How to Choose the Correct Golf Ball

Golf balls - How a small, round, dimpled sphere has the strength to change your game. In the current game, tennis balls are becoming high-tech super-spheres that claim to do everything but hit themselves! One such ball claims 'long distance and super feel', another 'longer distance, more spin and control' as well as a third 'ultimate distance and control'. Confused? Might select a basketball depending on the colour of the box!

But wait! Playing the right ball for the game WILL increase your performance and overall enjoyment in the game. It's only just a few cutting from the spin to locate that ball.

To help you within your search for an ideal basketball, we'll require over a journey through the humble beginnings with the golf ball right through to today's technologically advanced balls.

The first Days

In general, the larger the bag the heavier it will be - despite the help of durable lightweight materials. Although the lightest designs now weigh in below 3lb, special lumbar and/or hip padding can be obtained for comfort and may create a real difference

Within the earliest days of golf, some 500 years ago, players used primitive equipment to play the overall game in a very rather haphazard and casual manner. The soccer ball has undergone many upgrades and enhancements throughout its endurance, with several distinct stages:

Wooden - Used through the mid 15th century, the initial projectiles were made from hardwoods like beech. Often employed in conjunction with wooden clubs, a golf performance will be a particularly jarring experience.

Featherie - In 1618 the Featherie basketball was invented and was applied for nearly 250 years. These balls were made by stuffing wet goose feathers in to a hand stitched wet leather ball. Because it dried the leather shrunk as well as the feathers expanded setting up a hard little ball. This time around consuming process ensured the price was out of reach of the masses, often selling for over the price of a club.

Guttie - Rev Dr Robert Adams Paterson created the first tennis balls made from Gutta-percha in 1848. The ball was developed through the dried sap with the tropical sapodilla tree, which was heated and formed into ball shapes. The improved performance and cheaper costs from the Guttie contributed greatly on the increase of the action.

Hand Hammered Guttie - It was also found out that improperly smoothed balls often stood a truer flight than the smoother versions, and also the Hand Hammered Guttie Ball, by having an even pattern hammered on yourself, was born. By 1890, baseballs were formed in iron moulds, as well as the Bramble design, with raised spherical bumps resembling a raspberry, took over as the hottest ball of the Guttie era.

Rubber - The advent in the rubber ball changed the eye of golf as we know it. Created by Coburn Haskell in 1898 it featured a solid rubber core wrapped in rubber thread. Early Gutta-percha covers soon gave way to the Balata cover that's introduced in early 1900s. But they seemed like Gutties, the average golfer could gain a supplementary 20 yards from the tee. So the guttie gave way to the aerodynamically superior dimple pattern, first found in 1908 and still being used today.