How Long Have Golf Balls Been Around

January 26th, 2012 by articles

Most people, who have ever played the game, have probably never given much thought to the golf balls. However, the game has been around for centuries and they have changed dramatically throughout the years. The diameter and the weight of them are regulated and they are tested to make sure they fall within the guidelines.

Before the early 17th century, they were made of wood. After that a new ball was designed that was a hand-made leather pocket with feathers on the inside. The outside was then painted

Enough feathers to fill a hat were boiled down and then placed in the leather pocket. As these feathers would cool they would distend. The wet leather pocket would shrink up around the feathers making for a very hard and compact ball. Any openings in the leather would be sewn up with stitches.

This design was used for several centuries even though they did have their issues. The cost to create this design was quite costly. It was not possible to make very many of them at a time, which made them harder to come by. They also would come apart if they hit to hard.

By the mid 1800s there was a new design created. This was made from the dry sap of a tree that had a rubbery texture and could shaped when it was heated. Accidentally, they also discovered that when creating these spheres, the tools used was making a dimpling on the exterior of them. This dimpling seem to give it a longer flight range, so they began to deliberately cause the defects.

After that there were some rubber balls created, that were then wrapped in a cover to stop it from bouncing to high. Today, most golf balls are made from synthetic fibers that are made in several layers. They are then categorized by the number of layers each one has.

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