“Here’s my Penfold Diamond”

Finding a 40-year-old English-size ball in the woods where our modern ball landed.

They supposedly flew straighter and farther than the American-size ones, less affected by strong crosswinds that were typical conditions of UK links courses.

Sir Nick Faldo won his first PGA victory with one of these (a Penfold GX-100) and Seve won the Open next year with a Penfold tradition ball. In 1971, Jack Nicklaus was praising it: “Any time you have the choice, it’s silly to play the big ball. The small is so much easier, the big ball requires more skill”. Penfold was even featured in the 1964 James Bond film Goldfinger. In the final hole of his match with villain Auric Goldfinger at Stoke Park Golf Club, Bond quoted “Here’s my Penfold Hearts”.

The British size balls had a diameter of 1.62 inches (4.11 cm) instead of the American size that was 1.68 inches (4.26 cm). This was mainly due to a disagreement between USGA and R&A that lasted until 1990. With the majority of ball manufacturers based in the US, the 1.68” gradually prevailed and has been the industry standard thereafter.

Last week, Glyfada Golf Course treated us with a GX-100 diamond that had been resting patiently in its woods for more than 40 years.