Why Are Golf Balls So Expensive?

Most golfers who have been playing the game for any reasonable length of time will understand the performance difference between a cheap golf ball and an expensive one. Golf balls are expensive for several reasons that may not be obvious to most people. Let’s look at these reasons.

Golf balls are expensive due to the enormous amount of research and development that goes into producing high-quality golf balls. With this research comes considerable expenditure in terms of expertise, branding, and marketing. The type of materials used will also affect the price.

Many people don’t understand the amount of research and technology to produce a golf ball. Without sounding overly cliché, there is far more to a golf ball than meets the eye.

This applies not only to the layers of materials that go into the ball’s manufacture but also to all the work that occurs behind the scenes to manufacture golf balls that perform reliably and predictably.

Why Are Golf Balls Expensive?

The simple truth is that golf balls are not simply little round white pieces of plastic. The white external layer that you see is precisely that – a thin layer that covers up a series of layers behind it. Depending on the type and brand of ball, the number of layers can be anywhere between two and five.

Generally speaking, the higher the number of layers within the construction of a golf ball, the higher the price. A higher number of layers typically means that more research and development have gone into the ball.

This, in turn, means that significantly more money has been spent on creating the ball, which results in a higher retail price once the ball reaches the consumer. The materials that make up the layers of a golf ball will naturally contribute to its overall cost.

The materials used to manufacture a golf ball, which will consist, at minimum, of a synthetic core and a carefully engineered cover, are expensive materials to produce as well as to work with. This will further contribute to the product’s retail price.

Do you want to know more about what golf balls are made of? Check out this article, What Are Golf Balls Made Of?

To produce a high-quality golf ball, an enormous amount of experimentation and improvement must go into ensuring that every ball made by the brand in question will meet specific quality standards. All of this adds to the ball’s expense.

Production requires a team of engineers and scientists who will require high compensation. Other expenses also include the specialist equipment needed to develop the golf balls and the materials and the spaces used to conduct research, development, and testing of the products.

Golf balls, by design, need to work on both the tee and the green. This is partly why their development as a product is so complicated, as the ball needs to perform differently under various circumstances. Naturally, creating a ball built for such specific needs is expensive.

Another element that adds to the cost of golf balls is branding. To create, build, and maintain a brand, enormous expenditure has to occur. If money is not spent on developing and maintaining a brand, the brand may fail.

The same principle applies to marketing. Marketing is an expensive endeavor for golf ball manufacturers to stay ahead of the competition and maintain sales.

Supply and demand are further influencing factors in the price of golf balls. The average golfer will require several balls throughout a round. Therefore, there will always be significant demand for golf balls with a limited supply.

You wouldn’t believe how many golf balls are lost. To find out, check out this post, How Many Golf Balls Are Lost Each Year?

What’s The Difference Between A Cheap Golf Ball & An Expensive Ball?

If you’re just starting out in the great game of golf, you may wonder if you need to splash out on an expensive golf ball or whether a cheaper one will be okay. Let’s look at the differences.

• An expensive golf ball. A high-priced golf ball is made up of several pieces – or layers – which enable the ball to function well at multiple performance levels. An expensive golf ball is essentially a highly engineered “one-stop solution” that can help you gain distance from the tee while simultaneously allowing for a good spin and feel around the green.

• A cheap golf ball. On the other hand, an inexpensive golf ball is made up of fewer layers of materials, reducing its expense. This generally means, however, that a cheaper ball is best suited to offer a single benefit such as distance, low spin, high flight. This differs from an expensive ball that is made to offer all of these benefits simultaneously.

Therefore, a cheap 2-piece golf ball would be quite adequate for a beginner before moving up to a 3-piece ball and then advancing to a 4-piece ball which brings me onto the next section.

Related: Why Golf Is The Most Expensive Sport In The World

The Titleist Pro V1X Golf Ball

The Titleist Pro V1X is considered one of the best golf balls in the world. The brand was the first to develop a solid core ball with a urethane cover, and the company has maintained a certain degree of clout in the industry due to this fact.

This ball is carefully engineered in every aspect to ensure that it performs perfectly and can be relied upon for consistency in every aspect. The Titleist Pro V1X ball consists of 2 cores that are essentially the engines that allow the ball to gain distance.

These cores are accessed only when the speed from the driver causes them to become compressed. The next layer is the first cover layer, where the ball’s spin is optimized. This layer is activated at slow speeds when approach shots are performed.

The following layer is the outer cover which consists of a thermoset urethane elastomer that helps provide scoring control. It allows for spin but does not necessarily contribute to the speed or distance of the ball.

Through careful engineering, the outer cover can be made as thin as possible to ensure larger inner layers of the ball. This will ultimately add significant distance to your golf game.

All in all, each Titleist Pro V1X undergoes 120 quality control checks to ensure that the ball is perfect and deserves the Titleist logo.

Final Thoughts

On the whole, golf balls are much more complicated than they appear, hence their expense. There is a lot of labor, research, administration, and marketing that goes into developing golf balls. These factors and the materials used add to the overall cost of producing a golf ball.

Generally speaking, the higher the golf ball price, the higher the amount of research and resources that have gone into its production.

But remember you must look after it! Clean your ball and replace it if it gets damaged at every legal opportunity according to the game’s rules.