball off of the driver. As ever, I don’t suggest that my findings are definitive, but simply a starting point for you to figure out which ball might be best for your game. Across the three balls, launch angle and ball speed were found to be quite consistent, so the focus of this section will be spin. The 10 good shots were averaged and the results for each ball were compared. With each club, I hit until I had 10 “good” hits with each ball. Even after the testing, the balls used are pretty much unmarked, and I will definitely use them to play.įor the Data section, I tested each ball on a launch monitor. For all the testing (which includes a lot of shots, including plenty of wedges), I only used one sleeve of each ball. I probably have a harsher view of it simply because I was comparing it side by side with the two Pentas, but it is definitely a firm, click-y feel.Īll three TaylorMade balls get very high marks for durability. The Rocketballz is…well…it’s a distance ball. That said, if you want the softest of the soft, the TP5 is for you. I believe that if someone slipped a TP3 in my box of TP5’s while I was on the course, I probably wouldn’t know the difference.
The TP5 is definitely softer than the TP3, but, in my opinion, you have to be really focusing on feel to notice the difference. Now I’ve found two: the new Penta TP3 and TP5. One of the things that really separated the original Penta from other tour balls was its feel: I have yet to find a ball that felt as soft. I’ll also break down the performance of each ball and let you know which ball will be the best fit for your game. In this review, I’ll tell you exactly what I know about those Rocketballz.