Are you a high handicapper or swing a slower club? We rolled up our sleeves and tested the best golf balls for high handicap.
Could it be:
1. Your game is not what it used to be. The balls you have are not what they used to be?
2. You are buying for a friend or a senior player who is using the wrong golf balls for their handicap?
Or perhaps
3. You would just like to see how your game would be impacted by using these balls.
Whichever category it is that you fit in, we are here to help. We have scoured the web and stores across the land to find the right balls. Having studied them. We went on and tested the balls based on feedback from high handicap players as well as manufacturers’ claims. With all of this work under our belts, we are pleased to tell you that we have some great picks for you.
In A Hurry?
For our top pick, we wanted to deliver a ball that was just the very best. There are several things that we realise that a high handicap player would benefit from in their golf ball.
We wanted to make sure that this ball could live up to these things. There are certain limitations that high handicap golfers seek to overcome. It had to be available in a wide range of colours, for enhanced visibility where it is necessary.
We wanted a ball that would have a reasonable amount of forgiveness on mis-hit shots. It also had to be one that provided enhanced distance on your drives. If possible, it would preferably be one that would not be too costly.
Our winner is the Wilson Smart Core Golf Ball.
You will find further details about it within the article.
Our Test Winner After 40 + Hours Of Research:
- Great set of balls from a brand that you can trust.
- The pricing point is affordable.
- Great feel on impact.
- The control on the green for spin and chipping is good.
- The balls are durable and clearly well made.
- They require quite some knocking to show signs of wear and tear.
Our top 5 Best Golf Balls High Handicap
Being of a high handicap and not having the ideal golf ball will lead a lot of players to give up on their game.
For those that have played for a while, it can be deeply dismaying to have to leave a game that you have loved for so long. If you are starting off, the feeling may be somewhat similar.
Golf is meant to be triumphant and relaxing. The last thing that you need is for it to add to your struggles.
You will find our top five picks below, as well as a buyer’s guide for those among us that want to understand some of the things that came into consideration when picking golf balls for this category.
1. Wilson Smart Core Golf Ball - TOP PICK
Wilson is a brand that we have come to appreciate.
The Smart super core golf ball is designed to respond to your swing speed on impact.
There is minimised spin when you drive the ball. This results in getting more distance on your long shots off the tee.
There is also an emphasis on the direction of your stroke. The balls provide more accuracy on long shots. They are more forgiving on shots that would have otherwise been sliced.
Once you are on the green, you get more control of your shots. The overall short game is good. You will be able to generate more spin on the green.
The exterior cover is made out of ionomer. It makes the ball more versatile in all sorts of terrain and playing conditions.
You will also notice the softness of the feel when playing on the green. It provides you with the feedback that you need to gauge your shots better.
Each box contains 24 balls. They are packed into three sleeves that hold 8 in each. That is a lot of ball by anyone’s standard.
At the pricing point at which these come, no one could possibly complain. They were released in 2017.
The official compression on these is 85. We found no reason to doubt it.
An HONEST Review
well hey YouTube some today guys we're back here with another view and today we have another cool review for you so yeah I know I've been doing a lot of sports reviews recently you know I'm about to finish my internship and I have a lot of free time now so yeah I've been playing a lot of sports in my free time I was just playing golf the past couple days with my father and my brother we were going to a place near Ross that has some pretty pretty long distances right so we thought hmm I think we should go buy some new bars so my dad purchasing new balls here and we had actually Hawaii with the test now over the past two days so just wanna give you my review of the Wilson smart core golf ball so to be honest with you I find this industry kind of controversy because each each and every ball has a different composition right and some bars especially the more expensive ones are made in such a fashion that they actually make the ball go further while that does give you a competitive advantage it also gives people who don't have the technology a disadvantage so it's actually more controversial than you think I know at the PGA tournaments they have to actually like inspect every single ball that people use is kind of crazy so yeah smart core it's a it's a it's a relatively new item from Wilson here and yeah so this the box here comes with about eight to ten of these things they need to take a quick peek in here so here yo guys it's missing about one or two boxes hoop we obviously been using some of the balls right so this is what let's look on the inside it's just a bunch of these boxes which I already have one here that's all ready to go so I'm