Old School “Modern” Golf Balls

[Yuck]

Just a bit of Nostalgia on the golf Balls of my childhood.  How many remember these?

 

These were all Balata, since Surlyn covers were not a thing yet

 

Titleist had a value Brand “The Acushnet Club Special”, long before the DT.  If I mowed 2 or three lawns, I could afford a sleeve of these.

Tour Balls included Titleist Balata, both 90 & 100 Compression, the Spalding Dot, Wilson Staff, and the 110 Compression Ram Golden Eagle.  Macgreagor was not that good, but Jack played them.

When you cut any of these balls open, you got a lot of rubber bands and a core that might have some liquid in it.  Of course a skulled shot would cut the cover, or put a “smile” on the ball.  You could actually cut these with a skyed tee shot using your persimmon or laminated maple Driver.  (Easy to do with your Power Built Citation, since they had a shallow profile…)

 

Then there was some innovation….

 

The Royal “Plus 6” with hexagonal Dimples.  The “Plus 6” reference the extra distance marketing said you gained.

Wilson Pro Staff had the “Truncated Cone Dimples”, the was also was first tour colored Ball (there was an orange version).  Jerry Pate and Andy Bean played these for a while.

The Dunlop “Blue Max” was a very Popular Surlyn Ball, the was also a Black Max & Red Max.

Spalding Top Flite, was a Surlyn 2 Piece Ball.  We called them Top Rocks.  Lee Trevino even gamed them on tour for a while.

The Polara Flight correction Ball.  This had deeper dimples along its equator to correct side spin and straighten out your shot.  Not legal of course.

The Molitor was initially marketed as a super premium Surlyn Ball. Priced high and packaged in triangular Boxes.

 

It was always cool to get hold of some British Dunlops or Slazengers back then.  They were smaller and still legal in the British Open.  (1.62” diameter as opposed to 1.68” for the American Ball).

 

Of course other than the Club Specials, most of these were unaffordable for kids, but we got to try them all by sneaking out at night and fishing balls out of ponds.  Just feel them in the muck with your toes, then dive down and grab.

 

 For some reason the alligators never tried to bother us at night….

 

 

 

 

[wjets]

I used titleist 90 balata back in the seventies felt very soft and spun a lot, but the ball that had the most spin for me was the Spalding tour edition.

[sheepdawg]

When I was a lad finding a nice red dot Maxfli would be a big deal.

[otto6457]

2 hours ago, wjets said:

I used titleist 90 balata back in the seventies felt very soft and spun a lot, but the ball that had the most spin for me was the Spalding tour edition.

 

The Tour Editions were great balls.  Spun like crazy.

 

I also really liked the Hogan 428 balls.

[notgreatnotterrible]

I got a box of Slazengers (“tour” balls, I think) for my 10th birthday in 1993 and played them the entire summer.  Honestly, felt like they were the coolest balls ever (probably because of the name) and never knew they may have been a different size.

[Hat Trick]

I played the Black Max, Blue Max, Titleist (DTs, HP2s, Balatas, Professionals).  But I remember really liking the Precept Extra Spin for awhile.

[philly2kuk]

The titleist professional 90 was the ball played by most people when I was a kid. I preferred the HP eclipse as I wasn’t a good golfer as a junior and couldn’t afford the pro 90.

[wantacigar]

I played whatever I found.  started playing golf in the 80's.  Top Flite was my preferred because Trevino played them.  If not Top Flite, Pinnacle.

[klbcec]

As a kid in the 70s, having a Blue Max to play was the bomb! Spaulding used to give their tour players a ring to slide the Dot ball thru to see if the ball was round before putting it in play.

 

Played the Titleist DT for most of the 80s.  Then mid 90s is I think the Precept EV.  Eventually, everyone i played with was hitting the Titleist Tour Balata or Maxfli HT Balata and the Slazenger Balata (I think we're the same balls w different names on them) until O'meara and Sutton won with the Strata. 

 

Of course, then was the Nike Ball Pro V, and everything changed 

[gioreeko]

wilson pro staff with the funny dimples if I remember correctly

[Shilgy]

17 minutes ago, gioreeko said:

wilson pro staff with the funny dimples if I remember correctly

Trying to remember that one….does sound familiar.  The one I played as a kid with different dimples was the Royal Plus 6.

[Tanner25]

I liked Spalding Strata, a little more modern day was Slazenger Raw distance at Dicks. Also, Dunlop had one called DDH Butter Soft. I think they were ahead of their time. 

