"Bigger Ball, Better Golf" at Wentworth, 1960

[David_Tepper]

One-minute video of the Ballantine tournament at Wentworth in 1960, when the larger American ball was used.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJpTlExYS3o

[Mike_Clayton]

It is no coincidence that within 5 years of The Open Championship (and a year or 2 later, the Euro Tour) making the big ball compulsory there was a European winner (Seve) and with him a generation of players from outside America (Norman,Price,Langer,Lyle,Faldo,Olazabal,Woosnam) capable of matching it with the American stars.

[Josh Stevens]

I do think they should make coat and tie compulsory for fans and caddies.  Adds a touch of class.

Gosh what happened to Wentworth?  All those funky old heathland dykes and trenches.

Not many people have made putting look so suave as Peter Thomson

[David_Tepper]

Mike C. -

Did you grow up playing the smaller ball? How old were you when the change to the bigger ball was made? Was the transition difficult for you?

DT

[Tom_Doak]

It is no coincidence that within 5 years of The Open Championship (and a year or 2 later, the Euro Tour) making the big ball compulsory there was a European winner (Seve) and with him a generation of players from outside America (Norman,Price,Langer,Lyle,Faldo,Olazabal,Woosnam) capable of matching it with the American stars.

Mike:


That's an interesting observation, I'd never heard it.


My observation, being in Britain at the tail end of the changeover, was that none of the amateurs minded the idea of "bifurcation" one bit.  The transition of average golfers to the bigger ball was done over twenty years with no fuss whatsoever ... only requirements to play the big ball in smaller and smaller tournaments, combined with pressure from one's peers and everyday foursome.

[Mike_Clayton]

David


I played the small ball until the end of 1977 and then changed reasoning if I was going to be a pro I'd have to adapt.
It wasn't that hard a transition but some of the older pros who had played the small ball for 20 years found it more problematic.
It was harder to play with especially the American balata version because it was made for American conditions and was very difficult to use in the high winds of Australia and Britain.
Titleist adapted with the Low-Traj and Dunlop with the DDH - which was a great ball in the wind. They both were and now the ProV is a brilliant wind ball - unfortunately for the game and the skill it takes for good players to play it.




Tom


People now argue golfers won't abide the potential loss of 25 yards if the ball was rolled back but in theory every non- American (and Canadian) who was forced to switch in the mid-80s lost 25 yards.
I never heard one player complain.

[Adam Lawrence]

Henry Longhurst was for many years an advocate of British golfers abandoning the small ball. I recall from his autobiography that it was a piece about the small ball which first saw his column in the Sunday Times moved to the position in the centre of the back page that he occupied for many years. Apparently the page editor was rather taken with the headline he'd written for the column, 'This Miserable Pellet', and wanted to make it more prominent.

[Thomas Dai]

...Dunlop with the DDH - which was a great ball in the wind.

The Dunlop (Maxfli) was a little bit more durable than a Titleist as I recall, slightly less expensive too.


The Titleist Professional, which came after the balata and before the ProV1, was a very fine ball to. Played like balata but much more durable.


The ball has changed sooo much, and durability apart, maybe as Mike hints at, not for the better.


atb

[BCrosby]

People now argue golfers won't abide the potential loss of 25 yards if the ball was rolled back but in theory every non- American (and Canadian) who was forced to switch in the mid-80s lost 25 yards.
I never heard one player complain.

Interesting. I think the same would hold today. People (and I include the USGA) are much too worried about reactions to a roll-back of the ball.

Bob

[David_Tepper]

"Henry Longhurst was for many years an advocate of British golfers abandoning the small ball."

Adam L. -

I read in John Jacobs' autobiography that Roger Wethered led a movement in Britain to change to the big ball a after World War II ended. The "powers that be" thought it would impose too much of a financial hardship on the golf ball manufacturers at that time and the idea was shelved.

DT

[Richard Fisher]

Pathe News (the source of the terrific Wentworth clip) is an amazing repository of (especially) pre-war British golf footage. The following all contain Walker Cup footage from the Jones/Wethered/Ouimet/Tolley era, including (twenty seconds into the first clip below) one of the best examples of a 'real' competitive stymie that I have ever seen on film. Pathe also has a lot of coverage of Amateur and Ladies' Championships, as well as the better-known Open newsreel footage. Enjoy...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1Yz3oUwFe8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxOUYA1wJ_w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjbpGp3zAaw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AC5tZmIPwIk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xg9lzuKNZK0

[Jon Wiggett]

Great find Richard. A really good watch.

[Thomas Dai]

Pathe News (the source of the terrific Wentworth clip) is an amazing repository of (especially) pre-war British golf footage.

Good advice Richard.


I typed Pathe golf into Youtubes search engine and all sorts of interesting golf related items came up including many links to other golf clips. Worth investigating if folks have few minutes to spare.


Atb

[Dave McCollum]

A friend of mine likes to say there are two kinds of golfers: swingers and hitters.  Swingers make the swing and the ball just gets in the way.  Hitters take a whack at it.  Not sure what he means, so can't say I agree.  However, these clips seem to the hitter era.   

[Bill_McBride]

I love the scene in 1955 where a steam locomotive and train pass by what is probably 16.