Golf balls have come a long way from the days of the "feathery" – a ball used beginning before the 1600s that was actually made with goose or chicken feathers. The process used to make the feathery surprisingly produced a very hard ball that was essentially hammered into roundness and covered with several coats of paint. The time and effort needed to make these golf balls made them relatively expensive.

Gutta-percha golf balls appeared in 1848 and, despite grumblings from golfing purists, supplanted the feathery as the game's favorite. Sometime after the Gutta made its appearance, golfers realized that a ball with nicks and scrapes actually performed better than one with a smooth surface. That was the prelude to the introduction of the modern golf ball, which also prompted the USGA and the Royal and Ancient to adopt specific design criteria for golf balls. They wanted to make sure everybody played a ball that wasn't juiced or altered for more superior performance.

Nowadays there are literally dozens of golf ball brands to choose from. Some promise more distance, others claim to perform soft-shoe routines when they hit the green. There really isn't too much to separate one brand from another. A few years back, tests were done to find how far various brands of balls could travel. Using "Iron Mike," a robotic golf-swinging machine, the testers fired a couple dozen brands of balls down range. There wasn't much difference in any of them. All the testers could find was that some balls do perform better when hitting the greens on approach shots.

Your choice of golf ball can be determined by how you play the game. Beginners shouldn't spend a lot of money on golf balls. Consider how many shots wind up in hazards, including the wet kind, and it doesn't make sense to spend more than is necessary for those with minimal playing ability.

Deciding which golf ball best suits your game can mimic your climb up the performance ladder. When you no longer lose three or four balls a round, move up to a ball that has less spin, thereby helping you to avoid some of the slices and duck hooks that plague novice golfers. Opt for the two-piece ball that professes to deliver more distance – if nothing else, that will give you a feeling of power over the game as a whole.

Your golfing ability continues to grow; so, try using a two-piece performance ball. These balls promise a larger core for more distance but don't quite have the feel around the greens like a multilayered ball. And that's where you come to the end of the line. Multilayered balls are constructed to provide distance, while also creating more spin on short shots, the key to good scoring. They can be quite a bit more expensive, but by the time your proficiency has reached this level you shouldn't be concerned about losing balls.