TaylorMade wants you to know that the reason your golf ball flew out of line may not be entirely your fault.
Okay, maybe it is, but we’ve all hit golf shots that go up in the air and then do something unexpected. Maybe it cuts when you thought it would draw. Or maybe it flutters a touch and comes up short. TaylorMade thinks this is due to inconsistent paint, which means each golf ball you use can be slightly different from the last.
That’s why, for the new TP5 and TP5x golf balls, TaylorMade is revamping the paint process with a new technique called “Microcoating” that applies an even layer of paint to the golf ball, avoiding the drips and clumps of traditional methods.
“Golf balls are the only equipment we hit on every shot, but they’re also the only equipment we change in a round,” TaylorMade’s Mike Fox, Director of Senior Category, Golf Ball, said in a release. “Making sure we produce the most durable product from ball to ball and shot to shot is as important as anything we do. Until now, applying paint to a golf ball to protect its appearance has carried with it the potential to negatively impact ball flight. Now, with microcoating, we have a process that solves what was once an invisible problem and allows golfers to experience durability their green to their big performance.”
Rory McIlroy and Collin Morikawa already did switched to new TP5which has a new, larger core and dimple pattern to increase ball speed and produce a more penetrating flight. The TP5x has new shell layers to help further increase ball speed while keeping spin low.
Continue reading below for more about 2026 TaylorMade TP5 and TP5x golf balls, including my take on the release.
What’s really new with the TaylorMade TP5 and TP5X golf balls — and why you should care
Even the (micro)coats, even the flight
So I know what you’re thinking… “Does paint really matter that much?” I wouldn’t have even considered it. But it’s also not hard to imagine how painting a golf ball could lead to inconsistencies with dripping or pooling within the dimples, leaving some areas thicker than others.
TaylorMade was only able to spot the changes in flight thanks to the latest Kingdom range technology, where they can track golf balls within three inches of their flight. The company has invested $100 million in the past five years in golf ball manufacturing and R&D.
They saw golf balls of the same construction fly wildly differently when released under the same conditions with a robot.
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Taylor Made
“These golf balls look absolutely identical to the naked eye, but they can fly 20 feet differently,” Fox told GOLF. “Even three meters is a lot when you’re trying to make a golf ball for the best players in the world.
“Injection molding is a precision process. Urethane casting is a precision process. Grinding is a precision process. Painting was not a precision process.”
It doesn’t just matter to Tour players. Amateurs will lose confidence when they hit what they thought was a good shot and then watch it dart into the unknown.
To solve this, TaylorMade invested in its paint process to create micropaint, which meant changing the paint application guns, how the paint was poured into those guns, the curing temperature, and even the paint itself. Fox said TaylorMade is even controlling the atomization of the paint as it dries.
“We’re controlling ink at a level that no one has ever controlled before,” Fox said.
Faster unlocking
Part of TaylorMade’s massive investment in golf balls also led to a breakthrough. The company now has the data and software to digitally prototype different golf ball constructions and simulate how they will perform.
Instead of producing a few hundred iterations of prototypes in the past, TaylorMade created over 100,000 prototypes for the new TP5 and TP5x to find the best combination of materials for each ball.
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TaylorMade.
“That’s not AI,” Fox said. “This is three years of proven data going into finite element analysis and it’s telling us what we’ve already established as fact.”
For the TP5, this meant increasing the size of the core, which reduces the time the ball spends on the face, increasing energy retention while maintaining the soft feel the ball is known for. Basically, TaylorMade is compressing the spring to make it faster.
Fox said they’ve seen about a 1 mph increase in ball speed in testing.
The TP5’s dimple pattern was also optimized for a lower, more penetrating trajectory.
With the TP5x, TaylorMade engineers focused on arranging the mantle layers around a stronger core to increase ball speed beyond the 2024 model.
TaylorMade 2026 TP5 and TP5x line
Both the TP5 and TP5x will be available in white, yellow, pix, 360Ëš stripe, and officially licensed NFL and collegiate models. The TP5 and TP5x Stripe have been redesigned this year with stronger reaction lines and a new point of view where players should focus during the shot.
TaylorMade is bringing it back, too Activated cannons with TRKR launch monitor for increased accuracy in indoor, radar-based launch monitors.
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TaylorMade
TP5
What is it: Softer, higher-spinning ball with a new, larger core to increase speed. A new dimple pattern also optimizes the lift-to-drag ratio for a lower flight and minimizes turbulence.
Who is it for: Players looking for a lower flight, higher spin and softer feel.
TP5x
What is it: TaylorMade’s lowest-spinning, fastest ball.
Who is it for: Players looking for more speed and to clean up excess spin.
My opinion: Solving an unknown problem
It’s really not hard to see how much of a difference a drop of ink can make when it comes to the flight of a golf ball.
Golf balls are a very complex aerodynamic creation, and if there’s a subtle difference to the outermost layer — the one that interacts with the air — it makes sense that that would be enough to send it off-line.