just gonna close this oh yeah here down here so here is an actual box each box comes with three balls here I'm gonna get into the story right pretty quickly right here so each of these boxes right side by that had a three balls in it but obviously my experience in our experience with these balls were actually not that good we lost a whole bunch of them man I mean we start off with it with two or three boxes we start off with two full boxes were empty we completely lost all the balls from there and in this box here there's one ball left so yeah I did bought although its freshness new we actually performed much worse than the traditional ball you know there was some older wilson ones there was a bunch of them I can think of you have one in here or something we should probably call for that I don't remember exactly uh where I put it but yeah we definitely lost a bunch of bars here and the thing is I've played I played golf a couple weeks ago when I wasn't using this new Wilson smart court technology and to be honest of you on the same exact golf course in similar conditions we lost significantly us balls for some reason this ball made made the basically when you hit this ball for somebody's it nice to go the sides more than the traditional golf ball I don't know why I'm let's do a balancing test here so like it's about what I would expect from a golf before but yeah it definitely um it definitely feels lighter than the average golf ball if feels like it's lighter you know and I think that definitely may have something to do with the issue and why we lost so many different balls because it seems like this ball it's time to light which means if you hug the harder you hit this thing the further it's gonna go and it's really light like this there it's gonna have very minimal air resistance and the ball is just gonna fly really far and sometimes gonna leave me a court you know sometimes for the Senators of time so well right so I think that might have something to do with it you know it definitely has a different texture you know there's smart quality I want to see what they claim is a difference you're um resilient cut proof I am in there for extreme distance the intelligent distance ball here straight so the funny thing about this ball here is the Saints right here straight distance but the funny thing is for me and my family we've probably lost like 50% more balls than just using our typical golf ball right at cheapo ones right so much of what the what the deal is with this but I do not recommend it I'm sorry Wilson the packaging looks really really cool I like the way it's a cute I think that's very cool but the actual golf ball itself is something I would not recommend I had more trouble I lost my small balls compared to just the traditional one you know so well yeah if you do want to buy this thing guys um Amazon link will be down below maybe you maybe you want to try it after yourself hey they look cool definitely look cool make sure you guys subscribe and like for daily news and reviews make sure you put on an avocation bows bow and yeah check out P bows online.com for reviews news gameplay all that great stuff you can find down below so yeah hope you enjoy that video and thank you
- Great set of balls from a brand that you can trust.
- The pricing point is affordable.
- Great feel on impact.
- The control on the green for spin and chipping is good.
- The balls are durable and clearly well made.
- They require quite some knocking to show signs of wear and tear.
- Wish there were more colours to choose from. White balls are not great for tracking. High handicap players can use more tracking.
2. Bridgestone Tour B330-RX Golf Balls
The Tour B330-RX is an amazing pick.
It comes with a Hydro Core that is designed specifically for players that have slow swing speed.
They are geared to bring a tangible gain to your distance and accuracy.
This gain is courtesy of a unique design and core construction by Bridgestone. It increases ball speed.
Enhanced ball speed means that the ball goes further. There is enhanced accuracy more consistently.
The distance and trajectory do not hurt. You will also get notably lower sidespin off your shots.
This comes from the gradation core construction. Giving you that coveted distance. Most high handicap players will struggle with both of these. Having a ball that bears some of the load is worthwhile.
It is designed to give the budding golfer a little more confidence as they hone their skills.
Bridgestone has worked to improve the stability of the ball in flight. The result of this is that the ball has less swerve as it travels. This means that it gets more distance in the intended direction.
The outer cover is built to take some punishment without easily showing wear and tear.
Once you are on the green. The smooth finish of the outer layer ensures that the ball rolls better on the grass. Every golf knows the agony of seeing your ball stop just short of the hole.
What impressed us the most about this ball was its performance on a windy day. We were fortunate to hit this directly into the wind. It seamless cut through the air as if it was nothing.
Limited visibility would have been an issue. The benefit of the constant trajectory was that we were always able to easily map out where the ball had landed.
You can purchase these in either yellow or optic white. The yellow would be the more visibility friendly option.
