vice tour vs vice pro

Vice Tour Golf Ball Review (After 17 Rounds)

Written By : Jon Webber // Read All Comments

The Tour is Vice’s entry-level 3-piece ball. I don’t know why it has the name “tour” when it doesn’t come with a urethane cover. That said, if it performs well, it could be one of the best values in golf.

We’ve tested and reviewed a lot of golf balls over the years, some of them are a lot better than others. I’ve noticed that a lot of golfers are using the wrong ball, ones that will make the game harder.

I decided to use it for 17 full rounds of golf to find out what I liked and disliked about it. So, is the Tour one you should add to your bag?

In This Review

Vice Tour Product Details

When a ball has “tour” in the name you’d expect it to offer premium performance, something similar to the Pro V1. Since this ball came with a surlyn cover , I didn’t really understand where the name came from.

If you’re not familiar, tour-level balls come with a urethane cover . It’s generally softer and produces more spin around the green. For more info, you can read our guide on the different types of ball covers .

Anyway, the Tour has a 3 layer design and comes with a compression rating somewhere around 80. It’s designed for all swing speeds (ideally 90-110 MPH) and is supposed to be long and straight off the tee.

If the Tour can deliver what it promises, for a great price, it’ll be tough to beat. You can reduce the price to $21 per dozen when you buy 5+ boxes.

You can see how the Tour compares to the other Vice balls HERE .

Since this ball has a surlyn cover and a medium compression rating, it has a pretty firm feel to it . If you’ve ever hit the Taylormade Distance+ or Titleist Velocity, I’d say it’s somewhat similar.

It took me a little bit of time to get used to the firmness, especially on the greens. I felt like it produced a “click” feeling at impact. It almost felt like I was going to blast the ball past the hole, but I was more used to it after a round or two.

Off the tee, the ball exploded off the club . If you’re used to a low compression ball or something like a Pro V1, it might take a little bit to get used to the feel. Compared to other Vice balls, the Tour feels as firm as the Pro Plus and Pro Zero .

You can see the difference between soft and firm golf balls HERE .

The Quality

Vice started making balls in 2016, I believe. When they first came out the big issue was the quality of the covers . People would start to notice scratches and cuts after only a few holes.

I actually did notice this myself with the first few balls I tested. What I’ve seen over the past couple of years though is that they’ve been improving the quality.

After taking 10 shots off the tee, 10 shots with the wedge, and finishing my round, the ball only had a couple of minor marks . Definitely not as durable as Titleist, but it’s much better than before.

I wanted to really check the durability of the ball, so I hit a pretty aggressive wedge shot that actually hit the cart path as well. The picture above shows what the ball looked like. None of the other balls looked like that though.

The Short Game

Since this ball is called the Tour, you’d expect it to have tour-level spin around the greens. This is the main difference between a budget ball and a premium one.

To figure out how the ball performs, we’ll take 10 shots with my sand wedge and see how much the ball rolled out or rolled back. A negative number means it landed and rolled back. A positive number means it landed and rolled away. Here are the results:

On average, the Tour ball landed on the green and rolled out 4.7 yards . Compared to other balls, I’d say it’s somewhere middle of the pack. Decent enough for average players but probably not enough for advanced golfers.

Compared to the other Vice balls, it was near the Pro Zero, in my experience. Better than the Drive (review HERE ), but not as good as the Pro (review HERE ) and Pro Soft (review HERE ).

The Long Game

The final area we’ll look at is how it performed off the tee. The type of ball I’m after is one that flies long and straight. I don’t really care much about workability, and I think most golfers would feel the same way.

We’ll do a similar test, taking 10 shots off the tee and recording the distances. I also noted whether or not the ball landed in the fairway. Here are the results:

On average, the Tour went 260 yards and hit 60% of the fairways . That’s exactly what I was looking for. Compared to the other Vice balls, this one was the longest and straightest.

I don’t think it’s the longest ball I’ve hit, but the performance off the tee is similar to other distance balls. Most distance balls have 2 layers, so since the Tour has an extra, the short-game spin is a bit better.

You can see how far the average golfer hits their clubs HERE .

The Bottom Line

Even though this ball has a few downsides, I do think it’s a solid golf ball and I would feel comfortable recommending it . They’re long off the tee, hit a lot of fairways, and are priced extremely well (especially if bought in bulk).

I think the main focus of mid to high handicappers should be hitting more fairways. Too many people are using premium balls that have high spin rates. Chances are, it’s actually hurting your performance off the tee.

If you have any questions or want to share your experience with the Tour, make sure to leave a comment below.

Where To Buy

Check the current price here on Amazon

Other Balls To Consider

To make sure the Tour is the best option for you, you should be aware of some alternative options. We have a few roads you can go down to get more info.

The first is to check out one of our “best of” guides that compare different models. You can read those here:

Top 6 Golf Balls For Mid Handicappers (2024 Updated)

Top 7 Best Golf Balls For Average Golfers (2024 Updated)

The second is to get a personalized recommendation from us. Head on down to the comments section below and answer a few simple questions. We’ll respond with a few balls you should try out.

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Jon Webber is Out Of Bounds Golf's main product tester and editor. He's been in the golf world for 10+ years and has personally tested over 100 products, from balls to clubs to bags. He started this site for the average player, to make the game a little easier to understand.