I am commenting here before watching. I lost dad to COVID in 2020. I returned to golf in 2021 after a 12 year break, inspired by memories of playing with dad. After dusting off my clubs I looked through dad’s garage for balls and found a box of Dunlop balata golf balls. I was stunned by the control around the greens. Now let’s see what you found.
If you peel the 65 you will find elastic band wound around the central core, the core was liquid rubber to aid compression. We use to peel them as kids after the shell split. Another interesting fact is that dimples are on a ball to aid air flow over the ball. If you sand off the dimples the ball will only fly about a third of the distance. This is because a smooth ball has high surface tension. In fluid mechanics you are affecting the Reynolds number for optimum air flow. Dimples design is about getting optimum air flow for a desired performance.
We used to peel them as well. We used the winding for a variety of games we made up. And the center “ball” was a pretty good weapon to throw at each other too.
On some brands, the rubber bands were wrapped around a non-liquid-filled center which bounced like a super ball (who remembers those) before the super ball was invented. We kids loved those. We used to cut through the outer cover with a hack saw and then unwind the rubber bands. We were disappointed to find a center that had a liquid center, as those didn't bounce as well...just for those of us who lived near a golf course (and found lost balls) remember.
The covers on those older balls were prone to splitting...if you hit a wedge thin you might say to a playing partner, "I put a smile on that ball." Balls with a split cover might "whistle" when sailing through the air. Nice that modern balls are a little more resilient! Cheers for this video!
The old Titleist balata balls had the same construction of the Dunlop, Liquid cure, rubber windings, and balata or surlyn cover. I cut a few back in the day and the liquid (oil?) in tore was a little messy. I do think the secret is that the Dunlop is the old british size which was smaller. I used to use some in the wind to reduce slice or hook. And it was an advantage at the time. Enjoyed to video.
I would think that a new balata ball would spin more than a urethane covered ball. They would suck back on greens like crazy. Wouldn’t want to go back though; the balata smile (for you younguns, a great smile shaped crack through the entire cover if you thinned one) could ruin a hole. They’d also get knocked out of round pretty quickly-no way to get 18 holes out of one.
A little history from an old golfer, the dunlop 65 golf balls were made in England back then, they were smaller than the American golf ball and were known to go longer distance. They were a higher price ball and harder to get in america. Back then they were all rubber band wrapped with various centers. That was a bad idea to cut one open.
Thinking about it those old balls did pretty well. I'm playing through a couple of old boxes of new Srixon Soft Feels. They're about 8 years old or so, but most of them are cracking after a few holes. I don't recall any ball cracking in decades if ever
I still find old balls on the course at time such as the Titleist Balata. I won’t typically play them but nice finds and brings back memories. I would typically play one on a par three as they had a higher spin rate. An old Titleist ball chart shows that a Tour Balata spin with 8 iron 9900 RPM.
Always great content from Gabe. The missing element here is burying a few Legato balls for 50 years and see how they hold up. Or a brand new Dunlop. Either way, makes you appreciate how talented guys like Hogan, Nicklaus, Chi Chi, Trevino, etc were.
I wonder how many people have actually played with wound or balata balls. I remember when the Strata came out and it was revolutionary. Those shavings are the remnants of the rubber windings. Its disintegrated because of age. A newer rubber wound ball would look more like rubber bands wrapped around the core. Old distance balls had a solid core. You cut into a "tour" ball since it had a liquid core.
I bought a dozen Legato balls after your review. I was surprised how good they were, and how they stopped on the greens. The best comparison I can say is they feel to me like the Pro V1x.
I had a go with those dunlop 65's in a video a while back, was amazed how well they went! good up the great work gabe! EDIT: The dunlops I got a hold of came individually wrapped, so they did indeed shine bright white!
Ok i cut one of these apart in about 1958 or so. I was curious. The center was a rubber ball and as i recall it contained a white sticky liquid. The rubber is actually a long rubber band that is wound around the core like a ball of wool or baseball windings. I removed it more carefully and to a child it seemed like it was miles of elastic. Lots of fun. Dad was not amused.
I remember how people with skill could pull balata balls back on a green like they were a yoyo. I also remember how people without skill (me) could cut the covering with ease. That was closer to 40 years ago, when the ball technology was starting to change.
