Years ago, before I had even thought about collecting golf balls let alone write about them, my dad gave me a birthday gift of 15 Top-Flite golf balls (five sleeves of three balls). They were TOP-FLITE XLII. The sleeves were labeled ‘HIGH TRAJECTORY’ and ‘THE LONGEST BALLS’. Included with the golf balls was an advertisement sheet shown below.
This advertisement was interesting for several reasons. First, not only did it contain information about TOP-FLITE XLII golf balls but also about TOP-FLITE II and TOP-FLITE PLUSII golf balls.
TOP-FLITE XLII golf balls
The TOP-FLITE XLII golf balls were called the ‘classic long distance, high trajectory golf balls’ with the ‘radically new spiral 410 octahelix dimple pattern.’ This is the pattern described in US 5,060,9531 which we discussed in my last post. I have two TOP-FLITE XLII golf balls with 410 dimples in my collection, TOP-FLITE XLII Spalding logo (white ball #327) from the gift discussed above, and TOP-FLITE XLII logo Spalding (yellow ball #328), both shown below. These two golf balls are reported in the USGA conforming golf ball lists from 1991-1993. This establishes the date when I received this gift from my dad.
#327 TOP-FLITE XLII Spalding logo
#328 TOP-FLITE XLII logo Spalding
I also have a TOP-FLITE XLII golf ball with 332 dimples. These dimples are arranged in the Spalding 4,880,2412 dimple pattern discussed earlier. This golf ball appears on the USGA list from 1988 to 1991. Notice that the font for the name on ball #560 is slightly different from the font for balls #327 and #328.
#560 TOP-FLITE XLII Spalding
TOP-FLITE II golf ball
In the advertisement the TOP-FLITE II golf ball dimple pattern was called the ‘422 hex dimple design’. This golf ball produced the ‘LOW TRAJECTORY flight pattern’ which gave extra roll. I do not have this golf ball in my collection. However, from the USGA list I discovered that from 1990-1993 a TOP-FLITE II logo Spalding golf ball with 422 dimples appeared. The US patent 5,044,6383 discloses this dimple pattern. In addition, a TOP-FLITE II golf ball with 332 dimples also appeared in the USGA lists from 1987 to 1993.
TOP-FLITE PLUSII golf ball
The TOP-FLITE PLUSII golf ball had the ‘422 tri-dimple design’ which we reported last time in US 5,018,741.4 This ball was labeled the TOUR TRAJECTORY TOP-FLITE. This flight trajectory was in between the flight patterns of the HIGH TRAJECTORY TOP-FLITE XLII and the LOW TRAJECTORY TOP-FLITE II. I do not have this golf ball in my collection. But I discovered from the USGA lists that this golf ball appeared from 1989 to 1995.
The advertisement sheet that was enclosed with my golf ball gift was also very interesting to me because it showed that the three different golf balls shown, had three different flight trajectories. How was Spalding able to do that? Next time I will tell you what I have learned about dimple depth and flight trajectories.
References
- Donald J. Bunger, Joseph F. Stiefel, US 5,060,953, Oct. 29, 1991, filed Jan. 18, 1991.
- Terrence Melvin and Dennis Nesbit, US 4,880,241, Nov. 14, 1989, filed Apr. 22, 1988.
- R. Dennis Nesbit, Joseph F. Stiefel, US 5,044,638, Sep. 3, 1991, filed Jun. 12, 1990.
- Joseph F. Stiefel, R. D. Nesbit, Terence Melvin, US 5,018,741, May 28, 1991, filed Jul. 24, 1989.