Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-06-21
SAYS THEY BLAME
FAULTS ON PELLET
u. S. G. A. and Manufacture
ers Are Praised for Their
Work on Sphere.
BY w. r. McCALLUM.

kun going the rounds ABOUT
the new golf ball and the old
ball and the possibility OF get
ting back the old one, it is re-
freshing to have an authoritative
word or two from a man who is
on the inside of the golf ball
business, knows what he is talking
about, and predicts that the new
ball is here to stay.
We can't reveal his name, but
he is closely connected with the
manufacturing end Of the golf
ball industry, has been closely as
sociated with all the steps that
have resulted in the adoption OF
the standard 1.68x155 pellet.
There Is no doubt that great many
golfers are dissatisfied with the present
type of ball They claim 1t does not
do the things the old ball does, and
possibly it does not To be sure, there
are lots of puts missed nowadays with
the new ball that might not have been
missed with the old sphere. Out IN
the West there are several referen-
dums going the rounds about the rela-
tive merits of the two types.
Dissatisfaction is rampant here and
there as puts are missed and iron
shots find traps instead Of going on
the green. But iron shots were missed
and puts were blown with the old ball.
too. Your golfer must have something
to "SQuawk" about. Golf is game tnat
breeds a good deal Of conversation, ana
some golfers will not admit they are at
fault. So that for lack OF some better
excuse they blame the ball. The real
dope on the situation is that the men
who know how to hit golf shots as they
should be hit are having no trouble
with the ball, while the gents who used
to slop around a golf course with the
old ball and by han-hitting a lot OF
shots and getting down few lengthy
puts score in the middle 70's, now
are the ones who are yelling because
the new ball won't hop bunkers and
run up to the pin from q halt-topped
iron shot.
Hits From the Shoulder.
But it isn't our intention to give our
reaction to the business. Let's hear
the words of the man Of whom we
spoke. and believe us, he knows what
It is all about. He has been watching
high-class golf for good many years.
is familiar with the alibis of all types
of players and there Is lot OF meat In
the words he speaks. Here IS what
he says about the new ball:
One thing that has been pretty
generally overlooked with regard to
the new ball is that if you want to
play good golf with it, you have got to
use your head You know, Walter, tina
today lot of the boys are playing golf
with numbers and not with clubs-lust
pick a number out of the bag and hit a
full shot with it and It goes as adver-
tised. That is not real golf. Unques-
tionably by this mechanical golf and
the old so ball great many 80 shoot
ers have been scoring in the 70s:
1T may be that these days the ma
tional pastime Of 'bellyaching' has made
its inroads into golf. I know you VIII
agree with me when I say that every
national sport must have a governing
body which makes the rules under
which the game is played in fairness to
all and with as little argument as
possible.
Appreciation Due.
IT think you will also agree with me
that men like Herbert H. Ramsay (pres-
ident Of the United States Golf Asso.
ciation), Herbert Jacques chairman OF
the Committee on Implements and the
BalD and others who give up consid-
cradle amount of their time to direct
the destinies of golf in this country
are men OF the very highest type. They
have no financial interest in it one
way or the other, and 1 don't think
they sit up nights thinking OF what
they can do to make the golfers lives
more disagreeable than some Of them
try to make it for themselves. These
men have brains they use to think with
and they deliberated long and carefully
before they set a new weight and size
for the standard ball. While they were
doing this they had the full co-opera-
ton of all the good golf ball manufac-
turers in this country. and there isn't
a size or weight of golf ball being talked
of in the present jamboree that wasn't
carefully tested out. When they de-
cided upon the 1.68Xl .55 ball they did
20 because they thought that was the
best ball for the game Of golf as a
whole.
Quite true, any one can make mis-
take, and If it is proved to them they
have done so / feel that they would be
most ready to change, but certainly not
enough golf has been played the coun-
try over to have given this new ball the
real test it should have. You have
been out in the no mans land OF sport
long enough to know that the squaWker
and the alibier make more noise tran
the other fellow, and it seems to me
very unfair that lot Of sports writers
take the kicks of few and try to
stampede the U. S. G. A. in this mat
ter because somebody is looking Tor
CODY that will be sensational.
oil fell AND
If YOU weren't a friend of mine I
shouldn't even tell you that. Because
/ am tired of listening to the question:
'How about this new ball?'"
Manufacturers Careful.
But there is more to it than that.
Delving into old records of the
u. S. G. A. we find that the Imple-
ments and Ball Committee had been
testing golf balls for five years prior
to January /, 1881, the main idea be-
ing to find a standard ball that would
not make modern golf courses ridiculous
when the par shooters got hot" They
wanted mainly to avoid the expenditure
occasioned by constant changes in golf
courses to meet the increasing length
of the golf ball as manufacturers inn
proved the sphere. So after careful
tests they settled on the present ball.
It goes even deeper than that. Do
you know that golf ball is a product
of precision manufacture, and that the
dies to make the covers alone cost many
thousands of dollars? Do you know
that the golf ball manufacturers of this
country had to spend several millions
of dollars in changing over theil
equipment to meet the specifications
of the new ball, which they were ordered
to make? And would it be reasonable
to suppose that the United States Coll
Association would break faith with
these men who worked with them fol
so many years, force them to scrap al
that expensive equipment and go back
to the manufacture OF the old bal