Im going to give those Legatos a try. Been using the Oncore Vero 1&2s. Good balls. Also using the new TP5xs … these are fantastic balls and so are the price. 😂😂
To get a true appreciation of the scores the pros posted in the day, I’d love to see you game these balls using a set of clubs from the same era. I think this combination will definitely show how far the game has come
Some golf balls had mercury in the hollow center ball that was wrapped with rubber band, A buddy and me got in trouble in the 5th grade for cutting a couple golf balls apart in class and was playing with the mercury on our desks and the teacher went ballistic when she seen the Mercury ........LOL
Yeah and one of the neighborhood kids tried to bite one open. Thankfully he couldn’t and one of the parents heard and mentioned they thought the center liquid might not be healthy. So we didn’t try that again - thankfully!
When I was a kid I used to cut old split balls to get the centre rubber ball out of the middle. If you cut it with a knife into just the outer you could get the cover off and then just nick the rubber windings and sit back and watch the madness. I played for 2 decades with Dunlop 65's. So no surprises for me. I also know it is the small UK ball. They flew lower and rolled further especially on Links courses. Hence the famous Jack Nicklaus Drive on the last hole at St Andrews when he drove through the green. I have a box of 12 Penfold balls from that era that must be the same age ? Never used.
I bought a box of Legato balls about a month ago and I liked them so much, on Prime Day today, I bought 4 more boxes of them. For $24 a box, these are really good performing balls. They do great around the greens, they are softer on putting and they have great distance. These balls are superior to the Kirkland in every way. It’s very difficult to see any difference between the Legato and a TP5. They both perform almost identically. Also, the difference between a Legato and a ProV1 is that the Legato is slightly softer on the cover. The only Legato I had to throw away, was when I hit the cart path on the fly. These balls are my new gamers.
IIRC, the small British balls spun less than the larger balls used in the U.S. As others have mentioned, there is no way the performance characteristics of the 50 year old ball have not changed.
Interesting. The smaller ball was the English ball. Better in wind and cold ex. in the Open. American was tad bigger. I have brand new mid 1950s balls. Ram Dart. Wonder how they would compare. A ball outside for years can't be good for it.
Surprised you were surprised that the Dunlop’s inner core was liquid wrapped by rubber bands. I vividly remember back in the early 70s hitting soft balata covers, cutting them only to expose the rubber. And as mentioned by others, wouldn’t a 50 year-old ball degrade simply from age vs a fresh modern ball?
I could have warned you before cutting open the Dunlop! LOL. What you are seeing are the remnants of the liquid center and the rubber windings around the center. Definitely old school. BTW, you were one day late on the Legato discount, Amazon just delivered the Legato balls ordered yesterday for $29! 😞
@@Hunter-zp5hd Yes, I know and did. I wish Amazon just had a way to issue a credit - it would save them from the cost of a return. I guess if someone asks me what my price is, it is $6! LOL
Will you be doing any sort of video or guide for Black Friday deals? If certain companies have good deals for certain products or bags, apparently, etc.
I guess that your balls having been buried outside in the wet and cold UK climate will have deteriorated more than most . I saw the Good Good guys had got some new old stock balls.They probably would perform better. Many say not to use recycled lake balls. Most of those are only a couple of years old. So God knows whats happened to your balls exposed to the elements for 50 years. Thinking about loosing 27 yds in 50 years (approx half a yard a year) makes me chuckle, when we have been fed on a diet of 10 yard gains by both ball and club makers for at least 25 to 30 years. Fun vlog, the rupturing ball was a good laugh 🤣
Old golf balls are degraded. Take a golf ball today and age it 50 years. It will perform worse. The best test that nobody has done is to take a reproduction golf ball and test it against a golf ball from today.
I am commenting here before watching. I lost dad to COVID in 2020. I returned to golf in 2021 after a 12 year break, inspired by memories of playing with dad. After dusting off my clubs I looked through dad’s garage for balls and found a box of Dunlop balata golf balls. I was stunned by the control around the greens. Now let’s see what you found.
If you peel the 65 you will find elastic band wound around the central core, the core was liquid rubber to aid compression. We use to peel them as kids after the shell split. Another interesting fact is that dimples are on a ball to aid air flow over the ball. If you sand off the dimples the ball will only fly about a third of the distance. This is because a smooth ball has high surface tension. In fluid mechanics you are affecting the Reynolds number for optimum air flow. Dimples design is about getting optimum air flow for a desired performance.
That's very interesting indeed. I may have to test that no-dimple idea.
We used to peel them as well. We used the winding for a variety of games we made up. And the center “ball” was a pretty good weapon to throw at each other too.
@@DougShields-uu2ip haha, we did the same thing with those soft rubber cores.
I still have a variety of the older brand balls.
The nearly indestructible Ram 3-D and then Top Flite XL Distance were my favorites back then.
