Golf Balls

What the construction actually changes, and which ball suits your speed.

7 buying guides

Best Golf Balls: Four Picks and the Specs That Matter

The premium golf ball is the one purchase where the marketing has almost entirely replaced the numbers. Here are four worth playing, what construction and compression genuinely change, and the point at which paying full price starts to return something.

13 min read

Balls

Best Cheap Golf Balls: Price Per Dozen and the Trade

Below about twenty pounds a dozen the golf ball market splits into new balls from real manufacturers, balls somebody else already played, and balls that have been stripped and repainted. Only two of those three are worth your money.

13 min read

Balls

Best Golf Balls for Beginners: Soft, Cheap and Durable

A golf ball is the only piece of equipment you buy again every month, and the only one you keep losing. Here is what a beginner ball has to do, four that do it, and the point at which the choice starts to matter.

12 min read

Balls

Best Golf Balls for Distance: Low Spin Off the Driver

Every ball on sale is built against the same distance ceiling, so no ball can be much longer than another. What a distance ball actually does is take spin off the driver, and that is a trade rather than a gift.

13 min read

Balls

Best Golf Balls for High Handicappers: Cost Per Round

At a high handicap the ball you play matters far less than how many of them you leave on the course. Here are four that survive being hit badly, and the sum that actually decides which one to buy.

13 min read

Balls

Best Golf Balls for Seniors: Visibility, Feel and Cost

Most senior golf ball advice is slow swing speed advice with an age label stuck on it. Here is what genuinely changes after sixty, what does not, and four balls chosen on the parts that do.

13 min read

Balls

Best Golf Balls for Slow Swing Speeds and Compression

The advice that a slow swing needs a soft ball is repeated everywhere and argued about by the people who build golf balls. Here is what compression really does at low clubhead speeds, and four balls that make sense under the threshold.

14 min read