After Distance On A Tight Budget? This Is The Ball To Try

When Srixon announced the 2026 expansion of its Q-Star lineup, the new Q-Star Ultispeed with Trackline immediately caught my eye, both figuratively and literally! Srixon has never been shy about pushing the boundaries of golf ball visual design - look no further than the popular Q-Star Tour Divide ball. The Ultispeed, however, is aimed at the everyday golfer who wants maxed-out distance without sacrificing overall playability.

Priced competitively at $29/£29 per dozen, this 3-piece, medium-compression golf ball is designed with speed in mind, but the real talking point here is the introduction of the unique trackline, two-stamp visual alignment system that is placed around the ball to offer maximum feedback on alignment and how it rolls.

I put the Q-Star Ultispeed Trackline head-to-head against the TaylorMade Tour Response, indoors on a Foresight Sports GC3 launch monitor, before taking it out onto the course to see how it performed down range as well as around the greens.

This ball is very fast, which surprised me given the fact that it still feels fairly soft. Srixon claims the reformulated FastLayer core and 338 Speed Dimple Pattern work together to eliminate drag and boost ball speed, and my GC3 data backed this up.

Hitting driver, the Ultispeed Trackline generated an impressive 166.1 mph of ball speed, slightly edging out the TaylorMade Tour Response (165.6 mph). Where the Ultispeed really separated itself was in its spin and flight characteristics, producing a penetrating flight, in my ideal spin window of 2298 rpm, compared to the Tour Response’s 2689 rpm.

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This lower spin profile kept the peak height down to 119 feet, resulting in a total carry of 292.6 yards (over two yards longer than the TaylorMade), which isn’t much, but it could be the difference between carrying a bunker or not! If you struggle with high, spinny drives that balloon in the wind, this ball is an absolute weapon off the tee.

One thing that is worth noting is that while the Ultispeed proved to be longer on average, the dispersion both from front to back and side to side was a little tighter with the TaylorMade Tour Response.

Moving into the irons, the distance story continued, where I saw an impressive carry distance of 185.3 yards with a 7-iron. However, there is a trade-off for all this speed. The 7-iron spin dropped to 5456 rpm (compared to 6031 rpm for the Tour Response), which is very low and may prove a little difficult to hold greens in firmer conditions.

The most pleasant surprise of my testing came during the 50-yard pitch test. Historically, distance balls don’t offer much feel and control on partial wedges. However, the softer, thinner cover on the Ultispeed produced a highly respectable 7489 rpm of spin on a 50-yard pitch with a 54° wedge. This saw it sit only fractionally behind the Tour Response (7645 rpm). It hopped and checked beautifully on the green, which I wasn’t expecting given the ball speed at the top end of the bag and the price.

While the Trackline alignment system could be useful from the tee for pointing down my intended start line, it’s on the greens where I saw the most benefit. On the greens, it is an absolute game-changer for players who rely on a line to commit to their read. It fills your vision just enough to inspire confidence without feeling overly busy. If you are a traditionalist who prefers a clean, white ball, the Ultispeed is available without the Trackline alignment, so fear not.

The Srixon Q-Star Ultispeed Trackline is undeniably one of the longest, fastest balls I've tested this year in the value golf ball category. While you do sacrifice some mid-iron stopping power compared to a true tour ball, the fast ball speed from the tee, unexpected short-game spin, and the incredibly useful Trackline alignment aid make this a phenomenal option.