Quote:
Originally Posted by TheVillageChicken
In my collection of golf balls are several old Penfolds, also known as the English Small Ball. They effectively make the hole larger. My father played nothing else but these little guys. I also have a few of the ill fated Top Flite Magnas, which were for reasons unknown to me, were larger than normal.
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The British ball (1.62" ball) actually flew farther and was less affected by the wind, and yes, as you say, the hole is relatively larger, but this is not a serious factor as the smaller ball sits down in the grass more and tends to bounce a bit more when putted.
The Magna ball, which is perfectly legal, by the way, was an attempt to make the ball go straighter by reducing spin. It also putted better as was less affected by imperfections in the putting green.
Back in 1979 a company introduce the Polara golf ball which had an uneven dimple pattern. This would actually cause the ball to straighten out in mid flight. The USGA amended the rule on golf ball construction in order to make this legal. Now a ball's dimple pattern must be consistent over the entire surface of the ball.