Even better players like golf balls to feel soft and that is what Wilson are banking on with the Wilson Staff DX3 Urethane golf ball.
Urethane is a cover material that usually features on premium golf balls because it helps the ball to spin more and therefore gives it more control. How much depends on the blend of urethane and how thick it is, as not all versions are equal.
On the DX3 the urethane is just 1mm thick and underneath it is another 2 layers to make up the 3-piece construction.
The feel comes from the 55 compression of the ball, which is high for Wilson Staff balls, but lower than most other urethane covered balls, so that you get soft feel with more spin.
So I thought I would check this out on SkyTrak and compared it to the Wilson Staff DX2 Soft, which has an ionomer cover and a 29 compression, one of the lowest on the market.
With a driver the results showed that I did indeed get more spin, around 300rpm more, but the distance was not as good. However this is the trade off when using urethane because you get control, but can lose some distance, as I found out during my chat to Wilson golf ball expert Frank Simonutti.
The lower spin with the softer ball also means that it is does not deviate as much if you draw or fade it and you can see that the offline number for the DX2 Soft was 3 yards less.
With the wedge it was a similar story, resulting in 450rpm more spin and few less yards of carry. Now this is not neceassrily an issue as you have more control as you can see by the 1 yard roll out on the higher spinning DX3 Urethane, which was half that of the DX2.
Where you should really test a golf ball though is on and around the greens and this is where the softer compression shows up more.
The DX3 Urethane sounded a little firmer and more like a premium ball than the DX2 Soft, but it was still pretty soft to putt with in the big scheme of things. Chipping was pretty similar and if you are buying a urethane cover ball for performance around the green then you will probably also prefer something with a little more sound and feel feedback to improve your judgement.
However if you are coming at it from a soft feel perspective then the DX3 Urethane is probably better to putt and chip with than most of the other ultra soft balls in the market because of that cover.
So as usual it is all down to price and personal preference. The performance and durability of the DX3 Urethane is good and the urethane cover gives another option if you are in the market for a softer feeling golf ball.