Which kind of ball suits a slower or less steady swing
A golf ball is built in layers around a rubber core. The cheapest are two-piece: a large core inside a tough ionomer cover (Surlyn, the word Wilson, Vice and Bridgestone use, is Dow's trade name for one). A three-piece ball adds a layer between the two, and the dearest have a soft urethane cover, which their makers sell for control on short shots. 11 of the 27 balls in the table are two-piece in their maker's own words and 7 have a urethane cover; Titleist and Callaway give no piece count for most of theirs.
Callaway's buying guide is plain about who the cheaper build is for: "beginner golfers may benefit from using 2 piece golf balls", and "Low compression, 2 piece golf balls are the best for golfers on a tight budget." Price is the other reason. A beginner or high handicapper loses balls, and a dozen Pro V1s costs 2.3 times as much as a dozen of the soft two-piece balls above.
Compression is how much a ball squashes when it is struck; a lower figure feels softer. Only some makers print a number, each on its own scale: Srixon puts its Soft Feel at 58 and its Soft Feel Lady at 56, TaylorMade its Tour Response at 70 and its Distance+ at 77, while Vice rates its Drive at 95 and still says it suits "golfers with lower swing speeds". So compare the numbers within one maker, never across two.
The makers do not agree on how much your swing speed should decide. Callaway's ball page points moderate and slower swings to lower-compression balls; Bridgestone sells its Tour B RXS for "swing speeds under 105 mph", and Srixon's ball selector calls a driver speed under 85 mph moderate. Titleist says fitting a ball "based solely on their driver swing speed" is "a flawed approach", and fits a ball to every shot in a golfer's game. We print each maker's own words beside its ball, and leave the choice between two to a test of your own.
Beginners and high handicappers: buy on price and feel
A ball you lose after three holes gives you nothing but its price, so start there. Below the $23.99 of the four above, the cheapest two-piece balls are Vice's Drive ($19.99), Callaway's Warbird ($21.99), TaylorMade's Distance+ ($21.99) and Mizuno's RB 566 ($22). Vice sells the Drive for less in bigger packs ($17.99 a dozen in a 6-dozen pack), and TaylorMade offered the Distance+ at 2 dozen for $40 on the read day. If you lose a lot of balls, Wilson's Chaos comes 24 to a box for $29.99, which is $15 a dozen; Wilson sells it as "Ideal for rec play and practice" and does not give its layers or cover.
Choose something else if you finish most rounds with the ball you started with and want a softer cover around the green. Then a three-piece or urethane ball is the step up, such as Srixon's Q-Star Tour ($39.99) or TaylorMade's Tour Response ($42.99).
Seniors, or a swing that has slowed
Start with the balls whose makers say they are for slower swings, in the makers' own words:
- Vice Drive, $19.99 a dozen, compression 95: "golfers with lower swing speeds".
- Mizuno RB 566, $22 a dozen: "Mid and slower swing speeds in warm, dry conditions".
- Callaway Supersoft MAX, $24.99 a dozen: "slow-speed players".
- Vice Pro Air, $39.99 a dozen, compression 75, urethane cover: "lower to medium swing speeds".
- Bridgestone Tour B RXS, $54.99 a dozen, urethane cover: "swing speeds under 105 mph".
For the softest feel a maker sells: Srixon's Soft Feel Lady (56) and Soft Feel (58) are Srixon's lowest compression numbers, Wilson calls the Duo Soft "The World's Softest Golf Ball", and TaylorMade's SpeedSoft and Callaway's Supersoft have low-compression cores in their makers' words. If you keep a ball for a round or more and want a urethane cover, the makers' urethane balls for slower swings cost $39.99 to $54.99 a dozen.
If a white ball is hard to follow, 19 of the 27 balls come in yellow, and Srixon's Soft Feel Brite, Callaway's matte Supersofts and Wilson's Duo Soft come in red, orange, green or pink. The colour choice in the table finds them.
If you slice
No ball takes the slice out of a swing. A slice curves because the clubface points right of the swing path when it meets the ball (for a right-hander), so the help is in the club and the setup: a driver with draw weighting and enough loft, on our best driver for slicers page. Bridgestone sells its e12 Straight for "players that need reduced sidespin for less hooks and slices" ($29.99 a dozen); that is Bridgestone's claim for its own ball, not something we have measured.