TaylorMade Golf Distance+ Golf Balls Review: Months of Weekend Rounds Tested

I am a 58-year-old retired HVAC contractor who plays to about a 14 handicap. I walk nine holes twice a week at my local public course, and I play an 18-hole Saturday round with the same three buddies. I do not have a swing speed that impresses anyone, and I do not have a swing that repeats perfectly. What I have is a lot of rounds, a lot of range sessions, and a habit of noticing which equipment actually holds up. The TaylorMade Distance+ golf balls have been in my bag for months now, and this is the long-term review I wish I had read before I bought my first dozen.

I will say this plainly: no golf ball is going to fix a slice or add 30 yards to a bad strike. The TaylorMade Distance+ is not a magic fix. It is a well-made, consistent, mid-priced ball that does what it claims to do, and after months of use I keep coming back to it. Here is what that actually looks like on a public course in Monmouth County, New Jersey.

How I've Used It

I have been playing the TaylorMade Distance+ for about five months. I bought my first dozen in early March, right after the last snow melted off the practice green, and I have been through roughly four dozen since. That works out to about 40 nine-hole walks, 15 Saturday rounds, and more range sessions than I can count. I keep a small putting setup in my garage, so I have also hit hundreds of putts with these balls on my own carpet and mat. My typical round is a nine-hole walk with a push cart. I carry a stand bag, I walk the fairways, and I lose a ball or two in the rough or the woods on a bad day. On a good day I finish the round with the same ball I started with, which is exactly the kind of durability test that matters to a weekend golfer.

I have used these balls in temperatures from the 40s to the 90s, on wet mornings and dry afternoons, on a course that is not exactly Augusta. I have hit them off the tee, off the fairway, out of the rough, and into a few trees. I have also watched my buddies play them, because one of them bought a dozen after I did. That gives me a second opinion on every round. One Saturday in late May stands out because it showed me what this ball does under pressure. We had a steady 15-mile-an-hour breeze off the ocean, the kind that usually turns my iron shots into guessing games. I played the same TaylorMade Distance+ for all 18 holes, and the only ball I hit into real trouble was a tee shot I pulled left on the 12th, which was my fault, not the ball's. I shot an 89 that day, which is about my average, but I did not have a single moment where I blamed the equipment. That is the quiet standard I measure gear by now.

Before I settled on the TaylorMade Distance+, I tried a softer ball from another major brand, the kind that feels plush off the putter and spins nicely around the greens. It felt great in the store, and for about three holes it felt great on the course. Then I hit one into a wet bunker lip on the 5th hole, and the cover came away in a little flap. I played the rest of that Saturday round with a scuffed ball that behaved differently on every putt. That was the day I stopped chasing feel and started looking for a ball that could survive a public course. The Distance+ was the first one I tested that did both.

What the TaylorMade Distance+ Actually Does

The TaylorMade Distance+ is a two-piece ball built for one thing: distance. The core is designed to be fast off the clubface, and the cover is a soft ionomer that is meant to give you a little feel without turning the ball into a marshmallow. TaylorMade calls the construction a 342 aerodynamic dimple pattern, and while I cannot verify the exact number, I can tell you that the ball flies consistently and holds its line in the wind better than I expected.

What that means for a 14-handicap player is simple. Off the driver, the ball comes off hot. I am not a long hitter, and my driver swing speed is nothing special, but on a good strike I carry the ball in the 230 range and get a few extra yards of roll compared to the softer balls I used to play. On the 4th hole at my course, a par 5 that bends gently left, I hit my best drive of the spring with one of these balls, a slight draw that ran out to the bottom of the hill, and one of my buddies asked what I had switched to. The honest number is that I gained maybe five to seven yards on average, which is not life changing, but it is the difference between a wedge and a 7 iron on a couple of holes a round.

The ball also does not feel like a rock when I hit it. The cover is soft enough that chipping and putting feel predictable, which is not something I can say for every distance ball I have tried. The tradeoff is real, though. A two-piece distance ball will never spin like a tour-level ball, so I do not get the same check-up on short approach shots. I have to play for a little more roll on the greens. That is a fair trade for a ball that costs less than the premium options and survives a round in the woods.

I also spent a couple of range sessions comparing the Distance+ directly against the ball I used to play, hitting them back to back with the same clubs. On a calm morning at the range about ten minutes from home, I hit ten drives with each ball and marked the landing spots with my rangefinder. The Distance+ was not longer on every swing, my bad swings are my bad swings, but the average carry was a few yards farther and the grouping was tighter. The misses did not wander as wide. That is the kind of consistency I can actually use on a Saturday round, because my score is built from a hundred small decisions, not one heroic shot.

