I’ve been asked before what kind of ball a specific player should play. The easy answer is that there is no easy answer.

It used to be that certain designs were better suited certain players. For instance, when I took up the game, you would see better players using wound balata balls because of the increased spin that they provided. But those weren’t as suitable for higher handicap players because the spin they see is usually to the side. So, two-piece balls were more appropriate.

Today things are not as cut and dry. Technology in ball design has rocketed to unprecedented levels. You almost need degrees in engineering and chemistry just to understand what’s going on.

In fact, I’d be surprised if anyone can really recommend the best ball for you, unless that person understands your game well, as in the case of your golf pro, or better yet, a fitter who has done computerized launch analysis on your swing.

So, while I can’t recommend a specific ball to you, I think I can give you the questions you need to have answered that will help you make that selection. I can also help you understand the various characteristics in ball design.

The Questions

To start the process of selecting a golf ball, you should ask yourself a series of questions to help in the process of narrowing down the selections.

• How much do you want to spend?
  • If money is no object, then that’s great. For a lot of players, golf is expensive enough, so playing a tour-level ball is simply not an option. There’s no reason to consider Titleist’s Pro-V1 if you can’t afford to spend over $45/dozen.
• What is your ability level?
  • In all honesty, it really doesn’t matter too much what ball you’re playing if you play to a 30 handicap. Price should be the main factor there. If you can afford to lose a dozen Pro-V1s per round, then that’s fine, but it’s not really helping your game that much.
  • Conversely, as handicap level decreases, players get proportionally more benefit from the advanced features that come from “tour” balls.
• What characteristics can help your game the most?
  • Really, balls only provide a few characteristics that are of importance. Mainly, those are spin rate, distance, trajectory, feel and durability.

The Characteristics

We’ve established a handful of ball characteristics that are of importance when selecting a ball. Let’s look at each one.

• Spin Rate. This equates to stopping ability on the greens. The more spin you can get, the faster you can stop the ball on the green. It’s also a double-edged sword. More spin means more change in direction too. If you slice, a ball with higher spin will magnify that effect.
• Distance. It seems like every ball manufacturer proclaims the prowess of its lines of balls in the distance department. You don’t often hear ad campaigns saying things like “Shortest ball on tour” or “Our lack of distance will save you from having to hit half-wedges”. Distance is normally a result of several characteristics: spin, trajectory, dimple pattern, and core materials.
• Trajectory. This refers to the arc of the path that the ball takes during flight. It can be a high trajectory that gets the ball up in the air, or it can be a lower trajectory that keeps the ball down. This is usually a function of spin rate and dimple pattern.
• Feel. This is mostly a result of compression, or the density, of the ball. That measurement used to be important and was a selling point for virtually every ball on the market. Today, most manufacturers don’t even publish it. When you hit different balls, you’ll definitely notice a difference in feel when it is struck. Some feel harder and some feel softer. Balls with a softer feel often times also give better performance around the greens. Many of the top balls have a softer feel today than their counterparts did 10 or 20 years ago.
• Durability. This is basically a measure of how long a ball will last. Two things generally shorten a ball’s lifespan: the grooves on your irons, and hitting things you shouldn’t be hitting. Your irons, especially your wedges, can really do some damage if you pinch the ball on the turf at impact (that’s one factor, along with club head speed, that leads to a lot of spin). The grooves will actually cut into the cover material. And, of course, hitting cart paths, boulders, retaining walls, and other things of the sort will cause cuts and scuffs.

It used to be that some of these characteristics were mutually exclusive. For instance, a two-piece ball with a harder feel (compression) would lack in spin. And a ball with higher spin would lack in distance. Now, with the advanced materials and designs, manufacturers have made it possible to have your cake and eat it too, giving things like good distance and spin in a single ball.

Things to Not Worry About

Ball manufacturers try to overload you with a lot of technical details that sound impressive, but that don’t really mean much to most players. Let’s look at some of those things.

