Multi-Layer Golf Ball Technology
In the “old days,” picking a golf ball was simple. If you were a good player you used a balata-covered ball, where a hard rubber core was tightly wrapped with rubber thread, then the whole package was covered in a soft rubber. Duffers made do with the same balls, but with a hard rubber cover. The reason was that hard balls were more durable, while soft balls provided more control. The cheap rubber balls were always hard, and the expensive balata balls were always soft. My, how things have changed.
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Classic Two-Piece Design
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In the late 1950s, chemists at Dupont developed Surlyn, an extremely durable inexpensive copolymer. Golf equipment manufacturer Spalding was already experimenting on a two-piece ball with a thick polyurethane cover and a large rubber core. The two got together, replaced the cover with Suryln, and the inexpensive two-piece ball was born. It was too hard to provide much control, but it was durable and flew a long way. Professional golfers generally ignored them because they needed control around the greens.
Three-Piece Design
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In the 1990s, Top-Flite (Spalding’s golf ball line) introduced a three-piece ball called the Strata, in an effort to bring the feel and control of a wound balata ball to the “solid” ball. It turned out that this was a fairly simple innovation. Basically all they had to do was replace the cover of a two-piece Top-Flite distance ball with a thinner cover (now called a mantle), then add a second soft polyurethane cover on top of it all. This triggered a renaissance in ball design, spurring the development of new polymers and rubbers for balls like the Titleist Pro-V1, and ending the reign of the balata ball forever.
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Four-Piece Design
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At the turn of the millennium, golf ball manufacturers were struck by another amazing idea: If three-layer balls were good, four-layer balls would probably be better. Balls like the Titleist Pro-V1x and Nike One appeared on the market. These balls which either a second thin mantle (Nike) or turned the large core into a core-within-a-core (Titleist). With so many layers, only players with high-speed swings could really get the full advantage of these engineering marvels.
Modern Two-Piece Design
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As a result, golf ball manufacturers took their newfound expertise and set about redesigning the now ancient technology of two-piece balls. They combined high-spinning but durable outer covers with distance cores, providing a distance ball that performed better around the greens at an attractive price for weekend players. Furthermore, they were able to tailor these balls, creating special models for women, teens and seniors, as well as tilting the balance toward distance or control as players desired. This opened a whole new market.
Five-Piece Design
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In late 2009, TaylorMade took the next step and released a five-piece golf ball. The Penta adds a third mantle, which makes this ball only suitable for players with super-fast swing speeds. It has a soft cover for high spin rates, then each layer gets progressively firmer until you reach the core, which TaylorMade says will give the strongest players even longer distance.
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- Photo Credit Golf ball and lightning image by Warren Millar from Fotolia.com
