The 10 Best Soft Golf Balls For Satisfying Feel

There are a lot of golf balls on the market with the word “soft” in the name. But how do you really define what a soft golf ball is? Is it the cover or the core, or is it both? We're going to clear up the confusion and give you our top 10 picks of the best soft golf balls.

A soft cover, which would be urethane, generally gives you that soft feel off the putter that most golfers cherish. But let’s face it; your putter is only moving a few miles per hour, so it’s the cover, not the core, that produces the soft (or firm) feel when putting. The same holds true for chip shots around the green.

With a full swing, however, you can really feel the compression rating of a golf ball, and that’s largely in the core, especially a two-piece ball (compression is a measure of how much the golf ball deforms under load). 

A truly soft golf ball can feel a bit mushy to anyone with higher swing speeds. That’s why tour balls have higher compression ratings, even though there are urethane balls (like the Callaway Chrome Soft, for example) with “soft” in their names. 

Tour balls are awesome golf balls, and much more expensive than the two-piece golf balls with ionomer covers, but the ones that tout softness aren’t really that soft, they’re just soft relative to other tour balls.

So for the purpose of this article, we consider soft golf balls to have an overall compression rating of around 60 or below. These balls can maximize distance for moderate to slower swing speeds. They are also generally less expensive, so they tend to be good value buys, too. And if they are not too soft, I’ve found that some of these balls work pretty well even if your handicap is in the single digits, as long as your swing speed isn’t well above 100 mph.

Price aside, what kind of golfer benefits from a softer golf ball? The answer is anyone who doesn’t feel like they generate enough clubhead speed, especially off the tee, and needs a little help from the ball to get more distance and feel. Everyone likes to feel like they are compressing the golf ball, and for slower swing speeds, lower compression golf balls provide that feel, and likely a little more distance as well.

Here then is a look at 10 of the best soft golf balls on the market.

Made by Bridgestone, the Laddie was the masculine answer to the Precept Lady many years ago. Once upon a time, a lot of seniors played the Lady, so it made sense to develop this ball for male players, and the Laddie Extreme has certainly found its niche. And yes, the Precept Lady still exists and is an excellent choice as well, and certainly could have made this list.

The Laddie Extreme is one of the softest balls on the market. With its patented “Touch N’Control” ionomer cover, the ball also has a lot of feel. Plus, the Laddie Extreme has what Bridgestone calls an “Enhanced Velocity Muscle-Fire Core,” which helps players with slower swing speeds get more distance. A 372 aerodynamic dimple design helps it launch higher, too, which can increase distance off the tee.

Bridgestone’s most popular golf ball with ordinary golfers really does have a great feel to it, and if you don’t swing too fast, you can maximize distance with this ball as well. That’s because with its large, soft core, it’s a low-spin ball off the driver (as most soft balls are), and it launches well off the tee as long as you use a driver with adequate loft. 

As for how it performs on approaches, I’ve always found that it holds greens fairly well, but, of course, won’t spin back like a tour ball will, nor will you get that one hop and stop off a well-executed low lob wedge shot. Still, it feels good around the greens and off the putter.

Really, when you think about it, the Noodle is one of the most iconic golf balls of the last couple of generations. It’s been around as long as the Pro V1, and has been a favorite with many amateurs. In fact, when TaylorMade, which acquired Maxfli a few years ago, sold Maxfli to Dick’s Sporting Goods, it kept what is now the Noodle Long & Soft because it still flies off the shelves.

The name says it all. It has a noodle-like soft feeling, thanks to its low compression (34), but a 342 dimple pattern combined with the soft core helps to launch the ball and keep it in the air. Anyone with a slower swing speed looking to maximize distance will love this ball, especially at less than $3 a sleeve if you buy a two-dozen pack.

TaylorMade’s Soft Response is a great choice for golfers who have a little game, but don’t swing really fast. This ball feels great, thanks in large part to its newly-designed 30-compression core surrounded by a firmer second layer and a softer ionomer cover. The combination gives it an overall compression of 50, which is 10 less than the previous version of this ball. 

It feels really good off the putter and around the greens. Plus, the cover has steeper and shallower dimples to reduce drag and increase distance off the tee.

If you’ve never tried OnCore golf balls, you might want to give them a test run. The Buffalo, N.Y.-based company makes several high-quality golf balls at a good price, and Avant 55, named for its compression rating of 55, is one of them.

This ball features a large, soft inner core to provide rebound off the driver and a 392 dimple pattern softer Surlyn cover to help launch the ball up in the air. It’s a really good ball for seniors and younger juniors who want to get a little more distance without sacrificing feel. This ball feels good off the putter and the chipping clubs as well, even if it doesn’t produce a lot of spin. It also plays well in cold weather, which is certainly something the folks in Buffalo can appreciate.

You’ll find the Srixon Soft Feel on several of our lists. It’s a standout ball mostly because it performs great for a huge segment of players and you can get a dozen for about $23. 

The name says it all. This latest version, the 12th generation Soft Feel, has its softest core yet. It has a responsive feel and if you don’t have a super high swing speed, it goes pretty far as well.  

Despite having an ionomer cover, it has plenty of stopping power on approach shots. I have played versions of this ball a lot over the past several years, and I have never felt hampered by its performance. For me, it launches well off the tee, feels good off the putter, and seems to spin better on approaches than most of the other golf balls on this list.

Certainly among the top sellers in golf, the Callaway Supersoft is played by a wide variety of players from seniors to mid- to high-handicap players. This latest version has what Callaway calls a “HyperElastic SoftFast Core” and 332 dimple pattern to deliver lots of distance with a soft feel. 

And though it's technically an ionomer cover, Callaway calls it a hybrid cover, which is designed to help with those short shots. I’ve played this ball on occasion and can say while it certainly doesn’t spin around the greens like a urethane-covered ball, I was able to get some check on short shots, and had little problem holding greens on longer approach shots.

According to Titleist, the Tour Soft has the largest ionomer-covered core in golf, which is why it feels so soft and delivers terrific distance. Titleist calls it Fusablend, and the cover is formulated to give you more spin and control on and around the greens. 

I also like the markings on this ball, particularly the alignment aid for putting. It’s available in white, yellow, and green.

Wilson claims the Duo Soft is the world’s softest golf ball (just 38 compression), so it has to be on the list, right? Indeed, it has a very soft core, which is easy to feel when you strike it with a driver, iron, or putter. It doesn’t spin much around the greens, but the level of player who opts for these balls probably plays more bump and run anyway.

The Duo Soft also goes pretty straight, thanks in part to its low spin characteristics. It also comes in five colors, including white.

There are basically two golf balls offered by Pinnacle – the Rush and Soft – and the latter obviously is the one with the most feel. It does have good distance characteristics, too, for slower swing speeds as long as there is ample loft with the driver (at least 10.5 degrees or more) because of its low spin rates.

It has a pretty good feel on approach shots and around the green, but obviously it doesn’t produce much spin, so there’s not a lot of stopping power.