AN HONEST REVIEW
[Music] okay so welcome to the very first load of balls tested by the average golfer so it's been a long time in the making but we finally are I finally got here and the first episode of my ball testing starts right here and now and it's the Bridgestone Toby RX s model it's not quite the one Tigers using but it's going to be a very very popular brand it's not available in the UK I think it's on mid February I think it's been available across certainly in the US from sort of I think October last year so many of you from the US will have played it before so UK golfers not as yet but very very soon anyway the RX s ball it's aimed at what Bridgestone are saying is low to mid handicappers it's those who want distance and feel it's a 338 dimple design and let's get into a little bit I'm going to keep these very very simple in terms of technical spec but I'll give you a little bit of blurb from Bridgestone in book 2 models the RX and the RX s the pattern provides more surface coverage of dimples to help slow rotation of the ball and increase consistency slush forgiveness okay so that's an interesting one it's a urethane cover it's a soft urethane cover and it's a three-piece ball okay so we're gonna start and this was back in so if I think it was October November of last year with some dry ball data that's the first thing I want to do let's have a look what happened in controlled environments all these numbers have got off from track man and two things dimension the club that I used was the 7-iron and a pitching wedge from the TaylorMade p77 C I ins so not particularly stronger lofted but that's along as I used for this part of the test here come the numbers and let's have a quick look ok so first up if you throw the numbers for the pitching wedge very very consistent and what I tried to do with this was achieve don't forget everything is all about strike in particular with golf ball testing it's open to it's very subjective but what I tried to do is record as much data similar data as possible the test so it can have at a consistent ball strike and they're obviously trying to achieve consistent results so ball speed eighty point eight mile an hour with a pitching wedge carry distance remain consistent strike was consistent total carry was consistent as was launched so I managed to keep all those parts of the data the same and the real thing with pitching wedge from me in particular apart from obviously no consistencies and distances was the spin rate and let me tell you this was a very high spinning golf ball for those of you who watch my videos I don't put a great amount to spin on a golf ball but believe me in this instance 10-4 on a pitching wedge was a lot of spin that's the first point next point we went to 7-iron let's have a look at what the 7-iron numbers did okay so slightly longer Club in hand little less consistent in terms of the strike from me so ball speed varied a little bit carry distance remained fairly constant as did the total yardage and again these numbers with that particular piece 777 and the way it's lofted they're the Canon Amazo expects to achieve so all stayed fairly constant but once again the notable thing for me was the spin number and I repeat the message I said earlier five six spin on average across those five shots and one in there well there's a 5/8 90 and a six 380 there's just one dropped out of 5,000 again I'll be down to strike shows that this ball does a lot in terms of performance if you're looking for spin back and see from those two numbers at least in dry ball data but now we've got to take the golf ball out in the course so the first thing is at the fortunate opportunity to go to Al Manar a Golf Resort in sort of grande with Glencore golf and I managed to get some ball tests in torn up their first test that you're looking at now is me hitting it it's about 105 108 into this flag into a little bit of wind so we'll have an impact on spin and slightly uphill slightly uphill but you can see from the reaction there to both those two balls that have been hitting there's a huge amount of spin being impacted now I'm not suggesting in a hundred percent positive way because you've got to control up spin and as you can see where my balls have finished up they're a long way from the flag and in my case their spin is not proven to be my friend bought next shots in I'm gonna have a look at again short of the green 21 20 yards short of the green may be a sort of 40 yard pitch shot once again what I liked about the rxs is the way it's reacted in these kind of spin shots first shot better than the second one in terms of strike and as you can see the way the ball is reacted again and checked up on that first ball slightly better than what happened on the the second however on both shots again you can see that the ball has reacted very very well and it's in and around where you'd want to be from the kind of strike that I achieved final thing then was to go on to the putter and from Potter obviously what you're looking at is I think this is very much a personal preference so for me it's about sound which then resonates to feel and all I can say is it had a nice soft feel to it and you'll see throughout the reviews that I do that's the kind of feel that I like but it's not the feel that everybody likes oh I don't like a ball to be too clicky in terms of sound I like a more softer feel and I think that's what the rxs does so it's very much about what you are looking for from your golf ball now that the way I'm going to end all these videos because I don't want to get these too long the golf balls I can't make them the most exciting videos they will ever be but I'm going to do them none that are all the same but what I want to end with is I'm going to score these balls as I see them in categories so here we go here come the categories now okay yes so that's my categories and that's I want to score these balls I want to get stuck straight into dry ball data so how I how it performed I'm aren't expected to do in terms I've been