Colored Golf Balls Have you noticed that there is the beginning of a new trend in golf balls.
Following the lead that the tennis ball manufacturers started more than 30 years ago, golf is finally beginning to recognize the value of balls with a color other than white.
It really is just a logical next step in the evolution of the game.
A Short History of Golf Balls The first golf balls were made of wood.
The first major development in the evolution of golf ball design came when, in 1618, the "featherie" ball was invented.
These balls were made by stuffing a top hat full of feathers into a small leather pouch.
This was done while both were wet.
As the ball dried, the leather would shrink as the feathers expanded, thus creating a solid compact ball.
Featheries, as they came to be known, outperformed the old wooden balls and were far more comfortable to hit.
These balls were quite expensive.
Often the ball cost more than the club with which it was being hit.
The cost of the featherie balls meant that the game of golf could only be played by well-off people.
It was not, as yet, a game for the masses.
In 1848, the next major step along the road to the modern ball was taken by Dr.
Robert Adams.
Dr.
Adams received a shipment from his brother in which gutta percha, a rubber-like sap was used to cushion the package on its journey.
Adams found that the gutta percha could be heated and formed into a ball.
Thus, the "gutty" ball was invented.
The gutties were, at first, just a cheaper alternative to the featheries, which flew better due to the aerodynamics that the stitching gave them, much the same way that a baseball can be made to curve because of the stitching of its cover.
After a while it was noticed that once the gutties became scuffed due to play, they would outperform the featheries.
Ball makers began to use sharp edged hammers to mark up the outside of the gutty balls.
This better performance along with the fact that a ball maker could produce 100 balls in a day as opposed to just 10 in a day of the featheries was the final death knell of the featherie.
The far lower cost of the gutty meant that the average person now could afford to play golf, and the popularity of the game grew.
The dominance of the gutty was challenged in 1898 with the introduction of the Haskell ball.
This ball was composed of a solid rubber core, which was covered by a wound rubber thread, which was in turn covered by a gutta percha cover.
There were various minor further developments along the way leading to today's multiple solid core balls.
This brings us to the next development.
Colorful Golf Balls Golf ball makers are now beginning to add color to the modern golf ball.
This presents two big advantages.
The first is that a ball in optic yellow, like a tennis ball, is easier to find.
The second advantage is that kids love the brightly colored offerings that are now available.
This makes it far easier for the whole family to enjoy the game of golf.
You can interest your kids in the game at an earlier age with these new balls.
Maybe the downward trend in junior golf participation can be reversed thanks to getting kids interested in the game by using colored golf balls.