The Legendary History of

Golf Balls

How Golf Balls Were First Developed

• As early as 1550• Golf started in Scotland• First balls used were wooden• Large nuts, and small rocks were also

used if wooden balls were not available

Feather Golf Ball • 1600s• Handcrafted ball made with goose

feathers tightly packed into a horse or cow hide sphere

• Makers would boil the feathers, and stitch the ball around the feathers

• The feathers dried and expanded inside of the leather sphere, which made this ball hard

• Very expensive

Gutta Percha Ball

• 1848• Made from the hardened sap of a gutta

tree• Easily made in a mould• Could be repaired by reheating• Cheap to make • Could not fly as far as feather balls, so

in 1880 patterns were added to the outside of the ball

Rubber Core Ball

• 1898• Spherical ball with notches that

was solid rubber, and wrapped in rubber thread

• Hit farther than the gutta ball• In 1905 William Taylor made

the first ball with uniform dimples

Modern Golf Ball• 2 Piece balls consist of a plastic outer

layer and a rubber core (casual golfer)

• 3 Piece balls consist of a plastic/ synthetic outer layer with a middle layer of rubber thread, and an inner core made of either gel or hard rubber

• All balls have dimples of some kind but the pattern depends on the manufacturer

The Taylor 5 Layer Ball

• Soft Urethane Cover • The firm and fast Outer Mantle• semi-firm and fast Middle

Mantle• soft, fast Inner Mantle• extremely soft, low-

compression core The Ball of t

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