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Do golf balls have a life span?

• SimonTheBeetle 3,643 Posts

  Sun, Nov 7 2021 7:38 PM

  I'm talking about RL golf balls. 

  Do golf balls have a life span? I mean... Do they expire or go bad over time? Are they playable even after such a long time?

  I've found piles of balls produced anytime between 1991 and 2003 so they're 20-30 yrs old, but all new (unused).

  Here are some of them I took a picture of.

  

  I also found this pamphlet showing Lee Trevino endorsing the products which indicates how old these balls are.

  

  Anyone having played this kind of old balls already?

• SamSpayed 5,016 Posts

  Sun, Nov 7 2021 9:30 PM

  SimonTheBeetle:

  Do golf balls have a life span? I mean... Do they expire or go bad over time? Are they playable even after such a long time?

• SimonTheBeetle 3,643 Posts

  Sun, Nov 7 2021 11:12 PM

  A very interesting video, Scott. Thanks for that.

  So there's a difference of roughly about 25 yards between the modern ball and the 100 year-old one, and now I wonder what would be the difference between the today's ball and these 20-30 year ones in terms of flying distance.

• pmm711 5,701 Posts

  Mon, Nov 8 2021 12:16 AM

  SimonTheBeetle:

  I'm talking about RL golf balls. 

  Do golf balls have a life span? I mean... Do they expire or go bad over time? Are they playable even after such a long time?

  I've found piles of balls produced anytime between 1991 and 2003 so they're 20-30 yrs old, but all new (unused).  

  Anyone having played this kind of old balls already?

  Simon,

  No, golf balls don’t have a life span.  They will play as designed to play when they were manufactured.  Now, some of the older balls would get “smiles” on them easily if mishit due to being thin skinned.  

  I think you’re really taking a ding at WGT’s policy of expiring balls…which you should.  Also, if they can hide Bigfoot on a course we should be able to find a stray mishit ball here and there.  In RL I’ve shanked many a drive only to leave the woods with more balls than which I started my round.  To me, WGT rewarding us with extra balls now and then after shanking a shot would add a little more realism into the game.  😂

  So, play those old balls and know the shelf life didn’t affect them.  Just know you’ll get the date of manufacture performance out of them.  

  Paul 

• SimonTheBeetle 3,643 Posts

  Mon, Nov 8 2021 1:43 AM

  Thanks for the confirmation, Paul. Cheers. :-)

• craigswan 31,743 Posts

  Mon, Nov 8 2021 2:24 AM

  My real life golf days .

  I hit rejects or driving range aquired golf balls .

  When i was rich i moved up to jack nicklaus balls costing ten times the price .

  Every time i hit one it went into deep rough and i lost it but the rejects went straight up the middle .

   

• craigswan 31,743 Posts

  Mon, Nov 8 2021 2:30 AM

  There was an interesting segment on sky golf channel .

  Golf pro was comparing new driver to a 20 year old driver on a golf simulator .

  Par 5 . Dogleg .

  His plan was to bend the ball around a tree 200 yards away and run it around another 100 yards up the fairway . 

  It worked .

  Same swing with the old driver .

  The ball travelled 200 yards to the tree and then just stopped .

  That is my excuse now - old golf clubs .