History of golf
For centuries golf was played by individuals wealthy enough to afford both the expensive materials and access to the desirable places to play away from commoners.
For centuries golf was played by individuals wealthy enough to afford both the expensive materials and access to the desirable places to play away from commoners. To some extent golf retains this upper-class image although now it is the case that the availability of inexpensive or rental equipment as well as many publicly accessible golf courses has popularized the game like never before.
Golf Ball History
The featherie ball was invented sometime around the early 1600s. Until this time wooden balls were used. A featherie is of painted cow-hide stitched shut; containing goose feathers. This ball outperformed the wood variety and was the standard ball until the invention of the guttie in 1848. Dr. Robert Adams is the individual responsible for this inexpensive and aerodynamically superior ball.
Wound balls were the first multi-layered ball on the scene in the early twentieth century. These balls were once of a liquid or solid core wound up in rubber thread and coated with a thin shell. More advanced manufacturing techniques allowed manufacturers greater precision when designing and producing these balls. Today's multi-layered balls employ a titanium core and a number of hybrid materials. The shell of the ball is softer these days than it was in the past. A golf ball of today will have two to four layers of synthetic material.
