Amazon Basics Golf Ball Review: Is Amazon's viral $1 ball actually any good?

Given the rising cost of living over the last few years, it probably shouldn't come as a surprise that one of the biggest equipment stories of the year ended up being Amazon releasing a $1 golf ball.

Even so though, it's fair to say the virality of the surprise release probably caught even the e-commerce giant off guard, with media outlets even outside of the golf industry picking up on the release and golfers from both sides of the pond instantly rushing to secure a dozen for themselves.

Some dozen packs are even selling for close to double their retail price on eBay, which is odd given they're still in stock on Amazon itself.

The question on everyone's lips, however, is simple: is the Amazon Basics golf ball, dubbed the Core Soft, any good? And if so, can it present a real challenge to the best beginner golf balls out there?

To find out, GolfMagic's Equipment and Reviews Editors took it out on the course at Monifieth Golf Links and tested it out in a Trackman bay at TeeGo Angel, bringing along a host of high-end and affordable competitor golf balls for comparison. Here's what we thought.

Check out our video review and scroll on to read our detailed thoughts. Tried the ball yourself? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Looks and features

Let's start, aptly, with the basics. Indeed, the Amazon Basics Golf Ball is basic both by name and by nature, designed not to compete with the most premium balls on the market as the much-loved Kirkland Signature golf ball does, but rather provide an affordable, simple and easy to hit ball for a wider range of players. 

The Core Soft boasts very little in the way of fancy tech or showy branding. It has a simple Amazon arrow logo denoting the brand, as well as a simple alignment aid to help with lining up putts. It's utterly inoffensive, but if you're the kind of person who finds looking down at a more premium brand's logo inspiring, it might look a bit too minimal for your eye.

This minimalist approach continues with the ball's construction and intent. This is very much a no-frills, two-piece soft feel golf ball in the mould of models like Titleist's TruFeel, Callaway's SuperSoft and Srixon's AD333. It has a soft, durable ionomer cover generating a reasonable amount of greenside spin, layered over a single low compression core to aid ball speed for players of different swing speeds.

Made by the same factory that produces balls for Kirkland and PXG, the Core Soft does, according to the boffins at MyGolfSpy, have a couple of small quirks that help it stand out from the pack of entry-level golf balls. Most notably it's among the smallest diameter ionomer golf balls around, which theoretically should aid performance compared to most entry-level balls, which tend to be on the larger side (if imperceptibly).

Aside from that, the Core Soft slots in very neatly among its more expensive competitors in metrics like weight and compression, which as we found out upon hitting it, made it a surprisingly adept performer.

Performance

We were fully prepared for the Amazon Basics Golf Ball to perform towards the bottom of the pack even by the standards of entry-level soft feel golf balls, but that simply wasn't the case. Rather, in just about every metric it performed exactly how you'd expect a more expensive two ball to.

To give the Basics ball a fair test, we hit a number of shots with a variety of clubs with the Core Soft, Wilson's ultra-low compression Duo Soft and Titleist's slightly more premium TruFeel, testing metrics like launch angle, spin rate and distance to see how it fared. We came to the conclusion that it's a solid performer given the price, but not entirely overwhelmed with excitement.

Tested with a launch monitor against a Titleist Pro V1 and two more affordable balls in the Titleist TruFeel and Wilson's Duo Soft, it fell basically right in the middle of the two latter options in terms of overall performance.

On the whole, we found the Amazon Ball surprisingly easy to hit with the longer clubs, with a high and straight ball flight and a relatively soft feel.

The key trade-off with the Core Soft, as is the case with many cheaper golf balls, is one of consistency. The Amazon ball produced less spin and distance with irons and wedges compared to the TruFeel, making it more tricky to dial in distance without the fear that some shots would either pull up short or come off the face super hot. Some of this will come down to the construction of the ball itself, but it's also likely that there are simply more physical inconsistencies ball-to-ball than you'd get with the premium manufacturers.

The Core Soft feels, with its low compression core, soft and supple off most clubs, with a solid amount of feedback that prevents it feeling overly mushy at faster speeds. It has a fairly muted, slightly clicky sound at impact with the short clubs, and a slightly more plasticky, hollow feel with the putter that becomes more apparent the more power you put into your putts.

Performance around the greens is basically what you'd expect from a two piece ball: soft, but with much more roll-out and less of the precision than you'd get with a more premium ball – which once again was borne out in the data.

The Core Soft, then, is not a ball that's going to give premium ball users much to think about any time soon. However given it's distinctly aimed at golfers like me and even towards the higher handicaps, we can say with reasonable authority that for this level of golfer the Amazon Basics is both easy to hit and an able performer compared to models that'll generally set you back more than £10 more per dozen.

Should you buy the Amazon Basics Golf Ball?

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Amazon Basics Core Soft Golf Balls, 12-Packfrom £17.06 at amazon.uk

After spending an hour or so hitting the Amazon Basics Golf Balls against its more expensive competitors, we left wondering whether or not the Core Soft has the potential to be a real game changer in the beginner golf ball market.

While its performance is by no means spectacular, its soft feel and reasonable performance numbers, even in the hands of a rank amateur, more than stands up to that of the premium brands and ticks every box you'd expect of a big name two-piece golf ball, making it a near irresistible bargain at its price point.

While plenty of low-cost golf balls will have the Core Soft bested in terms of short game performance and consistency of build, for the vast majority of golfers simply wanting an affordable, reliable option that they won't miss too much if they hit a few into the trees, the Amazon Basics Golf Ball might make an enticing prospect. The question, mostly, is whether or not golfers will be able to clear the mental hurdle of looking down at an Amazon logo at address, rather than a Titleist or a Srixon.

Even so, we think we can safely expect to see a growing number of these out on our local municipal courses in the years to come.