What is a Golf ball made of?
What is a Golf ball made of?
A moulded polybutadiene rubber core inside an ionomer or urethane cover, dimpled all over.
Dimples were an accident. Nineteenth-century gutta-percha balls were smooth when new, and players noticed that scuffed, battered ones flew further, so makers began hammering patterns into them deliberately. The physics took another century to explain: a smooth sphere sheds its boundary layer early and drags a wide wake behind it, while a dimpled one holds the flow on further round and leaves a narrower wake. The same dimples also generate lift from backspin, which is why a well-struck ball climbs rather than falling on a plain ballistic arc.
Component by component
| Part | Material | Why that material |
|---|---|---|
| core | polybutadiene rubber, compression-moulded | Polybutadiene has the highest resilience of the common rubbers — it returns more of the clubhead energy than anything else that can be moulded cheaply. |
| mantle | ionomer resin layer, in three-piece and four-piece balls | A stiff intermediate layer lets the ball be soft for spin off a wedge and firm for distance off a driver, which one material cannot do alone. |
| cover | ionomer (Surlyn) for distance balls, cast urethane for tour balls | Urethane is softer and grips the grooves for greenside spin; ionomer is far more cut-resistant and spins less, which flatters a slice. |
| dimples | moulded depressions, typically 300-400 of them | They trip the boundary layer into turbulence, which keeps the airflow attached further round the ball and roughly halves the drag. |
Other sport and games objects
- Tennis ball A pressurised hollow shell of vulcanised rubber, covered in a glued-on wool and nylon felt.
- Soccer ball Polyurethane outer panels over a laminated fabric backing, wrapped around a latex or butyl bladder.
- Basketball A pebbled composite or leather cover over nylon winding and a butyl rubber bladder.
- Cricket ball A cork core tightly wound with wool yarn, cased in four pieces of dyed leather with a stitched seam.
- Bowling ball A dense shaped weight block inside a filler, wrapped in a polyester, urethane or reactive resin coverstock.
Common questions
- What is a Golf ball made of?
- A moulded polybutadiene rubber core inside an ionomer or urethane cover, dimpled all over.
- What is the core of a Golf ball made of?
- Polybutadiene rubber, compression-moulded. Polybutadiene has the highest resilience of the common rubbers — it returns more of the clubhead energy than anything else that can be moulded cheaply.
- What is the mantle of a Golf ball made of?
- Ionomer resin layer, in three-piece and four-piece balls. A stiff intermediate layer lets the ball be soft for spin off a wedge and firm for distance off a driver, which one material cannot do alone.
Related pages
- Tennis ball A pressurised hollow shell of vulcanised rubber, covered in a glued-on wool and nylon felt.
- Soccer ball Polyurethane outer panels over a laminated fabric backing, wrapped around a latex or butyl bladder.
- Basketball A pebbled composite or leather cover over nylon winding and a butyl rubber bladder.
- Cricket ball A cork core tightly wound with wool yarn, cased in four pieces of dyed leather with a stitched seam.
- Bowling ball A dense shaped weight block inside a filler, wrapped in a polyester, urethane or reactive resin coverstock.
- Pencil Stationery and paper
- Banknote Around the house
- Paper Stationery and paper
- Glass Building materials
- Ballpoint pen Stationery and paper
- Marshmallow Food and drink
Sources
- Typical range compiled from manufacturer specifications — At One Place