It’s shaping up to be a busy year for Costco’s golf division. (That’s one of the weirdest sentences I’ve ever written.)
Anyway, in addition to new wedges and new irons, it appears Version 3 of the Kirkland Signature Performance + Golf Ball (AKA: The K-Sig) is coming to market soon.
As is the case with its wedges, Costco’s website shows no inventory for the current Performance + V2 ball (or any other ball, for that matter) and recent entries on the USGA’s conforming ball list suggest that’s likely because a new Kirkland Signature golf ball model is on the way.
Kirkland Peformance + V3 – What We Know
What we know so far is that the new Kirkland ball is a three-piece offering that will be available in white and yellow.
I like having options so I suppose that last bit is cause for some degree of excitement.
A slight bummer is that we still don’t see a replacement for the original K-Sig four-piece ball. As you may recall, the follow-up suffered from a cover defect which resulted in full refunds for anyone who wanted them. Frankly, we expected the company would resolve the issue and have a new four-piece back on the market in short order but that hasn’t proven to be the case.
Golfers will no doubt want to see what performance changes Kirkland has made to the Performance + golf ball and we’ll certainly look to include it in our upcoming robot ball test.
While the current model ticks the value box and the quality was a step forward from the original, it remains excessively spinny (I suppose you could describe it as highly workable) and one of the absolute worst balls on the market in the wind.
The spin characteristics make the Kirkland Signature ball particularly punitive for golfers who struggle with more curvature than they’d like (that means you, slicers). That part should be relatively easy to address (though there’s no guarantee they will).
The wind performance issue may be tougher to resolve. That aspect of performance is almost entirely a result of the dimple pattern. If the dimples don’t change, the wind performance won’t, either.
Given that the new ball appears to offer the same 338-dimple cover as the previous model, the likelihood is that the new ball won’t be much much, if any, better in the wind.
Kirkland Performance + V3 – Still a Good Value (Probably)
On the positive side, the Kirkland Signature Golf ball is revered for its consumer-friendly price and there’s no reason to think that sub-$20 prices won’t continue with the new generation.
Will the new Kirkland Signature three-piece Performance + prove to be a top-performing ball?
Based on the performance characteristics of previous Kirkland three-piece models, that seems unlikely. My guess is it will remain a niche ball for really low-spin golfers. Although, given the value it offers golfers, I’d love to be wrong and find the new Kirkland Signature Performance + golf ball is a better fit for more golfers.
Regardless, we expect the K-Sig will continue to offer solid quality at an appealing price point. While it’s not a ball I would recommend in most cases, it will almost certainly remain a reasonable option for golfers who want to play a urethane ball on a basic ionomer budget.
More information as it becomes available.
Sam Magnet
10 months ago
FWIW, the last batch of V2 balls I bought were made in Vietnam. The new black box says Made in China. I assume the balls are completely machine made from start to finish so you wouldn’t assume there was a lot of difference though I suppose the raw materials could be sourced from new places as well.