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Check out what GolfWRXers are saying about Bridgestone Golf’s Tour B MindSet golf ball.

Bridgestone Golf Tour B MindSet golf ball

Bridgestone Golf and Jason Day on the Tour B MindSet golf ball: “The MindSet process was created by Bridgestone Golf staffer Jason Day and his long-time mental coach, Jason Goldsmith.

‘Jason Goldsmith and I worked together to develop a pre-shot system that went beyond the simple visualization I did when I was a kid. He understood how critical pre-shot visualization was to my game, but also knew I needed a more structured, complete routine,’ said Day. ‘Now Bridgestone has made The MindSet process available to all golfers, which is going to be a game changer for a lot of people.’

“MindSet is a visual cue on the golf ball that reminds you of the easy three-step process

• Step One: IDENTIFY YOUR TARGET. The first step is information gathering. Where is my target, what is the distance, wind conditions and what club do I need to hit?
• Step Two: VISUALIZE THE SHOT PATH. This step is about connecting to the target and visualizing the shot or putt you want to hit.
• Step Three: FOCUS ON THE DOT. In this step, you stay connected to the target, clear your mind of analytical thoughts, focus on the green dot, and execute the shot you visualized.”

How we choose our testers

GolfWRX staff evaluates each entry against the criteria laid out in the testing thread to determine the best fit for each specific product — For example, if a game-improvement iron is being tested, game-improvement iron-playing golfers will be considered.

Member testers

• @dugue4
• @scooterhd2
• @venturagolfer87
• @grochol17
• @bertsbogeys

Bridgestone Golf Tour B MindSet review themes

• Promotes having a pre-shot routine
• Excellent focusing aid
• Worth considering if you struggle with routine and pre-shot distraction
• Helps cut down on overthinking
• Improves putting process
• Cool look — outside of MindSet process

Member review highlights

scooterhd2

For the last two 2 years, I’ve pretty much exclusively played the ProV1x. It’s been a good ball for me, but if I had a criticism it’s not a great wind ball. And my driver setup with the 10.5 Ping G400Max is a little spinny. I’ve been interested in revisiting the BX for a while. I’ve heard good things about the newer covers. Really excited to couple that with the Mindset. I think I have some distance that could be unlocked in the ball, and if I could actually square one up it might go even farther.

This is a bit of an interesting space and unchartered waters from Bridgestone if memory serves me correctly. On one hand, I appreciate how clean the design is. I’ve played the Truvis and Pix balls. I’ve played Triple Track. It’s not for me. Too distracting. Yet, another part of wants to see this Mindset logo repeated. Obviously if the concept works, don’t you want it on every shot? No doubt this was considered by Bridgestone. After wrestling with it, I’ve come to the same conclusion they have. One Mindset logo and lets go. Less is more.

First place to test any ball for me is the green. Dont like the way it feels or sounds off the putter and its out for me. I’ve spent my hour lunch break the last 3 days in 110 heat sweating in slacks and a dress shirt just sealing in all of the juices to report back that the BX Mindset passes the test for me. Feel of the Bridgestone is quality. Its a firm ball but not clicky. And I really like the Mindset on the green.

One thing I quickly remembered is how much I dislike the alignment on the Triple Track and most other alignment type balls. I’m just not a line guy. I try to make it work and it doesn’t. I line up the ball, but when I stand behind it, its not quite right. Adjust again. Then when I stand over the ball it doesn’t look right, and then I want to go back and mess with it. And I just don’t have time for that or that many bends left in my body. I much prefer the alignment of the Mindset. I feel like I can line it up. Stand over it. And then line the putter up to my target and not the ball. The Mindset is not a line, but essentially a tear drop pattern and it feels like as long as you placed the ball reasonably inline with the target, then it mentally checks. I see my spot, visualize the roll while standing behind the ball, address it, line up to my spot, ball looks inline with my spot, focus on the green dot, and then give the stroke it deserves. Very confidence inspiring with this routine.

Took the Sunday bag with my Driver, hybrid, 7 iron and 9 iron to the local indoor range over the weekend. I warmed up for 10 minutes or so with some of the balls on hand, and then get out ProV1x and the Bridgestone BX Mindset to do some comparative testing. My plan was to hit 5 good balls, hopefully taking 5, but certainly no more then 7 swings per ball. Trying to create some real useable data on a above average to good swing. Not just great swings. Admittedly, there’s potential for some placebo effect here. There’s no way to blind test these and also use the Mindset technology. I also had different slightly different routines hitting the ball, but again that’s sort of the entire premise of the ball. It’s not just some magic paint, you have to get through the steps. So, yes I was more focused or at least found it easier to focus while hitting the Mindset whereas the ProV1x felt more like hitting range balls.

