[Mark_Rowlinson]

I know some of you play hickories from time to time, but has anyone tried a 1.62" ball in recent years?  What effect would its use have on your game and your appreciation of golf course design?  For the purposes of this hypothetical exercise you have to assume that the ball is new, and that it has the performance of a new ball in its heyday - let's say 1950s and 60s.  

[Jim Sweeney]

MArk:

I'd bet that few people over here have even seen the 1.62 ball let alone played one. I have, though it has been thirty years. And That was probably one I found in the bushes whoch had probably been there for thirty years!

So I don't know how to answer your question, except to say that I know the small ball should do better in the wind and for the bump and run game.

So I imagine it would help my hickory game, and I like to try. Do you know of any sources for new small balls?

[Brian_Ewen]

Mark
Funny you ask this . The other week while searching for a ball at my local course , I unearthed a 1.62 Dunlop . I almost threw it away before wondering if it was still hittable .

Decided to match it up against a ProV for the last 6 holes at my home course ,and the ProV won hands down .

Sure the Dunlop had been there for a few decades [?] but it surprised  me how well it hit , apart from I couldnt control it in a slight breeze .

It was really enjoyable though and I was shocked how much it moved in the air , uness I hit it spot on .

Putts ran true but it was an absolute rock to putt with.

I had so much fun I took it out of the bag the following day and sliced it down the cliffs with my first shot of the day.

Brian

[David_Tepper]

Brian -

Funny you mention finding a Dunlop 1.62-inch ball, as I found one myself while while thrashing around in the rough at Golspie a couple of weeks ago. It was a Dunlop "65." I showed it to some of the old-timers there and they said the ball was at least 30 years old.

The ball was a little weather-beaten, but not in bad shape. However, I did not play with it. Maybe I will when I am back to Dornoch in August.

DT  

 

[Alfie]

Great question Mark.

I think if you addressed this same question to most on the Seniors tour, they might tell you that they missed playing the older ball ! They would tell you that they miss the shaping of shots ; draws and fades and generally the joy of "controlling" the ball in comparison to the modern balls !
For the average golfer, I doubt that playing the 1.62"" ball would make all that much difference. For them, it's mostly in the equipment - and hence my continuing argument for a roll back !
I must be getting bloody old, cause I remember all too well the old trusty 65's (my favoured selection) and as I've said on here before....they didn't scare me in my efforts as an extremely "average" golfer !
As for the effects of the 1.62" on the design of a course - this has already been tried at Loch Lomond (I think) with Paul Lawrie (I think) and he found the experience a breath of fresh air. He played both a modern and an old 1.62 for comparison and found the older ball more tricky to control....but more fun. If I remember correctly, there was a distinct loss of distance in the old ball played with Lawrie's modern clubs !

But "who cares" about design and architecture in golf ? We must keep going forward and shouldn't stop nor impede the booming "bubba's" of the modern game....should we ? Unless, of course, we all grasp the nettle and consider the FACT that golf, at the end of every day, is just a game / sport ?

Roll back the golf ball - but not the Hoover ; internet technology ; cancer treatments ; penis enlargement patches ; etc.,, etc...

Alfie.

[Dan Herrmann]

I still think the advent of the globalization of great golf was the standardization of the golf ball.  Till then, the USA was awfully dominant.  Since then, we get whupped in the Ryder Cup, we struggle to win majors, etc.  It's not that US golfers aren't as good - the "rest of the world" is that much better.

And it's fantastic for the game.

[RSLivingston_III]

I think you guys might find it intereting that we nbow have a guy remolding modern balls in old mesh ball molds.
He has it down where he can do quantity and they will be available publically soon.
I wish I could forward the latest Society of Hickory Golfers newsletter as it is devoted to balls.

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Ralph, Would love a copy of that!

[RSLivingston_III]

These are remolded laddies. He (Chris McIntyre) is using a mold that is 1.68".
He has experimented with a 1.65" and did get some squish around the edge.

[Andy Levett]

When I started golf in the mid-70s in the UK the 1.62 was the ball of choice, as it went further and stayed straighter, especially into the wind, compared to the 1.68 of the era.
So don't get nostalgic for the 1.62 - the universal adoption of the 1.68 was, in effect, a roll-back.

[Alfie]

Andy,

Hate to disagree with you - but I will.
My memory of the 1.68 was that it gave me more yards off the tee, while my sometimes eratic hook became less punishing. Nostalgia has nothing to do with it ! I can vaguely remember the furore over a few people registering concerns about the UK / ROW resorting to the USGA 1.68 format. I also vividly remember rubbishing these peoples claims at that time because my own 5 hcp and self interests were more important to me ! I can only put that down to my own ego and ignorance of what was best for the sport.
Neither can I recall any of the high handicappers at that time sticking with the small 1.62 ball during the transition when we in the UK / ROW actually had a choice between size ?
However, other golfers may have found the experience differently than myself ?
As for the 1.68 being a roll back.........Aye right !


Alfie.

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