Callaway Supersoft Golf Ball Review

It’s one of the most popular golf balls on the market – the Callaway Supersoft has reeled in beginners and established golfers alike with its feel, distance, and exceptional price. So how does this year’s model fare?

Callaway Supersoft golf ball review: NCG Summary

NCG SUMMARY

It’s one of the most popular balls in golf for reason – you get an awful lot of performance for the price point.

PROS

• Exceptional value at the price.
• Long distance with an iron in hand.
• Great sound and feel around the greens.

CONS

• Higher swing speed players may find it difficult to control with a driver.

First Impressions

Super long, super straight, super soft. Just super in fact. That’s quite the set of claims for a golf ball that retails at under £30 a dozen but the Callaway Supersoft golf ball has enjoyed enduring popularity and the equipment giant say they’ve advanced the cover, core, and construction technologies, while also promising improved performance from tee to green.

A HyperElastic SoftFast Core is said to be optimised for faster speed and a softer feel around the green and the Hybrid Cover should also “create more wedge control while still maintaining distance, very soft feel, and durability”.

If the word ‘soft’ hasn’t been hammered deep into your psyche by this point, you’d better get used to it when reading about this two-piece ball. It’s the whole purpose of its being.

NCG Review

It’s a good looking ball straight out of the box with its hexagonal dimple pattern and a clear and bold black line down the side which makes aligning with the hole a doddle on the green.

Let’s get the negatives out of the way first, I struggled with the Callaway Supersoft with a driver in hand. This has a soft compression core, which is meant to promote high launch and low spin, but I also think it’ll work best for players who have slower swing speeds.

While I’m hardly Jon Rahm with the big stick in my hand, when we tested in the performance centre at Woodhall Spa, I was averaging 95mph club speed and 124mph ball speed. I just couldn’t seem to stop it ballooning right.

I’d expect carry numbers of around 205 yards, and this ball was weighing in way short at 191.5. In fact, the only shot I managed to carry over 200 yards was the opening shot. Every swing went right and, at an average of 22 yards, I wouldn’t be finding too many fairways.

I tend to be on the low side with driver height – 77.7 feet would actually be pretty high for me – but I reckon I’d lose confidence pretty quickly as I kept finding trees at my home course at York.

When the swing speed drops into my 7-iron, things start looking a bit different. My average carry with this club is around 137 yards, but my average with the Callaway Supersoft was nearly ten yards further! That’s a club’s extra carry distance just in a ball.

Low spin numbers reflect my sweeping action, but the average roll of four yards and a high flight for me of 84.5 feet means I’d be pretty confident I would see this ball stop on the greens – regardless of my propensity for a slightly thin contact at times.

Trying to hit a 50-yard pitch shot, my numbers pretty good – carrying on average at 51.3 yards – and, again, the low spin numbers are entirely reflective of my technique than how the ball would perform in the hands of a player who got more turf in their strike.

It’s in chipping and putting around the greens where I got the most out of this ball, though, and it was really very impressive. I loved the feel on contact when coming out of the bunker and, unusually for me, I actually managed to get some action on this golf ball on landing.

It’s easily the softest ball I’ve struck on the putting surface this year and it has a very pleasing sound as the putter makes contact. I thought that I’d have to hit it a bit harder to get it to the hole but the Callaway Supersoft has a really nice consistent roll and didn’t appear to hurt me too much on mis-hits. There was also good distance control with long putting.

In many ways, it’s a slight disappointment for me that I struggled to control the ball off the face with the driver because, in every other part of my game, this ball would be colossal. It’s much longer than I’d expect with an iron in hand and feels great when pitching and around the putting surface.

When you badge all of that performance up with a price tag under £30, you really are getting an awful lot for your cash. Maybe I’ll just have to rein in the big stick!

Callaway Supersoft golf ball review: The Details

Available: Now

RRP: £29

How do we test golf balls?

At National Club Golfer, we are passionate about producing accurate and thorough reviews and make sure our testing process is rigorous so we get a good understanding of how each club performs.

We headed to Woodhall Spa Golf Club to allow us to collect launch monitor data with our in-house TrackMan and Flightscope. We tested each golf ball on the putting surface and around the greens before collecting data on 50-yard pitch shots, with a 7-iron and with a driver.

What to consider when buying a new golf ball?

Feel

Golf ball feel is a personal preference. Different balls on the market will feel softer or firmer depending on their compression and structure. It is crucial to test balls when putting, chipping and hitting long game shots to check you like the performance across all areas.

Distance

How far you want to hit the golf ball is a crucial consideration when picking a brand and model. Getting the right compression relative to your swing speed and strike will help you get the maximum distance out of a golf ball. You also need to consider if getting maximum distance is important to you or if you would rather give up some yardage to gain in other areas.

Spin

Generally, lower handicappers are looking for a ball that spins more so they can get more control around the greens. In this case, getting a ball with a urethane cover is really important as it will give you the most spin and control.

Price

Not everyone wants to spend £50 a dozen on golf balls. When picking the right golf ball for you, you should consider how much you want to spend relative to what performance you want.

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What do you think of the Callaway Supersoft ball? Let me know with a tweet.

The NCG Top 100s Tour is heading to Europe for a multi-day event at PGA Catalunya. Prices start at £799 per golfer.

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