The surprising history of the golf ball

The golf ball has undergone a surprising evolution over the centuries, each time using different materials to take it further. First with a wooden composition, then hair, feathers...

We'll tell you all about it!

Legend has it that the first man to play golf was a Scottish shepherd who amused himself by hitting a stone with a twisted stick he found on the ground...

Shortly afterwards, golf underwent its first evolution with a wooden club and ball. And as you can imagine, ball contact was a bit dry!

Around the ^17th century, the " feathery " ball made its appearance. It's a ball filled with cow hair, goose feathers and dust, surrounded by skin or leather(bon appétit!). This ball didn't last long, however, as it was expensive and, being hand-made, the stitches that held it together came loose due to humidity, and it was difficult to get a perfectly spherical ball due to the irregularities.

Despite the aforementioned shortcomings, the ball still had very impressive flight characteristics(not surprising with its feathers!!), reaching distances of up to 150 meters.

In the ^19th century, the " Gutta percha" ball entered the scene. This slightly olé olé and rather tropical name is due to the origin of its composition, which is none other than the natural gum of the leaves of a tree straight from Malaysia and India.

This bullet is one of those " lucky " accidental discoveries, since the more you shoot at it, the more it becomes honeycombed, and you realize that its aerodynamic performance is even better because there's less air resistance. The more it was used and abused, the further it went! So manufacturers began to hammer the balls to form craters on the surface, making them even more competitive.

In the late 19th^century , Machine-gutty balls were produced using a metal mold to create structured, well-defined dimples. This new design allowed for greater control over the ball.

In the 20th^century , the "Haskell" ball was made from rubber thread wound around a core that allowed it to go very far.

In 1930, the modern ball came into play, with a central core to influence distance, between 1 and 3 layers on the inside and a highly resistant synthetic rubber surface also used to make tires.

At present, ball manufacturing standards for weight, width and aerodynamics are defined worldwide by a committee in Saint Andrews, Scotland. This makes it possible to determine whether it is really the golfer's ability or the ball's performance that is responsible for a victory. Over the years, there has been much debate about the length of the ball's flight, and legend has it that some still do... Today's balls have better rotation and fly further and further. Now that's evolution!

Now you know everything! Or maybe not... Do you know the origin of the expression "Mulligan"? We'll explain!

Here's to your favourite balls and good golf!