UNDERSTANDING GOLF BALLS
A thorough understanding of gold balls requires awareness of the trivial details. But before understanding the various terms and other factors associated with golf balls, let’s go into the realms of history of golf balls.
The foremost golf ball was named featherie. It was like a spherical leather pocket stocked with feathers white. Archetypal drive of featherie lied in the range of 150 to 175 yards. However, the ball was useless after getting wet. During the year 1845, gutta-percha ball came into limelight. Gum of the Malaysian Sapodilla tree was heated and casted into a smooth sphere. This new invention overcame with the drawbacks of featherie. The drive was now shorter and this new golf ball was useful even when wet.
However, later it was discovered that a scored or marked surface would make the ball fly far. After a lot of pondering golf balls with dimples came to be accepted as the standard design. From 1930s this design has been effectively used for manufacturing golf balls. Basically, rubber thread is twined around a core of rubber. It is then surfaced with dimpled enamel. The dimples are normally 336 in number in case of an American ball and 330 in case of a British ball.
A standard golf ball
There is much more to golf balls than the basal dimpled design. The design strikingly influences a ball’s distance, compression rate, spin and flight. Also, the level of the golfer is a considerable factor. The categorization of golf balls can be considered here.
- One piece (Beginner’s ball)
- Two piece or Surlyn)
- Three piece or Balata (For an adroit player)
- Low spin (Beginner’s ball)
- Mid spin
- High spin (For an adroit player)
- Firm feel golf balls
- Mid feel balls
- Soft feel balls (For an adroit player)
Each ball is subject to certain testing requisites established by the United States Golf Association (USGA). Certain specifications like weight and size need to be maintained. Also, each ball needs to pass three tests viz. Spherical Symmetry, Initial Velocity and Overall Distance Standards. The weight must not exceed 1.62 ounces. However, there isn’t any minimum weight set by USGA. A minimum diameter of 1.68 inches is must. The Spherical Symmetry test examines the design and symmetry of the sphere. The Initial Velocity test checks the speed of a ball off the initial hit. Overall Distance Standards limits the overall distance that a ball may travel. The overall distance (including the roll) was lately changed from 296.8 yards (5.6 yard tolerance) to 320 yards (3 yard rolling tolerance).
Some of the hot products on the golf market presently are customized golf balls and logo golf balls. The customized golf balls offer the option of getting a graphic done on the ball. It may be an image, a text, a company’s logo etc. The top brands offering golf balls are adidas Golf, Callaway, Cleveland Golf, Dunlop, MacGregor, Maxfli, Nike Golf, PING, Srixon, TaylorMade and Titleist.
