When I received the opportunity to review the RZN MS-TOUR golf balls I thought that the name rang a bell for some reason.  Then I remembered, Nike!  When Nike left the golf hard goods arena they left a lot of golfers bemoaning the loss of one of their favorite balls, the RZN.  Well the good news is that RZN is back!

RZN is now manufacturing the balls under their own label and they haven’t forgotten about us aging golfers with slower swing speeds in the process.  Enter the RZN MS-Tour.

First off, thanks to Joe Wieczorek of The Media Group, Inc for sending us the balls for review.

So, you can go to the website or look at the image on the back of the box and get the tech info.  I say, let’s bring the MS-Tour ball to Disney World Golf and see how it performs.

Let’s go for a drive!  I have to say that off the tee the MS-Tour behaves just as well as any other ‘soft’ tour ball out there.  In fact, even better in some instances.  By this I mean that when I used the driver there was really no noticeable difference in flight or trajectory, but I did pick up an extra couple of yards over another ‘pro soft’ ball that I used.  The real improvement happened on the par three holes where I used a 7 or 5 iron.  First off, the alignment stripes printed on the ball really aided in aiming the tee shot.  Second, I easily gained 5 to 6 yards off the tee with the irons!  This is great when you play a course that has elevated greens due to the simple fact that you can go right at it without worrying about overshooting the target.  Another bonus is that the confidence level goes way up when you know that even when you don’t get all of it on your swing, you still have a few extra yards built in to compensate.

From the fairways the ball shot straight and true when I needed it too.  I really believe that this is  due to the micro-dimples and anti slip urethane cover.  Again, a great confidence builder not only from the fairways, but from the rough also.  It’s nice to know that RZN has built in to the ball a way for it to basically ‘grip’ the grooves of your club.  Wedges performed just as well with the ability to stop the ball when you wanted it to; or to use a 7 iron to hit and run it across the green.  The MS-Tour is very easy to control.

On the putting surface the parallel triple lines allowed me to easily line up my putts.  There is something about the multi alignment lines that gives me a feeling of accuracy.  So, even though I had my share of three putts throughout the round, I did get the ball closer to the cup each time.  I also liked the sound of the ball off the putter.  There was a distinctive ‘click’ that you usually don’t get with other soft balls.  Let’s you know that you either struck it well or didn’t.

Now that we have a ball that has treated us well throughout the round, let’s do right by it and cut it open!

As you can see, the layers are distinctive and well balanced with good symmetry.  The RZN MS-Tour also uses a technology called ‘3D Speedlock’.  This basically allows the mantle to grab onto the urethane cover without slipping or shifting resulting in a purer transfer of energy throughout the ball.  I don’t have the camera capability to show you the micro-dimples but you can see them when you look at the ball.

In conclusion, the RZN MS-Tour is everything that you would expect from a tour quality softer ball.  Great fight and trajectory from the tee; an excellent response with fairway woods and long irons;  control around the greens and out of the bunkers; an alignment system that inspires confident putting and a great overall sound and feel from a ball that easily wurpasses the other ‘tour soft’ ball that I was playing.  Nike may have gone the way of the Do-do in the golf ball business but RZN has picked up the mantle and even surpassed it with the new technology that they infused into the RZN MS-TOUR.  

For more info and tech specs go to www.RZNgolf.com  I highly recommend that you pick up a dozen and try them out for yourself.

Stay safe and play well,

Joe