Vintage Dunlop V Golf Ball, Floater.

Vintage Dunlop V Golf Ball, Floater.

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Reference

27357

Dunlop 'Floater' Golf Ball.
An early rubber core golf ball manufactured by Dunlop. The ball is covered in large dimples and on one pole of the ball is stamped 'Dunlop, Floater' with a green dot. The other pole is stamped with a green 'V'. RP has been stamped over both poles of the ball.

The ball is approximately 1 11/16 inch in diameter (4.3 cm).

Prior to the 1920's, as there were no regulations in place, the golf ball was made in varying combinations of sizes and weight. With this large variety of balls a player was able to choose a ball depending on the wind conditions, temperature and the course choice of the day. A complete line of golf balls were manufactured for this purpose. Some of the large lightweight balls would actually float on water giving them the nickname 'floaters'. In 1935 St. Mungo (a large golf ball manufacture) was making 32 different models of ball.

The rubber core ball (the ancestor of the modern ball) began its life in the late 1890's. The first mass produced rubber core ball was by Coburn Haskell of Cleveland, Ohio. The first core balls were hand wound with elastic thread with a Gutta-percha cover, moulded with the raised square mesh pattern of their predecessor. The slight irregularities in the early wound balls made them quite lively, it was not until the invention of the automatic winding machine by John Gammeter (an engineer at Goodrich) and the change of pattern from mesh to bramble that the balls became more consistent and predictable.

Dimensions:

Diameter 4 cm / 1 34"
Period

1900-1949

Year

Circa 1910

Medium

Rubber

Country

United Kingdom

Condition

Nice condition with refinished surface.

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