Golf Ball History - Featheries, Gutta Percha, and more…
Golf balls have been developed for over the last 500-600 years or so and it’s very interesting to note that golf balls in the beginning, consisted of bird feathers stuffed inside some cow/horse leather called, “Featherie”.
Now, these featheries were great for couple hundered years.
Here’s an excerpt from golfeurope.com on featherie history: israel images purim brite sponges scotch ptsd remeron
In 1618 the feather golf ball or ‘Featherie’ was introduced. This was a handcrafted ball made with goose feathers tightly packed into a horsefeatherie golf ball or cow hide sphere. The feathers and leather were fashioned into a ball while wet. As the assembly dried out the leather shrank and the feathers expanded to create a hardened ball. The ball was then finished off by painting it and punched with the ball-makers mark. Quality varied according to the skill of the craftsman. Unfortunately, the handcrafted nature of the balls meant that they were priced beyond the pockets of the masses, sometimes more expensive than a club. Notable ball-makers of the 1600s were Andrew Dickson, Leith and Henry Mills, St Andrews.
download kite runner the Next up is the Gutta Percha, made from the rubber tree sap given off by the Gutta tree. These balls were definitely easy to mold but couldn’t really travel beyond 200 yards. They still didn’t have “dimples” which allow golf balls to travel further.
Here’s an excerpt from thedesignshop.com on Gutta Percha history:
The first “Gutta” ball is believed to have been made in 1848 by the Rev. Dr. Robert Adams Paterson from gutta-percha packing material. Gutta-percha is the evaporated milky juice or latex produced from a tree most commonly found in Malaysia. It is hard and non-brittle and becomes soft and impressible at the temperature of boiling water. Gutta balls, were handmade by rolling the softened material on a board. The new durability of the Gutta, together with its much lower cost, resistance to water, and improved run, provided rejuvenation to the game of golf. Not without some resistance from traditionalists, the Gutta gradually replaced the Feathery.
After that, there’s the rubber core golf ball, then balatas, and now 3-piece core balls.
Perhaps, one day, golf manufacturers will start making these cool featheries and gutta perchas for the masses to enjoy. Imagine playing your same 7,000 yard championship course with these old balls. Then, you will be able to appreciate modern golf equipment.
Well, there it is and I hope you enjoyed a little history of golf balls.
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excalibur dvdrip download Here’s some golf ball history resource links you might want to check out:
- Golf Ball History at GolfEurope.com
- Golf Ball History at TheDesignShop.com
- Golf Ball History at ThinkQuest.Org
Tags: 1600s, andrew dickson, bird feathers, cow hide, cow horse, dimples, dr robert, golf-ball, golf-balls, goose feathers, gutta, leith, milky juice, packing material, rejuvenation, rev dr, robert adams, rubber tree, temperature of boiling water, traditionalists
This entry was posted on Monday, September 22nd, 2008 at 4:19 pm by Junger WoodsCategories: Golf News.
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The Feathery cube and it was considered the first major “technological” breakthrough in the production of golf balls. Technological breakthrough? Yes, you heard it right! This was the first innovation which actually allowed the ball to follow a good trajectory in the air. When we use the word good, it must be understood that it is a strictly relative term and that means going back 400 years in time. The stuff used before the Feathery cube was a WOODEN ball!
Wanting to practice on your swing with the Feathery cube would have left a big hole in your pocket unless you went out to the fairway, picked up your ball and put it back on the tee each time you wanted another swing. Each Featherie had a huge price attached to it. Even the best in the business could not manufacture more than a handful of balls in a day.
Today you have multilayered balls with chemical elements with ungodly names forming the core of the ball. Continuous change in technology and the way the game is played has also ensured that there is no scope left for cross generational comparison between golfing greats.
Cool !
Very interesting facts! I play golf in my free time, and i was ignorant of these facts.
It´s amazing how long golf is an popular game. The first picture of a golfball which was developed 600 years ago seems like a ball of the stone age … But this ball is only a “few” years old.
I gladly want to know how the G-Balls would seem in the year 3000. Did the peoples in the future see the actually ball of our time and think in the same way “seems like a ball of the stone age”!?