When is a friendly fourball more than a friendly fourball. Describes golf balls used by phil mickelson, jim furyk and ernie els. As a result of people finding my other web pages on antique golf clubs, ive had several requests for information on the history of the golf club. The first book to cover the complete history of the golf ball, with classifications, descriptions, and prices for old and new balls. Feb 17, 2010 and after going through literally thousands of responses from you guys took us a while to sort them we have put together the mgs readers top 25 golf books of alltime. Includes a brief history of the golf ball from wooden balls to gutta percha. In 500 years of golf balls, chick evans relates how, when he was a caddy, he witnessed the first use, and loss, and finding of a haskell golf ball. Currently golf ball technology has reached new levels of design. Robert browning 18121889 was born in camberwell, london, the son of a clerk in the bank of england. Golf balls have evolved from featheries, to gutties, to balata balls, and eventually dimpled modern balls.
Early forms of golf traced back to the roman game of paganica, in which participants used a bent stick to hit a stuffed leather ball. Like stickball is to baseball, stick and ball games reminiscent of golf have been around for several centuries, with some accounts going all the way back to the dutch in 1261. Shaun webb soft golf balls pack of 12 yellow foam practice balls dent resistant, long lasting, limited flight perfect for home and office. Object lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. The 50 golf books every golfer should read golf digest. Ernie banks, the firstballot hall of famer and allcentury team shortstop, played in fourteen allstar. But the truly modern golf ball wasnt born until the 1960s when the wizards began to be replace rubber with new, cheaper synthetic materials, and wound and liquid cores with solids. And even fewer golfers know that the ball has been responsible for quite a few revolutions in golf. Machat graphic designer and photographer and dennis golf and sports journalist trace the history of the golf ball back to the feather ball and to theories about what came before. The evolution of the golf ball display highlights major changes in the game of golf, often precipitated by innovations in golf ball design. Taylormade golf balls were played by only a handful of tour professionals when the company first entered the golf ball market back in 1999.
We wanted both instructional and noninstructional books and you guys gave a great assortment of both for the all the readers to see. Two notable ballmakers of the 1600s were andrew dickson, leith and henry mills, st andrews. So, began the golden age of golf ball design advancement, spurred on by computerized and robotic testing. A golf ball is a special ball designed to be used in the game of golf under the rules of golf, a golf ball has a mass no more than 1. The first golf ball similar in size to todays came into existence around five or six hundred years ago, when the dutchmen stuffed feathers into an 1. Nov 05, 2016 a golf ball is a special ball designed to be.
Still closely guarded, top golf ball manufacturers such as callaway, titleist, pinnacle, nike and others compete within a multi million dollar year industry for their due market share. Golf club history books cover some of the most famous golf clubs, worldwide, from the early days and beginnings of the sport to today. Unique collection of the worlds greatest golf books by the games most celebrated authors and personalities. Golf ball sometimes golfball is a 1962 painting by roy lichtenstein. Incredible, marveled 21yearold justin spieth, already one of the longerhitting pros. Included are also rare and unusual golf books and publications about clubs, such as the 1895 publication, banff golf club bazaar. Hotchkiss, john 1997 500 years of golf balls history and collectors guide antique trader. First published in 1907, this golf history book was the first golf book to use full colour illustration. We will stick to our specialty, and concentrate on the history of the golf ball itself. Mg golf, golf gloves, golf balls, golf bags, gps rangefinders.
Golf balls have evolved throughout the history of the game. In the first four hundred years of golf there were only four types of golf ball the hairy, the feathery, the gutty and the haskell. Amateur as seen through the eyes of all 46 living amateur champions. Great for interior decorating artifacts, wood shaft putters, irons, mashies, niblicks, gutta percha balls and more. Check out the book, the secret history of balls by josh chetwynd for more fun histories of all the other spheres. When the players are a quartet of historys greatest, and the venue is cypress point. Golf, a very peculiar history takes a sideways look at one of britains greatest exports, tracing its history from the earliest ballinhole games right up to the scandals that rock its current celebrities and tournaments, with a fair few mulliga. What ball are you gaming now and how does it compare to your all time favorite. The history of titleist golf balls 9781482702101 by hatcher, m and a great selection of similar new, used and collectible books available now at great prices. Depending on whom you ask, this 1971 novel about a young travelers encounters in the scottish highlands with the golf procummystic shivas irons is a either a rollicking tale imbued with deep. The best golf books from chipping to putting to autobiographies, there is a book.
