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The Volvik Condor and Condor X golf balls offer soft, premium feel throughout the bag. Very strong short game performance, especially the high spin Condor X. Average spin throughout the long game. Condor X may be faster for higher speed players.
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Introduction
When you think of Volvik golf balls, what comes to mind? For me, it’s a rainbow of brightly colored balls. I don’t think about a real competitor to the Tour-caliber balls from Titleist, PXG, and the like, but that’s exactly why I wanted to review the Volvik Condor and Condor X golf balls. At $43/dozen, they represent a meaningful savings over many OEM’s top ball, and I wanted to find out if their performance could rival the big names.
Feel
The Volvik website keeps things simple and straightforward in their description of the Condor and Condor X. They describe the former as “Very Soft” or “More Soft” and the latter as “Soft.” Volvik also shares the compression numbers for the Condor and Condor X, 85 and 95, respectively.
I started my feel testing with wedges and irons and was immediately impressed with the Condor X. It felt soft with a deep “click” that bordered on a “thud.” It’s as soft as a ball can be while remaining responsive. The Volvik Condor has a similar feel, but the sound loses the “click” entirely. If you prefer that marshmallowy softness, you’ll prefer the Condor.
Shifting to the putter, that same small but meaningful gap remained. The Condor reminded me of the Callaway Chrome Soft [review HERE] in the way that it gently rebounds off the putter face, even on long putts. In contrast, the Volvik Condor X felt more conventional. It’s still on the softer side of the Tour ball spectrum, but it has a quiet, low pitched “tock” on long putts.
Short Game
As with most OEMs, Volvik is not exactly forthcoming about the performance differences between the two Condor golf balls, stating both have “Low” long game spin and “Excellent” short game spin. Both have a “Soft Cast Urethane Cover” and “336 Perfect Symmetric Dimple Pattern”. The Condor X has the aforementioned higher compression and a 4-piece construction to the Condor’s 3-piece. Reading the box, Volvik notes that the Condor X has a “Mid-High” flight whereas the Condor is “Mid”. On the bright side, if the OEMs were more forthcoming, you wouldn’t need me.
I tested the Volvik Condor and Condor X on a launch monitor against each other and a couple of the biggest name Tour balls. The Condor held its own, producing spin on par with the big names and similar launch angles. The Condor X went a step beyond, producing spin in the above average range. It’s not a huge gap – less than 10% on a full wedge shot – but lower spin players or those who play very firm greens may want every bit of stopping power they can get.
Long Game
While I often see golf ball performance converge in the mid irons, a measurable spin gap remained between the Volvik Condor and Condor X. Though it was by less than in the short game, the Condor X spun consistently more than the Condor. While it’s always worth noting that you may see a smaller or larger difference depending on your swing, the gap I saw would not be noticeable on the course.
When I got to the driver, the story was very similar: the Condor X spun more by a small amount. For me, this was the smallest difference, both in absolute terms and as a percentage of total spin. It is important context that I am a low spin player, particularly off the tee, so other players may see a more meaningful gap here.
What was most surprising about all my long game testing was the ball speed bump I got from the Volvik Condor X. Overall, both balls produced very similar ball speed, but the Condor X was often 2 MPH faster on my very best strikes. This seems to support Volvik’s assertion that the Condor is recommended for players with swing speeds of 80+ MPH and the Condor X for players at 90+ MPH.
Conclusion
Overall, the Volvik Condor and Condor X golf balls impressed me. They have soft, premium feel and strong performance throughout the bag, particularly in the short game. With a normal retail price of $43, they’re cheaper than their big name competitors, and you can save even more by using the code MATT100 to get three dozen for $100.