An object of the present invention is to provide a golf ball showing a low spin rate on driver shots and a high spin rate on approach shots. The present invention provides a golf ball having a low hardness part having a hardness in a range from 5 to 40 in Shore D hardness or a lowest hardness point in a core hardness distribution in a region located at a distance from 36.0% to 65.0% of a radius of the golf ball from a center point of the golf ball.
1. A golf ball comprising a core and a cover, wherein
the core is composed of a spherical center having a diameter of 20 mm or less and n envelope layers covering the spherical center, wherein n is a natural number of 3 or more;
the core hardness distribution has a lowest hardness point present in a region located at a distance from 36.0% to 65.0% of the golf ball radius from the golf ball center point; and
the core hardness distribution has a highest hardness point present in a region located at a distance from 93.0% to 99.5% of the golf ball radius from the golf ball center point.
2. The golf ball according to claim 1 , wherein the lowest hardness point in the core hardness distribution is present in a region located at a distance from 40.0% to 62.5% of the golf ball radius from the golf ball center point.
3. The golf ball according to claim 1 , wherein the core hardness decreases from the center point towards the surface of the golf ball with an average hardness decrease gradient in a range from −2.5 points/mm to −0.1 point/mm in Shore D hardness, and reaches the lowest hardness point within the region located at a distance from 36.0% to 65.0% of the golf ball radius from the golf ball center point.
4. The golf ball according to claim 1 , wherein an entire region located at a distance from 36.0% to 50.0% of the radius of the golf ball from the center point of the golf ball has a hardness of less than 45 in Shore D hardness.
5. The golf ball according to claim 1 , wherein the lowest hardness point has a hardness of 3 or more and 40 or less in Shore D hardness.
6. The golf ball according to claim 1 , wherein the core hardness increases from the lowest hardness point towards the highest hardness point with an average hardness increase gradient in a range from 2 points/mm to 10 points/mm in Shore D hardness.
7. The golf ball according to claim 1 , wherein the highest hardness point has a hardness in a range from 30 to 85 in Shore D hardness.
8. The golf ball according to claim 1 , wherein the cover has a material hardness (Hc 2 ) in a range from 5 to 55 in Shore D hardness.
9. A golf ball comprising a core and a cover, wherein
the core is composed of a spherical center having a diameter of 20 mm or less and two envelope layers covering the spherical center;
the core hardness distribution has a lowest hardness point present in a region located at a distance from 36.0% to 65.0% of the golf ball radius from the golf ball center point;
the lowest hardness point has a hardness of 3 or more and 27 or less in Shore D hardness; and
the core hardness distribution has a highest hardness point present in a region located at a distance from 93.0% to 99.5% of the golf ball radius from the golf ball center point.