First of all…I read the “Read this first msg”…The Constitution is shorter! What happened to the only 1 rule “Don’t be a jerk”… Honestly I thought that was enough. 
Golf Ball Memory:
3 of us kids (in the 60’s) were sitting in a outdoor foyer small area with a fence of sorts running out from one side. We wondered…what would happen and what WAS in that golf ball anyway…
Sliced that puppy part open… Sky rockets in Flight!! :eek: Imagine the ball “Men in Black’s” Will Smith let loose in the Control room…in a broom closet… Yep! Will never forget that one. We ducked, dove and crashed and burned! The fence and a cinderblock holed front kept that thing humming for 5 solid minutes. We got out of there eventually and watched it. Rubber bands letting loose like a mother! It blew the cover. Don’t remember the core though… :dubious: I know we didn’t taste anything. Joyce 
LINK TO COLUMN: Does the center of a golf ball contain a deadly poison? - The Straight Dope
I was an expert at cutting open my Dad’s old golf balls when I was a kid. Some had a solid rubber center, some had a liquid filled center.
It was always fun watching those suckers take off though!
Welcome to the Straight Dope Message Boards, jagsrus, we’re glad you found us.
Sorry that our “Read this first” was so long; we started with “Don’t be a jerk” but we found that our membership kept pushing around the edges, so the other rules and guidelines were developed over time. F’rinstance, some people come to these boards and think that name-calling and personal insults are “jerkish,” they’re normal behavior on other boards. Etc.
Also, it’s helpful to other readers if the person starting a thread provides a link to the column in question. Saves search time and helps keep us (mostly) on the same page, avoiding repetition. No prob, I’ve added it to the bottom of your post. And, as I say, welcome!
Ancient golf balls were alleged filled with chopped feathers, then guttapercha. Guttapercha is simply natural latex rubber. The dimpled ball, counter-intuitively, flies faster and farther than a smooth ball. I keep looking for a dimpled baseball bat.
Clarification: gutta-percha is made from a latex, but from a different species from rubber latex.