Bridgestone e12 Contact 2023 Golf Ball Review

Bridgestone e12 Contact 2023 Golf Ball Review

The big thing to know about this ball is that its FLEXATIV Surlyn cover, which is the fourth generation of "contact science" technology, helps create 46 percent more surface contact with a clubface at impact. The cover contains modifiers that allow it to react to the amount of force applied at impact. This helps optimize the moment of impact, yielding faster speed on more powerful contact and higher spin rates on less powerful contact. This performance earns the ball a place in our 2023 Editor's Choice.

So with a driver, the cover behaves like a firmer material for faster ball speed and more distance, and less sidespin for straighter shots and enhanced forgiveness on mishits. And with a wedge or short iron, it behaves like a softer, slower material – creating more spin and control around the greens.

The ball is officially geared for golfers seeking maximum distance, straighter shots, soft feel and enhanced short game performance – and let's face it, that's most of us. More broadly, it's considered a straight-distance ball for a wide range of players. Each dimple has an outer portion that slows sidespin during flight, while a raised center area means more surface contact with the clubface at impact than traditional dimples, giving you a more efficient energy transfer and better core activation. And likewise, you'll get more short game spin and control, too, from that extra contact area.

In our testing, the extra short game spin was more apparent than the extra driver distance. Ball flight was fairly consistent and straight, with a nice trajectory. It was super windy during testing, so results might vary on calm days. But we found overall performance to be competitive with other similarly mid-priced balls in the category. One nice surprise was that the ball feels notably softer using a putter than other balls. There's also a handy alignment line to help with aim on the greens or even off the tee. In addition to glossy white, the new e12 Contact ball for 2023 is also offered in matte green, red and yellow options and will cost you $35 a dozen.