One of the earliest problems that confronted the pioneers of
golf is the difficult task of creating a golf ball that was user friendly and
easy to make. The very first golf ball bashed around Scotland was a wooden ball.
At the best they could maybe get 80-90 yards distance. I'm talking a perfect
stroke, on a perfect day, with the wind on your back. They put their heads together
regarding the equipment they used for golf and I imagine the conversation went
something like this:
"I ya say, we had better be thinking of a way to construct
these horrid little balls, or the English will-a-be comin' up here and beatin'
us at ha-war own game".
While these fine gentlemen discussed their golf equipment problems
over a pint or 6, another keen Scottish man figured he had the answer. He decided
that since birds can fly so well, he would pack up a tight ball of feathers
and sew it in leather. After a few hundred ducks later they
had a new golf ball that they could hit over one hundred and 30 yards. This
guy was a real innovator in his time, but the golf balls took a long time to
make. If you played allot of goat pastures with a slice swing, you would be
spending the whole week "making" more golf balls.
At this stage, equipment
used for golf was now a hobby of passion. Making golf balls was paramount
to fly fishing of modern times. Each golfer would craft these personal beauties
and proudly whip them out on the weekend to show the rest of the foursome. (hmmm....that
does'nt sound right does it) Anyways, the point being that golf equipment in
these days was a local village art. Soon after this our humble pioneers grew
tired of making golf balls all the time, (and their wives were fed up) so they
tried packing dried tree sap for the core and wrapping them in various covers.
(Messy yes!) Then they discovered something amazing. They noticed the golf balls
that were scuffed up would fly further and handle better on the green. This
led to them creating little craters all around the golf ball. What we now call
"dimples".
The other equipment they needed to improve upon was their golf
clubs. They had wooden shafts and leather grips. The art of keeping their golf
clubs dry was always a critical concern. Each local community had craftsmen
that could make fairly crude shafts and grips, but the club heads were awful.
The industrial revolution fixed that in a big way. Equipment used for golf changed
faster then ever before in history. We think the internet has changed our lives,
but nothing as powerful as the industrial revolution.
Soon the art of metal forging changed golf
equipment 100 fold. These new golf club heads were far superior,
and so were the new wooden golf club shafts. The grips were still made with
a leather wrapping design. As the decades past until the early nineteen hundreds,
golfers were quickly improving their game. Along with this, golf courses were
now becoming manicured so well that the fairways and greens were bordering breathtaking.
Very rough by today's standards, but the equipment used for building golf courses
was improving by leaps and bounds. The sport of golf soon began growing in every
free society on the planet.
As golf
equipment, golf courses and golfers, improved through the early nineteen
hundreds so did the celebration of organized competition. Arguably the best
golfer to gain massive exposure world wide, was the famous Bobby Jones. Though
golf equipment was still somewhat crude compared with today's standards, Bobby
Jones was pure magic in his time. He was said to be unbeatable for a period
of three years. He did'nt have the endorsements and financial gain from golf
equipment manufacturers like the golf pros now, but he had "the gift and
the fame".
It did not take long before this would change forever. As decades
went on golf equipment did improve with the onset of steel shaft golf clubs
and engineer designed golf balls. Soon there was a coasting period in the improvement
of equipment, but the growth of the golf industry was still booming. Then along
came golfers like Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer (I know....I know....I'm leaving
out many great players, but this will do for my point) As golf equipment companies
began pursuing ways to market their products with the general public, they paid
golf pros to "endorse" their golf balls, golf shoes, golf bags, etc.
This strategy, of course, paid off, and a new world in golf began. Soon amateur
golfers rushed in droves to buy golf clubs that had Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus
logos and signatures.
The massive amount of profit these golf equipment companies
started to make pumped up their design and manufacturing budgets. By the time
the 1970s came along, there was a new golf shaft coming out. The first graphite
golf club shafts became all the rage, due to their amazing flex characteristics
and their light weight. All sorts of scientific golf equipment also started
creeping into the market by this time. By the early 1980s a new company was
on the horizon, now know as Callaway
golf. Their user friendly golf clubs made a huge impact on the market and
soon their clubs became a mainstay in America. I will go into further detail
regarding the history of Callaway golf in my next article.
Now....in the new century, golf is actually growing in popularity
beyond what anyone could have imagined. Thanks to the icon status of Tiger Woods,
a whole new generation has been exposed to golf like never before. Along with
this, many major retailers have leaped in to the fray selling golf equipment.
A perfect example is the Nike brand. Their growth in golf gear has hit the market
like a bomb, leaving the classics like Ping, Wilson, and Titleist scrambling
to maintain their ever shrinking market share. I don't believe for a minute
these golf equipment companies are going to dry up and blow anytime soon. On
the contrary, their future is bright as well. They have embraced the new world
online shopping paradigm, and will be around long after you and I have gone
to that 19th hole in the sky.
Thank you for visiting this fine golf site and I hope you are
having a great season on the fairways in your city, state, county, or country.
It's always a pleasure writing these quick golf articles, especially regarding
some of golf's history. I always enjoy sharing some info with readers and I
highly recommend book marking this site.
As my dear grandfather use to say when he taught me the game........keep
your eye on the ball!
Bob Usherwood is a successful author and publisher, who provides
researched content for fine golf
equipment websites......just like this one.