I’m a little bummed that I just broke my Ventus Blue, but this is a good opportunity to get dialed with my temporary replacement HZRDUS Yellow. Again I hit the Bridgestone first and I’m thrilled with the numbers. Not sure exactly how to gauge them with a new shaft and not knowing my exact on course carry numbers like I do with lesser clubs, but its just more the feel and sound. Felt like I was in a groove. Sounds like we are transferring energy into the ball. And having one get close to that 300 numbers is always exciting. Switch back to the ProV1x and the ball speed drops. I’m getting a little more spin. Put up some good numbers. I’m happy to take a 280 yard drive on the course, but the extra ball speed and lower spin of the Mindset cannot be overcome once again. A lot of people would pay good money on a driver fitting to gain 2.8mph ball speed.

Well…. There’s no doubt that for any golfer, good shots come from good golf swings. And I think, for most people, a good swing requires a good routine. Requires focus. Being present and intentional. Keying in on small targets. And for me, its pretty clear here in early testing that focusing on a certain spot on the ball and ripping through it helps get the best out of me. Every club in the bag has some speed and distance gains. There’s something here. It might partly be the BX ball, but there’s no doubt I was just swinging better with the Bridgestone.

venturagolfer87

I will say, out of the box, I am a fan of the feel and look of the ball. I appreciate the subtle B logo instead of fully printing out ‘Bridgestone,’ and the Mindset logo isn’t as obtrusive as one would think. I have committed to using Aimpoint Express this year for all my green reading, and it has helped immensely with my putting stats. However, I don’t use a line when putting, so this will be an interesting experiment to see if using the mindset alignment actually helps improve my putting even more. I’m also especially curious to see the effect they have on tee shots and quality of contact, if having the green dot to focus on helps with consistency of contact at all, I will be a big fan.

The feel is great throughout the bag, and I didn’t notice anything in terms of too much driver spin. I primarily play a mid flight draw with all my clubs, and this ball was coming out of a similar window as my normal Chrome Tour X. Short game spin was great, although I didn’t notice anything that was out of the ordinary of what I experience with other premium urethane balls. The one thing that was a bit of a head scratcher was, on partial iron/wedge shots, the spin seemed to dip dramatically. I hit a number of 3/4 shots into the wind where it seemed like the wind barely affected the ballflight (which is great), but then once it hit the green, it would run out 5-6 yards consistently every time. This happened twice with a 9 iron, and twice with a pitching wedge.

For reference, my average clubhead speed is around 102 mph, getting up to 105-106 when I’m fully warmed up. This was an early morning round with little to no range time, and I didn’t have a dot on the clubhead so no swing speed reading, but I know I was swinging slower than 105 at least for the first few swings. That being said, the ball performed as expected. I was actually quite pleasantly surprised at the amount of spin I was getting. I am typically a low launch, low spin player with a tendency to miss high toe, producing absolute quackers. With my SIM 10.5* and hitting a fade for most of the day, I was averaging right around 2700 rpm, which is a welcome surprise because the last time I had been on a monitor with the SIM and a Chrome Tour, I don’t think I was able to produce a single drive with spin in the 2000’s.

dugue4

I am currently at my lowest ever handicap, a 16.5 and I have been trending downwards since I got back into the game (I am one of those covid golfers). I have a driver swing speed of around 105-108 mph. I can swing harder, but if I do, I lose what little control I have over the ball. I play about 20-25 times a year. I love to play quickly because if I start thinking too much, I think about my swing mechanics and anything and everything else. I don’t even take practice swings.

The packaging was just as I would expect any other golf ball to be packaged. When I opened the balls the first thing that I noticed was that the Mindset green dot was only in one location. With the third step being Focus on the dot, I expected there to be more than on incase the dot was lying down or pointed away. One would work fine off the tee and on the green, but not on anything in between

I did some chipping in the back yard yesterday and I like the feel of the ball. I currently play the Vice Pro Zero and it is a firm ball. The Mindset Tour B-XS felt a bit softer. I chipped for ~20 minutes, each time going through the mindset steps. This process is slower than my usual routine and I did feel myself getting antsy wanting to swing before completing the routine.

I was able to play 2 rounds this week, and here are my final takeaways:

1. I like the ball. It feels good, slightly softer than the Pro Zero and slightly more distance (~5yrds with the driver on avg.) When I run out of my Pro Zero stock (6 doz.), I will be looking at new balls and this will be in the running.

2. The Mindset logo became more and more distracting the more times I played with it. When putting I always turned it face down (but in fairness, I turn any ball to show the most white). When it was facing up on approach shots, it did distract me.

3. The Mindset process. This is where I hoped it would really help me stop overthinking, but as I feared, did the opposite. As I said in the initial post, I play fast to stop myself from thinking too much. Using Mindset just made me aware that I was trying to “trick” myself into not thinking. I’ve tried several sports psychology things and they all end up the same way. I overthink them and they don’t work because I tell myself they don’t work. Not a fault of Mindset or any other sports psychology method, just my messed up overactive brain.

grochol17

As for Bridgestone, I’ve used their tires for a long time, but never really played the ball much, mostly because when I’ve tested it out, it has been similar enough to whatever I was playing at the time that I didn’t see the need to switch. As a current golf ball free agent, I’m excited to add the Tour B to my testing and see how everything shakes out. My swing speed, when I’m loosened up, gets up to about 108 mph, so I’m just into their suggestion of using the X or XS. Since I’m testing the left dash, I picked the X as the closest comparison. Just for fun, I also picked up a trial pack of the RX from a local golf shop to see how the slightly softer version of the X compares.

