It must have seemed like the beginning of the end. The forces of commerce and profit in America had been delivering a constant barrage of “improvements” designed to make golf easier to play. By 1902, the new American “patent” rubber balls from Haskell and Kempshall had come to Great Britain, and the professionals knew the “Bounding Billy,” as it was called, would change the way they played the game, not to mention the need to redesign their clubs, and cause an unacceptable attack on golf course agronomics and hole design.
Unlike in the second half of the 19th century, when the resilient, reusable and cheap, Gutta Percha “gutty” came along, the new rubber ball would create an entirely new platform for the ball to dominate the business of the traditional game, and would continue to affect every aspect of it for centuries. The golf industry had found its holy grail!
In early 1903, at the height of the new rubber ball explosion, Britain’s top golf professionals voted on whether to allow it to be used in competition.
“Bounding Billy” is not in favor with the English golf professionals. At the first annual meeting of the Professional Golfers’ Association a motion proposed by James Braid and seconded by C. R. Smith, that gutta percha balls only be used in tournaments held by the association was carried by 33 votes to 9.
Among those who spoke in favor of the “guttie” was Harry Vardon, who said that it affords a better test of the golfer’s skill than the rubber-cored ball. With the latter a player has two chances. If he tops his ball instead of lofting it, the ball may yet reach the green.
Though the decision applies only to professional events held by the association, it is believed that the members of the committee on rules of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews hold the same sentiments.
Of course it has been asserted that the manufacturers of the gutta percha ball influenced the conclusion reached by the professional golfers, and also, of course, this has been strenuously denied. Such things are always said and always denied.
(March 1903, Western Field, On the Links by Arthur Inkersley)
©2021 jib jones golfhistoricalsociety