The ball that suits you can be the hardest to build

Published 20 days ago • 1 min read

Hi Reader,

The ball that suits you can be the hardest to build

If your swing is under 85mph, we’ve told you a soft 2-piece ball is probably right for you.

This week MyGolfSpy put the best-selling one under the microscope.

The Callaway Supersoft. Grade C. Not Recommended.

Weight and diameter, fine.

Compression, not fine. Across 36 balls the spread ran 40.3 to 53.8 — 13.5 points against a 9.7 average.

Here’s the bit that's most noticeable, and it’s their line, not ours: “softer balls are more difficult to manufacture consistently.”

So the very thing that makes a soft ball right for a slower swing is what makes it hard to build the same way twice.

That’s not a reason to stop playing one. It’s the cost of the advice unfortunately.

We put it less kindly in our own article previously. Play a batch of golf balls with defects and you may as well be adjusting your loft and lie every round.

One caveat though: Ball Lab measures how well a ball is made, not how it performs. MyGolfSpy didn't put a yardage on that spread.

Which leaves the obvious question

So which ball should you play?

Ask that and most golfers start with distance off the tee.

We put 2, 3, 4 and 5-piece balls through a launch monitor to check. Nearly 100 shots.

Driver total distance across every construction: a 7-yard spread. Carry, 4 yards.

Seven-iron, much the same.

The pitching wedge is where it split open. The 2-piece carried 10 yards further than the 5-piece.

*We tested 2, 3, 4 and 5-piece balls ourselves*

But it wouldn't stop.

There's the trade, in one line. The simpler ball buys you a little wedge distance and sells your ability to control where the thing finishes.

So choosing a ball on driver distance means choosing it on the club where it matters least.

That's why we pick from the green backwards.

Putt with it. Then chip and pitch. Then irons. Driver last.

Then keep playing it. Chopping and changing every round costs most golfers more than the wrong ball ever did!

Thanks for reading and as ever and most importantly enjoy your golf!

Play well 👍

Graeme Hay

Founder, GolfingFocus.com

Golfing Focus Limited, 73 Maple Road, London, KT6 4AG
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