Edited March 17 by Tanner25

[Yuck]

On 3/16/2025 at 7:00 PM, gioreeko said:

wilson pro staff with the funny dimples if I remember correctly

Those were the “Truncated Cone Dimples”

[zonadub]

Played Royal Plus 6 many years (6 sided dimples like Callaway Hex and Chrome lines) Also the red dot Maxfli.
Moved to Hogan Apex in the 80s  - they had a bad reputation for falling out of the sky, but I thought they were great drop and stop balls. The yellow ones were almost day-glo.
Don’t know who made them, but when I was a kid getting started, our course had a cheap line called Tiger.
Was never a fan of Titleist back then.

[Hougz79]

Hard to call 30 year old golf balls modern…. But my favorite to play in High School were Maxfli HT 100.  I used to have to aim at backs of greens and they would almost spin off the front.  They were fun.  Switched to Precept Extra Spins and eventually into the Nike Tour Accuracy “TW”s for a couple seasons before permanently switching to Pro V1.

[AntiGooch]

On 3/27/2025 at 6:49 AM, Yuck said:

Those were the “Truncated Cone Dimples”

Weren't the Wilson Staff Titanium Balata balls among the first non-wound multilayer balls?

[Yuck]

3 hours ago, AntiGooch said:

Weren't the Wilson Staff Titanium Balata balls among the first non-wound multilayer balls?

Not sure.  The truncated cone dimples were in the later half of the 1970’s

[NoTalentLefty]

Actually suryln has been around since at least 1972 . That year the topflite came out and other balls like the kroflite etc came out as well. I used the cheap ball because I couldn’t afford the topflite . Started golfing in 1974 / 1975 time. Also the Molitor was considered a top of the line golf ball though 2 piece. 

[Choclab]

Not as long ago as the OP, but when I started playing in 1990 or so as a college kid, it was either used wound balls or Top-Rocks, which of course wouldn't spin at all around the greens.  When we saved up some money we'd occasionally buy some Tour Editions at Walmart which were true pro balls and we loved being goofballs and dropping extra balls from 100 yards or so and trying to spin them off the green.

 

A few years later, the Precept Extra Spin and MC and similar two-piece balls were great because they were playable and affordable.  I loved it when Daly won the Open with the Ultra 500 Competition, which was a two-piece non-urethane ball that would actually spin a little and that I used and liked.

 

A little later on, the Stratas were great around the greens, and as someone who played persimmon longer than most, I loved the Maxfli Circle Ps.  I was the rare one who preferred the HT over the Revolution, but both were great.  But the best was finding some Slazenger balatas for a great price at a little Oklahoma state park course that doesn't even exist anymore.  Incredible feel and spin into and around greens.

[hammergolf]

For me is was the Maxfli HT 

[mogc60]

Tour Balata 100, Maxfli Ht 90, Slazenger Balata were the balls I used in high school. All of them great. I never liked the tour edition it ballooned a lot on full shots. The first multi layer urethane golf ball was the Top Flite Strata 100. They didn’t make a 90 the first year. I remember the National sales manager for Spalding, who was good friends with my dad, gave me 2 dozen prototypes. I was blown away. It flew good felt great spin was top notch and it was so durable. That ball changed golf and doesn’t get the credit it should. 

[GDB67]

I played a slazenger ball my junior year in high school 96/97 

I remember thinking it was awesome. Not sure the model.
Senior year I played precept ev extra spin. 

Then a strata 

then maxfli revolution 

Good times back then 

[m d g]

Always liked the Strata ball, it seemed to go pretty far for a medium-speed swing. The Royal Hex was a very cool ball...I have a couple somewhere : )

[PNWGuy]

Great topic that brings back good memories. Does anyone remember Faultless golf balls?  IIRC, they were the OG 2 piece balls and felt like they were made with used wads of chewing gum when you hit them. Lee Trevino supposedly played them but I can't imagine that he actually did.

 

BTW, I played Molitars when I played HS golf.  They were like hitting ball bearings but they were super hot of the driver.

[GDB67]

Special shoutout to the Nike tour black. 
that ball had a cult following, especially when they put 1 all black ball in the dozen. Still have a dozen unopened. 

 

[alittleoverpar]

I remember saving up to buy the Titleist Professional 100s.  I think I still have a sleeve around somewhere that I never used.  

[Sparty4202]

On 3/13/2025 at 10:23 PM, Hat Trick said:

But I remember really liking the Precept Extra Spin for awhile.

That was my ball of choice in the 90s…still have my Precept Extra Spin hole in one ball!!

[Sparty4202]

On 3/1/2025 at 2:51 AM, otto6457 said:

The Tour Editions were great balls.  Spun like crazy

Greg Norman played the Spaulding Tour Editions….I remember him spinning a lot of approach shots right off the greens, that ball probably cost him a few more wins.

[rgk5]

The Golfcraft Continental had a a glass center. A First Flight ball had a steel centre.  Both were wound balata.