While putting the X and RX felt pretty similar, with the X feeling/sounding just a tiny bit more firm (though in a blind test I’m not sure I’d be able to tell them apart). The left dash definitely had more of a click than the other two. With chipping, the X and RX were again pretty similar. I could convince myself that the RX was a little bit softer and had a tiny bit more greenside spin than the X, but they were pretty close. Again, the left dash felt the firmest and clearly had a bit less spin than the other two.

In terms of performance, I wasn’t hitting the ball too well, and like I mentioned I couldn’t do any comparisons, but off the tee I really liked the trajectory. I hit the ball high and usually find that my tee shots don’t roll out very much due to a steep descent angle. The X seemed to have a somewhat flat trajectory and I was getting some bounce and roll. Aside from a couple of obvious mishits early in the round, I was finding my drives about as far down the fairway as I’ve ever hit them on a course that wasn’t particularly firm. We had at best a periodic light breeze, so I can’t comment on the wind performance of the ball. With the full and 3/4 wedges, I was getting plenty of spin, backing up the ball regularly on medium firmness greens.

Now for the part, I assume, that Bridgestone really wants us to talk about, the MindSet logo. As mentioned above, I started putting dots all over the ball as a way to give myself a spot to focus on because my self doubt and ability to distract myself with other thoughts is pretty strong. For example, I was on course while the guys doing the Wilson golf experience at Pinehurst were beginning to post about the trip and I started paying more attention to that than my golf game. The MindSet logo is a nice additional reminder to go through the process of getting ready for a shot.

On the tee I decided to put the logo up, but point the arrow toward my club… kind of a reminder to “hit the ball here” rather than try to line the arrow up with my intended target. For each tee shot I went through the process of picking out a specific target, imagining what the ball flight should look like, then focusing on the ball. Aside from a few bad swings due to being sore from a softball double header a couple days earlier, I honestly drove the ball better than I have in a long time. I really think the MindSet helped me focus on hitting a good shot, rather than hoping I didn’t hit a bad one.

bertsbogeys

Opening the package from Bridgestone, they sent me 2 dozen TOUR B RX balls, which I requested. I have never gotten a full fitting on a proper launch monitor so I am unsure of my swing speed but figured these <105mph swing speed balls would better suit my game than the Tour BX or TOUR BXS. The packaging is what you’d expect from Bridgestone or any other dozen golf balls you’d buy. I was really intrigued about this new Mindset line because I feel like I do sometimes struggle staying focused on my 80+ swings per round. However, I had the immediate realization that this Mindset technology cannot be used as often as I’d hope to use it. To be fair, my game is not serious enough to where it would be a massive deal to turn this ball over and aim it on every shot but for someone using it in an official tournament or match, you wouldn’t be able to use the Mindset markings on the ball for a majority of your shots, I feel like it can be used for Driving and Putting any time but approach shots, you’d have to be playing lift/clean/place rules, if it were an official event. That’s the first and probably only downside of these balls because I feel like they would mostly benefit me on my approach game, but the ball isn’t landing with the Mindset markings upright and aimed to where you’re hitting every time, if hardly ever.

For the look and feel of these balls, I think they look like any other Bridgestone ball, just with the added Mindset stamping. I love the idea of identifying your target, visualizing your shot path, and then focusing on the dot through the swing. For someone who doesn’t have a set pre-shot routine, this felt like a good place to start and felt like it would really improve my focus on the course. For the feel of the ball, they felt a tad bit firmer than my typical TP5x and Tour Response balls on distance shots, nothing rock-like, but just a bit firmer. Chipping with these balls around the green, they lose a little bit of that firm feeling but there are still hints of firmness to it, but that doesn’t affect greenside spin. I felt these balls performed just as well around the greens as the TP5X and Tour Response, very sticky and workable.

I think it definitely makes myself more conscious of having a pre-shot routine and I was definitely thinking of the three step Mindset process throughout the round but like I stated, you would have to line up your golf ball on every shot to get the full benefit of what Bridgestone was trying to accomplish, and that simply isn’t allowed if playing by the standard rules of golf.

Bonus comment

grochol17: I had a tournament recently and my warmup before the round was terrible… I was fighting some confidence issues caused by lower back pain and couldn’t find the middle of the face on the range. I had originally planned on playing a different ball, but decided on the practice green to use the MindSet to see if doing something to help me focus on the process of making a good swing, rather than the outcome of the shot, would help me out. It worked out pretty well… through 12 holes I had hit 7/9 fairways and 10/12 greens.

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