Equipment

Callaway takes aim at alignment with TruTrack pattern on Chrome Soft balls

/content/dam/images/golfdigest/fullset/2023/Chrome-Soft-Family-TruTrack-USA-Lifestyle-5-2-23-02-7147.jpeg

When Callaway introduced the visual technology of the Truvis pattern in 2015 and later in the Triple Track on its family of golf balls (Chrome Soft, ERC Soft), the company touted the science behind how the designs led to better aiming. The distinct look drew consistent and growing interest among non-elite and elite players alike, and it even ended up being used to win a major when Phil Mickelson won the 2021 PGA Championship at Kiawah Island with a Triple Track version of the Chrome Soft X.

Now, Callaway officials thinks they have found a better way for golfers to see the ball more clearly, and that way involves merging the visual benefits of both Truvis and Triple Track. Called TruTrack, the design combines an array of polygons across the surface of the ball and a distinct blue aiming line on the side stamp. Altered from the original concept, the Truvis-type pattern uses eight hexagons compared to the 12 pentagons that made the first versions look more directly like the soccer-ball pattern that were the design’s inspiration. And while the three lines of the Triple Track might appear to be reduced to just the center blue line, the center blue line actually is framed by the lower sides of each hexagon, where red stripes surround a blue field and white star, American-flag-style.

/content/dam/images/golfdigest/fullset/2023/Chrome-Soft-X-LS-TruTrack-USA-Lifestyle-5-2-23-02-7112.jpeg

“Some of the feedback was that for some players they would like [the Truvis pattern] to be a little bit cleaner, so we went to eight hexagonal positions centered around that line, which gives us great symmetry,” said Eric Loper, Callaway’s senior director of golf ball research and development. Loper said there were hundreds of prototypes in the development process that were viewed by many on Callaway’s roster of players. Particularly instrumental were the thoughts of LPGA Tour pro Madelene Sagstrom. “That was important to sort of hone that. And then we focused on the shape, we were looking at circular, more fluid designs, and we landed on the hexagonal shape because it gives us more alignment opportunities with these parallel lines.”

/content/dam/images/golfdigest/fullset/2023/Chrome-Soft-TruTrack-USA-Lifestyle-5-2-23-02-6974.jpeg

“Being able to offer multi-colors really takes in the Triple Track Technology, where high contrast colors help with visibility.”

Seeing the rotation of the ball, both on a short-game shot and a putt is as much a part of the benefits of the design, as is the aiming part of its appeal, Loper said.

“It’s really the combination of Truvis, where the feedback has been more of a dynamic feedback component—the ball looks larger, it helps people focus, or it just looks different on course—with the alignment component that we have with Triple Track. One is more dynamic, and one is more static,” he said. Loper also noted that the new pattern is only possible because of the sophistication of Callaway’s manufacturing facility in Chicopee, Mass., which the company has spent more than $50 million upgrading in recent years.

/content/dam/images/golfdigest/fullset/2023/Chrome-Soft-Family-TruTrack-USA-Lifestyle-5-2-23-02-7156.jpeg

The new TruTrack pattern will be an option on all three of Callaway’s current tour-played, multilayer-urethane cover balls (Chrome Soft, Chrome Soft X and Chrome Soft X LS). Each features an upgraded, more resilient core design (“Hyper Elastic SoftFast” core), and each model targets a specific feel and trajectory type. The Chrome Soft is the softest feeling of the family and targets most average golfers. It will fly the highest through the bag with the least spin. The Chrome Soft X will appeal to high-speed players who are looking to control trajectory. The Chrome Soft X LS also targets higher swing speeds, and this firmer-feeling ball is designed for those who like straighter shots but are looking for a little more short-game spin.

Find the ideal clubs for your game with our quick test below: