Research

The very first golf balls made were made out of leather cover packed with boiled chicken or goose feathers then laced together. We have come a long way since then and today they are solid and made out of a polybutadiene core. They are about a half an inch thick, and the diameter is about an inch and a half round. The United States Golf Association requires that the balls be at least 1.680 inches in diameter. Most manufacturers keep the balls as small as possible because they travel faster than a larger ball. They have a solid core and a cover that is marked with dimples. Some with more dimples than the others. The Titleist Extreme and Tour have 392 dimples, while the DT Carry has 252. The dimple design on each ball is much different than the other.

The covers around the balls are made out of different compositions. The Titleist NXT Tour ball is made out of Fusablend. The Titleist NXT Extreme is made out of Surlyn, as well as the Titleist DT Carry.

The balls also have different layers. The NXT Tour has three layers, while the NXT Extreme and DT Carry only have 2 layers. Golf balls are rated by their compression. The higher the compression, the harder the ball is. The softer the compression, the more the ball compacts when you hit it. Golf ball compression ranges from 70 to 110. Golf ball compression is also a rating of its density. A lower compression rated ball actually squishes more when it is hit. The temperature may affect the compression as well. When it is cold outside it makes it harder for the ball to squish increasing the compression rating. Compression ratings are hard to find on golf balls. Descriptions are used such as soft feel. The salesperson at the PGA Superstore helped us choose the different compression rated balls, which we used for our experiment.