REVIEW: Bridgestone e12 CONTACT Golf Balls

The Bridgestone e12 CONTACT golf balls.

The new Bridgestone e12 CONTACT golf balls feature new cover technology that promotes more distance and increased feel, but in a way you wouldn’t expect. Retailing for under $30 a dozen, the e12 CONTACT might be the surprise hit of the 2021 golf season.

Bridgestone e12 CONTACT Technology

How long does your golf ball stay in contact with your driver? Chances are, that’s a relationship you’ve never paid much attention to in the past.

And why would you? We’re talking about milliseconds of time here; something that any human would find almost impossible to detect. However, this brief period of ball-to-club contact can make a world of difference, at least according to Bridgestone’s incredible R&D team.

The new e12 CONTACT balls reportedly stay in “contact” with your club slightly longer than competing golf balls in this category. This is accomplished thanks to their patented Contact Force Dimples, which work to compress and remain on the surface of your clubface “38 percent more” than other golf balls.

Of course, this is one of those metrics that the average golfer will have to take the brand’s word on, since 99 percent of us don’t have a way to test this out. The result of this increased contact, however, may be easily seen in the resulting ball flight.

That’s because Bridgestone is marketing the e12 CONTACT as having “straight distance”, where the unique dimple pattern and material literally helps your ball fly longer and straighter. So, naturally, I had to take them out to the course to see for myself.

Performance and Feel

Guess what: these golf balls fly long and straight. Like, to a noticeable degree.

Drives with the e12 CONTACT had little to no bend in my first experience on-course with them, as fades and draws flew with a tighter dispersion to my eye. As a player who is trying to fade the ball more off the tee, this was a welcome sight as I felt like I could control my shot pattern more easily with this ball. I can’t overlook the possibility of confirmation bias in my experience, but I definitely seemed to have a significantly better driving performance in my round with the e12 CONTACT.

Distance was also a plus with this ball, although not too different from my current gamer. I didn’t seem to have different irons into greens I’ve played hundreds of times, but that’s not a bad thing. I prefer my rounds to be somewhat predictable off the tee, especially on shorter holes or those I’ve played well in the past. Case in point, I felt entirely comfortable with what the e12 CONTACT produced in relation to my distance expectations during the round.

Feel was slightly harder in my experience, but not alarmingly so. I did find this a little odd, however, considering the entire story behind e12 CONTACT. There’s a lot to be said about perception vs. reality on stuff like “feel”, of course, especially since your golf club contributes a lot to the overall sensation at impact.

Overall Impression

I have to admit: this is a really darn good golf ball for the price.

There’s a whole lot to like about the Bridgestone e12 CONTACT and very little to critique. While I found them to be a little on the harder side in terms of feel, their tagline of “straight distance you can see” is totally on point. It’s safe to say that this ball performs as-advertised.

Players who prefer to shape the ball might not totally love the e12 CONTACT, but for the vast majority of players who just want to see target, hit ball, this might be a winner.

The Bridgestone e12 CONTACT retails for $29.99/dozen. For full information, visit BridgestoneGolf.com.