In a golf ball having a core and a cover of at least one layer, the outermost layer of the cover is formed of a resin composition that includes (A) 100 parts by weight of a thermoplastic resin, and (B) 1 to 30 parts by weight of a compound having a fluorene skeleton, or a derivative thereof, and the resin composition has a melt flow rate of at least 3.0 g/10 min. This resin composition for golf balls has an improved injection-moldability and thus enables the ball to achieve both a reduced spin rate and a good durability (scuff resistance).

A golf ball includes a center, a mid layer, a cover and dimples. The cover has a Shore D hardness of 30-50. The golf ball has an amount of compressive deformation of 3.0-5.0 mm. The ball meets a mathematical formula (I):

0.80((L1+L2)/2)0.95(I).

L1 represents a ratio of a lift coefficient relative to a drag coefficient, the lift coefficient and the drag coefficient being measured under conditions of a Reynolds number of 1.29010.sup.5 and a spin rate of 2820 rpm. L2 represents a ratio of a lift coefficient relative to a drag coefficient, the lift coefficient and the drag coefficient being measured under conditions of a Reynolds number of 1.77110.sup.5 and a spin rate of 2940 rpm.

An object of the present invention is to provide a golf ball traveling a great flight distance and having a good shot feeling on long iron shots. The present invention provides a golf ball comprising a core, at least one intermediate layer covering the core and a cover covering the intermediate layer, wherein the core is formed from a core rubber composition containing (a) a base rubber containing a polybutadiene, (b) an ,-unsaturated carboxylic acid having 3 to 8 carbon atoms and/or a metal salt thereof as a co-crosslinking agent, (c) a crosslinking initiator, and (d) a terpene-based resin, and a material hardness (Hm) of the intermediate layer is higher than a material hardness (Hc) of the cover, and the material hardness (Hc) of the cover is less than 50 in Shore D hardness.

An object of the present invention is to provide a golf ball traveling a great flight distance and having a good shot feeling on long iron shots. The present invention provides a golf ball comprising a core, at least one intermediate layer covering the core and a cover covering the intermediate layer, wherein the core is formed from a core rubber composition containing (a) a base rubber containing a polybutadiene, (b) an ,-unsaturated carboxylic acid having 3 to 8 carbon atoms and/or a metal salt thereof as a co-crosslinking agent, (c) a crosslinking initiator, and (d) a terpene-based resin, and a material hardness (Hm) of the intermediate layer is higher than a material hardness (Hc) of the cover, and the material hardness (Hc) of the cover is 50 or more in Shore D hardness.

In a golf ball having a core, a cover and at least one intermediate layer therebetween, the cover is formed of a rubber composition which includes a diene rubber, methacrylic acid, a metal oxide and an organic peroxide. The cover has a specific Poisson's ratio, Shore D hardness and thickness. At least one intermediate layer has a specific Shore D hardness and thickness. This golf ball, even with the use of a rubber cover, compares favorably with balls having conventional resin covers, both in that it can achieve a lower spin rate on shots with a driver (W #1) and thus has an excellent flight performance and also in that it can improve controllability in the short game.

In a golf ball having a core of at least one layer and a cover encasing the core, the cover is formed of a resin composition composed primarily of a polyurethane or a polyurea. Letting HMa (N/mm.sup.2) be the Martens hardness of the cover measured at a position 0.3 mm toward the center of the ball from the cover surface and Ita (%) be the elastic recovery of the cover, HMa and Ita satisfy the following conditions: (1) Ita1.16HMa+79, (2) 10.0HMa38.0, and (3) 40Ita80. The ball has an excellent spin performance on approach shots and an excellent scuff resistance.

In a multi-piece solid golf ball having a core, an envelope layer, an intermediate layer and a cover, the intermediate layer is formed into two layersan inner layer and an outer layer. The surface hardness of the envelope layer-encased sphere, the surface hardness of the inner intermediate layer-encased sphere, the surface hardness of the outer intermediate layer-encased sphere and the surface hardness of the ball together satisfy a specific relationship. This ball has an excellent flight when struck by golfers whose head speeds are not that fast and has a soft yet good feel at impact, thus making it highly suitable for amateur golfers.

The present invention provides a method for arranging dimples on a golf ball surface in which the dimples are arranged in a pattern derived from at least one irregular domain generated from a regular or non-regular polyhedron. The method includes choosing control points of a polyhedron, generating an irregular domain based on those control points, packing the irregular domain with dimples, and tessellating the irregular domain to cover the surface of the golf ball. The control points include the center of a polyhedral face, a vertex of the polyhedron, a midpoint or other point on an edge of the polyhedron and others. The method ensures that the symmetry of the underlying polyhedron is preserved while minimizing or eliminating great circles due to parting lines.

Multi-piece golf balls having a multi-layered solid core and multi-layered cover are provided.

In a multi-piece solid golf ball having a core, a cover and an intermediate layer therebetween, the core, an intermediate layer-encased sphere and the ball have surface hardnesses which satisfy a specific relationship, and the intermediate layer and the cover have thicknesses which satisfy a specific relationship. Also, the core has a hardness profile in which the hardnesses at the core surface, core center, a position 5 mm from the core center, and a position midway between the surface and center of the core satisfy specific relationships. This golf ball, when used by mid- and high-level amateurs, enables the golfer to maintain an adequate distance on shots with a driver and achieve a good distance on iron shots, has a good spin performance on approach shots and has a good feel on impact. In addition, the ball has an excellent scuff resistance when struck with a grooved wedge.