In the world of golf equipment we often talk about the ‘big four’ companies of Callaway, Ping, Titleist and TaylorMade. But from what I’ve seen so far in 2025, there’s as strong a case as ever for this to change into the big five. Unprecedented tour success as well as impressive product performance in multiple categories has justifiably propelled Srixon into the big time.
To the gear geeks among us, this won’t be too much of a surprise. Srixon has made competitive products for a number of years. Its golf ball pedigree has never been in doubt - the Z-Star franchise has been played on tour for over a decade and won majors in the bags of Brooks Koepka, Hideki Matsuyama and Shane Lowry.
But in 2025 the level of success has gone up a notch or two. It started at the very first event of the season with Matsuyama winning The Sentry in Hawaii and was quickly followed by Sepp Straka’s success at the American Express two weeks later. Meanwhile, over on the DP World Tour, Srixon staffer Alex Del Rey was winning his maiden title at the Ras Al Khaimah Championship. A strong January by any standard.
Another brand ambassador Ryan Fox, who uses a full bag of Srixon/Cleveland clubs and ball bar his putter, has picked up two PGA Tour wins this year and rocketed to 30th in the World Rankings. His win at the Canadian Open came from hitting the ‘best shot he’s ever hit’ with his ZXi three wood, the model we crowned as the best fairway wood of the year up against some very stiff competition.
Andrew Novak also tasted success at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans before Straka won again two weeks later at the signature Truist Championship. Long-serving ambassador Shane Lowry has had another strong season with two runner-up finishes and back on the DP World Tour, Jacques Kruyswijk picked up his first tour title at the Magical Kenya Open.
JJ Spaun’s dramatic win at the US Open marked back-to-back wins for a Srixon ball and the 7th win in total for the season out of 25 events. While Titleist still lead the way with 12 wins, Srixon has closed the gap to an unprecedented margin and is a distant second, with TaylorMade on three wins (all from Rory McIlroy) and Callaway and Maxfli next on two apiece. On the FedEx Cup standings, four of the top 12 players use a Srixon ball.
Perhaps we are overstating things somewhat, but we can’t recall seeing such an uptick from a brand in recent memory spanning multiple tours. Despite Titleist maintaining its top spot in golf balls when it comes to wins and overall counts week to week, it does feel like other companies, but in particular Srixon, are making significant inroads.
This is no wonder given the raft of products the brand launched in 2025, including the ZXi metalwoods and irons and Z-Star balls as well as RTZ wedges from its sister brand Cleveland. The ZXi5 irons have resonated with us in particular for their broad appeal and the Z-Star Diamond ball, as used by Spaun at Oakmont and Koepka, is one of the most underrated premium golf balls on the market.
So while many still consider Srixon to be a sleeper brand, we're here to tell you it appears to have well and truly woken up. How this plays out at retail remains to be seen but the Srixon and Cleveland product line through the bag is as strong as it has ever been and with the Tour validation to go with it, the brand is making serious strides.
