Noodle Golf Balls Review: The Best Cheap Golf Balls on the Market

I’ve got a little bit of an embarrassing story to share with you.

It was this past January and I was gearing up to play three rounds down in Florida before the PGA Show.

I’d be playing both the Ocean and Conservatory courses at Hammock Beach, as well as the famed Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass.

We arrived at Hammock Beach and upon opening up my bag, I realized I was nearly out of golf balls.

Pro tip: Never wait until you’re at the resort to buy golf balls. It’s a surefire way to go broke.

But in this instance I had no choice.

They were charging $40ish for Project A or Bridgestone e6 balls, which are my go to when I don’t want to shell out for ProV1s.

But $40 for them felt really painful. Especially considering I hadn’t been playing and there was a good chance they’d be gone in one round anyway.

So I did something no self-respecting single digit handicap would ever do: I bought cheap golf balls.

Specifically, I bought a 15 pack of Noodle Long and Soft balls for about $20. It was the only golf ball they had that actually felt like a reasonable deal. 

And you know what was even more surprising than the fact I bought them?

The fact they were actually really good!

Noodle Golf Balls Review: Long and Soft Performance

Let’s focus on the crux of this story:

I played a $400 round of golf at TPC Sawgrass with cheap Noodle Long and Soft golf balls.

And I don’t regret it for a second.

Are these balls going to give you the feel and performance of a ProV1 if you’re a scratch golfer. No, they’re not.

But the reality is, my game is far from consistent. When I’m playing really well, I benefit from the added feel, spin, and control from tour level balls.

But a lot of the time, the ball has very little to do with my score and how I’m playing.

What surprised me about the Noodle though, was just how good it felt off the tee.

I ended up shooting an 86 at Sawgrass, which I felt great about. The back 9 in particular was quite stellar.

But I felt like the ball compressed well, and I didn’t feel like I lost any distance using it. In fact, I felt like the ball really lived up to it’s name: long and soft.

Check out this overview from Arccos Golf of my round on the 18th at TPC Sawgrass:

Not bad for a ball that costs about a buck.

275, straight down the middle. 8 iron to 5 feet.

I missed the putt, but that’s besides the point.

I truly felt like I had a lot of control over my shots, and it was nothing like what you typically associate with cheap balls.

If you hit range balls, or say, cheap Top Flites, it can feel like you’re hitting nothing more than a big dimpled rock.

That isn’t the case with the Noodle golf balls. Drives and irons felt good, and while they certainly don’t give you quite the feel of say pure-ing a tour ball, it was much better than expected, and on par with some of the mid range balls in the $30-35 a dozen range.

Where the Noodle Long and Soft Fails

For as much as I love the Noodle, where it generally fails is around the greens – chip shots and short pitches in particular. This is where you lose some feel, and you don’t get the spin and the control that you’d have with a more expensive ball.

It’s not to say it’s terrible, it’s certainly better than many of the cheaper balls I’ve played with, but if you’re a better player, this is where you’ll see a better ball have the most positive impact on your game.

Should You Buy the Noodle Long and Soft?

Frankly, I think this is a fantastic ball for anyone who doesn’t carry a single digit handicap.

In fact, we rated as the best golf ball for beginners in our best golf balls recap.

Sure you can blow your budget and feel all fancy buying ProV1s or something similar, but honestly? For 12+ handicaps, these are going to get you 90% of the way there.

So my answer is a resounding yes, I think you should absolutely pick up the Noodle Long and Soft golf ball and see if it works for you.

In fact, it’s become my go to back up ball.

Right now I’m hovering around an 8, and like I said, I do notice an increase in performance of a tour ball when I’m playing well.

But what about those rounds where you can’t hit it to save your life, you’ve lost three balls through 2 holes, and there are no signs of getting better?

Out come the Noodles. No need to waste two more sleeves of ProV1s when I can practically get an entire box of these for the cost of one sleeve.

And if you’re a casual golfer who is stoked just to break 90? These golf balls are the best value out there.

If you can get over your ego and the fact your playing with a Noodle (there were multiple jabs at my expense during that Florida trip), you’ll be the one getting the last laugh as you’ll play well, and still have enough money to pick up the bar tab after the round.

Grab a two dozen (!!!) Noodle Golf Balls on Amazon for about $21 (as of the time of this writing).

The Breakdown