Equipment News: - Posted 24th August 1998

Chemistry has the links for better quality golf balls

Reuters

Boston, Mass.- Duffers take heart! The search for a better golf ball that will go up to five yards (metres) further may be nearing an end.

Tom Kennedy, director of research for Massachusetts-based Spalding Sports Worldwide, presented his latest findings on Sunday in the pursuit of a longer-flying golf ball to the American Chemical Society national meeting in Boston.

Kennedy's research involved solid core golf balls (balls with large rubber centers) and the new product could be on the market in about three years.

Chemistry is essential to making a high-performance golf ball, he said. The synthetic rubber used in the golf balls now on the market is made up of many long chains of molecules. Holding the chains together are shorter chains called crosslinkers, similar to the rungs connecting a ladder.

"For the past 30 years or so, zinc diacrylate (ZDA) has been the crosslinker of choice," he said, noting that other crosslinking agents such as magnesium, calcium and aluminum are also being considered to produce a longer flying ball.

"So far, ZDA is still the best all around choice, but our research indicates that by combining some of the other crosslinking agents, we should be able to produce a ball that should travel about five yards longer when hit at slow swing speeds," Kennedy said.

Such a ball would be a blessing for many amateur golfers. "