History of the Golf Ball
The history of the golf ball falls into four main eras: the leather feathery, the gutta-percha gutty from 1848, the rubber-cored Haskell from around 1900, and the solid multi-layer balls used today. Each change made the ball cheaper, tougher or longer, and each one changed how golf courses were played.
The golf ball eras at a glance
| Era | Ball | Made from | Main advance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Up to the mid-1800s | Feathery | Leather stuffed with feathers | A ball that flew well, but cost a lot |
| From 1848 | Gutty | Gutta-percha (a tree sap) | Cheap, tough and easy to repair |
| From around 1900 | Haskell | Rubber thread wound round a core | Much longer and livelier |
| From the late 1960s | Solid balls | Solid rubber core, plastic or urethane cover | Durable, consistent, built in layers |
Before the feathery
Nobody knows for certain what the very first golfers hit. Early games in Scotland and the Low Countries may have used wooden balls, but the evidence is thin. What is clear is that by the 1600s the feathery had become the ball of choice.
The feathery
A feathery was a pouch of leather, stitched together and stuffed with wet goose or chicken feathers. As it dried, the leather shrank and the feathers expanded, leaving a hard, round ball that was then painted.
A ball maker could only finish a few a day, so featheries were expensive. They also had real flaws:
- They weren't perfectly round, so they didn't always fly true.
- In the wet they got soggy and heavy.
- A mishit with an iron could split the seams.
The gutty
In 1848 the golf ball changed for good. Gutta-percha, the dried sap of a tree from South East Asia, could be softened in hot water and shaped by hand or in a mould. The Reverend Robert Adams Paterson is usually credited with the first gutta-percha golf balls.
The gutty was cheap, waterproof and nearly indestructible. A damaged one could even be heated and remade. Golf suddenly became affordable for many more people.
There was one surprise. Brand-new smooth gutties dived out of the air, but old, scuffed ones flew much better. Ball makers began hammering patterns into the surface, and later made moulds with raised bumps known as a bramble pattern. They had found, without the science, that a rough surface helps a ball fly.
The Haskell
In 1898, Coburn Haskell of Cleveland, Ohio, working with Bertram Work of the B.F. Goodrich rubber company, developed a ball made of rubber thread wound tightly round a core, covered in gutta-percha.
The Haskell flew further and felt livelier off the club. Walter Travis won the 1901 US Amateur with one, and Sandy Herd won the 1902 Open using one. Within a few years the gutty was finished. Wound balls, improved over the decades, stayed the top choice of professionals until the end of the 20th century.
Dimples
Around the same time, makers moved from brambles to dimples. The Englishman William Taylor patented a dimple pattern in 1905. Dimples reduce drag and, combined with backspin, help create lift, so the ball stays in the air longer. Almost every golf ball since has used them.
Size and weight rules
As balls got livelier, golf's rule makers stepped in. For many years British and American golfers used different sizes: the USGA adopted a larger ball with a minimum diameter of 1.68 inches in 1932, while the smaller British ball of 1.62 inches lasted for decades. The larger ball became the rule everywhere in 1990.
Today a ball must weigh no more than 1.620 ounces (45.93 g) and measure at least 1.680 inches (42.67 mm) across.
The modern ball
From the late 1960s, solid-core balls arrived. Two-piece balls, a solid rubber core inside a tough cover, were cheap and durable, and soon became the most common ball for club golfers.
Tour players stayed with wound balls for their feel and spin until Titleist launched the Pro V1 in 2000, a solid multi-layer ball with a soft urethane cover. It combined distance with control around the greens, and wound balls disappeared from the professional game within a few years.
Try it in Mashy
In Mashy the ball lands, bounces and rolls differently on the green, fairway, rough and sand, and a high shot into a bunker can plug. Watching how far it rolls after landing is half the game, especially when the wind is up.
More history and basics: old golf club names and carry vs roll in golf.
Frequently asked questions
What were the first golf balls made of?
The earliest golfers may have used wooden balls, but that is uncertain. The first well-documented golf ball is the feathery: a leather pouch stuffed with wet feathers, which dried into a hard ball. It was the main golf ball until the gutty arrived in 1848.
Why do golf balls have dimples?
Dimples reduce air drag and, together with backspin, help create lift, so the ball flies higher and further than a smooth ball would. Golfers first noticed this with scuffed gutta-percha balls, which flew better than new smooth ones, and makers later moulded patterns into the surface on purpose.
What is a gutty golf ball?
A gutty is a golf ball made from gutta-percha, the dried sap of a South East Asian tree. Introduced in 1848, it was much cheaper and tougher than the feathery, could be remoulded when damaged, and helped make golf affordable for far more people.
How big is a golf ball?
Under the Rules of Golf, a ball must be at least 1.680 inches (42.67 mm) in diameter and weigh no more than 1.620 ounces (45.93 g). It must also meet distance and symmetry standards set by the R&A and USGA.
When did golf balls change from wound to solid?
Solid two-piece balls became popular with club golfers from the 1970s. Professionals kept using wound balls until 2000, when Titleist launched the Pro V1, a solid multi-layer ball with a urethane cover, and wound balls quickly disappeared from tour golf.