Hand Hammered Gutta Percha Ball

An 1860 hand hammered gutta percha ball.

It was Rev. James Patterson of Dundee who while on missionary work in Malaysia discovered the gutta percha which is a rubber like material that comes from the dried sap of sapodilla trees of East Asia in 1848. James sent a statue back to Scotland and used the gutta percha as protective packaging. On his return home he was idly fiddling with this elastic substance which in turn gave him the idea to attempt to create a golf ball from this substance.

Shortly there were many companies producing golf balls from gutty percha and very quickly the gutty ball became the standard equipment of play. Now that there was wide spread demand for this product, two piece metal molds were produced to fashion perfectly round spheres. At first only smooth balls were produced but golfers soon realized that the more the ball nicked and marked so it was easier to predict their shots. This in turn led to companies producing guttys with surface markings to enhance its aerodynamic qualities.