• Dimple Pattern. I think this might be the the most useless bit of hype out there. Titleist hypes the fact that their Pro-V1 balls have 392 dimples, and Callaway sells the hexagonal dimples in their HX line. But really, what does that mean to you? You’d need a degree in aerodynamics to really make a valid comparison. The dimple patterns just translate into the factors I listed above. The actual arrangement doesn’t mean much.
• Chemistry. In looking at the technical specifications for the Titleist Pro-V1, the core is made of Polybutadiene, the casing is Ionomer, and the cover is Urethane Elastomer. Honestly, does that mean anything to any golfer? I think not. I have no doubt that those materials are critical in the ball’s design, but really that just leads us back to the characteristics in the previous section. In fact, these materials just make the ball sound impressive and worth the $45/dozen that you pay for them. Admittedly, it’s more than a sales pitch, because it’s characteristics like those that let a ball like the Pro-V1 have high levels of feel, distance, and spin, all in one ball. But knowing how that’s accomplished is of no use to you, unless that sort of thing interests you.
• The number of “pieces” or layers in the ball. Titleist’s Pro-V1 and Callaway’s HX line have a three layers - a solid core, an outer core (or casing), and a cover. There was a time when this mattered more. But with all the design characteristics today, they come together to provide an over all set of playing characteristics (i.e. distance, feel, trajectory, etc.). It’s the whole picture that matters. If you want distance, then look for a distance ball. Knowing the composition of the core is not really important.

Narrowing the Choices

Well, here we are. All that information and still no closer to deciding on which ball to play. Let’s go back and look at your answers to the questions I asked.

What’s your budget?

If your answer is that no way you’re spending $40+ for a dozen golf balls, then forget the top line models. But don’t fret over it: if your game is solid you can play well with most of the balls on the market. If you’re on tour, then you might need that extra stroke or two. Otherwise, lower cost balls are not going to mean that you can’t score well.

What’s your ability?

If you’re a better player, then you can make good use of a tour-level ball. If you’re a high handicap player, then you probably can’t. A tour ball will help a high handicap player more than a lower-end ball, but it’s a matter of degrees. Any improvement will be small and is likely to not be noticed at all.

What characteristics will help your game the most?

If you hit the ball a long way but have trouble stopping it on the green, look for a ball with more spin. Usually, they’re the ones touted as tour balls or balls with performance/control. If you hit it short but straight, have a look at some of the distance balls out there.

Making a Selection

I will reiterate that without a doubt, the high-end tour balls will probably provide the most benefit to the most players. It’s just that high handicappers don’t have the consistency to notice. But for them, the same holds true for a distance ball too. That’s why I asked you to consider what you want to spend first.

If money is no object, then hit your favorite golf retailer and pick up a sleeve of the top offerings from each major player: Titleist Pro-V1, Nike One, Callaway HX Tour, Bridgestone Tour B330, Srixon Z-URS, etc. Then simply try them out and see which one you like best.

For everyone else, you need to arm yourself with the answers to the second and third questions about your ability level and where your game needs help, as well as the understanding about the various characteristics we discussed. Then, narrow down your choices within the major players and make sure you’re working within your budget.

If you’ve decided that you need more distance, then look at the distance balls in each category. For instance, you might consider the Titleist NXT Extreme, the Callaway HX Hot, Nike Power Distance, or one of the many other selections in the distance category.

If you need more feel, look for a softer ball like the Maxfli Noodle, Precept MC Lady, or the Titleist DT SoLo.

The bottom line is that armed with the answers to the questions I asked as well as which of the characteristics are most important to you, your pro shop or local golf retailer will be able to help you narrow your selections.

Even after you’ve narrowed down the brands and models, you’re still going to have to try each one out. There’s just no way around it. It’s not hard to find a ball in each brand that fits your needs. But comparing them with other brands is nearly impossible without just trying them for yourself.

If you look at the back of the box for most major brands, there’s usually a little bar chart comparing the different models in categories like distance and feel. And each model is nearly maxed out in everything except one will be a little higher in one characteristic and another one will be higher somewhere else.

Yeah, that’s helpful.

Looking at statistics, characteristics, ability and tendencies on paper also doesn’t mean you’re going to like a particular ball that seems like a match. You’re ultimately going to have to like and trust the ball that you play, regardless of whether the box tells you that it’s a perfect match for your game.

If after all this you’re still not sure, here’s another idea: hit the “experienced balls” bin at your course or retailer and just pick a variety of brands and models and simply hit the course and try them out. You might find a ball that just blows you away. Or, you might find out that they’re all the same to you. And you might even find out that the experienced balls bin is where you’re going to shop from now on.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, don’t be. The ball takes a back seat to your swing as to what is most important to score well. Just pick something and go with it. If you don’t like it, pick something else next time. Getting obsessed over ball selection is not going to do much good.

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Further Reading:

Titleist Golf Balls Overview (Titleist.com)
Callaway Golf Balls (CallawayGolf.com)
Nike Golf (NikeGolf.com)

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