For many amateur golfers, it’s tough to justify spending $40, $50, $60 on a box of golf balls. Odds are you’re losing one of the first tee if you had no time to warm up anyway.

It’s important to buy a golf ball that performs well and isn’t going to break the bank.

That’s why we’ve put together a list of some of the best affordable golf balls on the market from brands like Titleist, TaylorMade, Srixon, Callaway and more.

The best balls on the market — Titleist ProV1, TaylorMade TP5, etc. — go for $50-plus a box. So, every deal we found for you is $35 and under.

Plus, check out some of our other recently released lists for those wanting to improve their score without breaking the bank: Best affordable putters for 2023, best affordable wedges for 2023 and best affordable drivers for 2023.

On a day when the European Ryder Cup team seemed to make one dramatic shot after another en route to taking a commanding 6½-1½ lead over the Americans at Marco Simone outside Rome, Italy, no one was better than Spain’s Jon Rahm. The 2023 Masters champion paired with England’s Tyrrell Hatton to beat Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns 4 and 3 in a morning’s foursome match, then he rallied from behind with Nicolai Højgaard to save a half-point in an afternoon’s fourball match against Scheffler and Brooks Koepka.

Dramatically, Rahm holed out from around the green three times on Friday, including this amazing shot at the 16th hole.

JON RAHM, WOW! #TeamEurope | #RyderCup pic.twitter.com/CqUUwBjtGX

— Ryder Cup Europe (@RyderCupEurope) September 29, 2023

In addition to the Callaway Apex TCB pitching wedge that matches his irons, Rahm typically plays three Callaway Jaws Raw wedges — 52, 56 and 60 degree — that are all fitted with Project X 6.5 shafts and Golf Pride MCC grips. Here is what they looked like at the Travelers Championship in June.

Jon Rahm’s Callaway wedges and irons at the 2023 Travelers Championship. (David Dusek/Golfweek)

However, the lob wedge that Rahm used Friday was not his normal Callaway JAWS Raw 60-degree wedge, it was a prototype. As you can see in the photo above, Rahm’s JAWS RAW has four holes in the back, a Callaway logo on the toe and, per Jon’s preferences, the names of his children are stamped into his wedges. As you can see in the photo below, the club he used at Marco Simone looks very different.

Jon Rahm’s lob wedge Friday at the 2023 Ryder Cup. (Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

While the prototype club still has the Golf Pride MCC grip, we can clearly see it has a True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue shaft instead of Rahm’s normal Project X 6.5 shaft. The wedge itself appears to lack a Callaway logo on the toe, but there does appear to be some identifying stamping on the back. There is moderate heel and toe relief, but significant, similar to the X Grind. With the extremely thick rough around the greens at Marco Simone, a high-bounce wedge would make a lot of sense and could make popping the ball out of tough lies easier.

According to Callaway, Rahm has used this wedge a few times, and adding it this week could definitely be a course-specific move. Upon seeing how a golf course is set up and what the conditions will likely be, many pros tweak their equipment setups, and in some cases, they use different wedges. At the 2019 Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne, where conditions were extremely firm and fast, Justin Thomas added a 60.5-degree, low-bounce Titleist Vokey Design T Grind wedge so he could get the leading edge under the ball without blading chips and pitch shots.

The 2023 Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Rome, Italy, is set to begin Friday morning with four foursomes matches, the first going off at 1:35 a.m. ET.

While the players in Rome have been rocking some awesome shoes so far this week as the prepare for the biennial matches, Nike has gotten in on the fun and wants to make sure all the fans at home can rep the United States or Europe the next time they tee it up. The new Nike Air Zoom Victory Tour 3 NRG golf shoes are just fantastic.

The Team USA shoes feature a red, white and bluc design with stars on the iconic Nike checkmark.

Team USA Nike Air Zoom Victory Tour 3 NRG (Nike)

While the Team Europe shoes feature a mostly white and yellow design with the lone blue feature being the loop on the heel.

