Zodiac

Description

An early Martin’s ZODIAC rubber core ball with circles and stud pattern, ZODIAC PATENTS and MARTINS ENGLAND to the poles.

Lacking paint the ball is in good condition with minor crazing which doesn’t detract from its appearance, circa 1906

Martins-Birmingham Ltd was founded in Birmingham, England in 1904 by Patrick Alphonsus Martin. He was obviously an eccentric man, inventing a gnome like figure to advertise his Zome & Zodiac brand of balls. From The World of Golf magazine October 1908, “We beg to thank the Golfers of the United Kingdom for the interest they have taken in our ZODIAC ball this season … from the reports of thousands of players we are in a position to state that MORE MATCHES ARE WON THAN LOST with the ZODIAC golf ball. Hundreds of Golfers ask why the ZODIAC putts so deadly? The secret is in the patent core which prevents the ball from ‘shivering’ when it receives the stroke, it is this shiver, or vibration, which causes the ball to receive an uncertain impetus when struck and a little stiff blade of grass will divert the line of the ball – not so with the ZODIAC.”