The present invention is directed towards a low-spin multi-layer golf ball which comprises a soft core, a cover layer and a mantle layer disposed between the core and cover layer, wherein the mantle layer has a shore D hardness of greater than 60 and a specific gravity of greater than about 1.2. The invention is also directed towards a golf ball comprising a core, cover layer, and a mantle layer, in which the core has a sufficient amount of calcium oxide to reduce core compression by at least about 2 compression points compared to a core consisting of the same mixture wherein zinc oxide is substituted in place of the calcium oxide.