A three-lined version of the Callaway Chrome Soft X Phil Mickelson used to win at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February this year is now a product you can buy.
Callaway has just released a new option of the Chrome Soft X with what it calls “Triple Track Technology,” a series of three alignment lines designed to improve the way the eyes and brain interpret aim. While Mickelson has been using the ball for much of the year, at retail the three-line ball had been available only in the ERC Soft ball. Now it will be available in the company’s highest-end ball played on tour, the Chrome Soft X. Generally speaking, the Chrome Soft X is designed for higher swing speed players and features a dual-core that utilizes the Nobel-prize-winning nano-particle graphene in the outer core to increase the compression difference between it and the soft inner core. Like the Chrome Soft, the Chrome Soft X is surrounded by the company’s urethane cover to offer the highest short game spin in the company’s lineup.
But it’s the cover’s markings that drew buzz after Mickelson’s win at Pebble Beach. The theory behind the lines is clearer focus based on vernier hyperacuity, according to Dr. Carl Bassi, a professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis College of Optometry, who consulted with local inventor Ray Barrett and Callaway on the project.
“If you just go by the optics of the eye itself, there are just certain limits the eye imposes,” Bassi said. “We know that with these vernier acuity effects, the hyperacuity exceeds the limit that you would have predicted based on the anatomy of the eye by itself. What we’re doing is we’re taking advantage of this hyperacuity by optimizing these parameters.”
The Chrome Soft X with Triple Track will be in stores April 19 ($45 per dozen).