In Chapter 2 of my book Golf Ball Cover Story, I reported that Acushnet Co. introduced a new golf ball in 1973 that had circular dimples arranged in an icosahedron pattern. This dimple pattern went on to have a huge impact on the golf ball industry, but Acushnet was not able to obtain a US patent on their invention until 1988. Why was that?
In order for an invention to be patented it must be novel, useful, and not obvious. The Acushnet invention was not novel because in 1931 John Vernon Pugh obtained a British patent (GB 1,381,897) for a golf ball surface that was covered with triangular or circular dimples arranged in a regular icosahedron pattern. Then in 1971 Uniroyal Co. filed a US patent (US 4,090,716) for a golf ball with 252 hexagonal and pentagonal dimples arranged in a regular icosahedron pattern. This was novel, not obvious, and useful because this golf ball traveled six yards farther than the best currently available golf balls at that time.
Here is a photo of the Uniroyal Plus 6 golf ball that was introduced in 1971. In an article from the September 1971 GOLFDOM Magazine, it was incorrectly reported that the 252 hexagonal dimples were irregularly positioned. In fact the dimples were arranged in a regular icosahedron pattern.
Uniroyal also obtained additional patents in the 1970’s for a golf ball with circular dimples arranged in an icosahedron pattern. One example was the Royal Daisy logo golf ball which was listed on the 1975-1979 USGA conforming golf ball list. This ball had 246 dimples arranged in a regular icosahedron pattern (three dimples were removed from each pole presumably to emphasize the six yards extra distance that the new dimple pattern allowed).
Here is a photo of the Uniroyal Daisy logo golf ball.
Acushnet’s ‘icosahedron’ golf ball, the Titleist Regular golf ball, introduced in 1973, had a novel dimple pattern. However, it was not a regular icosahedron. This ball had five triangular regions on both poles (212 total dimples) and four rows of thirty dimples along the equator (120 total dimples). Four dimples were removed for the name and number at each pole to result in a ball with a total of 324 dimples.
Acushnet finally obtained a US patent in 1988 for their ‘icosahedron’ golf ball (US 4,729,861). Their invention was based on the spatial relationship of the dimples on the surface of the golf ball. By having adjacent dimples not more than 0.065 inches apart, they found that the golf ball would travel farther than a standard golf ball. To obtain a golf ball that would travel a longer distance, it was more important to have the dimples closer together than to have the dimples arranged in a particular dimple pattern. This idea was the reason why the Acushnet ‘icosahedron’ dimple pattern made such an impact on the golf ball industry.