What happens if compression is too high?

Mostly it feels harsh. The distance penalty people warn about does not show up in the driver data.

MyGolfSpy’s 2026 robot test looked for a swing speed where firm balls start to lose ball speed to soft ones and found none. At 85 mph, not one of the 11 balls under 75 compression beat the Pro V1 control off the driver. Titleist’s compression page describes it as a matter of degree: faster swings compress the ball more and slower swings compress it less. Neither source found a cutoff speed.

What you do notice with a ball that is too firm for you is feel. It clicks off the putter, it stings in cold weather, and it can feel like hitting a rock on mishits. Firm urethane balls also spin more on wedges, which some golfers love and some find hard to control.

If you hate the feel, go softer. The cost is small: in the same test the softest balls gave up about 1 mph of driver ball speed at 85 mph and 4 to 5 mph at 115, which is a few yards, not a club.