Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1942-04-01
Declare Pills Won I
Be Inferior 10 Old;
Will Ration Pros
Pay so Cents q Dozen
For Cheap Spheres,
Dollar for Others
By WALTER McCALLUM.

You can ease off the pressure, pal,
that golf ball situation is going to be
all right for a long time to come.
And you won't have to play with
spheres made of soap or wood or
some equally punk and unresponsive
material. The golf ball manufac-
turers, faced with their most critical
situation in all the years since red
coats were the modish thing to wear
on the golf course, have come up
with what looms as a complete
solution to the golf ball problem for
long time to come. So, Oscar, you
can cease worrying. You and
you, Mrs. Oscar, will be able to top
your way around the golf course
with rubber golf balls of construc-
ton Just as good as those now being
made.
Here is the way the manufacturers
have worked out the solution to that
vexing rubber problem. just at a
time when many golfers had recon-
ciled themselves to about year of
good golf balls and then no more,
or repaintS, or substitutes: Right
now they are asking the profess
facturers) large quantities of used
balls, in good or bad condition with
regard to the outside cover. They
are paying around go cents a dozen
for cheap balls, and around dollar
a dozen for balls of the better grade,
not matter what their outside con-
dition may be.
To Use Rubber Winding.
When they accumulate a large
stock of these used balls, many of
them pretty badly cut, they will go
to work A golf ball, you know, is
made in three sections. Frstcomes
the core, sometimes little sack of
rubber inclosing zinc oxide, or oil,
or any one of a number of sub
stances. Around this core is wound
many feet of rubber winding, thou
sands of feet, stretched tightly.
Over the rubber winding and bonded
to it by vulcanizing process is the
cover, made of balata or gutta
percha. The manufacturers have
stock piles of gutta percha enough
to last for several years. But they
are short on rubber of the type used
in the winding, which is exactly the
same as that used in a good grade
of commercial rubber bands.
They propose to take old golf
balls, cut off the useless covers, I'M
wind the good rubber tape and re-
wind them and recover them, pro-
ducing an article that will be as
good as any golf ball ever made.
These new spheres may not come
on the market this year, or again
they may. 1t depends on how many
old balls the manufacturers can lay
their hands on to rebuild from the
core.
In any event, Oscar, don't get the
idea that you can ship couple of
dozen old balls and get back. for
modest fee, the same amount of
new balls. 1t won't be done that
way. The whole thing will be
worked through the golf profess
SIGNALS, who will be rationed on the
new spheres in the same ratio in
which they send in old balls for
'reprocessing.
Ball Not Yet Named.
The name of the new sphere? No
one knows yet. But it will be as
good a ball as that being turned
out now, using the dwindling stocks
of new rubber. For rubber deterio-
rates hardly at all when inclosed in
an alright cover.
Clever lads, these manufacturers.
They have at one wallop settled the
golf ball situation. But there's one
little fly in the pie The omnipotent
War Production Board hasn't yet
said yes" to the scheme I'm
doubtedly it will, considering that
golf balls take so little rubber and
that the rubber to be used in the
reclaimed balls only could be used
by such an ingenious scheme as
that on which the manufacturers
have determined.
So, when w. P. B. gives the green
light to the golf ball manufacturers
on their little scheme, if it does
you can hack away and slice away
to your little hearts content. There
will be enough golf balls around
for quite few years to come.