When was first discovered in Scotland, you would be very surprised at
what they were made from. Today, we know the ball as a round plastic ball,
but it was first made from wood.
In 1618, the balls were a combination of goose feathers and leather. They
were assembled and dried out. It would then be painted. The quality of your
ball was determined by the crafter. They use to be more expensive then your
club.
It was considered a real skill to be able to make these. Then there was the
invention of the Gutta Percha, or better known as the Guttie. If you have a
guttie, you will not want to disregard it because they are worth a lot of money.
This was made from the sap of a gutta tree that was found in the tropics. The
sap was much like rubber and if you heated it, you could form it into a ball.
This made the ball a cheaper thing to produce.
It also makes it easy to repair the ball. You didn't have to keep buying
them, but melt it down and reshape it. These balls have a smooth surface and
traveled much further than any other ball. They would also be produced with
patterns on the surface that gave the ball even more distance. During Queen
Victoria's rein they were being mass produced, but then the rubber companies
came in and killed most of the business for the small crafters.
Then in 1898 Coburn Haskell invented a one-piece rubber cored ball. These
balls were filled with rubber and then wrapped in rubber threads. This gave the
ball an extra twenty yards and were considered the official balls for the US and
British Open.
The ball then evolved into what we know a ball to be. Haskell's
invention is still what we use to with, but they add little dents all
around the ball so that you can get a good lift on the ball. Many people, across
the world, collect old balls. In fact, antique balls are great as gifts.
Most people don't realize that a dirty old ball could be worth more than five
hundred dollars. You can buy low and sell high, making a great profit.
However, today you can purchase a bunch of balls at once for a small
fee. They have become very cheap, but the club has gone up in price. The
ball can be purchased anywhere and many people will give them as gifts to their
golfer of a husband or father. If you want, you can find online and through
other means, a way to order the balls personalized. This way you can get
their initials or even their full name written on the ball. This would be a
great gift for father's day, Christmas, or even birthdays.
