A golf ball for amateur golfers is endowed with both an excellent flight and a good, soft feel at impact when hit by the average golfer whose head speed is not very high. The golf ball, which includes a core and a cover, has a compressive deformation A when subjected to a final load of 5 kgf from an initial load of 0.2 kgf that is 0.18 mm or less, a compressive deformation B when subjected to a final load of 50 kgf from an initial load of 5 kgf that is from 1.30 to 1.69 mm and a compressive deformation C when subjected to a final load of 90 kgf from an initial load of 5 kgf that is from 2.45 to 2.90 mm.

A golf ball with a core comprising polybutadiene and graphene, and a soft cover is disclosed herein. The golf ball has a dual core with an outer core comprising polybutadiene and graphene. The soft cover is preferably composed of a highly neutralized polymer, a first ionomer, a second ionomer, and a paraloid impact modifier.

In a golf ball having a core, an intermediate layer and a cover, the intermediate layer-encased sphere has a higher surface hardness than the ball. The core hardness profile in the ball is designed such that the core surface has a Shore C hardness value which is at least 28 higher than the Shore C hardness value at the core center, and the surface areas A to F calculated from hardness differences between positions located at specific distances in the core and differences between the specific distances satisfy a specific formula. This golf ball has an excellent flight performance when struck by skilled amateur golfers and professionals, and also has a good controllability on shots with an iron.

An object of the present invention is to provide a golf ball having excellent shot feeling on driver shots. The present invention provides a golf ball comprising a core and at least one cover covering the core, wherein a material for forming the core has a loss tangent difference tan (tan .sub.80tan .sub.40) of 0.12 or more between a loss tangent tan .sub.80 at 80 C. and a loss tangent tan .sub.40 at 40 C.

Golf balls comprising a multi-layer core and a cover are disclosed. The multi-layer core comprises a center, an intermediate core layer, and an outer core layer. At least one layer of the multi-layer core is a high specific gravity layer.

A golf ball comprising: (a) a core; (b) an inner mantle layer; (c) an intermediate mantle layer; (d) an outer mantle layer; and (e) at least one cover layer; wherein the core has a PGA compression of less than 70, and the core/inner mantle layer/intermediate mantle layer combined construct has a PGA compression of at least 30.

A multi-piece solid golf ball having a two-layer core with an inner core layer and an outer core layer and having a cover of at least two layers including an intermediate layer and an outer layer with numerous dimples on the surface is characterized in that the hardest cover layer has a specific material hardness and the ball has a specific value obtained by subtracting the surface hardness of the overall core from the surface hardness of the hardest cover layer, a specific deflection, and a specific value obtained by subtracting the initial velocity of the inner core layer from the initial velocity of the sphere consisting of the inner core layer encased by the outer core layer. This golf ball enables relatively low head speed golfers to achieve a good distance on full shots with drivers and iron clubs and also provides a soft, comfortable feel at impact.

A golf ball comprising a core composed of a fully neutralized polymer material is disclosed herein. The golf ball also preferably has multiple mantle layers and a cover.

In a golf ball having a core, an intermediate layer and a cover, the core is formed of a rubber composition and the intermediate layer and the cover are each formed of a resin composition. The core, the intermediate layer-encased sphere and the ball have respective initial velocities which together satisfy the following two conditions:

(initial velocity of ball)<(initial velocity of intermediate layer-encased sphere),

0.65(initial velocity of intermediate layer-encased sphere)(initial velocity of core)1.15 m/s.

Also, letting C and B be the respective deflections in millimeters of the core and the ball when compressed under a specific load, the value of CB is 1.20 mm or more. This golf ball can achieve a superior distance on shots with a utility club and on shots with irons, and exhibits a good durability to repeated impact and a good controllability in the short game.

Multi-piece golf balls having a solid core made of a foamed composition and a cover are provided. Preferably, the core is dual-layered having has a foam inner core (center) and surrounding thermoset or thermoplastic outer core layer. Preferably, a polyurethane foam composition containing mineral filler particulate, for example, nanoclay particles, is used to form the foam center. The concentration of clay particulate is preferably in a range of 0.1 to 60% by weight. The surrounding outer core layer may be made from non-foamed or foamed compositions. For example, polybutadiene rubber or highly neutralized olefin acid copolymers may be used in the outer core layer. The core layers have different hardness gradients and specific gravity values.