Birth of a golf ball : Manufacturing golf balls is a complicated process, with the product being a near-perfect flying machine - Brief Article

The manufacturing process for golf balls has evolved as much, if not more, than the balls themselves. Scottish ballmaker Allan Robertson was hard-pressed to make 2,500 featheries a year back in 1844. More than 150 years later, modern golf ball manufacturers produce nearly one billion balls annually (almost 2,000 per minute). Feather cores have been replaced by natural and synthetic rubber compounds; leather covers have given way to thermoplastic resins, and geometrically sophisticated dimple patterns stretch the limits of performance, making today's golf ball a product much-improved over its predecessors.

A rubber chemist is responsible for designing the core, polymer chemists come up with the precise cover material, and high-tech software is often used to optimize the dimple pattern. "We try to 'parallel path' as much as possible," says Maxfli's John Calabria, "with different personnel simultaneously working on pieces of the puzzle."

With the design in place, the ball is, in most cases, put through one of the two processes shown here in photos supplied by Titleist and Spalding. (The top sequence is for liquid-center wound balls, the other for typical two-piece balls.) The golf ball's unassuming appearance certainly belies the complicated manufacturing process required.

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