Life, 1929-04-19 · page 5 of 52
Life — April 19, 1929 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is **not a cartoon or satire**—it's a straightforward product advertisement for Kro-Flite golf balls, made by Spalding. The content describes a durability test called "the Guillotine," where a weighted steel blade drops onto golf balls to measure their resistance to damage. Nine test balls are shown in photographs at the top; one is a Kro-Flite, the other eight are competing brands. The advertisement claims that while the Guillotine blade damaged all eight competitors, it barely dented the Kro-Flite, proving it "the sturdiest ball in the world." The price is listed as 75 cents each. This is vintage advertising emphasizing product superiority through scientific-seeming demonstration rather than satire or political content.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
‘THESE ARE ACTUAL PHOTOORAPHS OF THE NINE BALLS THAT TOOK THE TEST. THE NAMES ARE PAINTED OUT ON EIONT OP THEM. OTHERWISE, THESE ARB THE EXACT RESULTS YOU WOULD HAVE SEEN HAD YOU BEEN AN EYE WITNESS TO THE TEST. THE GUILLOTINE settles the question of which is the most durable golf ball durability and measure it for distance ..and proves the KRO-FLITE the sturdiest ball in the world against any other ball in the world. Your Professional, or Sports Dealer will supply you. Wrat is the guillotine? It is the labo- ratory equivalent ofa viciously topped iron shot. It is a heavily weighted steel knife that drops on a golf ball with all the force of a powerfully swung club. It is devised so that the knife hits a ball exactly as a club head does on a topped shot. Coldly scientific, free from all human variance, it plays no favorites. It is the most relentless and revealing golf ball test that can be made. The nine balls shown above took this Guillotine Test. One is the Kro- Flite. The remaining eight are the other best-known balls the world Produces. On each of these cight, the falling blade of the Guillotine cut completely through the cover. All eight were hopelessly ruined. But in the Kro-Flite, the Guillo- tine met its master. On this stout- covered ball, the knife left a barely visible dent. After this terrific abuse, this Kro-Flite could easily have played more than the 72 holes for which Spalding guarantees it. The Guillotine has never yet been able to cut a Kro-Flite ball—it has never failed to cut any other. Try Kro-Flite yourself. Test it for ABOUT DISTANCE Spalding makes two golf balls—" Spalding’ and "Kro-Flite.”” The one which bears the name Spalding” bas been proved by years of tournament play—at home and abroad— to be the world's longest golf ball. Yet the ball which bears the name *'Kro-Flite™ is only a trifling distance bebind this longest of all balls—a fact established time after time in the driving machine tests at Chicopee, Mass., Pinehurst, N. C., and Putney, England. This amazing Kro-Flite is the only golf ball ever to combine maximum durability with first-class distance. KRO -FLITE eacs T5 cont made by © 1020.A.G. 8. & B comicbooks.com