The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1900-07-26

It Is Estimated That RI 900, 600 Are Used
Each Yenr.-The Material Of Which
They are Made.

! 4Aey axe ANUcs
/ No outdoor athletic game has grown 50
rapidly and become SO popular as golf has
within a year or two, says an English
publication. Golf clubs are springing up
everywhere, and there is great rush of
both sexes to become members and learn
the game. Every city in this country
has its golf club; many have more than
one.
Links by the dozen are necessary IN the
suburbs of every larger city to supply the
demands of golfers, and every summer
resort and winter resort, too, must have
its links. TO attempt to put into figure 6
the number Of players would be quite an
undertaking; the highest rational esti-
mate would be exceeded in six months.
And all golf enthusiasts are golfers,
though all golfers may not be enthusi-
asts. Twenty thousand people may wit
ness a baseball game or football game
to see 20 or 20 players participate in
game, and in all of these spectators not
even one In a hundred plays either game
or ever did or can play it.
But boys and girls, men ana women,
young and old, can and do play golf. 1t
is estimated that about 300, 900 persons
play golf more or less, being about one
in $50 of the entire population of the
United States.
One OF the principal items of expense
IN the materials for golf playing IS for
balls. More money is spent to purchase
| golf balls than for any other plaything
that ever was known. The cost for balls
! is far in excess of the cost OF clubs used,
and the expense of clubs is no small
item, but a club may e. year or two.
it can be mended. If broken for q few
cents, or by the player himself at no ex-
pense except of time; it does not pay to
| have a club mended ii the cost exceeds
half Its original price. But ball, which
costs on the average 20 cents, may be lost
at "a single stroke. A beginner or an un-
| skilled player may either use up or lose
dollars worth of balls in each day play
| professionals and experts also are very
extravaganza in their use of balls. 1t is
estimated that 81, 900, 600 golf balls are
used per year, an average OF SO to play
er. At 20 cents average cost per ball,
the cost of these balls would be $5.250, 600
The only suitable material for golf balls
Is gutta percha--a gum which comes from
India and BOrneo and other tropical
lands. 1t is resilient, but not elastic like
India rubber.
It is heavy enough to fly WELL tough
enough to resist, without cracking or
crumbling or chipping, the hardest blows
Of a driver of wood or of iron. Gutta
percha is not too lively, not too resilient;
while India rubber is and would either
go bounding erratically all over field and
be lost if made of lively or pure gum, or
be dead and unresp0nsive if made of adul
terate1 compounds of India rubber
Hard rubber-that is, vuIcanized rubber
would have many of the characteristics
and outward appearances Of gutta percha
balls, but would chip and crack. and
cannot be substituted. Gutta percha
costs about double the price of India rub
Der, or about 81 81 60 s. per pound; ana
the demand is increasing and the supply
diminishing. Golf alone is response bic for
a very sharp advance in price Of this
commodity.
10 make golf balls Of known reliability,
of uniform size and appearance, with
clean cut markings, resilient enough to
suit the most skilful and strongest play
ers, durable and properly painted with q
paint that Will not easily wear or chip
OH, and, perhaps most important of all,
properly seasoned, requires skill, patience
and large amount OF capital. The de-
mand for balls has been SO great that
many imported balls have been placed on
the market without being seasoned suffi-
GENTLY long. This hurts q makers repu-
tation, as such ball is soft and not as
resilient as it ought to he. Many players
for fear OF not getting balls that have
been seasoned long enough, buy their
favOrite brands and store them away
year or so before using.
A full-sized bali weighs ~ 1-2 penny
weights, and is SO marked. Balls of the
larger size can be made by anybody with
a mold, some potash to take oil the paint,
pan of hot water and some good white
paint that Will adhere. Balls too small
to remake may be sold for the gutta-
percha that is in them and made into
"stick.' American ingenuity, capital
and skill Will, as soon as time enough
eiapsss to put ball properly seasoned on |
the market, not only capture our market.
but VIII export balls The great diff /
Guilty seems to lie ia getting gutta per cha
suitable in all respects, as England con-
trolls the markets of the world for gutta-
percha.
Gutta-percha is imported free Of duty /
but golf player pays q heavy duty-35
per cent SO ie Is obvious that American
manufacturers ii they can obtain gut6a
pereha such as they require, can soon OBJ
tain control of this market, If they put
out good balls properly seasoned, that
VIII meet all the requirments of the most
exacting and skilful PLAYERS. Golf balls
sell for So so to 81 30 per dozen to the
consumer; the prevailing prices are So so
and 81 81 SO is a fancy price. With gut
ta-percha costing fully 81 dozen before
being molied, 1t Is obvious that there is
no fancy profit to be obtained from man
ufacturing them, but there is a profit
and good volume of business to be OBJ |
tained in a practically new and protected
Infant industry.