Updated – Feb 28, 2023
I am a mid handicap golfer and I have been doing a ton of research on golf balls over the last couple of years. I’ll give you my recommendations on the best golf balls for mid handicap golfers and share some useful tools to help you decide.
I’ve tested dozens upon dozens of golf balls on my home simulator, I’ve combed through independent studies from Golf Laboratories and MyGolfSpy. I’ve even built an app with thousands of data points in the backend to help my fellow golfers find the best golf ball for their own game.
Whether you are a mid handicapper who is pushing to become a scratch golfer, or a casual golfer who just wants a decent ball at a decent price, I’ve got you covered.
Golf Ball Top Picks for Mid Handicappers – By Category
⛳️ Our experts spend hours gathering data, testing, and comparing products to deliver comprehensive recommendations to help you choose. Find out more about how we test products.
The best golf ball for a mid-handicapper is dependent on each golfer’s unique preferences and swing speed. Swing speeds vary greatly across mid-handicappers. We also need to take into consideration price, a golfer’s ability to spin the ball around the greens, the trajectory one hits off the tee, and spin rate.
To effectively account for all of this, a proper ball fitting is needed. Try our free golf ball selector tool for a customized recommendation. Here are my top picks for Distance, Feel, Performance, and Price.
Best for Distance – Titleist Tour Speed
Pros
- Great Distance, no matter what your club head speed
- Offers great greenside spin
- Soft feel
- Price
- Maximum ball speed
Cons
- Pricing can fluctuate due to supply issues
My thoughts on the Titleist Tour Speed
The Titleist Tour Speed is kind of a unicorn when it comes to distance golf ball performance. Most golf balls perform well in one, maybe two club head speed categories.
The Tour Speed performs really well in every swing speed category! I guess that shouldn’t be a surprise, Titleist golf balls are some of the most popular golf balls for a very good reason.
It has a soft feel, offers great greenside spin, and gets a really good trajectory off the tee to create more distance. Average golfers will love this ball! I’m a bit surprised it doesn’t fall into the premium golf ball category with how well it performs.
I have personally used this ball quite a bit and usually keep a few in my bag for when I’m trying to get a little extra distance off the tee. My club head speed is around 110mph and it performs great at that speed.
I have also recommended this ball to a couple of my “Senior” friends with much lower swing speeds. They immediately saw an extra 10 yards of distance off the tee.
Why isn’t this my regular ball? The price is a bit higher than my regular ball, which performs really well at my swing speed. I use the Vice Pro and it is my pick for best performance.
Here are more recommendations for maximum distance.
Best for Feel – TaylorMade Tour Response
Pros
- Great distance off the tee for any swing speed.
- Great feel
- Can I say it again? Great Feel!
- Great ball speed
Cons
- They are difficult to shape
My thoughts on the TaylorMade Tour Response
The Tour Response golf ball was built for players looking for extra speed and distance off the tee! It is a low spin golf ball offering a penetrating ball flight.
I have personally used this ball quite a bit. I was first introduced to them after I won a dozen in the long drive competition at a scramble. They feel great!
They are low spin balls and have a very nice soft feel to them. When it comes to soft golf balls, this is about as soft as it gets!
Similar to the Tour Speed, the Tour Response balls perform well in distance across each swing speed category, so these are a good option for any golfer!
I found these a little more difficult to shape with my irons and off the tee. Their low spin with long irons and driver makes these fly straight. They are a great option for the average golfer.
They do offer good greenside spin, however!
Best Performance – Vice Pro
Shop at Vice Golf for best price and bulk discount.
Pros
- Great distance off the tee for low and mid swing speeds
- Great feel
- Good trajectory
- Low spin off the tee
- Good greenside spin
Cons
- Not the best pick for golfers with very high swing speeds, those who routinely hit the ball 320+ yards.
My thoughts on the Vice Pro
The Vice Pro is the best all-around golf ball in my opinion. It is my “regular ball”. I did a full comparison of the Vice Pro vs. Pro V1, the Vice Pro stacks up! But at a much lower cost.
This ball performed really well in low and mid swing speed categories during independent testing. I am right on the edge of that higher swing speed category at 110mph.
I get great distance off the tee with these. Routinely getting 300+ yards. So unless you are smashing your driver 320+ yards, these are a great option for you. If you do fall into that category, check out the Tour Speed!
