This morning I had a brilliant idea- create a device or system to heat golf balls and keep them warm during the course of play. ( I live in the northeast)
Did some internet searching at work (shock), and found that there are already several devices out there and some have been around since the early 1930's or 40's.

Anyway, I had never heard of these until today.

Because they've been around for a while and I never knew it, I want to put them in the "gimmick" category. Is this about right? Have any of you ever used them?

It will help you to have a warm ball when teeing off at a hole, it will have better characteristics. But for how long? You can't heat it while playing the hole and it will adjust to the temp around it in no time.

Oh and almost the same can be achieved by holding the ball you want to hit from the next tee in your hand while getting there ;-)

I have seen different numbers. It appears that basically the ball will remain 'warm' for about 4-5 hours.

What got me thinking about this in the first place was a golf tip that talked about keeping your golf balls in the house overnight prior to a round rather than in the garage or car or whatever. This source also referenced a 5 hour temperature hold period.

And, I'm pretty sure holding a ball in your hand (or pocket even) between holes would not have the same result as warming the balls (to the core) overnight. I'm seeing different numbers on what the ideal temp is for a golf ball. So far ive seen 80F, 105-115F, and 80C. 80C is ridiculously hot, and must be either a typo or some scammer who just made up a number.

I am sure someone will correct me if I am wrong, but I believe it is illegal to use any sort of device like this in competition.

Obviously that doesn't matter to most, but just an fyi.

80C? Then you would have to wear oven mittens not golf gloves, lol.

It is illegal to warm the balls during the round, but at a minimum they can be warmed prior. And, as far as I can tell, they can be warmed prior, and then kept in some type of insulated carrier to maintain the warmth during the round. But I might be wrong about that last part. Regardless, if the 4-5 hour hold time is accurate, the carrier wouldn't be absolutely necessary anyway.

yeah, that's why I figure typo or scammer.

You are correct. Balls can be warmed naturally by putting them in your pocket for example, but not artificially.

BO

AFAIK, this applies during the round. Not prior to the round. Correct?

And as there really isn't any big line of ball warmers at the first tee on the tour, from which the caddies take the balls to have them as warm as possible before the round, you may think that the effect is not 5 hours.

Oh and please before anyone think off it to try before next round. 'Warming' golf balls in a microwave is something that should only be done on mythbusters, not at home kids.

Well, it's usually kinda warm at a tour event. Not too much need for a carrier. But what are you saying, the effect is longer than 5 hours?


and yeah, microwaving is dangerous.

No much shorter.

Rule 14-3, Decision 13.5:

Yes, you can warm them before play. How long they take to come to thermal equilibrium with their environment, I do not know. Sounds like a test for the Pelz Institute.

The Java institute has just done the following.

Filled a jug with boiling water and put a golf ball in it. 6 Times I changed the water with boiling water to make sure I got the core temperature up.

When I took it out, it was almost to hot to hold, I held it under running cold water shortly (5 secs). If it had been an egg, it would get quite hot again. It didn't, it just got a bit warmer.

My guess is that a golf ball will be around the surrounding temperature in around 5 minutes.

I think you've drastically underestimated the time required to heat the core, and how long it would take to cool, but hey, I could be wrong.

Look, it's not like any of you guys are going to gain a thing by heating up your golf balls so it's all moot. And the time spent trying to figure some of these things out could have been spent on short game practice which really would help your scores.

BO

Yeah this is super moot but the guy who said the golf ball will go back to temp quickly is super wrong. I bet the core would stay warm for quite awhile.

I think the demand for this kind of product would be relatively low. If it's cold enough to need it, most people wouldn't be playing.

I think the optimum heating temp would be a big factor. If it is in fact 80F, then yeah, not much market because you could just store the balls at room temp and get almost the same benefit. But, if 105F is the target temp, then pretty much everybody could benefit.
Im pretty sure I read yesterday that titleist did some studies a while back. Today i will see if i can find anything about the results.

According to HotBiscuits' site (which may be advertising bogus), the optimum temp is 105-115*F.

Haven't done a ton of searching yet today, but someplace on golf.com it said 80F was optimal.
I saw that hotbiscuits site yesterday, theres also some 'hotterballs' site, and another like 'birdsnest' or something.

Currently I'm believing 80F is the target temp. It makes the most sense. With all the gimmicks people love to promote, I would have to believe we would have seen a ball heater shoved down our throats already if the target was 110ish F.

What no infomercial yet? Darn I was so much looking forward to that.

Eh, ok. But I don't really see how that shows 80 being optimum makes the most sense. How often is it exactly 80 out? I golf on Central Cali coast and it's rarely 70. Also, if 80 is optimum, maybe you could sell ball coolers to the AZ market? I think it's more likely that the effects are marginal over the length of the round to bother. For example, it's a fact that airfoil shaped clubs would improve club speed, but probably not worth the bother as the difference is marginal. You don't see airfoil shaped shafts even by the pros. Likewise you don't see ball warmers, either. Then again, who knows what some guys are doing to their balls before the round.

But, club heads (woods anyway) are kinda shaped like airfoils, and you see commercials pointing out the aerodynamic design. Which speaks to my point I guess. If the ball heating thing would make much of a difference, we would see much more advertising for it, which makes me believe the optimal temp is more likely 80 (or close to it) than 105-115. They can't advertise "Hey, optimal temp is 80F, use our product to heat your balls to 80F!!" People would realize they can just keep their balls in the house. (Which is why ball coolers wouldn't sell either).

Anyway, I was really interested to hear if anybody has ever used, or even heard about golf ball warming devices. Don't really need to debate the optimal temp and such.