A golf ball comprising a single layer core and a cover layer disposed about the single layer core, the single layer core being formed from a substantially homogenous formulation and comprising a geometric center and an outer surface wherein an inner core region is disposed about the geometric center, an outer core region is adjacent the outer surface, and an intermediate core region is disposed between the inner and outer core regions and extends from at least about 2 mm radially from the geometric center to at least about 2 mm from the outer surface. The inner core region has a first hardness (IC1h), the outer core region has a second hardness (OC2h), the intermediate core region has third and fourth hardnesses (IMC3h) and (IMC4h), respectively, such that the third hardness is less than the first and second hardnesses, represented by the relationships (IMC3h) (IC1h) and (IMC4h)>(OC2h), and hardness of the outer surface (OSh) is greater than a hardness of the geometric center (GCh), represented by the relationship (OSh)>(GCh) to define a positive hardness gradient.