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Balls at Discount Golf Outlet
Prices
Golf Balls
are obviously a major part of you gold
game and ultimately your score! The
number of golf ball manufacturers has
grown steadily in the last century.
* click the KnetGolf and other
links above for Discount Golf Balls *
Top
Golf Ball Manufacturers Brands
Originally, there
were only a few brands like Precept that
held most of the market. Now there are
many manufacturers out there, and fierce
competition among golf ball
manufacturers has brought down the
prices considerably over the last
several decades. But top brands - while in a fierce
competition, continue to dig deeper into
technology to stay on top and improve
the golf ball year after year.
See History of
the golf ball - bottom of page -
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Some of the
major golf ball manufacturers today are:
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 In
the earliest days of golf on
the eastern coast of
Scotland, players used
primitive equipment to play
the game in a rather
haphazard and casual manner.
The first clubs and balls
specifically made for golf
were fashioned from wood.
The balls used were made
from hardwoods such as beech
and crudely rounded with
tools. This period lasted
from the 14th Century to the
17th Century
which would have made the
game of golf a somewhat
jarring experience.
Record books also show that
in 1447 King James II issued
his now famous edict in
Parliament that golf was to
be outlawed. His concern was
that his subjects were more
interested in golf than
training how to use the
warfare weapons of their
time!
 The Feather Ball:
In
1618 the feather golf ball
or 'Featherie' was
introduced. The feather ball
period was the longest
period of stability in the
history of the golf ball.
The feathery ball period
lasted from as early as the
14th Century to as late as
the 16th Century and was
produced until the early
1850's. In its beginnings
the leather golf balls were
likely to have been filled
with wool or hair. These
balls quickly lost their
resilience and ultimately it
was discovered that the use
of feathers produced a
livelier and longer lasting
ball.
Feather Ball Construction:
Several pieces
of stout leather were
tightly stitched, leaving a
small opening. Boiled and
softened feathers were tediously
stuffed into the casing
before the final stitches
were made. The surprisingly
hard feather ball was
hammered into roundness and
finally coated with several
layers of "paint".
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 The Gutty Ball: This
is where the modern era
started, with the feathery
being replaced by the gutty.
Gutty-percha is a
similar material to rubber
that is made from the dried
sap of a tree. The
first "Gutta" ball is
believed to have been made
in 1848 by the Rev. Dr.
Paterson from gutta-percha
packing material.
Gutta-percha is the
evaporated milky juice or
latex produced from a tree
most commonly found in
Malaysia. Gutta balls, were
handmade by rolling the
softened material on a
board. The new durability of
the Gutta, together with its
much lower cost, resistance
to water, and improved run,
provided rejuvenation to the
game of golf, thus the Gutta
gradually replaced the
Feathery.
 Gutta-percha enormously
enhanced the game of golf,
and it was soon
discovered by golfers who
failed to smooth their balls
by boiling and rolling them
on a "smoothing board" after
play, that a many "nicked"
balls had truer flight than
the smooth gutta. Thus the
hand hammered gutta was
created by hammering the
softened ball with a hammer
to give the ball an even
pattern that greatly
improved its play. Later
iron molds or ball presses
were used to form the balls
and create patterns.
 Surface
textures and patterns
impressed into the
gutta-percha balls evolved
to greatly
improve the ball’s flight.
The best known balls were
the hand-marked private
brands of the Scottish club
makers. Many brands
with a variety of patent
names used the bramble
pattern (with a surface
similar to the berry). This
became the most popular
pattern of the gutta era and
was also used on some of the
early rubber balls.
 The
rubber ball was invented
in 1898 by a Cleveland,
Ohio, golfer, Coburn
Haskell, in association with
the B. F.
Goodrich Company. The ball
featured rubber thread wound
around a solid rubber core.
The Balata cover was
developed in the early
1900’s. Bramble, mesh,
reverse mesh, and a great
many other patterns
gradually gave way to the
aerodynamically superior
dimple pattern first used in
1908.
 On
January 1, 1932,
standardization of golf ball
weight and size was
established by the United
States Golf Assn. following
1930 standards set by the
British Golf Assn. for a
slightly smaller ball. The
weight was set at a maximum
of 1.620 oz., and diameter
not to be less than 1.680
in. Later. after testing
apparatus was developed to
measure velocity, a maximum
velocity of 250 feet per
second was added by the USGA.
The durability and precision
of today’s balls reflect technological advancement of
their manufacture and
the development of space age
plastics, silicone, and
improved rubber. |
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