Costco Golf Ball Kirkland Signature Review

Costco Golf Ball Kirkland Signature: Joel Tadman tests the three-piece urethane ball from Costco up against a premium tour ball to see how it compares

Costco Golf Ball Kirkland Signature Review

Costco remains one of the few retail outlets open during the Covid-19 lockdown, which may peak the interest of golfers as the three-piece Kirkland Signature balls it sells have been making the headlines recently.

Mostly because that balls have a urethane cover, the holy grail when it comes to short game control, and come in at a ridiculously low price - we picked up two dozen for just £26.

To be clear, this article refers to the original version of this ball. Costco has more recently launched a Kirkland Signature 2.0 golf ball that looks to improve the performance on offer.

It claims to deliver "high velocity, controlled iron spin and consistent flight. Mid-handicap players will appreciate the soft feel and superior greenside control."

We hit a 50-yard pitch, 7-iron and driver with the Kirkland Signature up against the latest Titleist Pro V1, which is also a three-piece ball and retails at £52 a dozen, on the Foresight Sports GCQuad launch monitor to assess how they compared. We then took the Kirkland out on the course to further assess the ball in a more realistic environment.

Out of the box, the Kirkland Signature looks to be a well-made ball. It has a bright white finish, a mix of dimple sizes and no visible seam.

Launch monitor testing

When testing indoors off the tee, the Kirkland Signature really suffered. I absolutely buttoned the drives on the GCQuad and while ball speed was ok at 154mph, but generally high spin averaging 2600rpm led to carry distances averaging 257, a good 15 yards short of where I was with the Titleist Pro V1.

On iron shots, the Kirkland Signature fared slightly better here, offering good speed with the 7-iron but on a lower launch and flight with high spin, around 1100rpm more than our Titleist Pro V1, resulting in 3-4 yard shorter carries at 160.

On a 50-yard pitch shot, the Kirkland provided excellent spin comparable with, sometimes exceeding, the Titleist Pro V1 ball. Both also felt very soft off the face.

On-course testing

Out on the course, the performance differences were replicated. I wasn't as far down the fairways with the Kirkland as I was accustomed to off the tee and into the wind this ball really struggled because of the high spin. That said, the short game performance was excellent, it really stands to attention on the second bounce when chipping - you can be really aggresive with your landing points, even when short sided.

The durability of the Kirkland also impressed, after a full round there were minimal scuffs and the cover maintained it's bright white finish.

Perhaps a fairer comparison would have been against lower price point urethane golf balls like the TaylorMade Tour Response or the Srixon Q-Star Tour. But this test highlights the gulf in performance that can exist between urethane-covered, three-piece balls at different price points.

Ultimately, what Kirkland have made here is a ball that spins a lot on all shots. For golfers that need more spin off the tee, it's potentially a good option to try. Where the nuances in ball design come in, which is an area a brand like Titleist really excels at, is being able to separate the spin levels for different shots to maximise performance in all areas of the game. This ball doesn't seem to have that.