The first golf ball was made of wood in the 17th century, but wooden balls was replaced with balls of goose feathers wrapped in cowhide. The manufacturing process starts with the goose feather and cowhide as a wrapper are wet then pressed, sewn and painted immediately. Once it dries, the skin pouch will shrink while the goose feathers on the inside will expand to produce a hard ball.
The golf ball started to develop after the discovery of the sap ball called gutty. Its popularity lasted from 1848 to the 1890s. The flexibility of the sap makes it possible for golf clubs whose head ends are made of iron. However, at the end of 1899 after Walter Travis became the champion of amateur golf in the United States, gutty balls were no longer be used.
The golf ball developed further after Coburn Haskell who collaborated with BF Goodrich Company introduced a golf ball with rubber core in 1898 which is used until now. The mass is not less than 45.93 grams, the minimum diameter is 42.67 mm, and the surface of the golf ball must not be flat but having dimples.
The dimples on a golf ball minimize the turbulence wake so that the speed is faster and the distance is farther when it is hit. A golf ball designer stated that the ball with flat surface can only reach 119 meters at the maximum. While the ball with dimples can reach the double of the distance.