I have a confession to make: I've never played golf. But my interest in golf balls was piqued when I read that one had fetched $15,750 at an auction in 2007!
Though the origin of golf is unclear - it may have been played in Scotland as early as the 12th Century AD - the development of the feather ball ("feathery" or "featherie") was a milestone in the game. Made of leather stuffed with feathers, the feathery was a major improvement over balls made of wood. No one knows exactly when the feathery was invented, but one of the earliest mentions of it dates to a 1618 commission by James I, granting James Melvill the exclusive right to make featheries for the English court.
Tediously hand-made, the feathery was never available in large quantities. Consequently, examples are quite rare today, and often command prices in the thousands of dollars.
The next great leap in ball design occurred in 1848 when the Rev. Dr. Robert Adams Paterson, an avid golfer, used a latex material, gutta-percha, from Southeast Asia to fashion a new type of golf ball. Called a "gutty", the ball was more resilient, durable, and less expensive to produce than the feathery. The gutty was an immediate success, but golfers soon realized that heavily nicked balls exhibited "truer flight" than new, smooth balls. This discovery led to the hand-hammered gutty wherein a pattern was created on the surface of the ball by means of a hammer's claw.
Eventually, machines were enlisted to manufacture the balls and to mold patterns, such as the mesh and reverse-mesh, onto their surfaces. One of the most popular patterns was the "bramble" because it gave the ball the appearance of a berry.
The modern era began in 1898 with the invention of the rubber ball. Developed by golfer Coburn Haskell and Bertram Work of B. F. Goodrich, the ball consisted of a gutta-percha cover over a solid rubber core that had been tightly wrapped with rubber thread. The "aerodynamically superior" dimple pattern that was introduced in 1908 eventually rendered other patterns - even the bramble - obsolete. And in 1930 and 1932 respectively, the BGA (British Golf Association) followed by the USGA (United States Golf Association) standardized the golf ball's size and weight.
Feather balls are quite valuable, but smooth gutty balls are just as rare and also fetch thousands of dollars at auction. Hand-hammered guttys are somewhat more common than the smooth. And the values of the patterned specimens are dependent upon the rarity of the pattern. Many gutty balls sell in the $50 to $100 range.
"Standard" balls (post 1930/32) are considered "modern" and their values vary widely depending upon the desirability or rarity of their logo or signature. Most are worth no more than a few dollars in the secondary markets.
While some collectors are intent on finding rare specimens, many others prefer to concentrate on a particular area of interest. It is possible, for example, to create interesting collections around golf company logos, signature balls, or advertising pieces. But whatever your preference, you have one great advantage: your collection probably won't take up much space!
If you're interested in learning more about collectible golf balls, check out the following resources:
Books
"500 Years of Golf Balls: History & Collector's Guide," by John F. Hotchkiss and John Stuart Martin
http://tinyurl.com/4syrtf
"Antique Golf Collectibles: A Price and Reference Guide," by Chuck Furjanic
http://tinyurl.com/4zz5ut
"Antique Golf Collectibles: Identification & Value Guide," by Pete Georgiady and Richard Walker
http://tinyurl.com/3vwk7b
"The Story of the Golf Ball," by Kevin McGimpsey
http://tinyurl.com/5xxw3x
Websites
A Brief History of Golf
http://www.tourcanada.com/golfhist.htm
An interestingly written TourCanada page
The Golf Collectors Society
http://www.golfcollectors.com
Offers a webzine, events, links, more.
http://www.golfcollectors.com/webzine/webzine_auctionblock/sept07.html
This page has auction results for the Allan Robertson feather golf ball that sold for $15,750 at Bonhams Summer Golf Sale (2007,) Edinburgh.
Golfball-guide
http://www.golfball-guide.de
Informative site offers history, "museum", links, more.
The History of the Golf Ball
http://www.thedesignshop.com/history.htm
This page at The Design Shop's website offers a detailed history of the evolution of the golf ball.
The Lake Balls Golf Ball Museum
http://www.golfballmuseum.co.uk/index.html
This UK site offers a comprehensive history of the golf ball, from wood to Woods. Numerous pics and discussions of values
United States Golf Association
http://www.usga.org/questions/faqs/usga_history.html#4
Official website of the USGA. Just in case you wanted to know the origins of golf and some of its terms. So, what's a "dormie"?
