Ball Lab: TaylorMade TP5 Review

MyGolfSpy Ball Lab is where we quantify the quality and consistency of the golf projectiles on the market to help you find the best ball for your money. Today, we’re taking a look at the 2021 TaylorMade TP5. To learn more about our test process, how we define “bad” projectiles, check out our About MyGolfSpy Ball Lab page.

About the TaylorMade TP5

Of the two projectiles in the current TP5 retail family, the TaylorMade TP5 flies a bit higher and spins significantly better through the luggage than the TP5x. It’s a bit softer too and while we don’t condone choosing your golf ball based on feel, it’s definitely a reason why some will choose the TP5 over the TP5x.

The TP5 remains the only five-piece ball on the market from a major manufacturer. While its challengers would no doubt spat it, TaylorMade’s statu is that more layers furnish greater opportunity to tune spin performance throughout the bag.

As we’ve noted several times before. TaylorMade’s approach to manufacturing is unique. The cores and inner mantle layers are produced in Taiwan. The almost finished balls are shipped to TaylorMade’s U.S.A. flower where handles are put on.

TaylorMade TP5–Compression

On our gauge, the 2021 TaylorMade TP5 quantifies 87 compression on average. That’s down about three points from the previous generation. It’s only four levels softer than the current TP5x and identical to the Titleist Pro V1( though the rotate profiles are significantly different ). While it’s never going to be confused with TaylorMade’s Soft Response or even the Tour Response, by legitimate PGA TOUR ball standards, it’s certainly on the softer side.

TaylorMade TP5–Diameter and Weight

A single ball in our TaylorMade TP5 test surpassed the USGA weight limit of 1.62 ounces. Accordingly, it was pennant as bad.

While we did have a couple of balls that weren’t perfectly round , none in the sample failed to achieve our standard of roundness.

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TaylorMade TP5 — Inspection

Centeredness and Concentricity

As was the case with the TP5x, we pennant six percentage of our sample as bad. In both cases, the make was significant inconsistencies with stratum thickness in two or more layers.

As with other TaylorMade TP5-series projectiles, we mentioned multiples stratum incursion issues( the outer layer effectively melting into the inner layer ). While prevailing , none was significant enough for us to flag the projectile as bad. That said, this continues to be an issue for TaylorMade and is certainly something we hope to see improved( if not resolved) in the future.

Core Consistency

It’s not unusual to find a few different tints of cores with TaylorMade. That’s not wholly uncommon across the industry and, in most cases, if it’s a real difficulty it will be reflected in the ascertain measurements.

We likewise noted some differences in mantle emblazon as well. That’s a bit more unusual but, again, we’ll defer to the gauges.

We did note a few cores with a little of speckling … call it unmixed substance. Regardless, just a few projectiles were impacted and we didn’t feel it would likely have a pronounced impact on performance.

Embrace

No cover imperfections were noted.

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In this section, we detail the consistency of the TaylorMade TP5. Our consistency metrics provide a measure of how similar the projectiles in our test were to one another relative to all of the modelings we’ve tested to date.

The results of our consistency exams( below) are frustrating. On one hand, it’s reasonable to say the majority of the problems we encountered can be traced to a single carton. On the other, all of the projectiles of a rendered model are supposed to be the same and, in this case, there’s a strong argument to be made that wasn’t the case with the TP5s we bought.

Weight Consistency

Balls in Box 1 were heavier than Containers 2 and 3 and included a single ball over the USGA weight limit. I suppose Box 2 best represents the average of the sample while Box 3 operated a bit light.

Diameter Consistency

TaylorMade makes a small ball. To say Box 1 is large( by TaylorMade standards) is an understatement. Container 2 and 3 have smaller average diameters and virtually all of the projectiles dance perilously close to the minimum allowable diameter, which is exactly what we’ve come to expect from TaylorMade.

Compression Consistency

Again, Box 1 is the outlier. It’s firmer and generally less consistent than the other containers. The compressing delta across the entire sample was nine phases. That’s not outstanding but it’s well within the average range. The median compression delta( the compression scope across the three points evaluated on each projectile) falls on the high-pitched culminate of our median range. Notably, merely a single ball presented more than a three-point gap across the three points measured.

True Price

True Price is how we quantify the quality of a golf projectile. It’s a projection of what you’d have to spend to ensure you get 12 good balls.

The True Price will always be equal to or greater than the retail price. The greater the distinctions between the retail price and the True Price, the more you should be concerned about the quality of the ball.

TaylorMade TP5 — Summary

To learn more about our exam process, how we define “bad” projectiles and our True Price metric, check out our About MyGolfSpy Ball Lab page.

If you’ll permit me to editorialize a little, the TaylorMade TP5( and I guess the TP5x) frustrates the inferno out of me. Sensibly, TaylorMade’s offerings should be the ones to challenge Titleist for dominance in the market, especially given the unique five-layer construction and the ability that dedicates TaylorMade to more precisely tune spin throughout the bag. The thing is, with each Ball Lab we accomplish, it becomes more apparent that TaylorMade still has some work to do on the quality side of the equation. It’s reasonably consistent most of the time but some of the time it isn’t–and those stratum incursion issues are far more common than we are presented in other brands with similar dual mantle structure. It shouldn’t happen.

For a lot of golfers, the TP5 lineup checks all the boxes but the consistency doesn’t ever live up to the potential offered by the performance characteristics.

The Good

Toss out the first box and the numbers are pretty good. The smaller median diameter( for two of the boxes) shall be submitted by a distance benefit.

The Bad

One of these cartons isn’t like the others. Continue layer issues

Final Grade

The TaylorMade TP5 gets an overall grade of 65.

The score is attributable to below-average consistency for both load and diameter together with the three bad projectiles was contained in the test( one load and two layer concentricity issues ).