Name the Oldest Ball You've Played

[RobotDoctor]

I started playing Titleist DT back in 1986 when I started but switched after a couple of years to Titleist 384 Balata 90 compression.

[divot46]

Let's see.....there was a Dunlop or Maxfli that had a little red dot surrounded by a blue circle, Wilson K-28, the plain Titleist, Titleist DT wound, probably some others my dad threw my way that I've forgotten. I went through the Molitors, Pinnacles, DDH's, Top Flites, etc before I got smart and started using Titleist all the time. I liked the HP Tours until the NXT Tour came out. Now I use Precept U Tri Tour or NXT Tour all the time.

[Ronzo]

I remember all of the ones everyone's mentioned so far. But the oldest ones I can remember were the Spalding Kro-Flites in my Dad's old Sunday bag. We used to putt on the living room carpet with the blade putter from his old Spalding Bobby Jones starter set -- Driver, 3 wood, 2, 5, 7, and 9 irons, plus the putter.

 

As a kid, my uncle found some old clubs with hickory shafts and gave them to me when I stayed with his family while my Mom underwent breast cancer surgery. Wiffle golf balls and those ancient clubs kept me sane at age 10. I did nothing but sleep, eat, and hit them all day long in his driveway for two weeks, while I was out of school because of my Mom's surgery.

[Purealive]

Dunlop 65i and the ld Slazengers. Loved the fact they were wrapped in some kind of paper, always a great feeling unwrapping them before shanking it in to the trees next to the first tee!

[bermuda]

Started playing as a kid in the mid-70s and won a sleeve of Club Specials in a chipping contest. Also found and played Kro-Flites, Nimrods, Maxflis of various colors and the famous DDH. Craved Titleists but they were usually too expensive. Had to wait til Christmas to get a sleeve. Hated Top-Flites but whenever I found a ball, that's what it would always be, so I played a lot of Top Flites. My bro-in-law used to give me a dozen Top Flites every Christmas.

[vulture20076]

I started playing golf in 1982 and can remember playing either yellow or those tangerine orange Wilson Staff golf balls (I was 10 at the time). In fact, I remember quite a few touring pro's using those orange balls in competition (maybe Jerry Pate amongst others). Until about 14, I played whatever I found in the woods (Pinnacle's, Top Flites, other junk balls). In around 86 or 87 I switched to Spaulding Tour Editions (Greg Norman's golf ball of choice). In fact, I even remember buying a number of promotional packages of Tour Edition "Shark Series" with "00"'s printed on them. A good friend of mine who was a real talent introduced me to the Maxfli Balata's around 1988-89 and I hated them at first. I felt I was giving up a club in yardages (real ego killer at age 16-17). I didn't switch to Maxfli or Titleist Tour Balata's until about 1990 and then played Tour Balata's from 1990-97 or thereabouts. I can remember trying out other balls from time to time such as a Ram Balata ball back around 1993 or so.

[jdpeet33]

The mention of "Club Special" and "Podo" brings a smile to my face but even cheaper, in all ways, was the "Champion". Teed it up only on a par 3 over water and would take an extra 2 clubs to fetch the green. I wonder if there were feathers in those babies. If I didn't have a Champion available on that hole I'd pull out a Titleist with a big smile in it... :clapping:

[lab1dobie]

Wilson Prostaff with truncated dimples.

MacGregor Tourney, MT, and Jack Nicklaus Muirfield.

Titlieist DT, Pro-Traj, Tour Balata.

MaxFli Blue Dot, HT, DDH II, A-10, XS.

[rama5]

oh the memories you brought back late 60's - early 70's Hex dimples - Faultless with Lee as the spokes person, and hard as rock Spaldings. Thank you and perhaps someone from my era reads this site too.

[DaveLeeNC]

As a kid in the 60's I was always interested in affordable alternatives to "the big four" (Titleist DT 90 and 100, Wilson Staff, MacGregor DX/Tourney, MaxFli Whatever, and Spaulding Dot - OK then, 5). The Royal was a pretty good ball (back then about all I cared about was performance off the driver). But I have a very vague recollection of a ball made by Shakespeare - was there a Shakespeare Wonder Ball or something like that?

 

I'm almost certain that there was a decent Shakespeare ball back in the 60's.

 

dave

[Ronzo]

As a kid in the 60's I was always interested in affordable alternatives to "the big four" (Titleist DT 90 and 100, Wilson Staff, MacGregor DX/Tourney, MaxFli Whatever, and Spaulding Dot - OK then, 5). The Royal was a pretty good ball (back then about all I cared about was performance off the driver). But I have a very vague recollection of a ball made by Shakespeare - was there a Shakespeare Wonder Ball or something like that?

 

I'm almost certain that there was a decent Shakespeare ball back in the 60's.

 

dave

 

IIRC, the Shakespeare was a one-piece ball, similar to the Faultless. As to it's "decency"... well... all things are relative, right?

 

"Fear the Speare!" :yes:

[Titleist87]

Earliest ball I remember playig was the Dunlop Blue Max and that was around 1977 or so when I was 6 and starting to play golf with my dad. I just liked the ball becuase blue was my favorite color and the ball had a blue do on it.

 

Most of the golf balls I palyed as a kid were ones my dad did not like or ones I found in the woods while playing. Of course if I found a good one, he'd take and tell me since I could not compress the ball yet, it was no good to me.

 

Wilson Pro Staff

Spalsing Molitor

Spalding Top Flite

Spalding Kro Flite (What does "Kro" mean anyway?)

Titleist DT

Maxfli DDH

Maxfli Master

Hogan Legend

Acushnet Club Special (80 compression back then)

MacGregor Tourney

[Ronzo]

"As the 'Kro' flies."