Making Golf Ball Compression Work For You (Video) - by Pete Styles
Making Golf Ball Compression Work For You (Video) - by Pete Styles

One factor of a golf ball that’s often misunderstood by golfers, even at every level, is the compression of the golf ball. Now the compression is a number that often relates between about 70 and 100 and you’ll see it on the side of the box 70, 80, 90, 100 compression, you’ll see on the side of the box of the golf balls. And it relates to how easily the golf ball can be compressed, effectively how squishy the ball is at it hits the club face. So when we impact the golf ball at 100 miles an hour with a driver, the ball will deform out of shape as it sits on the face for a very small amount of time. And then it will spring off the club face. Now depending on the compression of the golf ball, depends how easy that ball will deform and squish onto the club face, but it’s important we get the right amount of compression for a golf swing, and specifically the right amount of compression for your club head speed. Imagine hitting something that’s too hard, so a compression that’s too hard when you hit it, imagine hitting a stone for example. You hit a stone with a driver, that stone’s not going to go very far. It’s going to hurt your hands; it’s going to make a horrible pinging sound, it’s not going to go very far at all. But also hit something that’s too soft, hit a sponge ball.

Something you can just squeeze in your fingers, the compression on that would be much lower, but if you hit that with a driver, it’s going to compress and deform too much and it’s still not going to go very far. It might feel better and it might feel softer, it might make a much nicer sound, but it doesn’t go very far, so somewhere in the middle, we’ve got the correct compression and the correct compression for your swing. Generally slower swing speeds are going to work with a softer compression, ball so at 70 or 80 compression ball for a slower swing. As you have a faster and a higher swing speed, the compression will move generally for a good club and amateur players to a 90 and even a 100 for some very, very fast swingers. What you in sort of a faster or harder ball will generally go a bit further, you can lose in feel. So if you like to spin the ball and you like to feel the ball soft off the club face particularly when you’re putting, a softer lower compression ball might be more suitable, but if your game is all about extra distance, and extra accuracy and you’re not too worried about spin and feel control. Then maybe a harder compression ball is more suitable for yourself. So have a little bit of a look at the golf balls and the golf shops and have a research and work out which ball is going feel the best for you and consider the compression next time you’re buying golf balls. 2015-11-03

One factor of a golf ball that’s often misunderstood by golfers, even at every level, is the compression of the golf ball. Now the compression is a number that often relates between about 70 and 100 and you’ll see it on the side of the box 70, 80, 90, 100 compression, you’ll see on the side of the box of the golf balls. And it relates to how easily the golf ball can be compressed, effectively how squishy the ball is at it hits the club face. So when we impact the golf ball at 100 miles an hour with a driver, the ball will deform out of shape as it sits on the face for a very small amount of time. And then it will spring off the club face. Now depending on the compression of the golf ball, depends how easy that ball will deform and squish onto the club face, but it’s important we get the right amount of compression for a golf swing, and specifically the right amount of compression for your club head speed. Imagine hitting something that’s too hard, so a compression that’s too hard when you hit it, imagine hitting a stone for example. You hit a stone with a driver, that stone’s not going to go very far. It’s going to hurt your hands; it’s going to make a horrible pinging sound, it’s not going to go very far at all. But also hit something that’s too soft, hit a sponge ball.

Something you can just squeeze in your fingers, the compression on that would be much lower, but if you hit that with a driver, it’s going to compress and deform too much and it’s still not going to go very far. It might feel better and it might feel softer, it might make a much nicer sound, but it doesn’t go very far, so somewhere in the middle, we’ve got the correct compression and the correct compression for your swing. Generally slower swing speeds are going to work with a softer compression, ball so at 70 or 80 compression ball for a slower swing. As you have a faster and a higher swing speed, the compression will move generally for a good club and amateur players to a 90 and even a 100 for some very, very fast swingers. What you in sort of a faster or harder ball will generally go a bit further, you can lose in feel. So if you like to spin the ball and you like to feel the ball soft off the club face particularly when you’re putting, a softer lower compression ball might be more suitable, but if your game is all about extra distance, and extra accuracy and you’re not too worried about spin and feel control. Then maybe a harder compression ball is more suitable for yourself. So have a little bit of a look at the golf balls and the golf shops and have a research and work out which ball is going feel the best for you and consider the compression next time you’re buying golf balls.