Best Golf Balls for Beginners
Why are we reviewing the best golf balls for beginners? Surely a golf ball is just a golf ball, right? Well, right, and wrong! There are several manufacturers of golf balls, each with a wide range of products to choose from, and there’s a reason for this.
There are major differences between each ball in some cases, and minor ones in all cases. A beginner, therefore, may find that one particular ball gives them better performance, accuracy or distance than another, so naturally you want to play with the ball that suits you best!
We’ve tried to be as comprehensive yet as compact as possible, so here are our choices of the best golf balls for beginners.
Contents
Beginner Golf Balls: The Top 5 Reviewed
Titleist Pro V1 Prior Generation
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Here’s the major points for the best golf ball in the game:
- Great distance balls and consistent flight
- Penetration and long game spin
- Control is accurate for drop and stop short game
- Soft feel
OK, so lets have a look in a little more detail at this one, as it deserves your attention. To begin with, you’ll find this ball recommended by many a professional, who will tell you that as a beginner, the instant you hit the tee box with the Titleist Pro V1 you will find yourself performing better. It has 352 dimples – this feature allows for better performance when pitching and chipping – and is covered by a tough and durable cover made from urethane elastomer material.
This ball is specially designed for stable ball flight in wind, for example, and the guys at Titleist have vast experience in this area. You will also find it offers improved distance when driving, thanks again to careful consideration in the design and materials used.
You buy the Titleist Pro V1 in boxes of a dozen, and you can specify low or high numbers – for your identification purposes – and at the price, we reckon this is a great choice of ball for anyone wanting to improve their beginners game, and also for those with experience.
- Longer distance for all swing speeds
- Lower spin rate for greater accuracy
- Clever dimple design for direct and consistent flight
- Excellent greenside control
- Durability and long life
- Expensive in comparison to some
- May be too good for the beginner in some cases
Callaway Supersoft Golf Balls
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Callaway is another giant in the golfing world – indeed we have chosen a selection of balls from top brands for you – and this is a very popular choice with beginners and experienced golfers.
The research and development that has gone into this design of golf ball is typical of the brand, and is designed to give you greater distance performance, and much-improved spin control. The result is longer and straighter ball flight on distance shots, which is what every golfer wants!
With a very durable tri-ionomer cover, which is there for softness and ball control when using a wedge, and a clever Hex-aerodynamic surface that at once reduces drag and helps increase lift, what you get is a ball that carries a long way with great consistency, and that you will find comfortable to use – a great ball for beginners.
Let’s recap a few points:
- Longer and straighter ball flight
- Hex design for greater consistency
- Soft golf balls
- Excellent wedge control for your short game
In short, this is a very good golf ball that comes in a pack of a dozen at what can only be described as a bargain price
- High performance at a sensible price
- Reliable and regarded brand
- Hex aerodynamic design for greater consistency
- Soft feel great for beginners
- Accuracy for pitch and wedge
- Not as good on the green as some similar
- Not as smooth as multi-layered balls
Srixon Soft Feel 2-Piece
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If you are on a budget – and many beginners necessarily are – you might want to consider the Srixon Soft Feel golf balls. Not as much a household name as Titleist or Callaway, Srixon is nevertheless a big brand in golfing terms, and this perfectly good golf ball comes at an excellent price.
Here are a few brief factors to consider:
- 344 dimples for lower drag
- Soft feel
- On-ball alignment aid
- High launch, low spin
The soft-compression core of this ball is specially designed so that beginners can experience a high launch angle and low-spin characteristics that every golfer wants from the tee. The design also helps with accuracy in all types of shots – especially off-centre – and is recommended for novices to get to grips with the routine.
Users of this ball report a soft, good feel when hitting, which gives them more golf ball control, and the 344-dimple design – there are many with more but this is about the norm – means lower drag for greater speed and lower resistance.
Note that this is a two-piece golf ball; the cheapest and most basic balls are one-piece – that is they are made from the same material throughout – whereas this one has a separate inner core and Ionomer cover, for greater durability and better performance. At the price, it will be hard to find a pack of 12 two-piece golf balls cheaper than this, so it’s well worth a closer look.
- Very good price
- Soft compression for better feel is great for novices
- Thin cover for spin control
- Well-designed core for drive control
- Not great for advanced players
- Not as sophisticated a ball as some others at a similar price
Callaway Chrome X LS
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We make no excuses for including a second item from Callaway, as this is a quality set of golf balls that will not only appeal to the beginner, but also to the experienced golfer.
Truvis refers solely to the colour pattern, which features blue patterning on the white ball, so it’s not a technical advantage, but plenty of the rest of this impressive golf ball is deserving of mention. Here are a few points of interest:
- Designed for super-soft feel
- Fast speed and low spin when driving
- Excellent control green-side
- Very forgiving so great for beginners
- Accurate for distance and control
Callaway uses a patented soft graphene core with the Chrome series, which is highly-rated by pros and comes recommended by users. The exterior coating is urethane for durability and ease of use in any shot.
It’s designed for extra forgiveness, too, so if you don’t find the sweet spot off the tee – and even the greats miss it sometimes – you will not find you are too far astray.
The only downside to this ball is that it is not cheap, but then it is not designed to be. It’s intended as a long-term ball for experienced players and those new to the game, and as such, it is a great choice.
- Large graphene core for greater compression
- Dual-layer construction covers all the bag
- Urethane cover provides great control on the green
- Among the most expensive of all
- Not great for high-velocity swing players
TaylorMade TP5
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Our final choice is the TP5 from TaylorMade, perhaps the best-known name in the world of golf equipment. Make no mistake this is a professional-level ball with all the characteristics you could want from such, yet it is also designed to be very forgiving and is therefore of interest to beginners.