How It Performs Over Time

The most important test for me is how a ball holds up after a few holes, a few rounds, and a few scuffs. The TaylorMade Distance+ has been impressive here. The cover does not cut easily, and I have played balls that have hit cart paths and trees and still looked presentable. I have also found that the ball stays white and clean, which matters more to me than it probably should.

One incident stands out. Back in April, on the 7th hole, I hit a push that caught the cart path and skipped into the rough. I found the ball with a black scuff across the side, and I honestly expected to toss it. I played it for the rest of that nine, and the ball flew the same as it had before the impact. The scuff never got worse, and I used that same ball for two more rounds before I retired it to the practice pile. A premium ball would have been cut, and a cheaper ball would have been done.

After five months, I have a small pile of these balls in my garage that are still perfectly playable. I use them for practice, for the putting setup, and for the occasional round when I do not want to risk a fresh ball. That is the kind of durability that makes a ball a good value, because I am not throwing money into the woods every week. One more durability note, and it is about what I lose, not what I keep. In early June I hit a decent tee shot on the 8th hole that took a bad hop and settled next to a shallow drainage ditch. I fished it out with my club, and the ball had a scrape but no cut. I finished the round with it. A month later, on the same hole, I hit one into the pond on the left, and that ball I did not even try to find. No ball survives a swim, and I do not expect it to. The point is that the Distance+ gives me a fair chance to get my ball back on the holes where it stays dry, and that has quietly saved me money on golf balls this season.

One thing I have noticed is that the ball performs consistently from the first hole to the last. Some balls seem to lose their pop after a few holes, but the Distance+ holds up. I have hit the same ball for 18 holes on a good day, and it still felt the same on the 18th tee as it did on the first. I also put a few of them on my postal scale out of curiosity, and the balls that had been through several rounds still matched the fresh ones within a gram. That consistency is something I did not expect from a distance ball in this price range.

The ball that hit the cart path in April flew the same for the rest of that nine, and I played it for two more rounds after.

Feel, Sound, and the Short Game

Feel is subjective, but I will tell you what I hear and feel. Off the driver, the Distance+ has a crisp, firm sound that is not harsh. Off a putter, it feels soft and solid, and I have made more than my share of putts with it. Around the greens, it does not have the spin of a premium ball, so I have to be honest with myself about how much roll to expect.

My putting setup in the garage has been a useful testing ground. I have rolled hundreds of putts with the Distance+ and compared it side by side with other balls I had around. The Distance+ rolls true and does not feel dead off the face. That is a small thing, but it matters when you are trying to make a four-footer for par on a Saturday morning.

The roll-out is the thing I had to learn to trust. On a chip from about 15 yards off the front of the green at my course, a soft premium ball will check up within a few feet of its pitch mark. The Distance+ will run out another six to eight feet. That sounds like a drawback, and it is on the fastest greens. But my course is a public track with greens that are rarely lightning fast, so once I started aiming for a spot short of the pin and letting the ball roll to the hole, I actually got up and down more often than I did before. The ball did not change. My plan did.

I will also say that the sound off the putter is honest. Some distance balls click like a cheap bat, and you never quite trust them on a slow putt. The Distance+ makes a solid, muted tone that matches how the ball comes off the face. That sounds like a small thing, but when you are standing over a three-footer on a Saturday morning, a ball you trust is worth something. I have made my share of those putts this season, and I do not think it is a coincidence. The moment I trusted the roll was on the 9th hole in April. I was just off the green in two, about 20 feet from the pin with a thin fringe lie between me and the putting surface. With my old ball I would have flopped it and hoped for a check. Instead I putted it with the Distance+, watched it climb the fringe and settle four feet past the hole, and made the putt coming back. That four-footer is the one that convinced me. This ball asks me to play a slightly different short game, and once I accepted that, my scores around the greens got more predictable.

Who This Is For

The TaylorMade Distance+ is for the weekend golfer who wants distance, durability, and a decent feel without spending tour-ball money. It is for the player who loses a few balls a round and does not want to wince every time they hit one into the trees. It is for the 40-and-over golfer who is not trying to spin the ball like a professional, but still wants to enjoy the feel of a well-struck shot.

If that sounds like you, this ball is worth a try. It is not going to lower your handicap by itself, but it will give you a consistent, dependable ball that does what it says, round after round.

Who Should Skip It

If you are a low-handicap player who needs maximum spin around the greens, or if you play a ball that you can shape shot after shot, the TaylorMade Distance+ is probably not for you. It is a distance ball, and it behaves like one. You will give up some short-game spin, and if that spin is the difference between a birdie and a par, you will feel it.

I would also say that if you are the kind of player who never loses a ball and wants the absolute best feel money can buy, you are better off with a premium urethane ball. The Distance+ is a great value, but it is not a substitute for a tour-level ball. It is an honest, well-made distance ball for the rest of us.