testing golf clubs at least for the last 18 months or so I know what I'm looking for in terms of 7-iron and pitching went in terms of what I normally achieve in terms of spin and it performed very very well indeed like I said an average of over 10,000 spin with a pitching wedge and five and a bit spent five and a half thousand spent with a 7-iron is really really good numbers for me so I can't do nothing bought perhaps I've got have achieved a better number in terms of spin and give it a 10 out of 10 if it had got me off and around the 7000 revs with the 7-iron but realistically like I've said in all this test it's important to remember that's down to my strike and nothing to do with the golf ball itself right next up is feel again a very very personal thing that's a message that I think that runs through all of this golf ball testing is very very subjective if you ask me but my personal thoughts on feels I'll love the way it felt I like the kind of soft feel when I was putting and I liked the interaction and the sound between club and ball on the longer irons and the pitching wedge looks like in and around the green so again I really like the feel it was a real thumbs up for me and pull like I said I think it's very much down to the individual or what you like to hear and feel from a golf club but for me I'm scoring this one yet again and nine out of ten big score on this for the rxs so far now the next category is value because I think this is mega important we often forget about price of things and I think with golf balls on the basis of we average golfers we lose a few then I think value for money has also got to be considered this golf ball is going to retail 38:19 oh it's the RRP price for the UK I don't know what it translates to in terms of what's being sold in the US market at the moment but that's the RRP price for the launch in February so for me that's a premium price golf ball I understand why it's a premium price golf ball because it's exactly that but for me it's still on that steep side I'd like to see that brought down for the average golfer to access this kind of quality of bull but it is right up there with the sort of top four or five golf balls in terms of price per dozen and what arguably is right up there in terms of performance as well so I understand why they charge it but I'm gonna have to mark it down on value I'm gonna give it a seven out of ten in terms of value right next up is performance and I'm talking about the overall package so what I seen out on the golf course across a number of shots consistency of performance both in ball flight in and around the greens pitching wedge ease in and out felt off the putter and and I've got to say once again overall performance this golf ball was very very consistent it was impressive start to finish so I would score it and nine out of ten so really good numbers apart from the value maybe dipped a little the overall average on this ball gives it an 8.5 out of 10 like I said value impacting on that unfortunately but this is I suppose my summary would be this would I gain this golf ball yes down right or would this ball is impressive I'd really really liked it I wanted to start off on a positive note I've picked this golf ball for a region yes it's a very very impressive golf ball I think like I said if you can afford and if you prepared to pay that kind of money for your golf balls if you're perching balls at that kind of money already and you're comfortable with that then you won't be disappointed it is a top top ball and I would imagine that release in February I think it's doing really well in the US market but I think in release in February a very very popular golf ball this year in the UK and across the world as well so that is me finished with the very first golf ball test bunny out forage golfer I hope you enjoyed that one I'm trying to keep them short and sweet like I said they're not the most interesting reviews in the world but I'm doing as best as I can to get that information across here in an interesting and informative way anyway some of you like the video comments down below if you have any questions about this golf ball subscribe if you don't already but most of all thanks for watching enjoy your golf and I'll see you soon on TV
- Great distance off the tee.
- Offer great control on your shots.
- Performs very well in windy conditions.
- High handicap friendly balls.
- Low spin off the tee.
- Just the right amount of spin on the green.
- Reasonably priced.
- Do not feel as soft as we expected on when playing on the green.
3. Precept Laddie X Golf Balls
No, these are not golf balls specifically for women.
The name can be a little misleading.
They are not “x-ed” out either. You will not have any problems using these in an official tournament.
Now, onto the golf balls. These are designed with ball speed in mind. On impact, the initial velocity is very high.
This is paired with a faster rate of elevation. It adds up to a high ball going at a decent speed. You will see an increase in distance on your drives.
They have a total of 372 dimples across their surface. This is what makes them more suited to cutting through the air off the tee when you drive them. The cover is made out of and ionomer cover.
It makes for a smooth feel.
Surlyn and muscle fibre were perfectly combined on the outer core. This is what makes the ball easier to control the ball when you get it onto the green.
The impact from the driver off the tee causes deformation to occur on the ball. All of the energy pulls in the same direction. It makes the ball very versatile.
As your handicap improves, you’ll still be able to rely on it. This is not something that can be said of a lot of balls that are suitable for high handicap players.
It responds well to both high-speed swing and the slower ones.
Each box comes with 8 sleeves that carry 3 balls in each. Making for a grand total of 24 balls.
You can certainly afford to lose a few without breaking the bank.
- Considerably cheaper than similar balls from other brands.