On some brands, the rubber bands were wrapped around a non-liquid-filled center which bounced like a super ball (who remembers those) before the super ball was invented. We kids loved those. We used to cut through the outer cover with a hack saw and then unwind the rubber bands. We were disappointed to find a center that had a liquid center, as those didn't bounce as well...just for those of us who lived near a golf course (and found lost balls) remember.
The covers on those older balls were prone to splitting...if you hit a wedge thin you might say to a playing partner, "I put a smile on that ball." Balls with a split cover might "whistle" when sailing through the air. Nice that modern balls are a little more resilient! Cheers for this video!
The old Titleist balata balls had the same construction of the Dunlop, Liquid cure, rubber windings, and balata or surlyn cover. I cut a few back in the day and the liquid (oil?) in tore was a little messy. I do think the secret is that the Dunlop is the old british size which was smaller. I used to use some in the wind to reduce slice or hook. And it was an advantage at the time. Enjoyed to video.
I had no idea, crazy stuff!
😅
I would think that a new balata ball would spin more than a urethane covered ball. They would suck back on greens like crazy. Wouldn’t want to go back though; the balata smile (for you younguns, a great smile shaped crack through the entire cover if you thinned one) could ruin a hole. They’d also get knocked out of round pretty quickly-no way to get 18 holes out of one.
A little history from an old golfer, the dunlop 65 golf balls were made in England back then, they were smaller than the American golf ball and were known to go longer distance. They were a higher price ball and harder to get in america. Back then they were all rubber band wrapped with various centers. That was a bad idea to cut one open.
Thinking about it those old balls did pretty well. I'm playing through a couple of old boxes of new Srixon Soft Feels. They're about 8 years old or so, but most of them are cracking after a few holes. I don't recall any ball cracking in decades if ever
I still find old balls on the course at time such as the Titleist Balata. I won’t typically play them but nice finds and brings back memories. I would typically play one on a par three as they had a higher spin rate. An old Titleist ball chart shows that a Tour Balata spin with 8 iron 9900 RPM.
Ok I feel super old now because I knew that was going to happen
Always great content from Gabe. The missing element here is burying a few Legato balls for 50 years and see how they hold up. Or a brand new Dunlop. Either way, makes you appreciate how talented guys like Hogan, Nicklaus, Chi Chi, Trevino, etc were.
That’s a great idea!
I wonder how many people have actually played with wound or balata balls. I remember when the Strata came out and it was revolutionary. Those shavings are the remnants of the rubber windings. Its disintegrated because of age. A newer rubber wound ball would look more like rubber bands wrapped around the core. Old distance balls had a solid core. You cut into a "tour" ball since it had a liquid core.
I bought a dozen Legato balls after your review. I was surprised how good they were, and how they stopped on the greens. The best comparison I can say is they feel to me like the Pro V1x.
💯
You might consider doing a video on the "Varden Flyer"...and to Harry Varden, one of history's greats.
Cool stuff Gabe! Thanks for
It would be pretty cool to see you play a round with the Dunlop and a club set from the same era..
My Garmin g80 just got in today. I hope I can start getting some game time distances I’m putting up under pressure.
I had a go with those dunlop 65's in a video a while back, was amazed how well they went! good up the great work gabe!
EDIT: The dunlops I got a hold of came individually wrapped, so they did indeed shine bright white!
Ah that’s good to know they were shiny. I’ll def have to check out that vid.
Ok i cut one of these apart in about 1958 or so. I was curious. The center was a rubber ball and as i recall it contained a white sticky liquid. The rubber is actually a long rubber band that is wound around the core like a ball of wool or baseball windings. I removed it more carefully and to a child it seemed like it was miles of elastic.
Lots of fun. Dad was not amused.
I remember how people with skill could pull balata balls back on a green like they were a yoyo. I also remember how people without skill (me) could cut the covering with ease. That was closer to 40 years ago, when the ball technology was starting to change.
Im going to give those Legatos a try. Been using the Oncore Vero 1&2s. Good balls.
Also using the new TP5xs … these are fantastic balls and so are the price. 😂😂
@@davezalinko1354 I think you’ll find the Legatos perform very similarly to the Vero X1 with a lower cost.
To get a true appreciation of the scores the pros posted in the day, I’d love to see you game these balls using a set of clubs from the same era. I think this combination will definitely show how far the game has come
I think that’s a fantastic idea
Never seen anyone cut a 50 year old ball open before. That was nuts!
