Pointfive hybrid golf balls

[Cory Brown]

http://www.pointfivegolf.com/index.html

I stumbled across this online. It flies 60% of the distance of a standard golf ball. Touted for use on executive or par 3 short courses or as driving range balls. They suggest there is a need for more courses built to 60% scale to play a standard par round in far less time and using far less space.

Has anyone seen this?

What do you think?

[Jonathan Mallard]

Back in the day, Jack tried to get in front of this concept. He designed a course - two courses actually - and had the engineers at MacGregor come up with a ball to restrict distance, which they did. The ball even floated on water.

His course was a 9 hole regulation course within an 18 hole Cayman course.

I think realistically, the folks at Myrtle Beach and such just said that they had more land to build courses than it was worth dealing with the Cayman concept is why it never took off.

http://www.oobgolf.com/content/fore+play/1-3470-Brief_History_Lesson_Cayman_Golf_Ball.html

[Cory Brown]

Nice article about the cayman. Definitely the same idea. Could the Cayman possibly just been an idea ahead of its time? In the 70's people could just say what's the big deal we have more land over there, but land is only becoming more scarce and despite the recent real estate market it's not getting any cheaper in the long run. Could balls and courses like these provide a viable option for people who are short on both the time and the expense involved in playing a "full size" course? Could the "full size" experience be replicated in less time and at less cost? Just a few thoughts.

[John Kavanaugh]

Nice article about the cayman. Definitely the same idea. Could the Cayman possibly just been an idea ahead of its time? In the 70's people could just say what's the big deal we have more land over there, but land is only becoming more scarce and despite the recent real estate market it's not getting any cheaper in the long run. Could balls and courses like these provide a viable option for people who are short on both the time and the expense involved in playing a "full size" course? Could the "full size" experience be replicated in less time and at less cost? Just a few thoughts.

How are people going to hit the same number of golf shots in half the time?  The time we spend getting to our golf ball is not the problem.

[Mike_Trenham]

The Caymen ball made the short game miserable, that is why it failed more than anything else.

[RJ_Daley]

Wasn't it architect Bill Amick who first explored the Cayman ball?

With modern manufacturing technology, would it be possible to make a ball proportionately responsive to shot making including the short game, yet be a reduced distance ball?  I have no idea. 

[Garland Bayley]

Wasn't it architect Bill Amick who first explored the Cayman ball?

With modern manufacturing technology, would it be possible to make a ball proportionately responsive to shot making including the short game, yet be a reduced distance ball?  I have no idea. 

Don't know who Bill Amick is, but architect Bill Diddel patented the idea long before a Cayman ball was created.