Sometimes you just want pure distance.
But the good news these days is that distance doesn’t have to come at the expense of every other aspect of the game. You can maximize your tee ball without playing a rock hard golf ball that will never stop on the green.
So keep reading for our best golf balls for distance…
If you are looking for a more complete guide on choosing a golf ball, check out our Best Golf Balls guide.
Best Golf Balls For Distance (2020 List)
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- Taylormade V3 | Best Overall
- Titleist Velocity | Runner Up
- Taylormade Distance+ | Best Value
- Callaway Supersoft | Best For Slow Swing Speeds
- 2020 Bridgestone Tour BX | Best For Low Handicappers
Taylormade V3 | Best Overall
If you’re someone who doesn’t play golf that often or doesn’t take it too seriously, what’s the perfect golf ball for you? One that provides distance, feels good around the green and doesn’t break the bank.
Enter the Taylormade V3 Speed golf ball. Taylormade has long been known for their great clubs, drivers specifically, but in the last few years they’ve proven that they’re not a one-trick pony. They have what many consider to be the best golf ball on the market in the TP5/TP5X, and they also make the very popular Project (a) and Project (s) balls for slower swing speeds.
Then they have the V3 Speed golf ball, and while it’s on a lower price tier it still incorporates some of the design of the other balls and provides great performance. It’s a three-piece golf ball, comprised of a fast core for high driver speed, an advanced mid-layer that promotes iron speed and control, and a soft cover for good feel around the greens.
On top of all that, it looks like a premium golf ball, which is confidence-inspiring. For just over $15 per dozen, the combination of quality, performance, and value make this the top pick for a distance golf ball.
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Titleist Velocity | Runner Up
The number one ball in golf, what else is there to say? When I started playing golf 20 years ago, Titleist was THE ball to play, and that still remains the case today.
When you buy Titleist golf balls, you know exactly what you’re getting: top-notch performance, premium quality, and probably a premium price. This is true for all tiers of Titleist golf balls and is what makes the Velocity a great choice.
It’s a two-piece golf ball that’s designed to give the average golfer great and reliable performance. The soft but high-speed core provides good distance off the tee while still providing soft feel on irons and wedges.
The new cover is also built for speed while providing low spin on drives and long iron shots. Additionally, the dimple pattern has been optimized to provide high launch and flight on all shots.
Combine these features with the strict quality control that Titleist is known for, and you have a great distance golf ball for $23 per dozen.
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Taylormade Distance+ | Best Value
Back to Taylormade again, with the Distance+ golf balls coming in at under $12 per dozen. These were very much in consideration for the Top Pick choice, but the V3 Speed edged them out due to a little extra performance.
But for the price, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better deal. The Distance+ is a pure distance golf ball, priced alongside the Top Flites and the Nitros, but provides more performance thanks to its design features.
It is a two-piece piece ball made out of a high-speed core that provides a low compression rating and low spin on long shots. The cover is Taylormade’s Iothane cover that gives the player a softer feel for more control. The 342-dimple pattern is designed to be aerodynamic and fly through the air with low drag.
The Distance+ provides a combination of distance and feel that you would find in balls twice the price or more. The being said, you’re definitely not going to mistake it for a ProV1, but being less than a dollar per ball more than makes up for that to the golfers this ball is aimed at. It certainly makes hitting the ball into the water not hurt so bad!
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Callaway Supersoft | Best For Slow Swing Speeds
The Callaway Supersoft combines a low compression and a very soft feel that caters to senior golfers and anyone else that has a slower swing speed and needs a little distance help.
One of the great things about golf is that there is no age limit to it, as it can be enjoyed by young people and older people alike. Sure, you’ll lose some flexibility and speed as you age, but that doesn’t mean you have to lose any enjoyment from the game, and it certainly doesn’t mean you have to lose a great deal of performance either. By choosing the right equipment as you get older, you can help neutralize your losses in strength and speed.
Changing clubs is usually the first thing that comes to mind – lighter woods with softer shafts, bigger irons with less loft, etc. That certainly can be a big help to your game, but another part that might go overlooked is the golf ball, and choosing one for your game might result in just as big of an improvement as a new set of clubs. If your swing speed has decreased over the years, then the amount of energy you’re transferring to the ball has gone down as well.
This means that you need to play a softer ball that will compress more easily. A ball that is fit for a 90+ mph driver swing is going to be too hard for someone with a 70 mph driver swing, meaning they won’t compress the ball enough to maximize the energy transfer from the club.
There is a compression rating for golf balls that measures how easily the ball can be compressed. Tour-level balls like the ProV1 and ProV1x are in the 90-100 compression rating range. A senior player with a slower swing speed will benefit from something more in the 40-60 range.
Enter the Callaway Supersoft golf ball, which comes in at a compression rating of 38, which as the name says, is extremely soft. Players with slower swing speeds will be able to compress this ball and get as much energy transfer out of their swings as possible, maximizing their ball speed.
