What Are Golf Balls Made of?

“What Are Golf Balls Made of?” – A very common question asked by a lot of golfers as well as non golfers. Golf balls like most other sports equipment has gone through a lot of evolution compared to the balls that were used in the initial days of golfing.

Today’s golfers pay attention to every aspect of their game and balls are no exceptions.In many cases, the golf balls are even custom made to suit the individual characteristics of their technique.

The earliest golf balls were individually carved from wood and hence there was no uniformity of shape or weight among them. As the game started becoming more popular, Featheries were widely used in Scotland during the middle of 18th century. Featheries as the name suggests had an outer casing of leather stuffed with feathers.

In the middle of the 19th century golfers got their first proper round balls that were made from gutta-percha, a gum sourced from south-east Asia. Forty years later another advance in this embryonic technology came with the rubber cored Haskell ball.

Why do Golf Balls Today have a Dimpled Surface ?

While using the gutta-percha golf balls players noted that towards the later part of the game the ball would arc downwards to the ground contrary to the sudden drop off trajectory of the balls during the early stages. From this players concluded that this improved behaviour of the balls towards the later part of the game was caused due to the random and increasing pattern of dents on the balls created from the impact with the face of the club.

This was one of the key factors that was kept in mind while creating the Haskell balls and that is why you see the modern golf balls to be dented al over the surface. The Haskell balls are manufactured in three pieces, with an elastic wrap, a rubber core and an outer dimpled casing

The modern day golf balls are made from cores of titanium compounds, a softer shell and more pressurized core. Usually 2,3 or 4 layers of Surlyn or urethane blends are used. Playing characteristics are then added to suit the specific golfers needs.

These golf balls can be classified into two major groups based on the way they are made.

Recreational Golf Balls : These would have only 1 or 2 layers of surlyn or urethane blend and a firmer core. This makes the balls easier to control by amateur / recreational golfers. This is ideal for inexperienced players who want to get maximum value for money from a ball offering a relatively long lifespan.

Advanced Golf Balls : These are basically golf balls for professionals or more advanced golfers who have a lot of control on the balls. These would have 3 or 4 layers of surlyn or urethane and a much softer core. This balls are much more

Also, there are golf balls with the outer casing made of the two piece Balata. Balata is typically softer than Surlyn golf balls but offers more spin. These may not last as long but it offers more experienced practitioners the ability to maximise its more sophisticated performance in the air.

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