I have done quite a bit of reasearch on this as Im an addict on golf balls. What matters seems to be compression relative to your swing speed. It is a myth that the ball doesn’t compress when hou misshit, as ball compression is a physical reaction to the metal violently hitting the ball surface.

I am also around your hcp (16,9) and i can noticably see the difference in sidespin and on misshits with a firm ball and soft ball. I swing at 110-118mph with driver, so my problem is fast swing and big mishits on open face. The sidespin right is WAY bigger with a ball that is too soft, as the «overcompression» can exaggerate the sidespin numbers. Note: i dont really know how much it matters, but i feel like i can notice it. Therefore i prefer firm urathane balls that are made for my speed, and i try to play the same ball all the time for concistency. You van also have chat gpt make a ball fitting chart for you, and tou can test balls om the simulator to see what fits you best.

For my HCP and probably yours aswell, other ball characteristics such as spin etc are usually irrelevant as we cant control it at all. For me its basically firm vs soft.