With so many kinds of golf balls in the market, how do you know which types of golf balls is suitable for you? If you are not aware that not all golf balls are created equal, then please the read the article titled “Types of golf balls” before proceeding.

The types of golf balls you should be playing depends on your skill level:

If you are a high handicapper lacking in distance, you should choose the “distance” golf balls. They usually come in 2-piece construction with a solid core and outer covering. They have longer distance off the tee and also roll further on the fairway due to less spin. If you tend to mis-hit the golf balls, please choose one with Surlyn as the cover material. They are tough and won’t cut easily.

If you hook and slice most of the time, then avoid those golf balls with high spin. Wound balata balls are one of them. Some of the multi-layer balls have high spin too. Please check the specification carefully before buying. High spin is a double-edge sword. It enhances both the backspin (which is usually a good thing) and also the sidespin (which is no good if you want the ball to go straight). If you are hooking and slicing like crazy, there already too much sidespin on the ball, you don’t need to add more fuel to fire. You may want to try using 2-piece distance ball as they have less spin.

If you are fairly good player, you can try those multi-layer golf balls. They give good overall performance in distance and control. And their feel will increase your enjoyment of the game. But they are more expensive, so only worthwhile if you don’t lose the balls often. High handicapper whose balls visit the deep rough and water hazard often will need deep pocket to use these types of golf balls.

Finally, once you know what types of golf balls you should be playing, the rest of factors affecting the buying decision will be the price and brands. And only you can decide these factors.

In order to select the right kind of golf balls for your game, you need to know what are the various types of golf balls in the market. You need to know how they are constructed and what they are designed for. What is their advantages and disadvantages?

Golf ball in general are designed for distance or spin or a combination of both. You will hear terms like 2-piece, 3-piece, wound ball, multi-layer ball. These terms describe the golf ball construction. And the difference in construction will give different feel and performance.

Let’s look at each of them in detail:

Two-Piece Balls
Two-piece balls consist of large solid inner core covered by thin outer layer. The covers are usually made from tough material like Surlyn, making the balls durable and almost indestructible.

This design produces less spin and longer distance. Most “distance” balls on the market use this design. The solid nature means that balls will fly the longest off the tee and the lower spin means it won’t hold the green very well. Also, they have a harder feel when struck. the harder the core material, the further the ball travels.

They are by far the most common golfs ball among average golfer. It is cheap and cut-resistant make it a good choice for player who mishit often. The longer distance is also welcome advantage that the high handicapped golfers so desperately need.

Some golf ball manufacturers have improved the 2-piece design with better material to produce a softer feel and higher spin rate without too much compromise on the distance. Lower spin means the slice or hook will be less severe.

Three-Piece Balls (wound balata)
Three-piece balata balls consist of solid core wound with rubber thread. The balls are covered with a soft rubber-like material called balata.

The wound core constructions and balata covering gives these balls a soft feel and high spin rate. But the driving distance is shorter than the two-piece balls. The wound balls have some other shortcoming. It is expensive and loses its compression much faster because the rubber winding do not hold up very well to strain. In addition, the soft balata cover is more prone to cuts and damage.

These balls are only for the very good player and tour professionally who needed the ball to stop dead on the green. Shorter distance, high spin rate, high cost and poor durability are factors that the high handicapper should beware.

With advance in golf ball technology, the multi-layer balls are gradually replacing the wound balata balls by offering similar strengths but limited downside.

Multi-layer balls
Multi-layer balls usually come in 3 or 4 piece construction. They have solid core with one or two more layer of hi-tech material and followed by a soft covering (usually urethane). The reason for the multiple layers is to target the key performance area like distance, control and feel. They give good distance without much sacrifice for spin or feel.

These golf balls are increasing in popularity. A lot of tour player used them. But they don’t come cheap. And probably more suitable for better player who are able to take advantage of the benefits these balls offer.

In the early days of golf, golf balls had smooth surfaces. But golfers soon noticed that golf balls that were roughed up during play with nicks, cuts and bumps on the cover seemed to fly farther. People then started putting all kinds patterns on the golf balls. It didn’t take long before some smart guy figure out the dimple design to maximize the distance.

Golf balls with dimples traveled further because the dimples reduce the aerodynamic drag. The drag is stronger if the golf ball is entirely smooth.

When a golf ball sails through the air, it leaves a pocket of low-pressure air in its wake. This creates drag that will slow down the golf ball. For a smooth ball, the separation of the flow behind the ball is larger and hence the pressure drag is greater.

The dimples on the surface of the golf ball create turbulence in the air around the ball. This forces the air to hug the ball more closely. So instead of flowing past it, the air follows the curvature of the ball around to the back resulting in a smaller wake and lesser drag.

Golf balls typically have 330 to 500 dimples. Golf balls with dimples will travel twice as far as a smooth ball. But the downside of dimples is that they tend make the ball slice or hook more.

In the beginning - wooden golf balls
It was believed that the first golf ball was made of wood. However, there isn’t much written documentation from that era. So a lot details regarding the wooden balls is unknown.

1600s - 1850s Feather golf ball
In the early seventeenth, the feather golf ball or ‘Featherie’ replaced the wooden golf balls. The cover of the ball is made from horse or cow hide stitched together to form a ball leaving a small aperture. Wetted goose feather is then stuffed into the hole before it was stitched shut. When the leather and feather dried out, the leather shrank and the feathers expanded, forming a tight and hard ball. The feather balls were handmade by craftsman. This means that the quality will vary according to the skill of the craftsman. Also, a skilled maker can only completed a limited quantity of balls each day, making them very expensive.

1848 - 1900s Gutta Percha ball
The Gutta Percha ball or ‘Guttie’ in 1848 was introduced in 1948. The guttie ball is made from gutta percha, a rubber-like sap from a tropical tree. When boiled in water, the gutta percha can be shaped by handed into a ball, which will hardened when cooled. If the balls is broken or damaged during play, it can be reshaped after reboiling. With industrialization and mechanization, the gutties are stamped with metal mould instead of being rolled by hands. Patterns are also added to the surface to improve the driving distance of the gutties. The gutta percha ball made the game affordable to the wider population because it is much cheaper and easier to produce than the feather ball.

1900s - 1960s Rubber core ball
In 1898, Coburn Haskell invented the rubber core ball. It was made by winding rubber thread around a solid rubber core. The wound core was enclosed in gutta percha covering. These balls looked just like Gutties but the driving distance is 20-30 yards longer that its predecessor. By 1901, the rubber core ball was commercially produced and universally adopted.

That’s it. Following decades of technology advances, the rubber core ball has since evolved to the modern golf ball that we played today.

Golf balls are important to the game of golf. Top brand golf ball manufacturers spend a lot on research to come up with modern design and golf ball material that allow you to:

• Hit longer distance
• Better control the spin for more accuracy on the short game.
• Better feel and roll during putting.

That’s the reason why a box of top brand golf balls does not come cheap.

How about used golf balls?
If you don’t like the idea of paying a lot of money for your golf balls, then buying used golf balls may be a good alternative. Used golf balls are not necessary cheap low-end golf balls. Many of them are actually top brand golf balls that have only been hit a few times (some may have been hit only once). Used golf balls are sold only at a fraction of the new ball price, making it a very good deal.

Personalized and logo golf balls
You can personalize your golf balls by printing up to 3 lines of text on the golf balls. It can be your name, your favorite swing thoughts or anything you can think of. Personalized golf balls make a great gift.
You can also put your company logo on your golf balls. Give it as a corporate gift to your customers. Or use them as official balls for your company golf event. It can be a good form of advertising and branding.