Have you ever really looked at how a golf ball is made? Or paid attention when your chosen brand states that it is a 2 or 3-piece ball. What about "soft" balls? Golf balls aren’t soft - They feel hard!
Golf balls are actually pretty amazing. This small round white ball can be produced in various ways to improve the way you play golf by just changing the coating or what the manufacturers put inside.
We have had a look at some great R&D videos from Titleist and Callaway, which show how a golf ball is made. It is really interesting stuff and explains a lot why years of development and extensive testing go into the manufacture of each ball. In fact, Titleist has 90 quality checks for the Pro V1 and 120 for the Pro V1x!
Early golf balls were made by stuffing feathers into leather sacks but it wasn’t until the balls were used repeatedly and became scuffed that golfers realised this actually made them play better. This revelation lead to the development of dimples in the balls which we see today.
Put simply, dimples reduce drag giving better lift a flight to the ball. Titleist’s research and development team have deduced that between 300 and 500 dimples work best. Too many dimples mean they have to be smaller making it almost like smooth ball and too few mean the dimples are larger, the depth of a dimple is crucial even changes down to a few 1000th of an inch can make the ball travel 6/7 yards less. Titleist Pro V1 balls are currently developed with 352 tetrahedral dimple design.
Have you ever watched a slow motion video of a golf ball being hit? If not go to YouTube and have a look - it’s amazing. The soft core in the golf ball (which is essentially a moulded block of rubber) is what gives the ball the ability to be able to change its shape when hit.
A soft core ball is for players with any swing speed so don’t believe when you see a soft ball that says suitable for golfers with a faster swing. Look at the Titleist slow-mo video, which shows their R&D team testing the balls with different swing speeds the compression for each is very similar.
So, the soft core enables the ball to spring back off the club face and back into shape which means it doesn’t lose any speed and gives good distance.
If you want an exclusive range of golf balls, check out the Best4Balls website. There you can also get more information about what golf ball is right for you or to order any of the leading golf balls available.
