A Brief History Of The Golf Ball: Where We've Been, Where We Are And Where We're Going

In golf’s earliest days in Scotland, it’s likely that play was with a wooden ball as per other northern European stick and ball games of the later middle ages.

Moving forward, the “hairy” ball was a pouch stuffed with hair and the famous feathery was a leather pouch stuffed with goose feathers. The feathery was the ball of choice for golf from the early 18^th century and is first referred to in a poem from the Netherlands, dating from 1657.

Allan Robertson of St Andrews was a master feathery maker of the early and mid 19^th century and he took on Old Tom Morris as an apprentice and taught him the art of making the feathery. It was a time-consuming process and an individual would only make three or four balls per day.

Old Tom and Allan Robertson’s working relationship ended when Robertson spied Morris out on the links playing with a rubber “gutty” ball.

The gutty was a ball used from the mid-19^th century to the turn of the 20^th century when the Haskell rubber ball appeared on the scene.

The gutty was so called as it was made of gutta-percha gum – that’s a sort of dried gum resin found in guttiferous trees, particularly the Malaysian sapodilla tree.

In 1901 a new wound, rubber-cored ball patented by Bertram Work and Coburn Haskell arrived in Britain from the USA. The “Haskell” revolutionised the game as it travelled considerably further than the previously standard balls made from gutta percha – “Gutties.”

The Haskell and other examples of rubber-cored balls were at the cutting edge in the early 20th century. Manufacturers experimented with various patterns on their surface - meshes, brambles and, after a 1905 invention by William Taylor, dimples.

At that time there was no standard for the size and weight of a golf ball. In fact, it was not set until 1920 when The R&A and the USGA agreed the weight of a ball should not be greater than 1.62 ounces and the diameter no less than 1.62 inches.

From 1932, the USGA changed its rules to say the ball should be no less than 1.68 inches in diameter. The R&A did not follow suit and it was not until 1990 they finally made the smaller ball illegal for all competition.

The 1930s witnessed some key innovations in ball design. In 1930 Spalding produced the first wound balata ball with a liquid centre ­– the “Kro-Flite.” A natural product, balata was a popular (if less than durable) choice for premium ball covers for the remainder of the 20^th century.

Key ball releases between 1930 and 1960 included the “Dunlop ’65,” launched to commemorate Henry Cotton’s second round score in the 1934 Open Championship and, in 1954, the Wilson “Staff” – said to come off the clubface 40% faster than anything that had gone before.

A significant development in golf ball evolution came in the mid 1960s when Surlyn (a tough and flexible ionomer created by chemical company DuPont) was first used as a cover material. The first patent was by Ram who released the “Golden Ram” ball in 1968.

Also in 1968, Spalding launched the first two-piece ball – “The Executive.” It had a Urethane cover but from 1972 Surlyn was used and it was renamed the “Top-Flite.”

Manufacturers began to take advantage of these more versatile coverings by experimenting with different dimple patterns. In 1973, Titleist developed an icosahedral dimple pattern dividing the cover into 20 regions. The icosahedron has remained a staple at Titleist and the company’s designs as has a tetrahedral dimple design.

Wound balls continued to dominate the market through the latter part of the 20^th century but, at the 1986 Open Championship, Greg Norman became the first man to win a (modern era) Major using a non-wound ball – a Spalding “Tour Edition.”

Titleist’s “Pro V1,” launched in 2000, was the first solid core, non-wound ball to gain widespread acceptance from the pros.

Now, premium balls are non-wound and tend to feature multiple layers.

Where do we go from here?

Regulations on the performance of the golf ball and the overall distance standard have been in place since 1976.

In 2023, The R&A and USGA announced that the golf ball will be rolled back for professional, elite amateur and recreational players to "reduce the impact increased hitting distances have on golf's long-term sustainability".

Pros will use the new balls in 2028, while recreational players won't have to start using them until 2030.

The new balls are expected to see a reduction in distance of 13-15 yards for the longest hitters, 9-11 yards for the average touring pro and 5-7 yards for an average female pro.

The golf ball will be rolled back by changing the testing procedures. Currently golf balls in testing cannot travel more than 317 yards (plus a 3 yard tolerance) with a testing swing speed of 120mph, a spin rate of 2520rpm and a launch angle of 10 degrees.

The overall distance will remain the same for testing from 2028 onwards but the swing speed will be upped to 125mph with a lower spin rate of 2220rpm and a higher launch angle of 11 degrees.