Do golf balls deteriorate?

[Londoner]

Would a new ball, left in a lake, the mud or on a retailers shelf for 1 or 2 years, play the same as a newly made one?

In play, (undamaged) , how many holes would it maintain peak performance?

[grm24]

Over the last few years I've played new in box Nike TA2/LNG and Nike Tour Accuracy DD balls along with my current gamer Srixon Z-Star XV. Both Nike balls are 15+ years old. I hit them as long as the Z-Star XV balls even using older clubs. Golf ball ODS has not changed forever. Water balls are a different story. That's why I'll never buy a used golf ball regardless of condition. Balls that are submerged in water take a performance hit. That's been documented.

[KyleGilligan28]

I think the biggest difference you’ll notice is the superiority of new balls compared to older versions. I was recently given a bunch of new ProV’s manufactured in 2002ish. Balls played as I expected but not as long and not how a 2020 ProV responds.

I don’t think anything was wrong with the balls but the newer ones are just that much better and I’m used to the response the older models gave.

[HappyGilmoresBoots]

Yes, urethane and other plastics do deteriorate over the years, especially when exposed to UV light and ozone from the atmosphere. Whether or not that'll change how a modern ball plays to "average" players like you or I is questionable. I can still hit my first-gen Callaway Warbird just as poorly as I did when they first came out.

[Mahamilto]

Yes. Balls will deteriorate, but its extremely unlikely that an amateur would have a discernible performance difference between a brand new ball and one that is 5 (or even 10+) years old, assuming it has been stored somewhere reasonable.

If you had it in a garage where the temperatures were fluctuating between freezing in the winter, and 120+ in the summer, they I could conceive of a ball performing worse after a year or so on the shelf.

Urethane will deteriorate over time, as stated by someone else, but this is a VERY slow process assuming the balls aren't stored in widely fluctuating temperatures, or in direct sunlight.

[cristphoto]

Water balls definitely deteriorate - often in as little as a couple weeks. New balls left in mild storage will usually be good for about five years. As others have stated each new version of a given model will see incremental improvements, so comparing the latest version to an older model will show some differences. In my experience the best recent improvements have been in the areas of durability and feel.

[pallmall]

Totally agreed with this. Even balls do deteriorate, average players will not tell the performance difference between new and old balls.

[DFinch]

I’m no chemist, but there is an article out there that states the urethane used is hydrophilic and water will pass through the cover in about 12 hours, then soak into the core material in about 2 weeks.

No idea if that’s true, but if it is that would not be good.

 

[bgray0321]

Bought used Lethals a few years ago and several started notting. Very weird. After a few did that I figured they had been In water a long time. Gave them away.

[DREWZER300]

I have a "Tiger Slam" set that I put together. All the clubs are used so I like to play them occasionally in the winter when we're on the simulators. To get the full effect I bought a dozen of the Nike Tour Accuracy balls that Tiger was using during his run in 2000. So they are nearly 20 years old. They played fine except for the fact that the first full wedge shot with a Vokey that has the old grooves shredded the cover. Which those balls were known for that when they first came out. So I would say that as long as they are kept somewhere indoors they should be fine. However like some have mentioned the advancement in golf balls is pretty obvious once you play an older ball.

[cgasucks]

I have quite a few dozen TM Lethals myself used a few years ago and they still look fine as the day I bought them. Then again I store them indoors at room temperature out of sunlight ever since.

[NRJyzr]

G, the logic in your post sears my brain.

This is the arena where the modern balls are superior to the wound balls of Olde. All golfballs degrade from age, but the rate is marginal with solid core balls, generally speaking, while that of the wound balls is considedably more accelerated. Anything more than five years (and I may be generous with that) with a wound ball and you start to see some significant performance decrease.

It's the main reason those recent "new vs old" golf ball tests are largely useless.

I'm ignoring the legendary QC issues that have been documented over the decades for the purposes of this post.

[Lobby]

I've been playing recently with 15 year old Callaway Big Bertha golf balls. I can't tell the difference between the old ones and new Chrome Softs. Distance and control seem about the same.

[Mandarax]

I think they do over time depending on what chemicals they have been subject to