- Less spin off the tee.
- Greater accuracy when you drive it.
- A ball that you can continue to use as your handicap improves.
- The outer layer holds its own after a few rounds. Very little sign of wear and tear.
- The control on the green could definitely be much better.
4. Bridgestone Golf 2015 e6 Golf Balls
The E6 come with a total of 326 dimples seamlessly embedded around the outer core.
This is a design that has become popular among manufacturer.
It is always an indicator of speed in the balls on impact. To enhance this feature even further, there is a surlyn cover overlaying a low compression core.
The inner layer is designed to minimise the amount of spin that is generated on impact.
This is a feature that is aimed at the driving shots off the tee. Beyond that, there is an emphasis on making sure that there are some control and backspin maintained for the green.
The jury is still out on whether they were successful in this attempt. We certainly would have liked to have seen more spin.
Most high handicappers do not yet have this in their game, so they can get a bit of a pass on that one.
They are most suitable for golfers with a swing speed of up to 100mph. This is due to the compression rate of 50 that the balls have. There is no doubt that the shots are straighter with this ball.
This means that your drives will certainly go the distance. There is a lot of forgiveness as well. The chances of slicing your shots are slightly lower.
As a three-piece ionomer construction ball goes, this ball is solidly made. There were very few signs of wear and tear after using it for a few rounds. You will get a lot of durability out of it. It is a softball.
The roll-out speed was as good as any on this list. This is certainly a ball that you can grow with all the way up to the higher single figure handicaps.
You can get these in orange, white or yellow. The yellow and orange ones offer more visibility than white ones.
aN HONEST REVIEW
[Music] everybody welcome and rings with Golf Academy here again great to have you along with me today watching my videos much appreciate it and today we're talking balls golf balls to be precise and to be even more precise Bridgestone golf balls already put a review up little time ago on this one here which is the Bridgestone straight distance c6 soft in the orange packet great golf ball thought it was really good but the one I haven't compared it against yet is its brother or sister whatever way you want to come at it from which is the Bridgestone straight distance c6 speed so we've got ecig soft orange packet c6 speed in the sort of silvery white packet and I wanted to do a head-to-head comparison I wanted to see how D felt obviously there should be a difference in how they feel one saying soft one saying speed would we associate speed with something that feels a bit firmer quite possibly we'll find that out in a minute and did the numbers change much you know did the spin rates go up did I get more distance from one what was it like so I've done some numbers for you which we'll show you in a minute first thing which matters to a lot of people is how a golf ball feels some people do like the feel of a soft golf ball some people hate that and want something which feels a little bit firmer so that's where choosing a golf ball may be one of your first considerations how do you want the ball to feel Johnny to feel soft hard or summer in the middle now I have got a very scientific test to do here which is probably the least scientific test you could do but it kind of works for me I like to bounce a ball on the club face listen to the noise and I saw also can get the feel of the ball on the face as I'm bouncing is I'm not going to tell you which ones which here I'm going to bang this ball on the club face a few times Mike's here so it should pick up the noise let's have a listen got that second ball quite a difference in the noise there I'm pretty sure the mic will pick that up the first one was the speed ball okay I'm bouncing this on the clubface and it feels quite clicky it just feels harder you know this that's just the simplest way to put it and I move on to the soft and the difference in the feel is quite amazing you know this kind of feels spongy and soft and personally I like a soft feeling golf ball probably because I grew up as a as a young lad many years ago using a balata golf bought the old tour balata from Titleist which was as soft as a marshmallow and even if you if you scowled at it it would put a cut in it there were that soft these days with pro-v ones covers of change you know using different materials but I still kind of like a soft feeling ball but that's just a personal preference so that's the big thing is the difference in the noise and the feel the next thing I want to show you is what happened when I did some tests I did the test with my favorite iron at the moment which is the ping I 200 I've got it in a 7-iron I've got it fitted with the Pro Mode of shaft 105 in stiff and I hit a series of shots as always trying to get light for like strikes is virtually impossible as I always say on these tests you need a robot to really get a definitive light for light but I've done three swings of each where I feel it's a pretty fair comparison so should we get in the hitting area hit some shots and then we'll bring up the numbers yeah okay let's do it [Music] okay folks hitting complete as always super interesting results for me always fascinated just to do these light flight comparisons and see see what's what because you just just don't know until you try these things I'm surprised but let's share the results of you so starting with the soft as as always I'm trying to get comparative strikes here similar sort of Club speeds and I did manage to get that by and large there's always gonna be little discrepancies but it's a