Team Europe Nike Air Zoom Victory Tour 3 NRG (Nike)

Whether you’re a Team USA or Team Europe fan, you can get the right pair of Nike Air Zoom Victory Tour 3 NRG golf shoes that reflect your fandom for $210.

Golf is a hard game, but when you introduce the pressure of potentially putting your partner in a terrible spot because of your mistake, it can get even harder. Maybe that’s why foursomes, a game in which two golfers alternate hitting shots until the hole is completed, is not played too much in America.

Ryder Cup captains take a lot of factors into consideration when they create teams and partnerships for foursomes. They often blend big hitters with elite wedge players, good iron players with outstanding putters, or sometimes opt to match up guys who have very similar styles in the hope that they blend together smoothly.

All the players at the 2023 Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf Club in Rome, Italy, will be using their own clubs, but when they are paired together in foursomes (which is often referred to as alternate shot), whose ball do they use? The answer is, both.

“The One Ball rule is not in effect,” confirmed U.S. Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson during his press conference Tuesday.

Tommy Fleetwood may need to tee off with someone else’s ball in Foursomes at the Ryder Cup. (Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports)

Technically, what Johnson was referring to is Model Local Rule G-4, which states, “During an entire round, each ball at which the player makes a stroke must be the same brand and model as found in a single entry on the current List of Conforming Balls.” Simplified, that means when Model Local Rule G-4 is adopted by a tournament or event, golfers have to use the exact same type of ball throughout the round. You are free to use a Titleist, TaylorMade, Callaway, Bridgestone, Srixon or any other ball you find on the Conforming List, but once you hit it off the first tee, that’s the ball you need to use the whole time.

According to the USGA, the purpose of the One Ball rule is to, “prevent a player from using balls with different playing characteristics depending on the nature of the hole or shot to be played during a round.” In other words, the rule prevents you from using a distance-oriented ball on long par 5 and then switching to a spinny ball on short par 3.

So, when Johnson said that the One Ball rule is not in effect at the Ryder Cup, he is also revealing that teams in foursomes can, and almost certainly will, use different balls on different holes. Teams have to use the same ball throughout a hole, but they are free to switch any time a different ball before the start of a hole.

Collin Morikawa and Max Homa practicing at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club on Tuesday. (Adam Cairns-USA TODAY Sports)

“With three practice round days, and arguably a practice round trip, there’s ways to get used to somebody else’s golf ball off the tee, and that’s really what it is, right,” Johnson said. “If we are playing together, I’m probably going to tee off with your golf ball, more times than not, so that we can have more control with your iron play or your wedge play or whatever it may be with your own golf ball. That’s kind of the unwritten rule, right?”

Indeed it is. Every player on both the American and European Ryder Cup teams uses a multi-layer, urethane-covered ball. From a performance perspective, the biggest differences between the balls will be seen on approach shots and shots hit around the greens. Some balls spin more than others and fly higher than others with irons and wedges, so teams want the player who will hit the approach shot to use his own ball.

So, if Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele are paired together again in foursomes and Schauffele has to hit a tee shot on a par 3, expect him to use his own Callaway Chrome Soft X LS ball. If Schauffele has to tee off on a par 4, he will use Cantlay’s Titleist Pro V1x so Cantlay can use the ball he is accustomed to on the approach shot.

