Golf Ball Material - How Has It Changed The Game?
Golf ball material is not the most popular subject but I actually took a look at some of the history behind creation of the golf ball and its materials. prepare to be amazed all you avid golf fans Lol! A famous quote from a well know
English Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill once described golf as -
"a game whose aim is to hit a very small ball into an even smaller hole, with weapons singularly ill-designed for the purpose."
I use this quote to illustrate how golf ball material has been an important advancement in the game, and to clear the this term Golf ball material up, what is meant is the actual material used to make a golf ball and the actual golf ball material.
At the time Sir Winston made this quote he may have been right but today this just is not the case, sophisticated material is the order of the day, where golf ball material is concerned.
The most notable advance has been golf club head sizes, big and small heads, although they have generally kept the same shape.
Looking at an actual golf ball and the golf ball material we can see that the balls today are remarkably similar to the 19th century balls, the difference though cant be seen because it is in side the ball that there has been upgrades. These can be accredited to either chemistry or physics. These advances have meant that ball can be hit further bend in the air and still have the ability to stop on landing.
Golf ball material was not always as sophisticated as it is today back in the 15th century Scotland the golf ball was made out beech wood. In the early 17th century was the arrival of the featherie this consisted of a leather pouch stuffed with boiled feathers from chickens or geese.
More development for the golf ball in 1848 the Gutty was hatched it was made from gutta-percha, which is a coagulated latex, consisting mainly of trans-1,2-polyisoprene, that exudes as sap from sapodilla trees. When the sap is heated then rolled into a ball it would create a virtually indestructible ball.
The late 1800 begun the manufacturing of rubber golf ball materials from moulds The Ohio-based tire and rubber company B.F. Goodrich introduced the first ball that had rubber threads wound around a natural rubber core. These developments were exciting for the golf between 1800 and 1950 there was even an incident that involved an exploding golf ball.
By the late 1950s came a major development from Richard W. Rees, a chemist. He created a material that would ultimately transform the game of golf and golf ball material. With the help of another chemist Rees produces a substance called ionomer resin, the ultimate golf ball material! (for the outer shell) Better still when this substance was rolled into a golf ball it showed tremendous potential.
Rees went commercial with the product in the 1960s under the Surlyn trade name, which introduced its use as golf ball material on the amateur market.
Around the same time Rees was developing Surlyn a chemical engineer Robert A. Molitor who worked for Spalding, sporting goods manufacturers developed a ball that had an outers shell made of polyurethane and a synthetic polybutadiene rubber core.
Later Molitors outer core was replaced with Rees Surlyn. These two golf ball materials became know as the distance ball. This multi layered approach is now the theme of golf balls, the first one hit the scene in 1996, which launched the distance revolution.
Chemist Tom Kennedy, vice president of research and development for Top-Flite Golf, has summed up quite nicely what the objective was for golf ball material-
Firstly, "You want to reduce the spin that comes off the driver so that you don't have the ball ballooning up in the air and losing distance; hence the mantle"
Secondly, "Then, in order to have a good playing ball around the green, you have the very soft outer cover."
The latest golf ball material is found in Titleist's solid-core Pro V1, and the average driving distance of professionals as increased by more than 6 yards according to Golf digest magazine. The latest golf ball material is said to be polyurethane with ionomer resin as the outer Golf ball material.
Now you know the importance of golf ball material why not improve your golf swing! Click my link below to uncover an advanced method of doing so.
A writer on various subjects of interest, with an aim to increase the Public perception. http://insightempire.com/Golfmagic/index.html
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