Golf ball nostalgia

[doctorgriffo]

I just watched Rick Shiels' video on Top Flight balls, and he reminisced on the balls he used "back in the day" as a junior. It made me think back to my early years playing golf as a junior in the UK in the mid-80's. Our club had a strong junior program (25GBP a year for membership!) and we would hunt for balls when not allowed on the course at busy times. The gems we all wanted to find were Spalding Tour Editions, Titleist Tour Balata (or any Titleist we found). Wilson Ultras, Pinnacles and Top Flites would hurt your hands if you caught then the slightest bit thin, and were rocks. You were always gutted to spot a ball and discover it was a Penfold or Slazenger.

Which balls from your early days of playing do you remember loving/hating?

On a related note - we used to love doing this with a balata ball in front of a brick like an ultra, and you could spin it back into the bunker from the green. It destroyed the ball, though....

 

[JohnSmalls]

6 hours ago, doctorgriffo said:

I just watched Rick Shiels' video on Top Flight balls, and he reminisced on the balls he used "back in the day" as a junior. It made me think back to my early years playing golf as a junior in the UK in the mid-80's. Our club had a strong junior program (25GBP a year for membership!) and we would hunt for balls when not allowed on the course at busy times. The gems we all wanted to find were Spalding Tour Editions, Titleist Tour Balata (or any Titleist we found). Wilson Ultras, Pinnacles and Top Flites would hurt your hands if you caught then the slightest bit thin, and were rocks. You were always gutted to spot a ball and discover it was a Penfold or Slazenger.

Which balls from your early days of playing do you remember loving/hating?

On a related note - we used to love doing this with a balata ball in front of a brick like an ultra, and you could spin it back into the bunker from the green. It destroyed the ball, though....

 

I missed the old logo from the Top Flite balls from the 90s/00s until I played them in the Hard Rock Challenge this year.  I quickly remembered why they were so awful feeling.  But the ball I really miss is the old Nike One. I had one as a kid and was so disappointed when I caught it thin and lost it for all eternity.  
 

Curious as to why you were gutted to find Penfolds and Slazengers? 

[doctorgriffo]

49 minutes ago, JohnSmalls said:

Curious as to why you were gutted to find Penfolds and Slazengers? 

They were always the weird small old balls that had gone yellow in some old guy’s bag  (acknowledging that to us, old guy was anyone over 40, like my dad), and they had weird dimples (you can add the Dunlop 65 to that list). We used to try and hit them hard and thin with a wedge, to cut them open to see what looked like a mass of elastic bands inside.

[RobotDoctor]

I have a few dozen Titleist balata balls stashed away.  I use these when hitting one of my persimmon drivers on the course.