That golf ball you found in the woods might seem like a free treasure, but playing a questionable ball can absolutely sabotage a good round. A ball with even minor damage won’t fly correctly, costing you distance and accuracy. This guide will walk you through exactly how to determine if a golf ball - new, used, or found - is good enough for the course, using the same simple checks trusted by coaches and seasoned players.
The first step is always a quick visual check. Your eyes can tell you a lot about a ball's history and its potential to perform. It only takes a few seconds, but it can save you from a shot that mysteriously sails offline. Look for these three main culprits.
This is the most common form of damage and arguably the one that has the biggest impact on ball flight. The dimple pattern on a golf ball is a masterpiece of aerodynamics, designed to reduce drag and create lift for a stable, penetrating flight. When you introduce a scuff or scrape, you disrupt that pattern.
What to look for:
The Coach's Advice: If you run a fingernail over the ball and it catches on a scrape, that scrape is significant enough to alter the ball’s flight. For your scorecard rounds, use a ball that is as smooth as possible.
While a slightly off-white ball may not seem like a big deal, its color can be a strong indicator of its age and how it’s been stored. The cover of a golf ball, typically urethane or ionomer, will degrade over time when exposed to UV light and the elements.
A yellowed or brownish tint tells a story. It suggests the ball is either very old or has spent a great deal of time out in the sun. This exposure can make the cover material more brittle and less responsive. The feel off the clubface won't be as crisp, and you'll likely see a small reduction in spin and distance. More importantly, this is a major red flag for golf balls found in water.
Unlike scuffs, which are on the surface, cracks and dents compromise the structural integrity of the entire ball. These are rare but are an immediate sign that the ball is done.
A crack can be a very faint line on the surface, but it runs deeper into the mantle or even the core. If you hit a cracked ball, the energy transfer will be completely inefficient, leading to a dead-feeling, low-launching shot that goes nowhere. An obvious a dent or flat spot means the ball is no longer round, and it’s impossible for it to roll or fly predictably. Any ball with a visible crack or dent belongs in the trash.
Sometimes a ball looks perfect on the outside but is damaged on the inside. This is particularly common with water-logged balls or those that have suffered a major impact without showing an external crack. Here are a couple of brilliantly simple tests to uncover these hidden flaws.
A golf ball needs to be perfectly balanced to roll true on the green and maintain a stable flight path. An imbalanced ball has a heavy side, which will cause it to wobble slightly during flight (costing distance) and, even more frustratingly, fall offline during the final few revolutions of a putt.
Here’s how to check a ball's balance:
This legendary test is the single best way to identify a ball with a compromised core, something you'd never be able to see optically.
The core of a golf ball is its engine. Over time and after many hard hits it can lose its "compression," or elasticity. A ball with a "dead" core won't rebound off the clubface with as much energy, which means less ball speed and less distance. A simple bounce test can reveal the state of a ball’s core.
A common question is, "How long does a golf ball actually last?” And what about those temptingly cheap bags of "refurbished" or "lake" balls? The truth is, while it might seem like a bargain, you're often paying for compromised performance.
Today’s golf balls, especially those with durable urethane covers, are incredibly resilient. For the average golfer, a ball is truly usable until it's lost or gets a significant scuff or cut on the cover. Under normal play without major impacts (like hitting a cart path), a premium ball can easily last for several rounds - even 72 holes or more - without a substantial drop in performance. The key factor isn't a set number of hits, but the quality of those hits. A single shot thinned into a rocky creek bed can ruin a ball, while 50 perfectly struck iron shots might leave it looking pristine.
A golf ball sitting at the bottom of a pond is not in a preservative. While the cover of a ball is water-resistant, it isn't completely impermeable over long periods. Given enough time an - anywhere from a day or two onwards moisture will gradually seep through the cover and into the core.
This absorbed moisture does two bad things:
What about "refurbished" balls? "Refurbished," is a tricky term. Some companies simply clean lake balls and grade them. Others go a step further, stripping the original paint and logo and repainting them to look new. The problem is paint can hide serious scuffs and cuts, and it does absolutely nothing to fix a water-logged core. You might be hitting a premium-branded ball that has the performance of a wet sponge. It's almost always a better investment to buy a new, lower-priced model than to take a chance on a "premium refurbished" one.
Putting it all together, a good golf ball is one that is visibly clean of major scuffs and cuts, free of any cracks, and internally sound. Taking just a few moments to inspect your ball and occasionally testing suspicious ones can eliminate equipment as a variable, so you can focus on making a great swing and trust the result.
Once you are confident that your equipment is up to the task, the next step is building confidence in your strategy. To help with this, we developed Caddie AI to serve as your personal on-demand golf expert. If you're standing on the tee unsure of the right play, you can ask for a smart strategy. When you're stuck between two clubs or facing a bizarre lie in the rough, you can get an instant recommendation - you can even snap a photo of the ball and its surroundings for tailored advice. It’s an expert opinion in your pocket, designed to help you make smarter decisions and play with the same certainty you have in a good golf ball.
Thinking about hosting a golf tournament fundraiser is the first swing, executing it successfully is what gets the ball in the hole. This guide will walk you through the entire process, step-by-step, from laying the initial groundwork months in advance to watching your happy golfers tee off. We’ll cover everything from securing sponsors and setting your budget to planning the on-course fun that makes an event unforgettable.
A golf handicap does more than just give you bragging rights (or a reason to demand strokes from your friends) - it’s the game’s great equalizer and the single best way to track your improvement. This guide breaks down what a handicap is, how the supportive math behind a handicap index a is, and exactly how you can get one for yourself. We’ll look at everything from Course Rating to Adjusted Gross Score, helping you feel confident both on the course and in the clubhouse.
The compression of a Pinnacle Rush golf ball is one of its most defining features, engineered specifically to help a huge swath of golfers get more distance and enjoyment from their game. We'll break down exactly what its low compression means, who it's for, and how you can use that knowledge to shoot lower scores.
Figuring out which spikes go into your new (or old) pair of Puma golf shoes can feel like a puzzle, but it’s much simpler than you think. The key isn't the brand of the shoe, but the type of receptacle system they use. This guide will walk you through exactly how to identify your Puma's spike system, choose the perfect replacements for your game, and change them out like a pro.
The Golf Genius app is one of the best tools for managing and participating in competitive golf events, but figuring it out for the first time can feel like reading a new set of greens. This guide cuts through the confusion and shows you exactly how to use the app as a player. We’ll cover everything from logging into your tournament and entering scores to checking the live leaderboard so you can enjoy the competition without any tech headaches.
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