Vice Pro Plus vs Bridgestone Tour B XS: the tour ball you won't find in the pro shop
Two urethane tour balls for fast swingers, built on opposite bets — and most golfers never even consider one of them. Vice skips the shop to sell tour spin for less; the 2026 Bridgestone Tour B XS chases soft feel and biting wedge spin for swings over 105 mph. Here's which one is actually right for your game.
By Ross Hamilton · Staff Writer
Vice
Vice Pro Plus Golf Balls (Dozen)
$45
The direct-to-consumer disruptor: cast-urethane tour spin at a price that undercuts the shelf, if you don't mind buying online.
Bridgestone
Bridgestone Tour B XS
$60
The tour purist: soft feel and biting wedge spin built for genuinely fast swings, with real tour pedigree behind it.
Both of these are proper urethane tour balls aimed at players with genuine swing speed, but they win for opposite reasons. Buy the Vice Pro Plus if you want tour-level performance for less and you are happy to order online — it undercuts the big names without giving up spin. Buy the Bridgestone Tour B XS if you swing it fast, prize a soft feel and want your wedges to bite hard, and you value tour pedigree. One is a value play, the other a feel play.
The case for the Vice Pro Plus
Vice built its business by selling cast-urethane tour balls direct to golfers and skipping the retail markup, and the Pro Plus is the pick of the range. It is the longest, highest-flighting ball Vice makes, and in a robot test of more than sixty models it ranked among the very highest for short-game spin — genuine low-spin-off-the-tee, high-spin-around-the-green behaviour, the exact recipe a good player wants. All of that for meaningfully less than a shelf premium, around $45 a dozen. The honest catch is the buying experience: you order online and wait a few days rather than grabbing a sleeve at the pro shop, and the feel is firm and fast rather than soft. But for tour performance at a value price, it is hard to argue with.
The case for the Bridgestone Tour B XS
The Tour B XS is the softer, spinnier half of Bridgestone's Tour B family, and it is built around the brand's fastest-swinging tour staff. It is a three-piece urethane ball with a REACTIV iQ cover engineered to rebound hard off the driver but grip longer on approach shots, so you get distance off the tee and bite into the green. In testing it carried 299 yards, a yard past a Pro V1, while feeling noticeably softer than its firmer sibling the Tour B X. It is pitched squarely at golfers north of 105 mph who can actually compress it — for that player, the combination of soft feel and biting wedge spin is genuinely special. At around $60 it is priced like the premium ball it is.
The numbers and the feel that decide it
On paper they overlap: both are firm-ish, fast urethane balls with high greenside spin for quick swings. The real differences are three. Price: the Vice is clearly cheaper, because you cut out the shop. Feel: the Bridgestone is the softer of the two, which matters enormously to a lot of good players. And pedigree plus availability: the Bridgestone carries tour history and sits on the shelf ready to buy, while the Vice is an online-only challenger. Neither is more of a 'tour ball' than the other in performance terms — they simply ask you to prioritise different things.
The catch with each
Be honest about the downside before you commit. The Vice's catch is entirely about the buying model: you order online and wait a few days, you cannot grab a sleeve at the turn, and if you run out mid-season you are waiting on delivery rather than nipping into the shop. Some golfers also simply prefer the reassurance of a big shelf brand. The Bridgestone's catch is the swing-speed gate — it is genuinely built for players over about 105 mph, and if you swing slower you will not compress it or feel its best qualities, so you would be paying premium money for performance you cannot access. Match the ball to the honest truth about your game, not the version of your game you wish you had.
Which one is right for you
Choose the Vice Pro Plus if value is the deciding factor, you are comfortable buying golf balls online, and you want tour spin without the tour price. Choose the Bridgestone Tour B XS if you genuinely swing over about 105 mph, you want the softest feel of the two with maximum wedge bite, and the reassurance of tour pedigree matters to you. If your swing is slower than that, be honest — neither is your ball, and you should read matching the ball to your game or run our Golf Ball Finder before spending premium money. Either way, both belong in the conversation in our best premium golf balls guide.
Frequently asked
- Is Vice as good as the big-name tour balls?
- In performance terms, yes — the Pro Plus is a genuine cast-urethane tour ball that ranked among the highest for short-game spin in independent robot testing. The difference is the buying model: Vice sells direct online rather than through shops, which is how it keeps the price down.
- What swing speed do you need for the Bridgestone Tour B XS?
- It is built for players north of about 105 mph of driver swing speed. Below that you will not compress it properly, and you would be better off with a ball designed for moderate speeds — the Bridgestone RXS or a softer, lower-compression option.
- Which ball spins more around the greens?
- Both are high-spin urethane balls with excellent greenside bite. The Vice Pro Plus tested among the very highest for short-game spin in a large robot test, while the Bridgestone Tour B XS is specifically engineered to grip on approach — for most players the difference on the course is small.
- Is buying Vice golf balls online worth the wait?
- If value matters, yes — the saving over a shelf premium is real, and delivery is only a few days. The trade-off is you cannot grab a dozen on the way to the first tee, so you need to order ahead rather than run out mid-season.
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