ROBOT GOLF BALLS TEST | Find the best 2024 model for your game!

What is the perfect golf ball for your game? We spent a week using the R&D robot at the Sports Technology Institute at Loughborough University to find out.

Testing 24 different golf balls at three driver speeds (85 MPH, 100 MPH, 115 MPH), with a 7-iron, and a wedge, we identify which golf balls are the best fit for you.

Based on the data created we choose our top-performing Tour, Direct to Consumer, Club Golfer and Budget golf balls and explain what you need to know to select the best ball for your own game.

Timestamps:
0:50 How we did it - The robot
1:53 How we did it - The experts
2:36 Which clubs did we use for testing? Which speeds did we test at?
3:16 Our methodology and why we use a Foresight GC Quad launch monitor.
5:03 How we choose the balls in this test.
8:13 The 2-piece golf balls.
9:05 The 3-piece golf balls.
10:06 The 4-piece golf balls.
10:53 The 5-piece golf balls.
11:30 Carry distance and shot area averaged over all three driver speeds.
12:47 Which balls are most and least expensive? Cost per yard analysis.
13:46 The lowest and highest driver spin golf balls (averaged over 100 & 115 MPH).
15:20 How all 24 golf balls performed for 7-iron backspin.
17:12 How all 24 golf balls performed for wedge backspin.
18:40 How 2, 3, 4 and 5-piece ball constructions compare.
20:07 The most accurate golf ball.
22:29 The most consistent golf ball.
23:47 How all 24 golf balls performed at 85 MPH with the driver.
25:19 How all 24 golf balls performed at 100 MPH with the driver.
26:17 How all 24 golf balls performed at 115 MPH with the driver.
27:35 How all 24 golf balls performed with a 7-iron.
29:41 How all 24 golf balls performed with a wedge.
31:15 My recommendation for the best-performing Premium Tour balls.
34:39 My recommendation for the best-performing Direct to Consumer Tour balls.
37:42 My recommendation for the best Club Golfer balls.
40:00 My recommendation for the best Budget balls.
42:23 Why you should not compare this data to last years.
43:35 Why the Snell Prime 2.0 is different to other 2-piece golf balls.
44:22 Why in the club golfer arena the choice is low spin and long or high spin and short.
45:20 Why firmer X style golf balls are a better across the board choice.
46:02 Why no Direct to Consumer ball out performs the Titleist Pro V1.
46:45 Wilson makes consistent and accurate golf balls.
47:40 Why you must buy Direct to Consumer golf balls in bulk.

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[bradders]

Vice Pro Plus all day. (Still) Love those balls. Distance, feel, spin etc are all right up there IM(NS)HO.

[lakerjoe]

Love the scientific approach to ball testing!

[JDSFLA]

Wilson ran a special at the start of the season, three dozen for US$100 (either Reg or "X" model), so you can save a lot if you watch for company specials. I bought them myself, and I'm pleased with how they play. Thank you for this test and the time you put into it.

[Floki]

Starting the vid now with my coffee, and just wanted to thank you in advance! I really appreciate this kind of content☺

[mrsandhu]

I've been waiting for this video all year 😂

[GolfBallAddict]

Amazing data. Love the content and I really appreciate you taking the time to conduct such a thorough and precise testing on these golf ball models.

[markshepherd]

Great info again, but there is one massive category that has been excluded and needs to be included and that is PUTTING.
And it's not just about feel, it's also about consistent accuracy when in the roll and how they come off the putter face.
Also looking at whether the balls balance is consistent, which will have a bearing on roll accuracy. Imagine, as an example, if you buy a box of Pro V 1X and 30% of the balls in the box are out of balance
I have noticed balls that have a shallower divot pattern seem to come off the face more consistently.
It's not a complete picture unless you include putting, the ultimate scoring shot.

[alysgolfstudio]

Being a very senior golfer playing over 200 rounds a year in different conditions, places and courses and yet being a relatively slower swing speed i have myself tried many many brands (including the direct to consumer balls like vice, seed, cut and balls from usa, europe, japan and much more) and models of balls slowly narrowing down over the last five years down to the best balls that I like and work most consistently for me, perhaps surprisingly my current shortlist of preferred balls are: 1. Titleist pro v1x; 2. Srixon zstar diamond; and 3. Volvik xt soft.

[Floki]

What did Tom Hanks Scream, when he hooked the ball faaar left into the water?

[legend]

What an excellent review and test. The way that you control as many variables as possible really gives us the best and most accurate data. Can’t say enough about how well you do these tests. It’s the industry standard in my opinion. Well done 👏!!!

[oromhnw]

Those 4 top balls I love to hit and have boxes of each one. I do not have a high swing speed. At least I don’t think so. But the tour X balls I hit good

[andrewportman]

Seed are fantastic balls, been playing them for 12 months and they are half the price of the big boys, absolute no brainer

[barrenwuffet]

I was about to buy new golf balls based on previous year video, lets compare results from last year.. just in time

[lkae]

Always avoided X models because I have struggled to minimize spin with driver. But Pro V1x with Ping 10K was very long my last outing. I'm guessing it's the firmer compression. And with higher launch and more spin into greens, I can certainly understand why it's the most popular with pros.

[geoffers]

Gutted you didn't include Bridgestone

[jayfangRSA]

Thanks for including a variety of Seed models 👍

[systemoptimizer]

Lots of interesting information. I like seeing robot test results as opposed to hacker testing data. Mizuno and Bridgestone are two companies whose balls I would have liked to have seen compared to the Callaway, Titleist, and Taylormade you tested. I found it weird that you showed that the Chrome Tour X ball was both longest, and highest spinning, but yet wasn't in your "who makes the most consistent golf ball". I would think with it topping other rankings it would have been there as well. It seemed a number of times you knocked the highest spinning golf balls saying they were short, but that's not what the data is actually showing. When it comes to irons, wedges, and some driver speeds you need a certain amount of spin to keep the ball airborne and maximize carry distance. It could make the difference between carrying a fairway or greenside bunker, or landing short and rolling into it. When the 2025 Pro V1 and Pro V1X balls come out i"d be interested to see how they compare to the current generation of ProV1 and ProV1x as well as comparison what you've ranked the top balls this testing session.

[blakeg.]

I thought the Titleist AVX was new this year and had a price drop. Might have been a good one to stick into the testing. Well done again and I think because of this I will be trying a different ball!

[starks]

I think you should do testing with a range ball(non-limited) to see how others fair and gives the consumer an idea of their numbers of range vs non-range performance.

[wccl]

Saintnine u pro is a 2 piece urethane 90 compression has been around for a couple years now. The u pro tour is pretty good and can be had in pink. They are supported by a larger rubber company (think bridgestone). Interesting balls for sure!