Golf Ball Hot List 2025: Inside the process behind our annual golf ball review

Just like it is for the Club Hot List, the Golf Ball Hot List is determined through two primary criteria: Performance and Innovation. In the Golf Ball Hot List, the Performance score is assessed by the Hot List judges based on input from player evaluations. Our player panel is comprised of low handicap golfers (scratch to 5-handicap), as well as professionals. Testing was conducted at the Marriott Grande Vista resort in Orlando. All players evaluated each of the 67 balls submitted for final testing. The players’ testing process included greenside shots, half-wedge shots, 7-iron shots and driver with the majority of testing focusing on half-wedge and short-game performance. These are the shots that play the largest role in determining your score, and they are also the shots that reveal the greatest differences in types of golf balls. Players rated balls on a 1-5 scale, with “5” representing the kind of ball a player would want to use in tournament play. During testing all balls have all distinguishing markings blacked out, and balls are only identified by a number.

Robot testing for all golf balls is conducted by Golf Digest’s testing partner, Golf Laboratories.

Each ball or family of balls receives a score in Innovation based on documents and other presentations to the Hot List judges. The highest scores for Innovation reflect those entries with a unique and substantive approach to core, cover, and aerodynamic technologies. As well, given how confusing the golf ball marketplace can be, the entries that provide the clearest fitting guidelines tend to receive the highest marks. Finally, the highest Innovation scores go to those companies with a robust and defined commitment to manufacturing efficiencies and excellence. Representative samples of all entries are measured for weight and roundness consistency and are also cut open for further consistency and concentricity examination.

The star ratings for Performance and Innovation represent the relative ranking of a ball or family of balls within its category. Balls are separated into 2 divisions. One division considers all balls with a urethane cover, including many balls favored by tour players and elite amateurs and many of the top-selling models in the marketplace. The second grouping focuses on non-urethane-cover balls, specifically models with two- and three-piece constructions with an ionomer cover. As a group non-urethane balls still represent the majority of balls sold.