Below is a complete list of the golf balls being used by both the American and European Ryder Cup teams:

United States

Sam Burns – Callaway Chrome Soft X
Patrick Cantlay – Titleist Pro V1x
Wyndham Clark – Titleist Pro V1x
Rickie Fowler – TaylorMade TP5 pix
Brian Harman – Titleist Pro V1 (2017)
Max Homa – Titleist Pro V1
Brooks Koepka – Srixon Z-Star Diamond
Collin Morikawa – TaylorMade TP5x
Xander Schauffele – Callaway Chrome Soft X LS
Scottie Scheffler – Titleist Pro V1
Jordan Spieth – Titleist Pro V1x
Justin Thomas – Titleist Pro V1x

Europe

Ludvig Aberg – Titleist Pro V1x
Matt Fitzpatrick – Titleist Pro V1x
Tommy Fleetwood – TaylorMade TP5 pix
Tyrrell Hatton – Titleist Pro V1x
Nicolai Hojgaard – Callaway Chrome Soft X
Viktor Hovland – Titleist Pro V1
Shane Lowry – Srixon Z-Star XV
Robert MacIntyre – TaylorMade TP5x
Rory McIlroy – TaylorMade TP5
Jon Rahm – Callaway Chrome Soft X
Justin Rose – Titleist Pro V1 Left Dot
Sepp Straka – Srixon Z-Star Diamond

Traveling with golf equipment is stressful because no one wants to have their gear go missing or get damaged on a golf vacation. Sadly, my clubs were lost for four days when I flew from Manchester, England, to Edinburgh, Scotland, after the 2006 British Open, which meant I played Carnoustie and The Old Course at St. Andrews with borrowed clubs while wearing running shoes.

Danielle Kang felt that stress last week because her clubs were lost for two days before the Solheim Cup in Spain started. She plays Titleist clubs, but Ping’s equipment truck was the only one on-site at Finca Cortesin, so Ping supplied Kang with equipment so she could practice until her gear (and a second set rushed and hand-delivered by Titleist Europe) arrived on Tuesday evening. 

Whether you are planning a once-in-a-lifetime golf vacation to Europe or a buddy trip to Arizona, these five tips can help lower the anxiety of traveling with golf equipment.

The 2023 Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Rome is nearly here as matches between the Zach Johnson-led Team USA and the Luke Donald-led Team Europe get underway Friday morning.

To make sure Americans across the globe are supporting their team, we’ve put together a list of some of the best U.S. Ryder Cup gear we could find from brands like NOBULL, Ralph Lauren, TaylorMade, FootJoy and more.

If you’re interested in checking out some of our other apparel/equipment lists, here’s best affordable putters for 2023, best affordable drivers for 2023, and a write-up on the adidas MC87 4D golf shoes.

Gear: Mizuno ST-G driver
Price: $599.95 with Project X RDX Smoke Green or Mitsubishi Kai’ Lu Blue shaft and Lamkin Crossline Genesis grip.
Specs: 440-cubic-centimeter titanium body with carbon fiber crown, two moveable 7-gram weights and adjustable hosel. 9.5 and 10.5-degree versions. (9.5 only in left-handed model.)
Available: October 5

Who It’s For: Accomplished golfers and fast-swinging players who want to shape shots off the tee with a low-spin, adjustable club with a classic look in the address position.

The Skinny: Combining plenty of carbon fiber with a smaller head and two moveable weight tracks, Mizuno’s newest driver for better players aims to decrease spin and produce a piercing, controlled flight. 

The Deep Dive: At the start of this season, Mizuno continued its work to gain more traction in the driver market by releasing the 230 ST-Z and 230 ST-X, clubs designed to bring more ball speed and forgiveness to a wide variety of players. Those clubs will be back in 2024, but Mizuno is now releasing a driver for better players to join them, the ST-G.

The Mizuno Pro line of irons is the Japanese company’s highest expression of quality for high-level players, and some people within the brand think of the ST-G woods in the same way. 

At 440 cubic centimeters in volume, the club is smaller than most clubs on the market, with a carbon fiber crown that extends over the edge on the toe side and wraps into the side and sole. That large carbon fiber crown weighs just 16 grams, but the glossy black finish helps it retain a classic look in the address position. 

