Winter Ball Logic - Softer or Firmer

[Orikoru]

Over the years the most common winter ball convention I've read has been to use softer balls. But why? Is it just because they tend to be cheaper? Are softer ball meant to compress better when it's cold or something like that? I get that if you use a high spin ball normally then you don't need that spin when the greens are soft. But yesterday I used a PXG Extreme for my round - it's much firmer than the Q-Star Tours I had been using - and I think there were clear benefits from this. I was seeing a bit more distance on drives (making up for the less distance we see in winter of course), and the firmer ball was coming off the putter a bit quicker which was helpful on the slower greens.

What balls do you use in winter and why?

 

[Backache]

Although I may quite enjoy playing golf in winter I am not really interested in my score as the course is always a lottery so its when I use my pick up balls.

 

[pendodave]

I use decent balls that I've picked up around the course. In our winter conditions, I'm never putting a ball in play that I've paid for.
Currently a z-star, but have plenty of chromesoft, tourspeed, prov etc ready to go.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

I thought that they recommended using harder balls in winter, not softer. Distance balls aren't they?

I don't have a specific ball that I stick to but I tend to use scruffier ones in winter. Not sure why but I don't like using a shiny new one when it's going to get muddy straight away. No, I agree that my logic is questionable

 

[RichA]

I quite like a softer ball in winter because it hurts less when I'm using bladey irons.

 

[Neilds]

Yellow ones

 

[hambugerpete]

A harder ball will go further than a softer one as a general rule. The rest is mostly snake oil.
Stay away from really cheap ones and stick with ones you like and perform consistently

 

[Imurg]

A softer ball will, generally, spin less so may go further than the premium balls into the wind.
They also don't back up 5 yards on the softer greens - who needs 5 yards of backspin when you're already 5 yards short...

 

[Orikoru]

A softer ball will, generally, spin less so may go further than the premium balls into the wind.
They also don't back up 5 yards on the softer greens - who needs 5 yards of backspin when you're already 5 yards short...

I doubt I will ever hit 5 yards of backspin in my entire life, under any circumstances.

 

[patricks148]

its also personal preference, i much prefer a softer ball in winter, i think they may spin less too but im not 100% of that. the only real downside ive found is they scuff up much quicker, off mats, sanded greens, out of bunkers etc.

 

[Springveldt]

A harder ball will go further than a softer one as a general rule. The rest is mostly snake oil.
Stay away from really cheap ones and stick with ones you like and perform consistently

Not so true off of irons. You will typically find the softer urethane balls like the AVX, Tour Response, Tour-BRX etc all go further off irons than the likes of a ProV1, ProV1X, TP5 and Tour BX due to them spinning less.

 

[hambugerpete]

Not so true off of irons. You will typically find the softer urethane balls like the AVX, Tour Response, Tour-BRX etc all go further off irons than the likes of a ProV1, ProV1X, TP5 and Tour BX due to them spinning less.

It's true in general that A hard ball goes further than softer one. Theres a lot of hokum in golf, but the same principles of CoR still apply. Also To much spin and the ball won't go as far and then the same for not enough spin... All things being equal a harder ball goes further

 

[Bunkermagnet]

A few years ago I had a lesson with my previous coach. It was a cold winters day, but sunny. They range he worked at had just had TT installed. When the lesson was over, I asked if we could test a few balls to see how the cold worked for or against the ball. I had some Wilson DX2's Srixon AD333's and Z Star's. The longest as reported by the TT was the DX2's which were the softest. I don't need spin when the ground is so soft.
Obviously this isn't scientific, but my hitting of the balls was all very similar.
In winter I swap to the Q Star tour's now, and summer is Z Star or TP5's.

 

[The Fader]

I like softer balls all year round. No scientific reason - just prefer the feel off the club face.

As I've given up buying brand new balls - I buy my balls from Ebay. Pearl\A grade for summer. B grade for winter.

 

[nickjdavis]

Irrespective of winter or otherwise....I've recently (October) switched from playing the Callaway Chrome Soft (75 compression) to a Chrome Tour (90 compression).

I immediately perceived that i was hitting the ball further, which somewhat surprised me.

In the cold Jan/Feb weather I've recently been trying out the Supersoft (40 compression), almost as a test of what the OP is enquiring about... and am absolutely convinced that I've seen a distance drop off compared to the Chrome Tour.

