When Did The Golf Ball Stop Floating?...

[David Harshbarger]

...And is it legal to play a floating golf ball today?

---Spoiler Alert for those reading "The Links"---

Of the many fine portions of the Book Club selection "The Links", by Robert Hunter, are a couple of passages referencing the changes wrought by "the heavy ball".  On pp. 12-13 there is this passage:

"That bunker," my caddy said to me at Prestwick, "is historic.  In the finals of the British Championship, in 1899, Mr. John Ball and Mr. Fred Tait found themselves in that hazard, which was then full of water. Both waded in and played their balls onto the green."  That was in the days of the guttie ball. Today we should have to pick the ball and pay the penalty, but in the old days we used to wade into hazards - whether flooded bunkers, ponds or streams - and play the shot.  Of course that shot and that day are gone.

Then later, on p. 125:

The ideal course should have ... no water hazards (so long as we play the heavy ball)....

This book is written in 1926, and as those two quotes attest, in Hunter's memory there was definitely a time past when the most popular ball, the gutty, floated. and a time present (1926) when the most popular ball, the "heavy", sank.  But the way Hunter phrases the present leads me to wonder when, exactly, the ball's properties vis a vis floatation firmly fixed in the "heavy" column?

I have a vague understanding that the rubber-core Haskell ball revolutionized the game in 1901.  But did the original Haskell float or sink?  Given the long span between the Haskell's introduction and Hunter's tentative comments on the non-inevitability of the heavy ball, I suspect that the Haskell ball also floated.

I also have a vague understanding of the golf ball distance wars of the 1910's and 1920's, which prompted the formalization of the ball diameter minimum and weight maximum. The rationale: smaller balls go further (hence the minimum ball diameter), and heavier balls go further (hence the maximum ball weight).  Clearly, the final values establish the ball's maximal  characteristics as "sinking". 

That said, did the floating golf ball disappear with the gutty? Or were early versions of the Haskell/wound ball also floaters?  Finally, are the floaters out there today conforming for play?

[Jason Topp]

This overview comports with my general understanding:



https://finegolf.co.uk/what-is-fine-golf/golf-course-design/history-of-ball-controversy/

[Pete_Pittock]

in my opinion https://golfclubatlas.com/in-my-opinion/john-vander-borght-the-balloon-ball/

[David Harshbarger]

This overview comports with my general understanding:



https://finegolf.co.uk/what-is-fine-golf/golf-course-design/history-of-ball-controversy/

1909 saw the introduction of the "small heavy".  And in the controversy of the early 1920's JH Taylor argued that the ball should float.  So, the ball stopped floating with the development of the small heavy ball that was about then used to establish the ball performance characteristics.

Got it.

[David Harshbarger]

in my opinion https://golfclubatlas.com/in-my-opinion/john-vander-borght-the-balloon-ball/

Sounds like a failure of change management.  Not sure that 1 year was enough to discern the noise from the objections, but that is moot.

The follow up question is whether balls that supported a more dynamic control and shaping game would be different enough from current balls that there would be a market for them?

[Ken Moum]

in my opinion https://golfclubatlas.com/in-my-opinion/john-vander-borght-the-balloon-ball/

Sounds like a failure of change management.  Not sure that 1 year was enough to discern the noise from the objections, but that is moot.

The follow up question is whether balls that supported a more dynamic control and shaping game would be different enough from current balls that there would be a market for them?

I've said for several years that I think John's opinion in that article is wrong.  But only because he made some assumptions I wouldn't have made.


I think the real reason distance has gotten so crazy is that good players have no fear of hitting the ball off the golf course. So, making the ball slightly lighter would make it curve more, which would require restraint on the part of the players.


In John's article, he talks about all the terrible things that happened with ball weighing 1.55 ounces, but two things are important, the ball doesn't need to go all the way to 1.55, and those balls were wound balata, which amateurs already had trouble controlling.


A modern, two-, three- or 4-piece ball is MUCH easier to control, so lightening it to 1.57 or 1.58 ounces has a good chance of bringing finesse back into the pro game.


Better still, the effect on distance would increase in a non-linear fashion as ball speed increased, because that's how aerodynamic drag increases.  Pros or  anyone with high ball speeds would need to be more cautious.


Old guys like me who hit it 180 yards off the tee wouldn't see much effect, in fact the ball would be easier to keep in the air, and sit up better in the grass. Those are all wins, IMHO.

[David Harshbarger]

in my opinion https://golfclubatlas.com/in-my-opinion/john-vander-borght-the-balloon-ball/

In John's article, he talks about all the terrible things that happened with ball weighing 1.55 ounces, but two things are important, the ball doesn't need to go all the way to 1.55, and those balls were wound balata, which amateurs already had trouble controlling.


A modern, two-, three- or 4-piece ball is MUCH easier to control, so lightening it to 1.57 or 1.58 ounces has a good chance of bringing finesse back into the pro game.


Better still, the effect on distance would increase in a non-linear fashion as ball speed increased, because that's how aerodynamic drag increases.  Pros or  anyone with high ball speeds would need to be more cautious.


Old guys like me who hit it 180 yards off the tee wouldn't see much effect, in fact the ball would be easier to keep in the air, and sit up better in the grass. Those are all wins, IMHO.

So far it sounds like a lighter or larger ball could have some advantages, that the impact on slower swing speed players might be less pronounced, that having the ball sit up has advantages, and that a lighter/larger ball would still be conforming.


I'm not interested in arguing that the rules should be changed.  I'm more interested in the question of whether within the rules a different type of ball, particularly a floater, might have legitimately useful playing characteristics for some players.  I think the answer is a strong "maybe".

[Pete_Pittock]

If you accept the premise that golf is dying, then you need to change the regulations for the good of business and the sport. With the stipulation that the size of the hole should remain the same. 1.68 has got to go. Either size, weight, or both. Then we could have an interesting discussion about keeping the flagstick in the hole.

[Duncan Cheslett]

I haven't got the book to hand, but I am sure that MacKenzie also made the case for the "floater" in "The Spirit of St Andrews".


Until recently Decathlon sports shops in Europe sold a lightweight golf ball which floats. I bought a load for my young grandson to practice with as he found standard balls too heavy to hit properly.


I've still got a few and they play beautifully. From 100 yards in you would hardly know the difference but hit one with a driver and you'd better get it right out of the middle! They fly maybe 75% of the distance of a regular ball when driven.


What a simple new regulation it would be - all golf balls must float in water.

[Thomas Dai]

atb

[Ian Galbraith]

....
What a simple new regulation it would be - all golf balls must float in water.

To say nothing of the environmental advantages ... no more pounds full of decaying plastic ... 

[David Harshbarger]

....
What a simple new regulation it would be - all golf balls must float in water.

To say nothing of the environmental advantages ... no more pounds full of decaying plastic ... 

50,000 golf balls pulled up off the coast of Northern California.  5 courses contributed, 2 on the ocean and 3 on the Carmel river.

https://www.npr.org/2019/01/17/686257550/teenage-diver-finds-tons-of-golf-balls-rotting-off-california

She says it is too bad the golf balls sink. If they floated, people would be shocked and outraged. "If a person could see what we see underwater," she says, "it would not be acceptable."