Soft Golf Ball Buying Guide

Soft Golf Ball Buying Guide – How to select the right soft golf ball? Golf ball technology has consistently evolved. The original featheries gave solution to the gutta-percha and that was subsequently supplanted by the rubber Haskell baseball.

By the late 1990’s it seemed that Tour level wound golf balls came in two compressions, 90 or 100, with a soft balata cover giving the balls the softer feel that players preferred.

But then around the year 2000 manufacturers, most famously Titleist with the Pro V1 franchise, introduced the multilayer, urethane-covered balls that top players flocked to, trading a harder feel for the obvious benefits of the brand new low-spin and high-speed distance tennis balls.

Since then these performance balls have got softer however the real growth has been in more golf balls introduced with a concentrate on soft feel and lower compression. We spoke to all the major golf ball manufacturers to see if this is indeed the case and when so why.

Soft Golf Ball Buying Guide – How to select the right soft golf ball?

Are balls getting softer?

Yes. A look around our golf ball reviews will show that there are more soft baseballs in the market today, or at least the marketplaceing focus is on the softer feel attribute of several golf balls, as thwill be is something in blind testing which have identified appeals to many players.

All manufacturers want to present a variety of golf balls that will appeal to as much golfingers as possible, so this means they have products that spread over the factors that influence purchase such as for example price, colour, performance and feel.

What has enabled balls to get softer?

New materials and manufacturing processes. New components have enabled manufacturers to create cores that are soft, but usually do not lose as much energy and for that reason speed as previous generations of soft balls.

Golf Ball Comparison Chart | Soft Golf Ball Buying Guide - How to select the right soft golf ball?

New manufacturing processes have also developed, allowing balls to be constructed using soft cores as part of a multi-layered package, as well as the ability to manufacture the golf balls to a higher level of consistency, which was a problem with smoother balls previously.

What is meant by golf ball compression?

In general golf balls are categorised by their compression, meaning just how much they deform under a load and the lower the number the softer the baseball is, although there is no fixed number which defines a ball as soft. But when talking about compression you should bear in a mind some critical indicators.

Firstly, there is no fixed way of measuring compression with different manufacturers using different solutions to determine compression. In the 1920’s Dr. Atti was asked by the PGA to create a machine to help determine compression and this resulted in a scale that started at a ball without deformation, which was given a score of 180, and then a point was dropped for every 1/1000th of an inch of deformation. This relative scale continues to be used but because the loads put on the ball are not the same in all cases the numbers generated are usually best viewed as relative numbers.

Secondly, the compression numbers quoted will be the total for the golf ball and do not account for the compressions of the balls individual components. For instance a soft core covered with a hard cover could have a similar overall compression number as a ball with a hard primary and an extremely soft cover, but these balls will probably behave differently due to being constructed differently.

How do you decide if a ball is soft?

Even though we can use compression to state if a ball is considered ‘soft’ or not the question of what feels soft to anybody golfer is not so straightforward.

All manufacturers have told us that when testing balls with players, each one determines softness in different ways and therefore what “soft” means is really a different thing to various people. Some players will hit some chips and putts to decide if the ball feels soft to them, whilst others will head to the practice tee and strike balls making use of their driver.

A soft feel in the short game will almost certainly come from the cover of the golf ball, whereas balls that really feel soft from a driver are very likely to have a soft core compression and a firmer cover, showing that feel is really much an individual rather than something that can be easily categorised.

What are the characteristics of soft balls?

It is generally agreed that soft golf balls spin less than firmer golf balls so from the tee they should be longer as well as straighter, having less back and sideward spin. However, spinning less will mean that there is less control into and around the greens so the balls are harder to control and will feel softer off a putter face.

Is there also a trade off in performance at faster swing speeds?

In general it is considered that at faster swing speeds of around 95mph and upwards there can be a fall off in ball speed of a softer compression ball relative to a firmer ball. It is because softer ball deforms to a greater extent from the greater force at impact resulting in energy being lost and this reduces the ball speed. Opinion appears to be divided whether the lack of spin of the softer ball makes up for this drop in speed when looking at total distance.

How do you decide whether a soft golf ball is best for you?

It is best to decide which ball you prefer and is most effective with your irons and in addition for how you like the golf ball to behave and feel into and around the greens. Although softer tennis balls go further from the tee for lower swing speed players, the gap across the whole range of ball types is around 5 yards, so it is more important to fit the ball to your irons and then fit your driver to your preferred ball to increase distance.

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