Evolution of Golf through the Ball and Club
Over the past 500 years, golf has advanced and improved in so many different ways--from locations, to equipment, to even the people. It is suggested that golf began with bored shepherds who were tending to their sheep; they were hitting round stones into rabbit holes with their wooden staffs. Though there is no specific reference as to the origins of golf, it is agreed that the beginning of golf dated back to the 1400s in Scotland (Ruthenberg 3). Like modern day golfers, the people in the past were so obsessed with golf that they avoided their daily tasks, like archery practice. Therefore, golf became notorious and was banned by the King of Scotland (Haaheim). “But it was a keen Scottish Baron, James VI, who brought the game to England when he succeeded to the English throne in 1603. For many years the game was played on rough terrain without proper greens, just crude holes cut into the ground where the surface was reasonably flat!” (Haaheim). The game of golf began with a simple wooden stick, a round stone, and rabbit holes; then over time, golf turned into a professional sport all over the world.
The advancements of the ball and club have allowed for the great players like Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson to play with grace and confidence in today’s golf world. But before getting into our famous and well-known players, we must first explore the beginning of the ball and club. If it were not for the technology of the ball and club, golf would not be where it is today.
In the beginning, the golf ball began as a leather pouch filled with feathers. “The feathers were wet when being inserted into the pouch, and the ball dried to become very hard and solid” (Fritts). It was known that these feather-filled balls would fly about 150 yards, which was not bad at all for leather pouches filled with feathers. “In 1848, the Gutta-percha ball was developed [and these] balls were made of the dried gum of Malaysian sapodilla trees” (Fritts). Though the balls were made smooth, they did not fly as well as the feather-filled balls, but once the smooth exterior started to get roughed up, the balls flew much better. The Gutta-percha ball was discovered as an advancement and was manufactured with rough exteriors. “This construction is equivalent to, and the basis of, modern day dimpled golf balls” (Fritts).
The wound balls of today are all a direct descendent of the Haskell ball that was invented in 1898 (Fritts). “The Haskell ball is composed of a solid core wound with thin strips of rubber” (Nicholls). The solid core of the Haskell ball allowed for the ball to fly further farther (“Further” gets the idea of “moreso” across, but when referring to distance, “farther” is the better word.) and was cheaper to make than the gutty ball. Once manufacturers had the idea of what worked and what didn’t, they began to create golf balls that we use today. Over time, manufacturers discovered that multi-layered balls were effective for golfers. The wound balls did not allow for balls to travel as far as a layered ball (Fritts). Golfers also did not want to change to the newer solid balls because of the hard feel and not being able to control their spin (Fritts). Because of “the development of two-piece and multi-layer balls, these problems began to fade away” (Fritts). The different layers allow for different factors problems to be solved. According to Fritts, the exterior layer helps to soften the feel of impact; the high-restitution core allows for more of the energy from the golf club to be transferred to the golf ball at impact; therefore the layers act to resist deformity, which conserves more energy from the club head. The technology of the golf ball and the multiple layers allow for “state-of-the-art materials…for better overall performance” (Fritts). So now, it is believed that balls today can compensate somewhat if a ball is hit incorrectly by the golf club (Fritts). So comma if one purchases the right ball, no comma and strokes it wrong, the ball can make up for it because of the state-of-the-art materials that are layered into the ball.
Along with the advancement of the golf ball, the club comma too commaevolved over time. “The design of clubs has tended to follow improvements in golf ball design” (Nicholls). Because the golf ball was changing, the club comma too comma had to be modified so that the ball would be effective. When the feathery ball was made, golfers used wooden clubs because they were easier on the ball. This was necessary because feathery balls were hand-made and expensive comma so golfers had to take it easy, or they would destroy the golf ball. According to Nicholls, though wooden clubs were used to play, there were moments where when iron clubs were used to get balls out of cart ruts. As the golf ball advanced, clubs advanced and became stronger. In 1800s, the introduction of golf in America led “to hickory wood being used in the shafts of the clubs” (Nicholls). The use of the hickory wood in the shaft allowed more durability and advanced to steel shafts in 1925 (Nicholls). While the ball was changing to layers and the clubs were becoming more durable, golf continued to grow exponentially. The exterior of the golf ball took shape of the blackberry, with little dimples and the club head evolved as well with grooves. The dimples in the golf ball allowed for the ball to fly further farther and smoother comma and the grooves on the club head allowed for more grip of the ball at impact to make way for a back spin, gaining loft and stay in the air for a longer period of time (Fritts and Nicholls).
Clubs not only evolved, but multiple clubs were designed for different uses for the entire game of golf. “A common set of clubs may contain several drivers (with varying weights, head sizes, and lie angles), 2 through 9 irons, a pitching wedge, a sand wedge, and a putter” (Fritts). All the different clubs are used for different purposes comma such as teeing off to distance the ball on or over the fairway (drivers and/or irons), different angles to hit the ball further farther (lower irons), or to hit the ball higher with a shorter distance (higher irons). Pitching and sand wedges are used to pitch and chip the ball out of a bunker or over onto the green. These clubs have very little horizontal displacement but allow for a vertical shot (Fritts). The last club is probably one of the most important clubs in golf, the putter. The putter is used for the short game on the green. “The putter has no lie angle and is simply designed to keep the ball on the ground as it travels across the green, hopefully ending up in the hole” (Fritts). Actually, it does have a little angle, but not much.
The technology of golf balls and clubs have advanced so much that regulations are put on to restrict certain balls and clubs to keep the game of golf to some mean of fairness. Anyone can buy the best club and ball but not everyone can be the best just by skills comma alone. The evolution of the golf ball and the different designs of the clubs have widened the game of golf to be a sport that is still loved and obessed by people today. (like me!)
The golf ball and golf clubs play a huge role in how a golfer plays today semi-colon but the golf swing, the physics of the club-ball interaction, and the aerodynamics also play a huge role in golf. Every professional golfer practices and works on their “golfer” is singular, but “their” is plural. They have to agree. Easiest way to fix is “All professional golfers….their….” swings to perfect their technique to hit the golf ball at the sweet spot so that the club not only hits the ball, but also follows through just as one they started off. The interaction of the club and ball is very critical as to the flight of the ball. When hit at the sweet spot, even with little power, the ball will soar across the sky because of the impact and interaction of the ball and club. Aerodynamics is not something we commonly think about comma but it does play a factor in golf. The flight of the ball can be affected by many factors such as air/wind. A great golfer who has had enormous amounts of practice can work around aerodynamics and use it to their advantage for the flight of the ball.
Professionals like Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Michelle Wee Wie, and even myself me, a beginner golfer comma have all experienced the results of the evolution of golf through the ball and club just by the equipment we use today. All of the clubs and balls used today have been designed and created because of the advancement from the very beginning. It is because of those bored shepherds playing with their staffs and hitting stones into rabbit holes, which allowed for the advancement and evolution of the amazing game and love for golf.
Work Cited
Fritts, Josh. “The Physics of Golf.” 16 Nov 2002. 24 Oct 2006. <http://ffden-
2.phys.uaf.edu/211_fall2002.web.dir/josh_fritts/>.
Haaheim, Don. “A Brief History of Golf.” Tour Canada. 30 Oct 1996. 24 Oct 2006.
<http://www.tourcanada.com/golfhist.htm>.
Nicholls, David. “The History of the Golf Club.” 1999. 24 Oct 2006
<http://www.home.aone.net.au/~byzantium/golf/history.html>.
Ruthenberg, Stephen J. Golf Fore!! Beginners. Lansing: RGS Publishing, 1992.