The feed drive system model of NC precision sphere grinding machine (MD6040) is constructed. Although a large number of researchers pay more attention on advanced controllers, most high performance machine tools still adopt PID (Proportion Integration Differentiation) controller today. In this paper, PDF (Pseudo-Derivative Feedback) controller and PDFF (Pseudo-Derivative Control with feedforward Gain) controller which evolved from PID controller are studied. The performance of PID controller, PDF controller and PDFF controller is investigated by simulation and experiment. Both simulation results and experiment results showed that PID controller has severe overshoot and less rise time, PDF controller has strong robustness and long rise time and PDFF controller possesses the advantages of the other two controllers. PDFF controller is more suitable for NC precision sphere grinding machine feed drive system.