ABSTRACT
In the nineteenth century, the developing rubber industry enabled a fledging sports industry to develop special balls for tennis, for squash, and for golf. In fact, the games of tennis and squash developed only because balls could be produced that had appropriate "bouncing" qualities related to the resilience of the rubber compounds used. The discussion of the properties, specifications, and manufacture of sports equipment is generally straightforward, but certain necessary equipment qualities are intangible and difficult to define in scientific terms, yet are extremely important to a player's full and satisfying appreciation of the game. Golf balls originally were made by stuffing feathers under high pressure into a stitched leather container, which was subsequently hammered into a spherical shape. Polyurethane paints developed specifically for golf balls have been available since the early 1960s, and these have been subject to continuing improvement.
