1.62/1.68 inch balls

[HomerJSimpson]

I remember them...just. I was starting out as a golfer at the time and so oblivious to the fact there was a bigger ball and just assumed this tiny dot of a ball was what everyone used. Remember the first time I stuck a smiley on the cover. Distraught

 

[Hobbit]

If I remember correctly, there were 1.74" & 1.80" balls at some point, although I'm blowed if I can remember why they were introduced. The 1.62" didn't sit up as well on the fairway & seemed to bury itself at the bottom of any rough, but as others have said, was better in the wind.

Spalding Molitor was a bigger ball - flippin' huge! I started out with the 1.62, and tiny woods and irons. Also remember thinning a few and before you even got to the ball you knew a new ball was required. Even if you hit a Balata ball well it went out of shape by the turn...

ee by eck lad, and if you told the youth of today they wouldn't believe you...

 

[HawkeyeMS]

If the balls have increased in size, why didn't the holes?

Did you have to? I mean really? I can just imagine DelC's brain going into overdrive when he read this

 

[CheltenhamHacker]

Did you have to? I mean really? I can just imagine DelC's brain going into overdrive when he read this

He didn't bite though, DelC is improving!

 

[MashieNiblick]

To get an idea of size difference for those too young to have played with the "small" ball here are a 1.62, 1.68 and 1.72 ball.

 

[patricks148]

Ive only played since 2006 so don't remember using them back in the day, but i have played a couple of rounds using a Dunlop 65 around Tain. they did indeed go further and were really cut though the wind. putting was a bit weird and were effected by the bumpy green during winter far more.

 

[6inchcup]

Ive only played since 2006 so don't remember using them back in the day, but i have played a couple of rounds using a Dunlop 65 around Tain. they did indeed go further and were really cut though the wind. putting was a bit weird and were effected by the bumpy green during winter far more.

was it the old 65 or the one the brought out in 2008 as a gimmick,one would be dirty yellow colour the other being white.

 

[chrisd]

I've never played with small balls!

 

[Dave3498]

If the balls have increased in size, why didn't the holes?

It doesn't make any difference. If the vertical centreline of the ball is inside the edge of the hole, it will from in.

 

[Tommo21]

I thought they were easier to hit an easier to hole. Penfold Ace was my ball of choice, easy to cut and spins like hell.

 

[patricks148]

was it the old 65 or the one the brought out in 2008 as a gimmick,one would be dirty yellow colour the other being white.

Def the old one, They cleared a load of Broom at Tain a few years ago and found loads of them that the greens keepers then put on the practice ground. Id never hit one before and was a real eye opener.

 

[6inchcup]

I've never played with small balls!

but your other half does !!!

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

I remember finding my first big ball - in trees to right of 16th hole on Deaconsbank Golf Glasgow - mid 70s sometime. I looked at it and treated it with something akin to wonder. I never realised that the US had bigger balls so was a bit taken aback by what I'd found.

My recollection (poor) is that by the time the larger ball became commonplace in the UK the ball covering was much tougher and so didn't cut so easily. Certainly I can't remember really putting a smile on the face of a big ball back then (though I'm sure I must have)

 

[Doon frae Troon]

OP I was at Muirfield when Nicklaus played the 17th.
Baked fairway and following wind, still two good hits though.

When the UK Pros moved to a 1.68 I remember chasing one around a Kilspindie green in a stiff breeze whilst playing in a winter Alliance meet.
My amateur partners [playing a 1.62] were having a good laugh and said that was the reason why the R&A would never allow the 1.68 in the UK.
Aye right.

 

[delc]

I can remember that Dunlop made a cheaper ball than the 65 called the Warwick, but I can't remember much about it. Anybody know what construction it had?

 

[Foxholer]

OP I was at Muirfield when Nicklaus played the 17th.
Baked fairway and following wind, still two good hits though.

When the UK Pros moved to a 1.68 I remember chasing one around a Kilspindie green in a stiff breeze whilst playing in a winter Alliance meet.
My amateur partners [playing a 1.62] were having a good laugh and said that was the reason why the R&A would never allow the 1.68 in the UK.
Aye right.

Quite possibly my favourite 'short' course!

And certainly a test when breezy! There's a Par 3 (8?) that I've played (different times! ) using every club from PW to 3W! Longniddry was the most 'interesting' place for wind effects on the Greens though - balls would frequently oscillate on the exposed ones (most of them)!

 

[MashieNiblick]

I can remember that Dunlop made a cheaper ball than the 65 called the Warwick, but I can't remember much about it. Anybody know what construction it had?

You mean these.



Pretty sure they were wound originally, although I think later versions (1980's) may have been 2 piece.

 

[RobertB]

If I recall from late 70's/ early 80's the most common 1.68 I played was that rock hard top flyte XL. Seemed like a tennis ball compared to table tennis sized 1.62. Loved unwrapping a new 1.62 slazenger, worst was then loosing it on the beach/sea...