pretty close close one this so as I said seven ions were being hit here first three with the soft here's my carry distances 162 one five nine 162 given me average spin of just under 6500 now those numbers there stack up for me really well one six two one six ones about my average carry distance with this club okay golf ball felt really soft felt that the ball would stop on the green quite nicely moving on to the speed as you can see Club speeds were virtually identical give or take a tiny little bit launch angles average again very very similar so pretty fair so far but definite change in spin rate we saw here just under six five six nine twenty one so the spin rate has gone up thereby sort of you know four hundred revs or so highest one topping out at seven thousand one hundred from an 18-degree launch angle highest spin rate I got with the the software six thousand five hundred so it's quite surprised me there that the speed gave me a little bit more backspin as a result of that I did I lose any distance not really 160 158 160 so one six one average with the soft and one sixty with the speed so all in all pretty identical results really go to take a little bit of spin so which one's the best ball for you what you've got to go to try for me this wood ball down purely to feel do like the feel of the softball or do I like something slightly firmer a little bit click here that's your choice both really good golf balls I think the great value for money over here in the UK at the moment you know they're around somewhere between about 25 28 pounds something like that I don't know what they are in the states but the good value for money so there you go it's the Bridgestone it's the e6 soft and the e6 speed if you haven't tried this ball you're looking for something which is good performance but it's not going to break the bank strongly recommend that you go and have a go go and buy a sleeve from your local store and see what you think as always thanks for watching don't forget to subscribe to the channel if you haven't done so already and if you think the video is any good give it a little like press down below all the best I'll be back soon with some more content and look after yourself bye for now [Music]
- They offer great speed off the tee for enhanced distance.
- Provide incredible value for money.
- Softcover.
- Great overall control and spin.
- They certainly make slicing more difficult.
- The spin and control on the green left a lot to be desired.
5. Callaway Warbird Golf Balls
Callaway is one of the more famous golfing brands out there.
Their Warbird golf balls are designed to give you more distance and flight off the tee.
They have a high energy core that is part of a dual piece design. Callaway’s own HEX aerodynamics technology is utilised for the reduction of drag, the enhancement of speed and hang time.
That is perhaps where the name is derived from. With all these features combined, you will get more distance on your drives. They have a total of 332 dimples spreading across the entire surface.
The enlarged high energy core is highly responsive to the impact of the drive. It compresses on impact to give you more distance for your swing speed.
There is a thin, highly sensitive ionomer cover that gives you that feeling that you need on the green.
Most high handicap golfer would be thrilled to get more distance and accuracy off the tee.
You can purchase these in white or yellow. These balls are designed with the high handicap player in mind. They are also balls that you can carry forward with you as your game improves.
They are suitable for players from the higher single figure handicaps upwards. As you get better than that you would require more control on your shots, which is something that you cannot get out of these balls.
Each box comes with 12 balls in it. They are reasonably priced, but not the cheapest price per ball on our list. On the green, you will note a moderate feel on contact with the balls. Y
ou will need to be very skilled to get enough spin on these to see the difference. They provide very high forgiveness on your mis-hits, which all high handicap players will love.
The flight is straighter than you would get if all control was left to you.
- You will get great overall distance off your drives.
- The accuracy on long shots is equally impressive.
- Great value for money.
- Two good colour options to choose from.
- Control on the green could be much better.
- The exterior does not take much to scuff.
Buyer’s Guide for Golf ball for high Handicap
Buying the right golf balls can be a complex process. It does not have to be. There are a lot of things that one can spend time considering. These can become overwhelming. Many golfer and golfing enthusiasts feel as if the more they read the more confused they become. An overload of information does not help. We have decide that the best way to tackle this is by cutting down the amount of information. When you focus just on the things that really matter, a lot of the things that would usually muddle the water vanish. This is what we hope to do with this buyer’s guide.
Before purchasing your golf ball make up your mind as to what you would like to see in your game. If there is one particular area of your game that you are looking to improve or just to focus on, it may be wise to look for a ball that is well suited to that area of the game. There are some balls that will get you great results on the drive but not perform as well once you get onto the green. The ideal situation is to find a ball that offers a balance of the two. When this is not achieved, getting a ball for each facet of the game may be a way to go about it. Most high handicap players will be more focused on their driving game. The green game is secondary at this point. Here are some of the things that you should look for in a ball.
