Evening star., 1933-04-30
DWARFS ALL OTHER
PILLS FOR DISTANCE.
Use of New Rubber Thread
May NuIIify Work of
standardization.
BY w. r. McCALLUM.

OMETHING new in golf balls
S about to burst forth on a
~ waiting world Of bunkered
buffers. II a ball which we
saw demonstrated day or two
ago at Kenwood is placed on the
market, and all these balls per-
form as we saw them perform
from the clubs of AL Houghton, all
the efforts of the United States
Golf Association to cut down the
expenses of changing golf courses
from time to time by standard
izing the length of the golf ball
can be thrown out the window.
The new rabbit" ball is many, many
yards longer than any ball we have
seen. 1t meets present specifications as
to weight and size and is IN every re-
spect legal golf ball for play in cham
pionshipS sponsored and supervised by
the National golf body.
For years no thought as to standard
tkation Of golf balls was given by those
in charge Of the game. There were
certain definite limits of size and weight
beyond which the ball could not be
made to give length, stability and long
life. But there was no legal standard
set by the u. S. G. A. In those old
days golfers played with balls weighing
1.55 ounces and 1.72 inches In diam
eter or balls weighing ITO ounces and
IS In diameter. The choice was their
own and they could make It to suit
their individual needs.
About seven or eight years ago the
u. s. G. A., properly alarmed because
an epidemic of long hitting was bring
ing about expenditures Of many mil
lions of dollars every year to lengthen
heightened golf ball, undertook a series
of experiments to devise a standard
weight and size for golf balls. They
held numerous tests. both with machines
and with the leading amateur and pro-
fessionaL golfers Of the day.
0UT Of these tests came the first
~ official golf ball, back in 1890,
when the national golf body came
forth with an edict that the official
ball for play in 1881 was to be ball
weighing not more than I.55 ounces
and measuring not less than 1853
inches in diameter. This ball. the
balloon" ball, bane Of the duffer. was
played in all the major championships
of 1881, and met with such storm
of protest that on September 13. 1881,
the u S. G. A. announced change.
This change resulted in the present
standard golf ball, weighing not more
than 162 ounces and measuring not
less than 1.68 inches in size.
But, and this Is big but" the
manufacturers, whose business Is COM
petitive, were not to remain at a
standstill. They could make golf balls
of legal size and weight, and still get
more distance out Of them than from
the first of the 1.62x1 SO balls which
came on the market. They have done
Just that, or at least one Of them has,
as revealed in the tests at Kenwood,
where q golf ball made IN legal size
and weight, with a thin cover and
with tighter winding Of the rubber
threads which surround the core, has
been shown to be many yards longer
than its contemporaries. Not l yard
or yards, but something like Is
yards longer.
LOW is it done? How is it possible
i i to build golf ball which can out
strip its contemporaries by such
q lengthy margin? A new type Of rub
Der thread has been devised. wound
on the core under higher tension and
then amalgamated into thinner COW
er by q process which bonds the thread
and the cover together into one mass.
This golf ball literally Is dynamite.
When Al Houghton, who isn't on the
pay roll of any Of the golf ball COM
panies hit this ball, it went away
from there fast and far, many yards
farther than its contemporaries Fur
ther details of construction are the Sc
cret of the manufacturer, who must
remain nameless, but take our word
for it. this new golf ball is the fast
est sphere yet devised under present
weight and size specifications.
It is no ball for the gent who tops
and hacks his way around the gclf
course, however One well-topped iron
shot or one mis-hit bunker shot and
that pill is fit only for the practice
bag. It will take plenty Of punishment,
if fairly hit. but it won't stand the
guillotine tests. 1t isn't meant to take
it" from the iron clubs. It's ball for
the expert, but he can make it per-
form deeds that would shame the "rab-
bit" ball of beloved memory.
So don't be surprised a few weeks
hence if Johnny Jones. your favorite
opponent, steps up on the first tee and
whacks his ball 40 yards past you. He
isn't hitting ball loaded with dyna-
mite. He has simply gathered to him.
~ g.. ~f 10, v.s1l