The History of Golf Balls
Any golfer who gets heavily into the game will soon realize that the sport of golf is one that possesses a uniquely in-depth and rich history that is ripe for study and contemplation. While it might not directly improve your game, knowing a thing or two about the history of the game can increase your appreciation for where the game came from and even give you some insights in how best to approach it in the modern day.
Of all the elements used in golf, the one that has changed the most over the ages is undoubtedly the golf ball itself. When golf first began to be played in Scotland, solid wooden balls were used. Somewhat brittle and apt to changing shape when struck with a club, these balls were quickly found to be unsuitable and were replaced with what were known as “featheries”, a golf ball made from goose feathers tightly packed together into a ball and sewn up inside a skin of leather. These balls, once dried, were much harder than one might expect and as such, were less prone to warping and flew much further than the previous wooden balls.
Still, however, these balls were a far cry from what we think of today when we think of “golf balls”. As such, a rubber-like material known as “gutta” came to be used in the 1800s. These balls were more easily made than the featheries, and quickly became the de facto standard of the sport for quite a while. They were considered to be highly convenient not only due to the ease with which they could be created, but also the ease with which they could be reshaped after being warped from the strike of a club.
In 1898, however, the very first golf balls that bore a resemblance to modern standards first came into play. These were created as a rubber threaded ball with a solid rubber core that combined the flight and control of the featheries with the solid structure of the gutta balls. This new standard of construction allowed the balls to be produced much more cheaply and quickly, causing it to dominate the market and become the new default method for producing golf balls. It was also during this period that golf balls first received the trademark dimple pattern that they all have today. The reason for this pattern is that is creates a great deal of spin, causing the ball to rise, while minimizing aerodynamic drag.
From that point on, the design of the ball has more or less remained the same, changing only in small ways to capitalize on new technological achievements and superior materials. Most balls made today are constructed to the same patterns as the gutta balls of old, but with synthetic materials such as balata and suryln. As a result, we now have balls which are uniquely suited to different types of performance, including those which are made to fly long distances and those which sacrifice distance for a high degree of precise control.