Bridgestone VS Proto Golf Balls: Everything to know about Tiger's 2026 golf ball

Bridgestone's range of tour-level golf balls has always been a bit of an 'if you know, you know' proposition in golf. While it doesn't boast sales like Titleist's Pro V1 or TaylorMade's TP5, the brand has a strong reputation among those on tour known to be discerning about their equipment. 

Tiger Woods is famously contracted to play a Bridgestone, while equipment free agent Jason Day also switched into a Bridgestone back in 2022. And while the range hasn't had a significant update in some time, each model in Tour B line is well-regarded as being among the best golf balls on the market.

Now, the Japanese company has dropped its most exciting update in some time, announcing not just what looks like a complete overhaul of its ball range to come next year, but a series of testing insights that may well turn heads on tour well beyond the brand's current roster of contracted players.

A complete departure from the Tour B range that has served as the brand's flagship for almost a decade, the new range goes by the VS moniker with a colour-coded naming convention, each ball dubbed Red, Green, Blue and Black respectively. 

These four models will be engineered slightly differently to cater to different ball flights and swing speeds, much in the same way the Tour B models are right now, with Bridgestone confirming to GolfMagic that the colours will correspond to the scheme employed by Bridgestone's current range. This means it'll break down as such:

• VS Proto Red:  Max distance and lower driver spin for swing speeds under 105mph (Based on the Tour B RX)
• VS Proto Green: Softer feel and more greenside spin for swing speeds under 105mph (Based on the Tour B RXS)
• VS Proto Black: Max distance and lower driver spin for swing speeds over 105mph (Based on the Tour B X)
• VS Proto Blue:  Softer feel and more greenside spin for swing speeds over 105mph (Based on the Tour B XS)

Bridgestone are yet to confirm whether or not this will form the name of the retail model, however they did announce some very impressive results to come about from their latest testing, with the likes of Jason Day and Chris Gotterup both confirmed to be currently testing the new balls in competition.

"Testing and player feedback have revealed remarkable performance gains, with golfers reporting an average increase of 2.3 mph in Ball Speed and 8.7 yards of added distance when fit into the VS Protos from their current ball," read a statement from Bridgestone released over the weekend. 

"On TOUR, the results speak even louder: Jason Day gained +9.2 yards off the tee, improved to +2.339 Strokes Gained Tee-to-Green, and saw a +8.6% jump in Driver Accuracy with the VS Black during the FedEx Cup Playoffs.

"Meanwhile, Chris Gotterup unleashed the VS Black in his first event, averaging 312 yards off the tee (2nd in the field) and finishing #1 in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee (+7.311)."

Bridgestone have also confirmed Tiger Woods, easily the brand's most important signing in the last decade, will be putting the VS into play upon its release next year. " During VS Proto testing, Tiger Woods confirmed the Ball Speed increase and expressed excitement for putting the new model in play in 2026.

"With overwhelmingly positive feedback from pros and amateurs alike, the VS Prototype Project is proving to be one of Bridgestone’s most significant performance breakthroughs—and a powerful preview of what’s coming soon."

We'll be sure to bring you any new updates on the balls as and when they come available.