Its core was wrapped in tightly wound elastic threads, and its cover was made of a soft rubber called balata, which gave the pros the feel, high spin and control they needed to work their magic around the greens.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Battle Over a Golf Ball] Reference

"You hesitate at twenty balata, then you point out that?".    From Wordnik.com.  [The Players] Reference

I also discovered an unopened sleeve of balata Maxfli XF balls from the mid-1990s.    From Wordnik.com.  [A glut of golf balls] Reference

By far the biggest adjustment I had to make in playing with wood and balata involved sound.    From Wordnik.com.  [Testing the Technological Edge] Reference

In addition, since balata balls spin more than modern balls, they slice and hook more, too.    From Wordnik.com.  [Testing the Technological Edge] Reference

When Harding Park was built, hickory shafted clubs and balls covered with balata, a natural rubber, were state of the art.    From Wordnik.com.  [Golf's New Handicap: Technology] Reference

I discovered the balata balls last year in my basement, miraculously preserved in their unopened package from the mid-1990s.    From Wordnik.com.  [Testing the Technological Edge] Reference

"Nine hundred balata," he stated definitely, matching the frank directness of this unusual shopper, and incidentally doubling his price.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Players] Reference

These were such an expensive indulgence for me at the time (balata balls had great feel but cut easily) that I never actually used them.    From Wordnik.com.  [A glut of golf balls] Reference

Modern premium balls, typified by Titleist Pro V1s, have nearly the feel and short-game control of balata balls, plus distance and durability.    From Wordnik.com.  [Testing the Technological Edge] Reference

They consisted of a core wound round with rubber bands and encased in a rubber-like shell (the balata), which provided great feel around the greens but cut and scuffed easily.    From Wordnik.com.  [Testing the Technological Edge] Reference

They had reasonably soft covers and spun nearly as much around the greens as the balata balls did, but when hit hard with drivers and long irons spun much less and flew farther than balata balls.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Battle Over a Golf Ball] Reference

A rubber core was wound with rubber thread, and then covered with a durable cover, either the older, more controllable balata favored by pros, or Surlyn, a synthetic invented by DuPont, which was much more durable than balata but which didn't offer expert players the same feel.    From Wordnik.com.  [Golf's New Handicap: Technology] Reference

Nappi balata ornament maker finds GuyExpo flat - 0.    From Wordnik.com.  [Stabroek News] Reference

That was with persimmon drivers and wound, balata balls.    From Wordnik.com.  [About.com Golf] Reference

Golf is never returning to persimmon drivers or wound, balata balls.    From Wordnik.com.  [About.com Golf] Reference

If you remember what the old balata balls felt like, then picture that.    From Wordnik.com.  [Hooked On Golf Blog] Reference

(Most of the players in the championship played with balata-covered balls).    From Wordnik.com. Reference

Many players prefer balata or balata-like covers because it provides a softer feel.    From Wordnik.com. Reference

Manufacturing of fur, leather, plastic or balata apparel is not covered by this report.    From Wordnik.com.  [FinanzNachrichten.de: Aktuelle Nachrichten] Reference

Prognosticatio quae incipit, Silvii Triquebille, balata per M.N., the deep-dreaming gull Sion.    From Wordnik.com.  [Gargantua and Pantagruel, Illustrated, Book 2] Reference

But worst was burning old tyres, as it was said that the smell of balata (another old word) would make the old men goadies roll.    From Wordnik.com.  [Barbados Underground] Reference

Enormous gnarled forms of ceiba, balata, acoma, stand dimly revealed as they pass; masses of viny drooping things take, by the failing light, a sanguine tone.    From Wordnik.com.  [Two Years in the French West Indies] Reference

By the time he signed his scorecard after that first round, he was practically one of them, a throwback they're confident would have thrived making his way through yesteryear with persimmon woods and balata balls.    From Wordnik.com.  [Golf Channel - News Archive] Reference

The bully or balata tree of British Guiana, which furnishes a gum somewhat intermediate between India rubber and gutta-percha, being nearly as elastic as the first without the brittleness and friability of the latter, and requiring a high temperature to melt or soften it.    From Wordnik.com.  [Catalogue of Economic Plants in the Collection of the U. S. Department of Agriculture] Reference

Our oak, the balata, forces the palm to lengthen itself prodigiously in order to get a few thin beams of sunlight; for it is as difficult here for the poor trees to obtain one glance from this King of the world, as for us, subjects of a monarchy, to obtain one look from our monarch.    From Wordnik.com.  [Two Years in the French West Indies] Reference

The combination didn’t help my score (I shot a little worse than normal) and the three balata balls are now history.    From Wordnik.com.  [Testing the Technological Edge] Reference

Landini: Ochi dolente mie balata.    From Wordnik.com.  [Early Music Broadcast] Reference

(You can keep balata, which cuts too easily.).    From Wordnik.com.  [Testing the Technological Edge] Reference

"For these, I must ask twenty balata.".    From Wordnik.com.  [The Players] Reference

"I only like it two hundred balata worth.".    From Wordnik.com.  [The Players] Reference

Pure balata is rarely, if ever, used today.    From Wordnik.com. Reference