TaylorMade Speed Soft Review

Thirty five compression is an unusual number to build a ball around, and Speed Soft commits to it completely. Off the putter it barely makes a sound, a dull thud instead of a click, and on a long lag the ball feels like it leaves the face a beat late. Anyone arriving from a firm distance ball notices on the first green, and most of them like it immediately.

The speed half of the name holds up at the swing it was built for. A 90 mph driver compresses this fully, and the flight is mid to high with very little spin, so the ball runs on landing rather than stopping. That is free yardage on a dry fairway in August and a nuisance on a soft one in April. Above about 105 mph the core is simply too soft: the ball climbs, the spin goes up with it, and you hand carry back.

Then there is the wedge, which is the grade that matters here. The cover is soft ionomer, not urethane, and a lob wedge pitch from 30 yards lands, takes a small hop and keeps going. A full wedge from 100 yards checks once and releases ten feet past. You either plan for that or you play something else. At twenty five dollars a dozen, with colours that make the ball easy to track in rough, it is a perfectly honest purchase for a recreational player who would rather feel the ball than stop it.