Evolution of Titleist Golf Balls: Remember These?
These go back to the Acushnet Club Special, Acushnet K (Ball #6 and #8), Titleist Acushnet DT (Ball #3), Titleist DT "Durable SURLYN" (#5), DT 90 (Durable Titleist), Tour Balata 100 and 384 Tour 100. Wow....still playable:) Can anyone else fill-in with pre Club Special pics? Or, perhaps other balls I've missed?**Pictured From Left to Right**
Close Up View Below
How about the first Acushnet balls? Four models - Titleist; Beford; Green Ray and Pinnacle. Starting in early 1935. Earliest Titleists and Bedford had Geer patent or Cadwell Patent covers which pre-date the Cadwell/Geer patent merger in 1935 If you have either of those you had THE first titleist balls. Titleists and Bedfords sold for 75 cents, the Green Ray for 50 Cents and the Pinnacle for 35 Cents. Contrary to popular and patriotic lore Acushnet did NOT cease golf ball operations during WWII and the golf ball ban (from '41 to '46) as widely believed. Titleist reprocessed war balls can be found. They collected and reprocessed damaged old golf balls by remolding the covers - in three grades. Those balls still exist as proof and contradict the popular legend that Titleist only collected old balls for the war effort (rubber recycling & reclamation). The government allowed limited production of new balls using only synthetic covers and materials, for sale strictly to the government for military use only. Acushnet produced a synthetic ball called the Gold Ray. No frills, individually wrapped and marked "synthetic" those balls are extraordinarily rare and hard to find but are out there. Again, they contradict the popular legend that Acushnet gave up golf ball operations during the War. Later balls included the Finalist and the Medalist. Finalist balls are not particularly rare but the Finalist red script balls are harder to find.
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