Most websites out there will have joe-punter believe that low compression balls are for slower swingers and help with transfer of energy to the ball and to be fair I probably always assumed much the same until recently. But now, as someone with a relatively lazy 88mph driver swing speed, I'm calling nonsense on most of this low compression ball for a slower swinging golfer mularkey. Maybe golfers who are sub 80mph and over 110mph might benefit from a soft/hard ball....but for those of us in the middle...nah....find something you like the feel of/fits within your price range and dont worry about the whole soft/hard slow/fast rubbish..

 

[Orikoru]

Irrespective of winter or otherwise....I've recently (October) switched from playing the Callaway Chrome Soft (75 compression) to a Chrome Tour (90 compression).

I immediately perceived that i was hitting the ball further, which somewhat surprised me.

In the cold Jan/Feb weather I've recently been trying out the Supersoft (40 compression), almost as a test of what the OP is enquiring about... and am absolutely convinced that I've seen a distance drop off compared to the Chrome Tour.

Most websites out there will have joe-punter believe that low compression balls are for slower swingers and help with transfer of energy to the ball and to be fair I probably always assumed much the same until recently. But now, as someone with a relatively lazy 88mph driver swing speed, I'm calling nonsense on most of this low compression ball for a slower swinging golfer mularkey. Maybe golfers who are sub 80mph and over 110mph might benefit from a soft/hard ball....but for those of us in the middle...nah....find something you like the feel of/fits within your price range and dont worry about the whole soft/hard slow/fast rubbish..

Its sounds like you're in a very similar place to me in terms of thought process. Like you, I'm around 88mph in driver swing speed. I think firmer balls are longer off of driver no matter what, except maybe the very slowest speeds as you say. But with irons there's more variance, where a harder ball will spin more and actually lose you carry distance if you're a slow-to-mid speed. I'm sad enough to have studied the My Golf Spy ball testing, and that seems to suggest as much.

I already have my ball for this summer anyway as I purchased three boxes of Vice Pro Air at black Friday time. Just don't want to get them out until I stopped losing balls in plugged lies that should be in plain sight.

 

[nickjdavis]

Its sounds like you're in a very similar place to me in terms of thought process. Like you, I'm around 88mph in driver swing speed. I think firmer balls are longer off of driver no matter what, except maybe the very slowest speeds as you say. But with irons there's more variance, where a harder ball will spin more and actually lose you carry distance if you're a slow-to-mid speed. I'm sad enough to have studied the My Golf Spy ball testing, and that seems to suggest as much.

I already have my ball for this summer anyway as I purchased three boxes of Vice Pro Air at black Friday time. Just don't want to get them out until I stopped losing balls in plugged lies that should be in plain sight.

That is assuming that you generate enough iron spin with a soft ball in the first place. Many slower swingers, who perhaps deliver the club to the ball sub-optimally, need more spin to assist with their launch and ball flight. If your launch/spin is optimal with a soft ball then yes, changing to a harder ball may have a detrimental effect, but it may be the case that a slow swinger who doesn't generate much spin with a soft ball, might benefit from a firmer ball that spins more.

This is the problem with rules and generalizations....there will always be circumstances that buck the general "wisdom"....hence whilst tests done by the likes of MygolfSpy are useful guides, it is best to find out for yourself what suits best.

 

[rulie]

Round with dimples...same as summer...

 

[Junior]

Same brand, but just use the ones I scuff in the summer.

 

[Springveldt]

It's true in general that A hard ball goes further than softer one. Theres a lot of hokum in golf, but the same principles of CoR still apply. Also To much spin and the ball won't go as far and then the same for not enough spin... All things being equal a harder ball goes further

Agree that a high compression ball will go further if everything is equal but the problem usually is that the higher compression urethane balls also tend to be the higher spinning balls (main exception the left dash).

MyGolfSpy did a bunch of testing with the Ping robot back in 2023. A higher compression ball will go further off the driver in almost all cases, even slow swing speeds but with irons the longest balls for the slow swing speeds were all low compression balls. At the mid speed there were a couple of high compression balls near the top but they were the low spin options while at a high swing speed it was a mixture of both.

On a personal observation they had the high swing speed for an 8 iron at 87mph and mine is around that. I clearly don't strike it anything like the robot though which had a 117mph ball speed, mine is usually more like 110mph although I have seen a single rogue one being 118mph but I pulled it 40 yards left. I'm nowhere near the 115mph for the driver speed though, so I think they should have had that 8 iron more in the 90mph range.