New TaylorMade Golf Ball: Five Easy Pieces

Taylor Made (a division of Adidas) will premiere its new five-piece golf ball, The Penta TP, at next week's PGA Championship at Hazeltine. Sergio Garcia and Retief Goosen will play the ball, which will become available for the public in December.

According to TaylorMade, the ball represents another step in the evolution of the solid core golf ball, which has gone from one, two, three, four and now five layers inside the cover. The company's goal was to improve ball performance in five areas: off-the tee, with long-irons, middle irons, short irons and wedge shots -- hence the "penta" moniker.

The Penta TP is covered with a soft urethane, which many golfers will recognize instantly -- it is the typical material of high-end balls like the Titleist ProV1. There are two types of ball covers generally used currently: softer polyurethane covers that mimic the balata covers of yore, with higher spin rates and thus more control around the greens on the high end, and the harder Surlyn -- a commercial thermoplastic ionomer resin that was introduced by DuPont in the early 1960's. Surlyn is generally found on less expensive balls, and is more resistant to scuff, cuts and tears than is a polyurethane cover.

According to Taylor-Made ball is designed not only for pros, but also to improve feel and performance for slower-swinging amateurs. Sounds like a tall task -- making a ball equally as effective for an exacting professional with a 115+ swing speed and for a 95 MPH swinging14-indexer looking to squeeze every last yard s/he can out of their driver.

No expected retail or street prices were announced.