Srixon Q-Star Tour Review: The most underrated golf ball on the market?
GolfMagic heads back out on course with Srixon's Q-Star Tour: a do-it-all golf ball widely available at a great price.
- Really good spin for an affordable ball
- Wonderfully soft feel
- Good distance for more moderate swingers
- Excellent value
- Looks of the DIVIDE model won't be for everyone
Srixon boasts a legendary status as a maker of the best beginner golf balls around, with iconic entry-level models like the Soft Feel and the Srixon Distance a universal fixture of pro shops around the world.
The Q-Star model, which exists one step above the Japanese brand's most affordable models, is also a bit of a legend in this space, evolving over the years from the original Q-Star into the three-piece Q-Star Tour model released back in 2017. In this time it has become synonymous with affordable performance, delivering elevated greenside spin, straight ball flight and distance for the widest range of players, without breaking the bank.
Now approaching a full decade on the market, the Q-Star Tour has undergone multiple updates in that time and performs better than it ever has. And with more average golfers taking up the game than ever before and looking for a balance of affordability and performance, it stands to reason that this unheralded Srixon model should be more relevant than ever.
So why does it not get more plaudits? At GolfMagic, we well and truly think it should. But just to be sure, we took it back out on the course to see why we still feel that the Srixon Q-Star Tour might be the most underrated golf ball, and simply one of the best golf balls, money can buy.
Looks and features
Most recently updated for the 2024 season, the Q-Star Tour hasn't changed a whole lot since its introduction in 2017. Relying on the same combination of features it always has albeit with a few minor updates, its MO remains the same as it was eight years ago: soft but not too soft feel, distance for a wider range of players, and great spin thanks to its Urethane cover and SpinSkin coating.
The foundation of the Q-Star Tour is the FastLayer Core. With its gradual transition from soft inner core to firm outer edge, FastLayer behaves like a core with thousands of layers, delivering distance and soft feel without compromise.
Srixon upped the compression on the latest Q-Star Tour a touch for the 2024 update, bringing it further into the realm of players with faster swing speeds and providing an option for faster swingers who once would have found the Q-Star a little too soft to extract maximum performance out of.
This, combined with the short game check provided by the Urethane cover and SpinSkin coating, bring the Q-Star Tour firmly into the realm of higher-end three piece balls like TaylorMade's Tour Response and Wilson's Triad, which look to offer an experience approaching tour-level performance on a budget.
The key POD in the Q-Star Tour range is, of course, the option of the Divide model, which comes finished in a blocked-out half/half colour scheme comprising two high-vis colours. Combining yellow with white, orange, blue or red, it's an instantly eye-catching visual that makes for great visibility when playing winter golf, with the dual benefit of acting as a built-in putting feature for those who want a full-circle alignment aid on their ball.
Performance
Every time we play with the Srixon Q-Star Tour, we're left impressed at just how well it does replicating the feel and performa
Even though it's been firmed up a touch, the Q-Star Tour remains a low compression golf ball. As such, players with truly elite swing speeds will likely still find the Q-Star Tour too soft, but in the hands of the vast variety of golfers (say, those with club speeds up to around 95 mph+), the Q-Star tour will provide distance, accuracy and spin in spades. This ball is definitely worth trying on the golf course.
The Srixon Q-Star Tour is perfect for short pitches into the green as you can achieve a lot of spin. The connection and feel are very pleasing off the club face, while it's soft and pleasing off the club face and it has the ability to instil great confidence in your short game.
Should you buy the Srixon Q-Star Tour golf ball?
Srixon's Q-Star Tour is a true do-it-all ball, and given it's often widely available at a price well below its £36.99 RRP, represents an incredible value proposition for all the most elite golfers.
Far cheaper than premium-priced balls such as Titleist's Pro V1 and TaylorMade TP5, in the hands of the average golfer the Q-Star tour will deliver all the performance that most golfers would possibly be able to extract out of it, with a wonderfully soft feel, great distance for more moderate swing speeds and excellent control on the greens.
While the Q-Star Tour might start to get away from golfers with particularly fast swing speeds, for the vast majority of everyday golfers and even improving players the Srixon is a perfect fit, and one that we continue to be impressed by every time we go back to using it.
Brad Nash is Reviews Editor at GolfMagic, having joined the team in June 2025 to look after all things reviews, soft goods testing and equipment alongside Equipment Editor Tom. Primarily a writer, you may see him pop up in videos or on the GolfMagic socials from time to time.
