Golf Ball Evolution Shows Results of Engineering Tweaks – Palm Springs Life

A golf ball can cause plenty of joy and pain while out on the lush greens of the Indian Canyons Golf Resort in Palm Springs. Despite weighing 1.62 ounces and spanning a mere 1.68 inches in diameter, it can be your friend or foe and earn both praise and then disdain in a matter of seconds. Unfortunately, it rarely listens to your requests, no matter how desperate the pleas. Just ask any golfer.

Golfers may not know everything about outer layers, inner cores, ionomer resins, or other unpronounceable ingredients that now go into making them, but they do know the golf ball has evolved over time. The first versions created centuries ago were rumored to have been made from wood a bit impractical, so a significant step forward came in the early 1800s with the featherie ball, so named because of the boiled goose feathers used to fill up a small leather sack that was then stitched up and painted.

Another key milestone occurred in the mid-1850s with the introduction of the gutta percha ball, made with a gum-like material (derived from trees) that was then heated and formed into a round shape, a process that led to faster and more efficient ball production. The biggest step ever was probably from the featherie to the gutta percha, says Steven J. Quintavalla, Director, Equipment Research & Testing, at the United States Golf Association (USGA). The Haskell ball [developed with a more modern rubber core by American Coburn Haskell in the 1890s] was a huge improvement over the gutty, but in terms of performance and expense, I imagine that the gutty did more to broaden golfs availability and appeal than any other ball technology.

Continued here:

Golf Ball Evolution Shows Results of Engineering Tweaks - Palm Springs Life