Paul
I'm nowhere as old as Patrick
, but I probably have a lot more experience that he in playing it as I spent about 10 months golfing in the UK in the period from 1978 up to 84-5 when the small ball finally bit the dust. Even at that time, however, most of the good players were playing the "big" ball, partly because it was required in many top tournaments (It was, in effect, a "Competition Ball"!), but also because the small ball was felt to be more difficult for putting and other aspects of the short game (try hitting a pitch and run with a superball....). If you wanted length, however, those suckers could go. The best player I saw during that period used to use a small Pinnacle. I dread thinking of how hard he might have been able to hit it with todays driver technology.....