Flight
The flight is the measure of how a ball goes when you hit it. It considers the trajectory that it takes from the tee into the sky and how long it will remain in the air. There is a delicate balance to be struck. A ball that has flat flight will certainly cover more ground quickly. However, it will not necessarily cover a larger overall distance. A ball that has a looped flight would go higher but not necessarily further. When these two characteristics are combined, you get a ball with a great flight. It will go further.
Air Resistance
Golf ball manufacturers often mention what sort of aerodynamic technology they have used in their ball. This is the technology that they use to conquer air resistance. Air resistance is the general force that reduces the speed at which an object is travelling across space. The greater the air resistance the shorter the overall distance that the ball would be able to travel in the air before falling to the ground.
When a ball is said to “cut through the air”, it is designed to overcome this challenge of air resistance. This is a feature that is worth considering when buying your ball. It is one that is very difficult to measure. The manufacturer will always say that they have figured it out. That is not always the whole truth.
Hard or softball for high handicap
One of the most common questions from high handicap golfers is about the hardness of the ball that they should buy. This is a question that seek clarity on the science behind compression. Compression determines the speed at which the ball moves when it is hit. This is a factor that mainly applies to your game when you are driving the ball. As you get onto the green it starts to diminish in importance. As a rule of thumb, the softer balls require less compression input from the golfer. There are other factors that will apply to this. The core of the ball is one of them.
Do they cater to my Swing speed?
This is one of the most important questions that you should ask yourself when choosing a golf ball. Some manufacturers will mention what sort of swing speed they have geared each ball to. This is not a universal practice. The idea is that if you get the ball that is ideal for your swing speed, you will be able to get the most distance out of it. This is due to the level of compression that it would require you to generate with your swing. The right ball will respond appropriately to your swing speed. If your swing speed is too fast for a ball, it will usually feel too hard when you strike it. This signifies that there is not enough room for compression.
Back Spin
Backspin will not matter as much to a high handicap player. It is one of those things that help the more skilled players make the way around the green. Backspin is the turn that you can generate on the green. When a ball has backspin, a seasoned golfer will be able to direct it in their desired direction without necessarily pointing their club in that direction.
When there are obstacles on the course, backspin will allow you to avoid these obstacles. Most balls that are tailored to the needs of high handicap players are designed to give them minimum control. Their aim is to straighten the shots. This is something that provides a lot of benefits to the overall game of such a player, especially when they are driving the ball. The compromise is that they sacrifice control of the ball.
If your skills are not at a level where you can control the ball, this is not a bother. As you get better at the game, you will start to desire to take more and more of this control away from the hands of the ball and the clubs into your own.
Visibility
One of the most common features of a high handicapper’s game is the prevalence of mis-hits. This is when you do not quite catch the ball right. The result is that the ball tends to veer in a direction that you did not quite intend for it to go. A lot of these balls are lost and often difficult to track. It can be a very expensive mistake to make. Even if you were to use the cheapest golf balls, the cost of needing the replace them will soon add up.
Visibility allows you to track your ball’s movement when it is in flight as well as when it has landed. The trick for this is to use balls in colours that stand out to the eye. The most commonly used colour for visibility is yellow. White is arguably the least visible colour you can use, yet it remains one of the most widely used colour at all levels of the game.
Final Words
We have considered a selection of 5 great golf balls that are all suitable for players that have a high handicap. They all have characteristics and features that make them ideal for golfers of that level of skill. You can pick any one of these five and be assured that you will have a good ball. The detailed reviews included under each ball provide you with a lot more detail based on our testing. This should allow you to make your choice based on a decent amount of information.
You would want to match this information to your personal needs. You may consider some of the things that we thought to be negative about a certain ball to be irrelevant to your needs. By the same token, some of the things that we thought were amazing about some balls may be outweighed by the negatives, based on your own needs. There is no one size fits all in this.
Our buyer’s guide is more geared towards those that want a better understanding of some of the factors that we take into account when considering golf balls. Going through it will equip you with enough information for you to be able to independently evaluate the features of any golf ball. If you can help it, do not commit to an expensive set of golf balls as a high handicap player. They are bound to get lost while you play. Rather lose the cheap ones as you work on your game.