I also get great feel and performance in my short game with these. I get lower spin off the tee and higher short game spin, eerily similar to numbers a ProV1 gets!
The Vice Pro is a 3-Piece golf ball with a urethane cover, it was featured on the Golf Digest 2020 Hot List.
Vice Golf is a direct-to-consumer manufacturer, meaning they have cut out the resellers to keep prices low. They also stay away from tour sponsorships and other expensive marketing schemes, again to keep prices low.
I usually buy these 5 dozen at a time to unlock maximum savings direct from Vice Golf. I also put my logo on them because they usually have free customization.
I’m also able to get some good spin numbers in the short game with these. Here is an article I did on how to spin the golf ball!
I’ve also been known to do some twitter giveaways with these!
GIVEAWAY – 1 Dozen Vice Pro golf balls.
— Tyler (@BigTeesGolf) July 27, 2022
Two Winners, 1 from Twitter, 1 from our website.
1⃣ Follow us
2⃣ Like
3⃣ Retweet
Winner Announced – Aug 1st.
Websitehttps://t.co/FU810tQCsH
Winner Announced – Aug 8th.#golf #giveaway @VICE_GOLF pic.twitter.com/sQEfwNPwIv
Best Price – Vice Drive
Shop at Vice Golf for best price and bulk discount.
Pros
- Great distance off the tee for low and mid swing speeds
- Soft feel
- Durable
Cons
- Less greenside spin than you’ll find with premium golf balls
- Not the best for distance at higher swing speeds
My thoughts on the Vice Drive
The Vice Drive is a 2-piece golf ball with a soft feel. It has a DuPont Surlyn cover with a 312 dimple design. It is a low compression golf ball and marketed to players with a mid to slower swing speeds.
You can get the Vice Drive for as low as $12.99 per dozen, it doesn’t get much cheaper than that!
In an independent golf laboratories study, the Vice Drive outperformed the Titleist Tour Soft (not my distance pick, that’s the Tour Speed). It’s no surprise they get great customer reviews on Amazon!
I have also used this golf ball quite a bit, and this is my wife’s “regular ball”. Her swing speed is a bit lower, so this ball is a great fit for her. Personally, I did not get quite as much distance as the Vice Pro, but we are only talking about a few yards of difference.
I also did not get as much spin around the greens as the Vice Pro. That being said, it has great durability and it honestly doesn’t get much better than this for a 2-piece golf ball. Or at this price point.
Vice Golf is a direct-to-consumer manufacturer, meaning they have cut out the resellers to keep prices low. They also stay away from tour sponsorships and other expensive marketing schemes, again to keep prices low.
Here is a full review on all Vice Golf Balls.
Check out our low-cost golf ball recommendations to improve your game without overspending
It’s definitely NOT on the list of most expensive golf balls!
How to Select the Best Golf Balls for Mid Handicappers
I have been doing a ton of research on golf balls over the last couple of years. Reading studies and reviews, digesting manufacturer and independent testing results. I have also been testing a lot of balls myself. And, I am a mid handicap golfer!
What I’ve found when you select the best golf ball is, there really isn’t a one-size-fits-all. Sure, anyone who wants to play a premium ball is going to have great results in terms of performance, but at what cost?
Once you get out of that top-tier in cost, you risk sacrificing performance. How do you know which ball offers all of those “preferences” you have in spin, feel, and trajectory? They also perform differently at various swing speeds. We have done all of the research and have developed a tool to give you a customized ball fitting.
Consistency
It’s one thing to be in search of a new ball to play, but if you are constantly searching, consider settling in on one for a while. Every ball performs differently. If you are constantly changing your ball, you are likely getting mixed feedback from your shots.
After you play a golf ball consistently for a while, you start to get used to how it reacts off of your wedges, distances from your mid-irons, how you shape it off the tee.
Whether you choose one of the golf balls I’ve recommended above or not, pick one and stick with it for a while!
If you are a beginner, you may be interested in ball recommendations for beginners.
Final Thoughts
Choosing the best golf balls for a mid handicap players is not straight forward. There is a lot of complexity and nuance. Not just for mid handicappers, for pretty much any golfer. Everyone has a different swing speed, different preferences for spin, feel, trajectory etc.
There are tradeoffs to be made. You can get a performance ball, but you’ll pay for it! Alternatively, you can find some great golf balls for distance at a cheaper price, but you may lose stopping power on the green. We have done the research to help you find the best golf ball for your game.
Good luck on the golf course!