Golf was first thought of and played in the 15th century by Scottish sheep sheperds looking for something to do during the day. Needless to say, resources were scarce. The hardest material that they could get their hands on was wood. They found that beechwood was the hardest and thus the first golf balls were formed.
In the early 17th century, a leather pouch stuffed with boiled feathers was called a golf ball. The 'featherie' had feathers from both chickens and geese. Towards the mid 19th century, the 'gutty' came around. The 'gutty' ball was made from gutta-percha, which is coagulated latex, and came from sapodilla trees. After being heated in water and rolled into a ball shape, it was virtually indestrucable.
Gutta-Percha is found in trees and once the liquid is exposed to air, it becomes rock hard. It is a white, amorphous hydrocarbon of the formula C10H16. It is Insoluable in alcohol and melts at 53 degrees C. It rapidly absords oxygen and when exposed to air it becomes yellow, friable, and partly soluable with alcohol.
