Cooking with a Golf Ball

The golf ball - where would cooks be without it? This basic piece of golfing equipment makes a handy measuring tool for cooks. References to the white ball with the distinctive dimpled pattern can be found in directions for making cookies and other recipes. Last week I used my husband’s golf ball while preparing deep-fried mashed potatoes (take your favorite mashed potato recipe, shape the mashed potatoes into balls the size of golf balls, freeze for at least 3 hours, coat with a seasoned batter and deep-fry). In Chinese cooking, the golf ball analogy is used to explain the shape and size of the dough for everything from Sesame Seed Balls to Walnut Cookies.

Of course, there is one potential problem. Recipe writers clearly assume that you have a golf ball on hand to refer to while making the dough. But what if no one in your family is a golfer? Just how big is a golf ball, anyway?

The official rules from the United States Golfing Association state that: “The diameter of the ball shall not be less than 1.680 inches (42.67 mm)…” Golf balls can be bigger: oversized balls help with distance in golfing. However, most golf balls conform to the standard size.

1.68 inches…hmm. Fortunately, recipes don’t require the same level of precision that goes into constructing a golf ball! While writing this feature, I whipped up a peanut butter cookie dough, shaped the dough into what I thought were golf ball-sized pieces (with a golf ball in front of me to gauge the correct size), and measured the results. The cookie dough balls were anywhere from 1.6 to nearly 1.9 inches in diameter.

Still, the 1.68 figure is useful to know. If you’re still uncertain whether you’re rolling balls that are the correct size, trying flattening one out into a circle. The diameter of a flattened golf ball should measure roughly 3 inches. Another handy statistic is that it takes roughly one tablespoon of dough to make a circle the size of a golf ball. Still another is that a standard tennis ball has a diameter of 2.5 inches. This will help with recipes that call for the dough to be shaped into balls the size of large golf balls or tennis balls.

One final note: depending on the source, it’s possible that the person who wrote the recipe wasn’t working with accurate measurements. If you suspect this is the case, try making a batch and see if your yield matches what is called for in the recipe. At least this will give you a better idea of what size to make the balls next time.