Gear: Callaway ERC Soft golf balls (2021)
Price: $34.99 per dozen
Specs: Three-piece ball with single core and mantle layer under a hybrid ionomer cover. Available in white and yellow.
Available: Feb. 25

Pros don’t pay for golf balls, so they play the best ones available. Accomplished golfers at the club level, however, do pay for balls, and like the pros they want distance off the tee and loads of spin and control around the greens. For them, Callaway has updated the ERC Soft for 2021.

The new ERC Soft has a large, high-energy core that provides more distance off the tee while generating less spin. That makes it ideal for golfers who want to hit the ball far and straight and who rarely look to shape shots.

The thin hybrid-material cover is made from a blend of ionomers along with a special material called Paraloid supplied by Dow Chemical. Traditionally, ionomer and Surlyn covers give manufacturers a choice of making a ball faster or more durable, but Callaway said the Paraloid is an impact modifier that makes the material it is blended into less prone to deforming or breaking. In this case, it boosts the flexibility of the cover to enhance ball speed while increasing impact strength, so it maintains durability.

Callaway is not claiming that the ERC soft is going to create as much spin as its premium balls such as the Chrome Soft and Chrome Soft X, but those balls cost $10-$12 per dozen more than the ERC Soft. Most amateur and recreational players control the ball around the green using trajectory, and for them the ERC Soft creates plenty of spin.

Finally, Callaway gave the ERC Soft the company’s Triple Track, which is a red line bracketed by a pair of blue lines to help golfers align putts more easily.