I enjoyed experimenting with different balls more than any of the aforementioned products, possibly because I decided that I would test each ball mentioned below over the course of a full round, as players need to hit all types of shots to figure which ball works the best for them.

Titleist Pro VI, Callaway HX Tour 56 (I decided to group these balls together because I found them to be so similar)

These balls explode off of the club when they are hit properly, and they have a great feel around the green. They also spin quite well, and check up on command with a purely struck wedge. However, when they are hit off the toe of an iron, they react very much like a McGregor ball from the 1960’s, and when hit off the hozel, they produce a feel that is not too different from hitting a piece of iron with a sledge hammer.

One other unique quality that I noticed about the Pro VI and HX Tour 56 came after I double-crossed two attempts at a high, soft fade off the tee. The balls jumped off the club, went dead straight(20 yards left of where I intended to start it), and then flew 10-15 yards deeper into the woods than other balls usually do.

Titleist NXT Tour

This ball comes off the clubface very similarly to the Pro VI, but it doesn’t stop as quickly on the green. It still offers reasonably good feel, and at $15 less than the Pro VI, it is probably a better option for most amateur players.

Something that I specifically noticed about this ball during the round was that when it is hit off of a tree, its ricochet is startlingly similar to every other ball on the market. Also, if embedded in a bunker, the NXT Tour is very difficult to get close to the pin, much like all other golf balls.

Callaway HX Red

This ball was surprisingly long off the tee with a very good feel. Although it is basically as soft as the Pro VI and HX Tour 56, it does not stop very quickly after a skulled pitch or chip shot.

Top-Flight Distance

Although this ball is about as hard as a small sphere of cement, my score did not suffer at all when compared to the other rounds I played with the higher quality golf balls. Surprisingly, when a ball, even one as bad as the Top-Flight, is hit solidly, it spins enough to be playable. Similarly, when hit poorly, it reacts the exact same way that other performance balls do.

Think of it this way- if you hit every shot poorly during a round with the Top Flight, you are getting the exact same performance that you would from a Pro VI at a small percentage of the cost. Also, because you won’t be worried about losing a $4 golf ball you will make a more relaxed, and therefore more effective swing. If your handicap is a 15 or above, the Top-Flight is without a doubt the ball for you. Most of us would not see a difference in our scores if we switched to the less-expensive ball.