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On Monday November 10, 2025 I played golf with my friends Pete, Curt, and Bernard at Peacock Gap Golf Club in San Rafael, California. We have played Peacock Gap Course together on and off for many years. The four of us all used to work together at Chevron Research Co and now we are retired.… Continue reading I Shot My Age

Bobby Jones (1902-1971) was an American golfer who not only was one of the most influential figures in the history of golf1 but also one of my golf idols growing up as a boy in Connecticut. My dad loved to play golf and he bought a set of Spalding Bobby Jones Autograph woods in the… Continue reading Bobby Jones The Golfer

Willie Mays1 was born in Westfield Alabama in 1931 and is considered by many to be the greatest all-around player in the history of the game of baseball. He ranks among the all-time leaders in home runs, hits, runs scored, and RBI’s. Willie played for the New York/San Francisco Giants 1951-1972 and the New York… Continue reading Willie Mays Autograph

In 1932 Philip Young created the Titleist division of the Acushnet Company and three years later in 1935 began making the wound Titleist Acushnet Golf Ball.1 He used John Gammeter’s 1900 US patent2 to wind vulcanized-rubber chord around the golf ball core. The Acushnet Titleist Golf Ball had a seam pattern with a dot within… Continue reading Early Acushnet Co. Golf Balls

Beginning in 1993 a series of patents were granted1-7 for a large size golf ball that had a diameter of at least 1.70 inches and a weight no greater than 1.62 oz. This golf ball provided a moment of inertia that was greater than a regular size golf ball. The greater moment of inertia resulted… Continue reading Spalding Large Size Golf Balls

   Last time I showed the flight trajectories for the Spalding TOP-FLITE XLII, the TOP-FLITE II, and the TOP-FLITE PLUS II golf balls. These three golf balls appeared on the USGA Conforming List during the early 1990’s.    The Top-Flite Plus II ball had a low trajectory at high ball velocity and then a higher… Continue reading Flight Trajectories

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… Continue reading Spalding Golf Ball Trajectories

 Earlier I reported that Spalding produced golf balls with 332 dimples arranged in the Acushnet icosahedron dimple pattern from 1975 to 1979.1 Then Spalding introduced a new icosahedron pattern with 320 regular size and 12 smaller dimples from 1979 until 1987.2 Spalding obtained their first patent for a golf ball with 332 dimples in 1988.3… Continue reading Spalding Golf Balls During The 1990’s

In May 1990 Spalding obtained a patent1 for a golf ball with 492 dimples arranged in an icosahedron dimple pattern that was modified so that the equator of the ball did not pass through any dimples. This produced a golf ball that was aerodynamically symmetric in flight. The 492 dimples on this ball each had… Continue reading Spalding 492 Dimple Golf Ball

In 1988 Spalding obtained a patent for a new dimple pattern with 332 dimples in two sizes1. The new dimple pattern is shown below. The 162 dark colored dimples had a diameter of 0.154 inches and the 170 dimples labeled 2 had a diameter of 0.167 inches. Let’s call this the Spalding 4,880,241 Dimple Pattern.… Continue reading Spalding’s New Dimple Pattern