Golf Balls

The golf ball roots are harbored on the Eastern Coast in Scotland, where golf balls were first made of hardwood like Beech and Boxroot. In 1618, the next type of golf ball, the featherie ball, came into existence. This golf ball was manufactured using wet cowhide sphere stuffed with goose feathers.

The feathers dried as the leather shrunk to create a compact and hardened golf ball. This time-consuming process made this golf ball too expensive. This golf ball was the standard for over three centuries to be replaced with the Gutta Percha ball in 1848.

Rev. Dr. Robert Adams discovered the Gutta Percha “Gutty” golf ball, which was created using the dried sap of the Sapodialla tree and which had a rubber-like feel to be formed into ball shapes by heating and shaping while hot. It was by accident that improperly smoothed gutty balls had a truer flight than the smooth counterpart. Then came the rubber ball, which changed the face of golf to the way we know it.

The rubber ball was invented in 1898, and had a solid rubber core with high tension rubber thread wrapped around it, to be covered with a Gutta Percha cover. The golf balls had a multitude of outer designs for better airflow, giving way to the first dimple pattern in 1908. Dimples are used in a golf ball as a formal and symmetrical way of creating the turbulence in the boundary layer of the golf balls that nicks and cuts did. Nowadays, golf players use not only new golf balls but also used golf balls. Used golf balls are divided into different categories according to usage.

The standard weight and size for the golf ball was established in 1930, in Britain and in 1932, in America. Both organizations had different specifications until 1990, when the standard was set. The weight of the golf ball should not be more than 1.620 ounces avoirdupois (45.93 grams), and the diameter should not be less than 1.680 inches. Golf balls are put under different tests to maintain their standards. Different companies that manufacture golf balls also imprint their logos on the ball, and to decide which golf ball to buy, it is always better to go by your gut feeling after going through numerous golf ball reviews.