This amazingly-engineered ball features no more than 5 layers, including a carefully considered ‘Tri-Fast’ core and a cover that is specially designed to control spin and side spin. This is done by combining a urethane outer cover and a semi-rigid skin underneath, giving the perfect level of control in every situation.
A few features you need to consider:
- 5 layer ball
- Super-fast core
- Twin cover for extra performance
- Massive speed from drives
- Excellent control around the green
As this ball is perhaps the most technically advanced of all of those here, you may expect it to be the most expensive. It’s hardly the cheapest, but in fact it does not top the list.
We think that it might be a sensible choice for a beginner as a set of 12 of these will last a long time and also cover the transition from novice to more experienced player, so it’s well worth looking at carefully.
- Brand perhaps top of all
- Sophisticated design for all levels of players
- Very fast core construction
- Designed for control on and around green
- Quite expensive for a beginner
- May be a bit daunting for a complete novice
That’s our recommendations for the best golf balls for beginners; are we going to give a verdict?
It’s difficult to do so as there is a great deal of variety among the above choices, but we would recommend that rather than go for the bargain-basement option – the Srixon – you dig into your budget and buy a more expensive and long term ball, and for us, that’s the Titleist, which offers all the attributes you want.
Buying Guide – What to Consider for Beginner Golf Balls
Construction
By construction, we mean how the ball is made. You may think that an average golf ball is just a solid sphere with dimples added. It’s not; you will find a good golf ball suitable for the novice is either a two-piece or multi-piece ball, so here’s the difference.
A two-piece ball features a solid core made from some form of rubber, with a surface – the dimpled bit – or cover made from surlyn or urethane, materials that are perfect for durability and for distance. In short, a two-piece ball is for raw, basic playing strength and ability.
A multi-piece ball will have a central core around which are a variety of different layers – usually up to five – plus a urethane outer for the same as the above. The multi-piece ball is intended to provide more variable playing ability throughout the bag and across the course.
Dimples
The dimples are the most notable element of the golf ball design, and are there for a very good reason. In general, a typical golf ball will feature between 300 and 500 dimples. They reduce the aerodynamic drag that is naturally present around a golf ball in flight, and therefore make its direction more accurate and its flight smoother and potentially longer.
Dimples also have an effect on the spin of a golf ball, and are usually hexagonal in shape. Much research has gone into the number and layout of dimples on golf balls, and each manufacturer has its own preferred design.
Compression Rating
This is a very important factor in the choice of golf ball, and is measured in low, medium and high. Compression occurs when the club face hits the ball; the ball is ‘compressed’ and then uses the force it creates in getting back to shape to launch. Here are the different compression ratings:
- Low Compression: if a ball is rated for compression between 70 and 80, it has a lower compression. This means that it will naturally give you maximum distance, rather than being designed for accuracy and play around the green. These are often recommended for beginners, and a low compression ball is especially used by lady golfers and senior golfers.
- Medium Compression: a medium compression golf ball rates between 80 and 90, and they are used by players with a moderate swing speed for better accuracy and effect. These can be considered ‘all-round’ golf balls that are not designed to excel in any one area above another.
- High Compression: rated at 90 and above, high compression golf balls are preferred by pros and those with a low handicap as they give the best overall performance, plus offer great feel and accuracy greenside. They are perhaps not suitable for the beginner – not just yet, at least!
Spin
You should look for a ball that offers reduced spin, that caused by slicing and hooking, and the usual rule of thumb is that a two-piece ball will inhibit spin best for the novice. Check our reviews and those of the makers – as well as user comments – for more information on this quite technical area of the golf game.
That’s a run-down of the factors you need to look for, and here are a few other tips that you may find useful:
- Go for name brands, as there is a reason why they are popular
- Choose to suit your needs, you can always buy different balls at a later date
- Don’t simply choose the cheapest as it may not be cost effective
- Do read user comments as they tend to be honest and critical
Frequently Asked Questions:
Are soft golf balls good for beginners?
Yes, beginners generally have a lower swing speed than more advanced golfers and therefore need a golf ball that is easier to compress. Soft golf balls tend to have a lower compression rating, a lower compression rating is a good thing for a beginner as they’ll be able to compress the ball more than a ball with a higher compression rating. They’re also a lot more forgiving and easier to control around the greens.
Are used golf balls good?
Overall, yes, used golf balls are good. Im sure whenever you’re on the golf course digging around in the trees to find your ball, you’ve come across a few others in there too. These are absolutely fine to use. The only used golf ball we’d recommend avoiding are used balls from eBay or lake balls – after just 12 hours in the water, a golf ball is ruined – stick to used balls on Amazon or ones that you find on the course.
Are Pro V1’s good for beginners?
Pro V1’s from Titleist are fantastic golf balls, the best available but they’re not the easiest to play with for beginners. They’re both excellent for beginners, and difficult at the same time. Due to the high compression rating, you need a faster swing speed to get the most out of them, a faster swing speed can lead to trouble for a beginner. Its purely down to personal preference, they’re relatively expensive, but if you’re consistently getting better and more confident, the Pro V1 is an awesome upgrade.
To Finish Up
So there we have it, our list of the 5 best golf balls for beginners. We hope that’s helped you make your decision, there’s a few to choose from that will both help you get distance off the tee, and also knock a few shots off that short game, good luck on the golf course!