In addition to that, this ball comes with other performance-enhancing features, as you’d expect from Callaway. The new HEX dimple pattern is designed to produce very low drag, resulting in an aerodynamic golf ball that maximizes carry distance. It has a new Trigonometry cover which is also constructed with low compression to provide even more softness and control around the greens.
It’s also available in a variety of covers, which can help with visibility and are even preferred by some players. At just about $23 per dozen, it’s not the cheapest ball on this list but when you consider performance it provides and that it’s from a brand as heralded as Callaway, it’s a great value.
It will be soft enough for you to maximize your drives, and still provide really good feel on irons and shots around the green.
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2020 Bridgestone Tour BX | Best For Low Handicappers
All of the top-of-the-line golf balls from the major manufacturers are going to be great, and you really can’t go wrong with any of them. They’re all going to provide a good level of distance and a nice, reliable feel on all types of shots. One limitation that they all seem to have, though, is that they offer two options of the ball and make the player decide if they want one with lower or higher spin.
Think the ProV1 and ProV1x, or TP5 and TP5x. They have a softer, higher-spinning version for extra control around the green that the low-handicapper wants. The downside to this version is that the ball will spin more on drives, resulting in shorter distances.
The other version will spin less on drives, resulting in more distance, but will also sacrifice some spin and control around the green. That’s not to say that the golf balls are bad by any means, both versions of the premium balls will be longer and provide more spin and control than any of the manufacturer’s other balls.
But still, the player has to decide what type of ball they want to play, favoring a bit more distance or a bit more spin. The new Bridgestone Tour B X golf ball has solved this problem with its revolutionary new design. It features a three-piece construction, with the new cover grabbing all of the headlines.
Bridgestone has introduced a new Reactiv Urethane cover, a material that reacts differently to different forces. When stronger forces are applied to it, such as a driver being delivered at 105+ mph, the cover reacts more quickly/firmly, resulting in greater energy transfer and more speed.
Conversely, the cover material reacts more softly to weaker forces such as wedges or irons. This results in the ball spending more time on the face and interacting more with the club’s grooves at impact, resulting in more spin. This combination of high speed, low spin on drives and soft feel, high spin on short irons and wedges has never before been possible to this extent in golf ball design.
Bridgestone still offers two versions of this ball, but it’s not the same spin or distance decision that other brands force. The Tour B X will provide low spin on drives and high spin on wedges. Then there is a Tour B XS version that still provides the same low spin on drives, but provides even more spin on the shorter shots, with some saying it’s the highest-spinning ball on the market.
It might not fit at many players’ needs as well as Tour B X does, so that’s why the Tour B X was chosen for the top pick. Additional features include a dual-dimple design that optimizes aerodynamics and distance and a seamless cover to ensure perfect symmetry in the ball’s weighting and balance.
With this potentially groundbreaking cover design combined with the golf ball quality that Bridgestone is known for, the Tour B X should be on every low handicapper’s list of golf balls to try.
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What To Look For When Choosing A Distance Golf Ball
Gone are the days where Pinnacle and Top Flight are the only distance balls on the market. Now you can choose a distance ball that can also perform well enough on the approach shots.
But this list is about the best golf balls for distance so here’s what we looked at.
Driver Spin
With modern technology, we know that the most distance comes from minimizing spin off the driver. That helps the ball carry farther and roll more when it does hit the ground.
So when looking for a pure distance ball, that’s the first thing we took into consideration. All of the golf balls on this list do a great job at minimizing driver spin.
The added benefit of a low spin ball is that it decreases side spin as well. So for those of you looking to reduce those hooks and slices, these balls are perfect for that as well.
Compression
Most players looking for a distance ball tend to shoot higher scores. That’s not to say low scoring players never will use a ball like these, but they do tend to go for the premium higher greenside spin balls.
So when making these selections, we looked for balls with a lower compression rating. Now compression rating isn’t everything when choosing a golf ball, but if you don’t have a fast enough swing speed to compress a golf ball, you have zero chance of getting the maximum distance out of it.
Feel and Control
While this list is all about distance, you can’t ignore the importance of having a ball that you can trust on approach and greenside shots.
So while this wasn’t the primary factor, we kind of used it as a tiebreaker of sorts. If the first two criteria were relatively equal, then choosing the ball that gives you the most control around the greens is the way to go.
Should You Use A Distance Golf Ball?
If you have trouble getting much distance off the tee or keeping the ball in the fairway, then yes, a distance golf ball like the ones listed here will be a huge help to your game.
Are Soft Golf Balls Good For Distance?
Yes, soft golf balls (low compression balls) can be very good for distance for the right golfer. If you have a slower swing speed then you will actually see more distance from a soft golf ball than a harder one.