Is the TaylorMade Distance+ golf ball worth it?

How the TaylorMade Distance+ core matches your swing speed

Here's what's actually happening under the cover. The Distance+ uses a two-layer build: an ionomer cover wrapped around what TaylorMade calls a REACT Speed Core. Ionomer is a tougher, lower-cost cover material than the thin urethane skins on tour balls, and it's paired with a core designed to compress easily at impact. That combination matters because compression is about matching the ball to the force behind the swing. A softer core needs less clubhead speed to squash flat against the face and spring back, which is where the energy transfer, and the distance, actually comes from. Swing fast enough and a low-compression core over-compresses, losing energy instead of storing it, which is why tour pros play firmer, multi-layer balls built around spin and feel, not raw compression. Swing at a moderate pace and this same softness is the whole advantage: more of your swing turns into ball speed instead of getting absorbed. The Extended Flight Dimple Pattern is doing a second, smaller job, holding the ball's line through wind so the extra distance you gained off the tee doesn't get knocked sideways on the way down. The Plus Alignment Aid is the simplest piece, a printed line for squaring up your putter or driver face at address, useful, but it doesn't move a single yard down the fairway. The two-layer ionomer construction also means these balls take a beating from cart paths and mishit irons without scuffing into unusable, which matters if you're playing the same three balls all season instead of buying a sleeve a round.