Rubber Cored Ball 76
Club and ball development still inspires much debate, and in 1921
Harold Hilton wrote in the Aberdeen Press and Journal about how new technology was obliging Hoylake to make changes. “The links,” wrote Harold, “is probably a little too easy for a test in which the cream of the professional world is taking part.” Modern balls traveled 15 yards further than the old on being struck “with every wooden club, making the approach a comparatively simple one with a lofted club” as opposed to “a firm iron shot to a closely guarded green.” The result? The course was lengthened, holes were redesigned “with the object of making the links a severer test.” The rubber cored ball had begun life in 1898 when the concept was patented by Coburn Haskell and perfected in the years that followed.
The Heavy Ball
described it: “One hundred and twelve players took part... The aim is to discover a type of ball which will restrict flight and
77
The following year Hoylake was the setting for a “heavy ball test”. The Manchester Guardian
call for greater skill in the registration of good scores than is required with the small ball now in use.” The balls used had a diameter of 1.705 inches as opposed to 1.62 and were of varying weights. (Eventually - in 1990! - a diameter of 1.68 inches was agreed for all golf balls.) The results of the 1922 test appear to have been inconclusive. While some players reported less distance, “the general conclusion was that the increased size was counterbalanced by the heavier weight and the flight was not diminished.” John Ball recorded 83 “and was emphatic in his opinion that a ‘floater’ is the only possible standard ball which will retain the art and science of the game.” By ‘floater’ he meant one that didn’t sink in water.
The Fruit Machine
revenue generator for almost every golf club in the land. Royal Liverpool was no exception and many a member and visitor was tempted by the prospect of the £100 jackpot, though there was much chuntering from a sedentary position if a visitor walked off with the prize. The annual accounts for 1985 reveal that the spinning drums emblazoned with cherries, oranges and gold bars contributed a remarkable £7,990 to the Club’s finances.
78
Back in the 1980s a fruit machine was an essential
ROYAL LIVERPOOL GOLF CLUB
2019–2020 MAGAZINE
41
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