St Regis Golf Ball - what is this thing?

[tnord]

so while stomping around in the woods the other day looking for my own ball i found this thing. It's a "St Regis" in pretty impressive shape considering that while googling i appears to be from around the 1930s. It has a hexagonal dimple pattern, is a number "4" but has a "3" stamped just above the St Regis logo.

 

i found it on the short 9-hole side of my club where typically parents take young kids, but as far as i know the club didn't open until 1968. which means i'd guess that this was in an old bag from when they were a kid, then gave the clubs to their own kid (grandkid?) to go play with and pulled the ball out of the bag to use, and promptly dumped it in the trees recently. it's in far too good of shape to have been sitting outside for more than maybe a month.

 

google also revealed some surprising good news....i saw a beat to hell ball going on ebay for $30, a full dozen of these listed on christie's for $300, and another single ball that sold for $80!

 

i'm tempted to sell it, but also tempted to hold onto it because it's kinda cool. anybody else know anything about these balls?

[Ironmaster Oddities]

If it is from the 1930's, two things immediately come to mind
1. it is indeed in great shape
2, the hexagon dimple pattern is not a modern as I thought. Callaway purports to have invented it a few years ago, even though Uniroyal had basically the same pattern in the late 1960's or early 1070's. There is really nothing different: only pilferred and refined.
Bob

[tatertot]

Check out this ad from 1933:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2199&dat=19330623&id=iAhRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Db8MAAAAIBAJ&pg=5248,2067604

[Locked]

Thats pretty awesome... if its legit I would absolutely hold on to it... having that ball is way cooler than having enough money for a crappy meal at the Cheesecake Factory.

[tnord]

that's the same ad i found. the Lawrence Journal World is the newspaper in Lawrence KS just 40 miles down the road from Kansas City (where i found the ball), and where KU is located.

what's even funnier is i just told my wife the story 5min before checking back in this thread. she said "sell it and we can go to dinner!." then i open this up and find the perfect comment about cheesecake factory. i'll probably hang onto it.

[weeicemon]

I could be wrong but that looks like a Royal Plus 6 ball with the company logo of the St. Regis hotel chain. Looking at the ad from the 30s it states that the ball is available in both mesh and dimple, nothing about a hexagon pattern. Even if the ball had been in a golf bag for 80+ years, it would have yellowed from age. I've been wrong before................just ask my wife.

[tnord]

i found a picture of a royal plus 6 and the dimple pattern does look similar, but i don't recall seeing the royal logo anywhere on there. at the same time, i have yet to find a picture online of one of the st regis balls with this dimple type.

no idea what it really is. i figured it was something in the evolutionary line between the mesh and the dimple...who knows.

[weeicemon]

Does it have "PLUS SIX" or "PLUS 6" anywhere on the ball?

[rich13]

I agree with weeicemon, it's a Royal +6 personalised for the St Regis Hotel Group, and probably dates from the early '70's. In the UK they were called Uniroyal +6, I remember using (and quickly losing!) a few when I first started playing around '73-'74..... sorry if this is a disappointing reply!!

[tnord]

i'll check for the "6" marking when i get back to the office. sure it's a bit disappointing, but it seems more realistic for sure!