The Mizuno G230 driver has a compact, clean look in the address position. (David Dusek/Golfweek)

Golfers may recall that the 2021 version of the ST-G driver had three moveable weight tracks, with two running from front to back, controlling the draw and fade bias, while a third track in the rear of the sole allowed players to control shot height. In the new model, there are two tracks, but they do the job of three. Golfers and fitters can slide the 7-gram weights forward to reduce spin and produce a lower ball flight or back to add spin, raise stability and encourage higher-flying drives. The weights can also be positioned on the same track to create strong draw or fade biases that boost MOI and stability.

The face of the ST-G driver is made from a unique titanium alloy that Mizuno calls Beta Rich Ti-LFS. The LFS stands for lighter, faster, stronger, and the material has been heat treated to make it stronger without making it thicker or heavier. 

The ST-G has also been designed with a Cortech Chamber, a feature that debuted in last season’s 230 ST-Z and 230 ST-X drivers. It’s a slot in the sole, behind the leading edge, filled with a thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) to keep water and debris out of the head. Inside the TPU piece, Mizuno adds a stainless steel piece that runs from the heel to toe. The Cortech Chamber allows the face to flex more efficiently on low-struck shots.

Finally, the ST-G driver has an adjustable hosel that allows players and fitters to increase or decrease the loft by up to 2 degrees.

Below are several close-up images of the new Mizuno ST-G.

This week, Golfweek’s fitness guru and long driver Averee Dovsek demonstrates how lowering and raising your hands can help control the direction of the golf ball.

Being in control of your driver doesn’t have to be just for the professionals. This tip will stop you from wanting to snap your driver shaft in half and will hopefully make it your new favorite club in the bag.

If you’re interested in any of Averee’s fitness content, click here.

If you’re looking for more instruction, click here.

Your putter is the only club you use on every hole — unless you hole a chip or approach shot, and in that case, good for you. But because it’s used so much, the retail prices of premium flat sticks can be outrageously high. And since no one wants to pay an arm and a leg for a putter, many amateur golfers hold onto old putters for way too long.

Technology gets better over the years and modern putters are better designed to help the average golfer make more putts. If you’re still using a putter from 10, 20, or 30 years ago, you’re putting yourself at a disadvantage.

So, we thought it’d be a good idea to put together a list of some of the best affordable putters we could find from brands like Ping, TaylorMade, Odyssey and more.

Every putter on this list is less than $200.

Plus, check out some of our other equipment lists: Best golf gloves for 2023, best affordable wedges for 2023 and best affordable drivers for 2023.

Adidas has mixed today’s technology with the classic design of golf footwear and developed the MC87 4D.

This shoe is sure to turn heads with a futuristic 4D midsole and a classic upper. It is a gender-neutral, spikeless shoe that was inspired by the 1987 shoe, the Tiverton.

The Tiverton had similar wing tip styling, brogue stitch detail and croc texturing all in a classic leather. Today, the MC87 4D has combined those traditional designs with a more modern water-resistant upper.

The 4D midsole is printed with light and oxygen using Digital Light Synthesis and is the first of its kind. With the Ryder Cup quickly approaching, they have included a special cobblestone sock liner as an ode to the streets of Rome.

Adidas Golf MC87 4D new shoe. (Adidas Golf)

“Over the last 18 months we’ve noticed golfers wanting more vintage designs, and we’re in a unique position where our archives provide some amazing product inspiration as we continue our mission to be the most progressive golf brand in the world,” said Masun Denison, global footwear director, Adidas Golf. “We challenged ourselves to combine the timeless aesthetics from the past with the technology of today, and MC87 4D was the perfect result. It’s a very special silhouette, a first for us in golf using the 4D technology, and it will be one that golfers everywhere will be excited about.”

Adidas has engineered this shoe with energy return in mind with its intricate lattice structure. To round out the 4D midsole, the shoe features a rubber spikeless outsole with lugs to provide additional traction and grip for when golfers head to the course. The MC87 4D will also come with a removable kiltie.

You can shop and learn more about this shoe on Adidas.com.