Titleist Tour Balata...

[tim31x]

Hey I found a few sleeves of these in my garage, I was wondering if these are the "balata balls" that supposedly spin like crazy, but break like eggshells fairly often?

[jsjmp]

Hey I found a few sleeves of these in my garage, I was wondering if these are the "balata balls" that supposedly spin like crazy, but break like eggshells fairly often?

I think thats a fair assessment.

[RocketSauce]

great balls. super soft, but will dent very easily if you catch em thin

[sms316]

If you are looking to amuse yourself, get an old wedge and grind the sole down so the leading edge is quite sharp. Then make a full swing and aim for the equator of the ball.

[David in FL]

If you are looking to amuse yourself, get an old wedge and grind the sole down so the leading edge is quite sharp. Then make a full swing and aim for the equator of the ball.

No need for an extra sharp edge.......ask me how I know! BTW.....if you have any kids, slice the cover on one and give it to them. They'll have a ball unraveling about a 100 miles of rubber wrap to uncover the little red ball in the center. That's probable the best use for them these days........

[golfersam]

tour balatas are the best ball on the greens

[dave_u]

Was playing with a couple of younger guys recently, and one of them found a tour balata in the tall stuff. Neither one of them had ever heard the term "smiley ball", and they were quite amused by the explanation...

[Fourputt]

great balls. super soft, but will dent very easily if you catch em thin

Just hitting them will beat them out of round. I don't think I ever got more than 9 quality holes with one. They were expensive to play, but IMO worth every penny if you had the game for it.

[bioman]

I just played with one last weekend and balata's are ridiculously soft. I could barely feel it on the clubface, especially off the putter.

[Cussin hacker]

Years ago I use to find them a lot. Most had a great big smile. Great balls if you were a player though.

[wedge player]

Years ago I use to find them a lot. Most had a great big smile. Great balls if you were a player though.

Youngster here what does the smile mean?

[alf174]

Youngster here what does the smile mean?

The cover split and the result is a smile.

[Dub]

Man...you are really bringing back some memories for when I just got into the game. Lots of fun with these balls.

The Tour Balata and the Professional were the balls of choice among the "players" that I knew.

As others have said, a bladed shot would result in a large smiley face or dent in the ball. Backspin was awesome....but they were fairly damp off the putter.


I wouldn't want to trade my ProV1 ball in for either.

[quantim0]

In high school I used to play Titleist Professionals. They were great balls, but man did they get torn up. I was lucky to get 18 holes out of one before half the cover was missing.

The balata balls were 10x worse. I used to find them occasionally and screw around with them trying to see how far I could spin them back. I had just gotten the first gen Vokeys and they would rip a section of cover off with every hit. The ball would spin back 5+ feet every time though.

[Cussin hacker]

Youngster here what does the smile mean?

If you scull a balata it will leave a big cut mark on it. We use to call them smiles. Touring pro's use to get a new ball after every hole when they were useing them.

[daveh]

If you scull a balata it will leave a big cut mark on it. We use to call them smiles. Touring pro's use to get a new ball after every hole when they were useing them.

Huh! I found one of those and assumed it got hit by the lawnmower. Not so sure now.

[rebby]

Just hitting them will beat them out of round. I don't think I ever got more than 9 quality holes with one. They were expensive to play, but IMO worth every penny if you had the game for it.

I agree. The Tour Balata was a great ball back in the day. In spun like crazy but didn't go nearly as far as some other offerings. Man was it easy to work the ball though. It could be a ton of fun or, on a bad day, really get you in trouble. As Fourputt mentioned, they'd go out of round quickly too. I remember switching balls as often as every 3-4 holes in tournaments. Still, I loved them. One of these days I'll find an old sleeve laying around and put them in play again, just for grins.

[jest]

i used one as a putting ball for a long time. extremely soft.
i also agree about giving a ball to a kid to unravel. just be ready to clean up the mess. when i was a kid it was an urban legend that the ball in the center was filled with acid. we broke one and thought we were going to burn up.