Balata Smiley (Bladed Balata Balls Resulted in a "Smiley")

[iacas]

For years, I'd occasionally search the Internet to try to find an image of a balata golf ball with a "smiley" in it - a small cut that would look like a smile after you caught a balata ball thin with an iron. The ball would be out of round with a big bump near the "smile" mark.

So, I finally found some old balatas and intentionally bladed them to produce some "smileys." And, my hope is that within a few weeks these are indexed by Google and other search engines so that nobody else who is looking for "balata smiley balls" or something like that will have trouble finding them again. They'll find these images.

Enjoy!

[Piz]

Those aren't smiles...they're smirks.  With a real smiley you can see the gums...and they make a distinctive sound when struck forcefully.  My dad's shag bag was full of them.

[iacas]

1 minute ago, Piz said:

Those aren't smiles...they're smirks.  With a real smiley you can see the gums...and they make a distinctive sound when struck forcefully.  My dad's shag bag was full of them.

They're smileys (they were struck at about 95 MPH with a 6-iron). I remember them being a bit bigger in the past, too, but maybe the balls were old enough that they got too firm or something.

[JeepXJ98]

Man that brings back some memories! I played my first 2 years of HS golf with some disco era Hogan blades. They were my dad’s originally and we couldn’t afford to buy me clubs when I decided to start playing golf. So I played with what we had. They were also right handed and I’m a lefty, but that’s a different story. I remember going out and dropping $30’ish of my hard earned summer money on some nice Titleist Balata balls. The whole box looked like that before I managed to finish 2 rounds! 😂😂

[Piz]

1 minute ago, iacas said:

They're smileys (they were struck at about 95 MPH with a 6-iron). I remember them being a bit bigger in the past, too, but maybe the balls were old enough that they got too firm or something.

Time was you could just about chop one in half.  The cover kind of pulled back over time.  We used to cut them open, as kids, hoping that once we got past the rubber bands we would find a solid center...the original Superball.

[Hardspoon]

[billchao]

Those look familiar 😉

[Vinsk]

What a great idea. Such memories too. I’ve certainly put some beautiful smilies on the Balata balls in my time. 

[Buckeyebowman]

1 hour ago, iacas said:

They're smileys (they were struck at about 95 MPH with a 6-iron). I remember them being a bit bigger in the past, too, but maybe the balls were old enough that they got too firm or something.

 

1 hour ago, Piz said:

Time was you could just about chop one in half.  The cover kind of pulled back over time.  We used to cut them open, as kids, hoping that once we got past the rubber bands we would find a solid center...the original Superball.

I think that may be the case. I remember from my childhood that when you smiled one you could see the windings! 

And Piz, way back in the day, covers were so soft that if you had a strong set of choppers you could peel the cover off a golf ball with your teeth! My Uncle did that for us several times. Then, take one little cut on the windings and just watch that ball jump and dance as the winding unwound! We'd get down to the core and cut it in half. Sometimes we'd find liquid in there, other times a small, metal sphere. 

[Piz]

Hey @Buckeyebowman Did you ever used to scrape them on the curb to get to the windings?  

[Buckeyebowman]

Nah! We'd usually just blade one really bad on the course and then subject it to torture! Jeez, those things would get so out of round it was ridiculous. We were of limited resources, so occasionally we were forced to play chopped up balls. I hit some off the tee that looked "oblong" as they whirred out there! 

[DeadMan]

I have a couple of balata smilies in my shag bag. They feel like marshmellows when I hit them.

[Ty_Webb]

This is fascinating. I feel like catching one thin out of a bunker with an open faced sand wedge was the way to expose the rubber. Did that more than a few times. I remember reading an article in a golf magazine about Ian Woosnam. He’d go through a whole dozen golf balls in one round. I want to say he played maxflis. Seve said he tried never to play with a brand new ball. He felt like he always made bogey with a new ball. I’d be very interested to see what his balls looked like when he was done playing. 

Edited May 14, 2019 by Ty_Webb
Autocorrect thought Seve was Seven

[Piz]

1 hour ago, Buckeyebowman said:

Nah! We'd usually just blade one really bad on the course and then subject it to torture! Jeez, those things would get so out of round it was ridiculous. We were of limited resources, so occasionally we were forced to play chopped up balls. I hit some off the tee that looked "oblong" as they whirred out there! 

Whirred is the word; although it always sounded like fizzzz to me.

[boogielicious]

They look so happy! 

[Club Rat]

1 hour ago, boogielicious said:

They look so happy! 

Until you roll them over …  ☹️

[WillieT]

Looking at these balls reminds of the myriad of "grinners" that are in the shag bucket of balls my friend gave me a while back.  They were his father-in-law's from way back in the day.  There are some long lost brands in there as well.  Will have to take a few pics of the more interesting ones.  

 

[Buckeyebowman]

This reminded me that my Uncle and Cousin had a golf ball "business". They'd go ball hawking at local courses and my Uncle would sell them at the mill packed in egg cartons! When they had a smilie, my Uncle would use pliers to try to smoosh down the bump in the cover, and then use chalk dust mixed with glue to fill in the crack. Of course, the first time you hit the thing the filling would come out. 

I was reminded when my Cousin recently "gifted" me with a couple dozen of these old balls! Spalding Dots and Maxflis. I took a couple with me to the range. It felt like I was hitting wooden golf balls!