Officially, the XXIO is designed for the golfer affectionately known as “player with moderate swing speed.”
Unofficially, they are known as old men and some (but certainly not all) women. XXIO specializes in lightweight wear to help those with average swing speeds swing easier and squeeze a little more mileage out of every shot.
At a premium price.
And since XXIO is part of the Srixon family, it would only make sense that it would offer golf balls designed to benefit the same type of player.
This is what XXIO offers with its new Hyper RD Golf ball line that the company says is designed to pair seamlessly with XXIO clubs.
Can an OEM create a ball that is designed to “seamlessly pair” with a specific brand of club? Read on friends, the answer may surprise you.
XXIO Hyper RD Golf Balls: The skinny not too soft
Let’s start with the basics.
According to XXIO, the new Hyper RD is a three-ply, 72-compression golf ball designed for high launch and low spin. That 72 compression puts it on the firmer side, about the equivalent of a Bridgestone Tour B RX. As we all know, harder golf balls produce more speed than softer ones, regardless of swing speed. Soft golf balls may feel good at slow swing speeds, but ball speed suffers.
If you’re a slower athlete, every little bit helps.
XXIO, along with Srixon, uses what it calls Rebound Frame technology in his woods and irons. It’s a fancy way of saying that a flexible area is supported by a strong area which is then supported by another flexible area. The idea is to give the club a bit more of a trampoline look boing in influence.
With the Hyper RD golf ball, XXIO is using the same concept. The soft cover, called Hyper Soft (more on that in a moment), is supported by a newly developed hard coat layer. XXIO calls it a “hyper-resistant” middle layer that “quietly works under the surface to reduce excessive spin.”
Well, I like this kind of talk.
The mantle layer is then supported by a soft Fastlayer core.
XXIO says the new Hyper Soft cover is made from a newly developed ionomer that is almost as soft as urethane. When supported by the stronger mantle layer, it should provide good spin on approach shots. The Fastlayer core (hard on the outside, softer on the inside) keeps spin from the driver relatively low.
Balancing soft feel, spin and ball speed is tricky. Usually something has to give, but XXIO is designing the Hyper RD for a specific demographic. It doesn’t have to perform for a wider audience.
Wind stability
Srixon golf balls are known for their durability in windy conditions. The company tells us it’s not unusual to see its staff crowding the leaderboard when the wind picks up on the PGA Tour.
of XXIO Hyper RD features a newly designed 362 speed dimple pattern with seven different sized dimples. XXIO says the new design provides smoother airflow and less drag, causing the ball to — and I’m quoting here — “keep flying all the way to landing.”
(Indeed, the same can be said for any golf ball. Or any rock, pillow, piece of wood, or lampshade that is thrown, for that matter.
However, the physics of the dimples are pretty straightforward. Shallower holes equal higher flight creating less drag and more lift. Overall size also matters. Smaller dimples create a flatter, more penetrating flight, while larger dimples create more lift and a higher flight. By varying the size and depth of the dimples, the XXIO is promoting overall stability in windy conditions.
And if you’re into stretch aids, the XXIO Hyper RD packs a punch. Like the ball’s XXIO logo, the stretch relief is big, bold, and very much in the Neo-Aztec/Mayan Revival school of design.
About this “seamless pairing” with XXIO clubs…
Building a golf ball to work with a specific brand of club can seem somewhat silly and unnecessarily restrictive. In a sense, I think it is. On the other hand, when the product is as warm as XXIOthere really is no downside to engineering golf balls for your line of equipment.
For some reason, the term is rapidly overused ecosystem comes to mind.
As with most things we see in golf today, this isn’t a particularly new or revolutionary idea. Spalding did something similar in the 90s when he designed two different balls for optimal performance with the two best-selling drivers of the day. The Top Flite System C was created for the Callaway Big Bertha while the System T was created for the TaylorMade Ti Bubble 2.
From a ball fit standpoint, it was actually a pretty good idea. The problem was that Spalding was using proprietary trade names and images from Callaway and TaylorMade. Both were sued and the System C and System T golf balls were soon gone.
XXIO Hyper RD Price and Availability
The XXIO Hyper RD golf balls come in three primary colors: Premium White, Premium Pink (white with pink lettering) and Lime Yellow. You can also purchase a four-color sleeve pack each of Premium Pink, Lime Yellow, Orange, and Ruby Red.
Orange and Ruby Red are only available in the four-color pack.
For XXIO’s demographic (mostly aging, well-funded players), $49.99 per dozen is not unreasonable, especially for those clubs that play XXIO games. I think you can, if you want, play Hyper RD if you played lightweight clubs other than XXIO.
No one will report you if you did.
If you’re not in that demographic, well, there are plenty of choices out there for you.
The XXIO Hyper RD golf balls will be available in stores and online on January 29th.
For more information, click on Website XXIO.
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