Vintage Pattern Golf Balls
If you really want to experience what it was like to play golf in the hickory-shaft era, you need to play a ball that looks - and even performs - like the balls from the early years of golf history.
The following options are occasionally in stock but more often made to order. Please allow for 3-5 days for production after reaching out to place your order.
WULFF Hand-Hammered Peach Pit for 19th-Century Gutty Golf
For those who want to play 19th-century “gutty” golf, which was the form of golf played prior to the advent of the first rubber-cored golf ball in 1898, I offer a hand-crafted ball (or “guttie, as they were called) that I’ve dubbed the Peach Pit, which features a hand-hammered design like that of the early gutta percha balls made in the 1850s after it was discovered that the original smooth gutta percha balls flew better after they were marked up and scored from ball strikes.
The WULFF Peach Pit is made from a thermoplastic bead that’s very close to the specific gravity of the synthetic gutta percha used to make the McIntyre Park. I’ve found the sweetspot weight for the Peach Pit to be about 38.5 grams or 24 dwt (pennyweight), which makes just a bit heavier than the Park but also a bit smaller in diameter due to the denser nature of the thermoplastic compared to synthetic gutta percha. I’ve tested prior generations of the Peach Pit that matched the diameter of the Park while also equalling the weight of original gutta percha balls (around 44 grams), but found those heavier balls to be damaging to the face of long-nose clubs and hickory shafts. Shaving the weight back to 38.5 grams allows the Peach Pit to play like a Park ball and I haven’t noticed any damage to my club faces or shafts.
Performance wise, you’ll find the Peach Pit travels just as far, if not a bit farther, than the Park ball because of its slightly heavier weight and smaller diameter. It also has the wily unpredictability of the Park ball in flight due to the lack of aerodynamic features found on modern golf balls. Because the Peach Pit is hand-rolled and hand-hammered, you’ll find it falls short in fit and finish to the much more refined Park with its crisp, molded line-cut pattern and smooth surface. While the Peach Pit is very close to round, it’s not perfect, which keeps it period-correct and in step with the hand-crafted characteristics of an original 1850s guttie.
While I still play and fully endorse use of the McIntyre Park ball for formal gutty golf events, I view the WULFF Peach Pit as a more affordable practice guttie for casual gutty rounds or situations where you don’t want to risk losing the more expensive Park ball. In my practice rounds, I like to play a Peach Pit off the tee and on my approach and then switch to a Park ball when I reach the putting surface.
$10 apiece / AVAILABLE IN MARCH 2026
Vintage Pattern Balls for Pre-1935 Hickory Golf
The ideal golf ball to play with the slower-tempo swing necessary for hickory golf clubs is a modern low- to mid-compression ball (65 or less). I’ve tried many different varieties over the years and my two favorites are the Titleist TruFeel (around 50 compression) and Callaway Supersoft (38 compression). Thing is, if I’m playing antique clubs and wearing period-correct clothing, I want my modern ball to look the part, too, without sacrificing the feel I’ve come to love with higher-quality modern low-compression balls. That’s why I started remolding the covers of my TruFeels and Supersofts with vintage patterns:
1920s Mesh Pattern (shown above)
The quintessential golf ball pattern during the golden age of hickory golf was the mesh pattern. Most of the golf balls produced during the 1920s and 1930s featured mesh patterns until mass production of the more aerodynamic dimple pattern began in the 1940s.I’ve been making my own mesh-pattern balls ever since I lucked into finding an authentic, 1920s-era cast-iron mold on eBay a few years ago. One of the first videos I posted on the Hickory Hacker YouTube channel was a tutorial on how I use that mold and a toaster oven to remold the cover of my Titleist TruFeel balls. Since then, I’ve refined the process and have been very pleased with the consistency and efficiency of remolding TruFeel balls versus any others. I’ve also discovered that the Titleist logo/number and mesh pattern combo looks really sharp and is a true conversation starter when I tee it up, no matter what clubs I’m playing.
I offer my mesh pattern balls primarily as Titleist TruFeel balls with the logo and number, but I can also fulfill custom orders for balls where the logo and/or number are removed. I can also remold Callaway Supersoft balls with the mesh pattern mold, but those will be blank with no logo or number.
$7 apiece ($5 for Hacker Backers)“Bounding Billy” Line-Cut Pattern
Before the mesh pattern became the dominant pattern during the 1920s and 1930s, golf balls featured what’s known as a line-cut pattern. This pattern was found primarily on the balls made of gutta percha in the gutty era during the 1890s, as well as the first rubber-cored Haskell “Bounding Billy” balls that came on the scene in 1898 and would eventually change golf forever in the early 1900s. Not surprisingly, gutty-era veterans were taken aback at first by the dramatic increase in performance of the new rubber-core ball versus the solid gutta percha ball, and golf clubs, playing techniques, and even course lengths were soon modified to accommodate the further-traveling ball.I’ve found that blank Callaway Supersoft balls remold best with the line-cut pattern mold I use, and I recommend these balls for gutty golfers who want to play their gutty clubs but are looking for more distance than they can get playing with a synthetic gutta percha ball like the McIntyre Park or WULFF Peach Pit. In this way, you’ll also get a glimpse of what it would have been like to play gutty golf with a “Bounding Billy” at the turn of the century, as well as keep up with the other golfers in your group using modern golf balls.
COMING SOON!
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