# Make solid hollow plastic 1 3/4 in balls?



## DaleRR (Jan 6, 2010)

Hello ... this is my first post. Does anyone make, or know how to make, solid hollow plastic balls, roughly 1 5/8 to 1 3/4 inch in diameter? Is it practical to do as a hobby? Here's my project. I play golf and enjoy practicing by hitting plastic golf balls in my backyard. Unfortunately, I can no longer find "good" ones despite hunting all over.

I have a couple of "good" ones left that I've had for several years. It's the yellow ball in the photo. These "good" ones fly about 100-125 ft when hit with a driver, pick up a lot of spin from the club face for feedback, and are very durable. I don't know what kind of plastic they are. They are firm but yet flexible- they'll compress if I squeeze them with my fingers, but they pop right back out. This is good for spin and for durability. They actually fail by starting to tear rather than by splitting. They also have a relatively higher coefficient of friction than some other plastics- also good for picking up spin. The plastic is about 0.03 thick. These have "dimples," but that's not necessary.

There are only two types of plastic golf balls now on the market- the two white halves in the photo are samples. One type has holes- these pick up no spin and rapidly split along their seam. The other is a solid, hollow ball, that picks up a little spin, but is brittle, permanently dents, and also splits along its seam. There's a bunch of other kinds of practice balls on the market that I've tested. Some work pretty good, but they all fly too far- more like 200-250 ft.

Anyway, I thought it might be fun to try to make my own- if I can find out what kind of plastic my old balls are and if it's doable. =) Thanks.


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