The work is commonly associated with blackandwhite piet mondrian works. The question has always been about the materials, not so much the method. Books on golf balls and history books of golf balls. The history of the golf ball in the beginning there was the rock.
Golf, a very peculiar history by david arscott overdrive. In 2000, tiger woods put a new nike golf ball into play and then won the u. It depicts a single sphere with patterned, variously directional semicircular grooves. Be the ball might serve as a cheeky summation, but it applies. This book has photographed all that are currently available to the author in private collections. Mythical origins of the golf ball and the game of golf. Mythical origins of the golf ball and the game of golf the popular story goes, that the first golf ball was a simple rounded stone that was hit by a bored shepherd using his crook. The strongest influence on his education were the books in his fathers extensive library, particularly the writings of byron and shelley. It is one of the works that was presented at lichtensteins first solo exhibition and one that. History of golf 100 bc early forms of golf traced back to the roman game of paganica, in which participants used a bent stick to hit a stuffed leather ball 9601279 games similar to golf called chuiw an played with several clubs and a ball are being played in china during the song. Historians disagree over the origins of golf, giving credit for its invention to everyone from the romans and dutch to the french and chinese. They werent perfectly round and its safe to assume that they sucked. Wooden balls were used until the early 17th century, when the featherie ball was invented. Golf is a clubandball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes.
Detailed history of spalding golf balls from 1895 to 20. One documented reference is that of a john daly playing with a wooden ball in 1550. Overwhelmingly insightful a history lesson not to be missed. The apotheosis of these golf histories may be harry stirling crawford everards superb history of the club. The definitive and revealing biography of chicago cubs legend ernie banks, one of americas most iconic, beloved, and misunderstood baseball players, by acclaimed journalist ron rapoport. The 17th century saw the slight design improvement of the featherie, a leather ball stuffed with bird feathers and stitched shut. As stated on the back cover of the official rule book. And the lessons proffered in this book have applications beyond the game. Looking at some of the posts in the low loft irons thread got me to thinking about the transitions between golf balls and how attached ive been to certain models over the year. The first americanmade golf ball was produced by spalding in 1895. Ever since the dark ages, when a few scots ambled over the dunes with their het kolvin sticks, slapping a ball around in something akin to golf, no sport has more universally or irreversibly awed its players and fans. The oldest spalding golf balls are extremely difficult to locate and photograph as spalding no longer produces golf balls. Hotchkiss 1997, the author of one of the most acclaimed books on the history of the golf ball, the latter revolutionised the game at least four times.
How far did players such as old tom morris hit the golf ball. Hotchkiss paperback august 1997 strictly golf balls. Features a reprint of john stuart martins the curious history of the golf ball, and documents additional changes the balls and the game have made over the last thirty years. History of golf balls and history of golf ball production, covering the feathery ball, rubber golf ball, gutta percha, wooden ball. An experienced ball maker could only make a few balls in one day, so they were expensive about the equivalent to at least ten american dollars per ball in todays economy. Due to its superior flight characteristics, the featherie remained the standard ball for a good two and a half centuries. A history of the royal and ancient golf club st andrews, 1754 1900. Campbell, malcolm 2001 the scottish golf book lomond books. Harry brown explores the composition, history, kinetic life, and the long deterioration of golf balls, which as it turns out may outlive their hitters by a thousand years, in places far beyond our reach. A history of golf by roger mcstravick roger mcstravick. The 8 best books about the mental side of golf of 2020 tripsavvy.
Thats probably because everyone enjoyed hitting things with sticks. The answer most emphatically is the golf ball, as the rules of thistle golf club history makes clear. Tiger woods and the golf ball that almost changed it all. Includes detailed technical terms and glossary for material science and ball construction as well as performance and testing parameters. The royal and ancient game from its beginnings to the. Though the first 2piece ball with solid core and cover, was developed in 1902, it would be decades before the haskell ball was replaced. It is considered to fall within the art movement known as pop art. The history of golf is preserved and represented at several golf museums around the world, notably the british golf museum in the town of st andrews in fife, scotland, which is the home of the royal and ancient golf club of st andrews, and the united states golf association museum, located alongside the united states golf association. From the feather ball era in the 17th and 18th centuries, and the gutty ball era of the 1850s to the rubbercored modern ball era this book literally takes you inside the ball with fascinating details of all aspects of the golf ball. There are a number of books on golf history, see below, but many of these are hard to find. Golf balls online catalogue of wooden shaft golf clubs and collectibles. Incidentally, i will be using both the terms golf ball and golfballs in this article as i have found that approximately 35% of golfers worldwide use the term golfball.