I was NOT expecting that at all 🤣
@ We could tell in the video! Shocking moment for sure!! Lol
Some golf balls had mercury in the hollow center ball that was wrapped with rubber band, A buddy and me got in trouble in the 5th grade for cutting a couple golf balls apart in class and was playing with the mercury on our desks and the teacher went ballistic when she seen the Mercury ........LOL
Oh wild!
@@LetsPlayThru Back then we kids had no clue mercury was poisonous. We were only 5th graders, we just thought it was a cool substance .
Yeah and one of the neighborhood kids tried to bite one open. Thankfully he couldn’t and one of the parents heard and mentioned they thought the center liquid might not be healthy. So we didn’t try that again - thankfully!
I remember using the paste in the old gold balls as a glue when I was a kid.
They come in yellow also. $23.99 Black Friday deal going on now on Amazon.
When I was a kid I used to cut old split balls to get the centre rubber ball out of the middle. If you cut it with a knife into just the outer you could get the cover off and then just nick the rubber windings and sit back and watch the madness. I played for 2 decades with Dunlop 65's. So no surprises for me.
I also know it is the small UK ball. They flew lower and rolled further especially on Links courses. Hence the famous Jack Nicklaus Drive on the last hole at St Andrews when he drove through the green. I have a box of 12 Penfold balls from that era that must be the same age ? Never used.
Very cool! You should break one of those Penfold's out
Is the Dunlop a Balata ball?
I bought a box of Legato balls about a month ago and I liked them so much, on Prime Day today, I bought 4 more boxes of them. For $24 a box, these are really good performing balls. They do great around the greens, they are softer on putting and they have great distance. These balls are superior to the Kirkland in every way. It’s very difficult to see any difference between the Legato and a TP5. They both perform almost identically. Also, the difference between a Legato and a ProV1 is that the Legato is slightly softer on the cover. The only Legato I had to throw away, was when I hit the cart path on the fly. These balls are my new gamers.
Glad to hear you're getting on with them so well!
@@LetsPlayThruI’m cheap but I love my titelist left dash. So that being said, I buy my balls on eBay used lol
IIRC, the small British balls spun less than the larger balls used in the U.S. As others have mentioned, there is no way the performance characteristics of the 50 year old ball have not changed.
Interesting. The smaller ball was the English ball. Better in wind and cold ex. in the Open. American was tad bigger. I have brand new mid 1950s balls. Ram Dart. Wonder how they would compare. A ball outside for years can't be good for it.
Surprised you were surprised that the Dunlop’s inner core was liquid wrapped by rubber bands. I vividly remember back in the early 70s hitting soft balata covers, cutting them only to expose the rubber.
And as mentioned by others, wouldn’t a 50 year-old ball degrade simply from age vs a fresh modern ball?
I could have warned you before cutting open the Dunlop! LOL. What you are seeing are the remnants of the liquid center and the rubber windings around the center. Definitely old school.
BTW, you were one day late on the Legato discount, Amazon just delivered the Legato balls ordered yesterday for $29! 😞
I wish you could've warned me, that was nasty!
If you really wanted to, you could return them and order replacements today for less.
@@Hunter-zp5hd Yes, I know and did. I wish Amazon just had a way to issue a credit - it would save them from the cost of a return. I guess if someone asks me what my price is, it is $6! LOL
Will you be doing any sort of video or guide for Black Friday deals? If certain companies have good deals for certain products or bags, apparently, etc.
Very likely, yes
Love Legato! And Amazon black Friday is $24!!!
Stock up time!
dang here in Canada its $50 darn it
The older ball is a wound ball with liquid center. Very common in the older balls
Oof, the Legato cover thickness looks pretty inconsistent.
Does a 50nyear old golf ball still before like it did 50 years ago?
Age may have made a big difference.
What a cool comparison, golf ball technology has come a long way! BTW Black Friday deals are live now on Amazon!
I guess that your balls having been buried outside in the wet and cold UK climate will have deteriorated more than most .
I saw the Good Good guys had got some new old stock balls.They probably would perform better. Many say not to use recycled lake balls. Most of those are only a couple of years old. So God knows whats happened to your balls exposed to the elements for 50 years.
Thinking about loosing 27 yds in 50 years (approx half a yard a year) makes me chuckle, when we have been fed on a diet of 10 yard gains by both ball and club makers for at least 25 to 30 years.
Fun vlog, the rupturing ball was a good laugh 🤣
Those older balls were made with rubber bands.
Old golf balls are degraded. Take a golf ball today and age it 50 years. It will perform worse. The best test that nobody has done is to take a reproduction golf ball and test it against a golf ball from today.