Callaway's 2026 Chrome Tour, Chrome Tour X and Chrome Soft get a firmer mantle for more speed, to go along with soft urethane cover.
Gear: Callaway Chrome Tour, Chrome Tour X and Chrome Soft golf balls
Price: $57.99 per dozen (all models)
Specs: Four-piece, urethane-covered golf balls with dual-mantle construction.
Available: Jan. 30
Who it’s for: Golfers who want premium ball speed off the tee and Tour-level control around the green (Chrome Tour, Chrome Tour X), as well as golfers who want excellent all-around performance and soft feel (Chrome Soft).
What you should know: For 2026, Callaway kept the personalities of Chrome Tour, Chrome Tour X and Chrome Soft intact but gave each ball more speed and tighter dispersion thanks to a new, stiffer mantle material sits under a soft urethane cover in all three.
The Deep Dive: There’s always been a natural progression in the performance of Callaway’s premium golf balls, with each generation building on the previous models. What Callaway is trying to do with the 2026 lineup is keep the relationship between its three most-premium offerings – Chrome Tour, Chrome Tour X and Chrome Soft – the same but infuse each ball with more speed and a tighter dispersion.
The centerpiece of the update is a new outer mantle formulation that sits just under the urethane cover of all three balls. It is significantly more rigid than the material previously used in the outer mantle. Think of it as a spring that has been made tighter. When the ball compresses on the face or a wood or iron, the “spring” presses down and then rebounds faster.
Ordinarily, to make a ball faster, brands need to increase the compression, and that typically makes impact feel harder. It can make balls spinnier, too. However, making the mantle more rigid let Callaway designers “re-tune” the inner layers and maintain the overall compression and feel, so the 2026 Chrome Tour, Chrome Tour X and Chrome Soft feel like their processors, but they are faster.
Chrome Tour (2026)
Chrome Tour (available in White, Triple Tack, Triple Track Yellow and TruTrack) sits in the middle of the family in terms of compression (around 90) and feel. It is a four-piece ball with a large rubber core, an inner and outer mantle, and a urethane cover built for players who want a solid-but-not-rock-hard Tour ball with relatively low long-game spin, stable mid-iron trajectories and plenty of greenside bite. Driver and iron shots stay on the lower-spinning side to protect distance and reduce excessive curvature, but wedge shots still grab and stop the way better players expect. For a lot of golfers, this will be the default Chrome model: fast, stable and workable without feeling overly firm.
Chrome Tour X (2026)
Chrome Tour X (available in White, Triple Tack and TruTrack) has a higher compression (98), making it the firmest-feeling of the three updated models. It is aimed at golfers who like a stronger, flatter ball flight and slightly higher spin profiles in the scoring clubs. In Chrome Tour X, the new mantle is combined with a slightly thinner urethane cover and internal tweaks that bring driver and iron spin down a bit compared with the previous Chrome Tour X, while maintaining the high wedge spin. The result is a ball that still feels and behaves like the “X” in the family – firmer, more responsive and very stable at higher speeds – but creates more speed and spin for players who like to work the ball.
Chrome Soft (2026)
Chrome Soft (available in White, Triple Tack, 360 Triple Track, 360 Triple Track Yellow, TruTrack, TruTrack Yellow) completes the trio as the lowest-compression (75), softest-feeling option. It is built for golfers who prioritize a softer feel, higher launch and lower driver spin to help straighten out excessive curvature. The new mantle material is used here too, wrapped around a softer core, so the ball still picks up ball speed versus previous generations. On the course, it should produce a familiar Chrome Soft flight – high launch with relatively low long-game spin and plenty of greenside spin – but with more speed off the tee and with fairway woods, hybrids and long irons.
Taken together, the 2026 Chrome Tour, Chrome Tour X and Chrome Soft balls are meant to give golfers a clear choice among three distinct urethane options that share the same underlying goals: more ball speed, reliable spin profiles and more consistent ball flight, with feel and launch that move progressively from soft and high to firm and flat as you move through the family.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: 2026 Callaway Chrome Tour Chrome X Chrome Soft faster mantle layer
Category: General Sports
