Print this pageDate Added: 01-12-2006
I love long drives. The fluid elasticity of the swing, the surge of power, the ball disappearing towards the green. The Azur Sea was behind me, before me La Côte Provencal Mountains. I wondered how important the ball was in this equation and decided to find out.
The first golf ball was made from wood and driven 100 yards (in old, money) when King James II banned “ye gowfe” on 6 March 1457 to encourage neglected archery practise. Some Scots figured, as birds fly they would make a ball from feathers. Boiled chicken and goose feathers wrapped in leather travelled 200 yards. They were lost quicker than they were made. Next, balls were made from Malaysian tree sap. They broke even time-wise. Then it was realised that “bashed-up” balls travelled further. So they sunk up to 500 dimples per ball.
I remembered my first drive, 375 yards. Not bad I was told but you are above 5000 feet. Why then did Astronaut Alan Sheppard drive only 200 yards on the rarefied atmosphere on the moon? I put it down to his handicap. A space-suit and no doubt the fairway was a bit rough.
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