I am aware of some of these. But I read some reviews about the shell not matching, etc. Having some heavy rubber sponge golf balls makes doing this a pleasure. I had some before that were good. Any ideas? would prefer a metal shell that matches in color.

At this point, any old rubber Ireland's Golf Balls you may find on eBay, will be so hard that they just crumble to nothing. Are you doing a Golf themed act?

Just go with the Loftus/Empire yellow set, and be satisfied.

Thanks so much Bill. I had purchased some over 30 years ago. Because they are heavy rubber sponge, they do not last forever.

I just remember the joy of working with them. I recently tried making a test set with plastic balls. Once you enjoy the wondrous grip you have with heavy sponge rubber, it is hard to think of performing with anything else. If you have a good set of these, it is hard to make a mistake.

Not for an act. But to me, these are just a joy to work with. I found one set by a manufacturer, but someone said the shell was plastic and the color didn't match. Hard to make that look good.

Frances Marshall was running out of the sponge rubber golf balls. She ordered more (I think from China.) The shipment arrived. MANY of them, were not salable. She complained to the factory. They said, 'They're just cat toys. The cats don't care if there are flaws!" That was the end of the old Ireland golf balls!

Countrymaven, if you still have your gimmick, they have yellow balls made by Empire magic, the gimmick is not as well made as the old Ireland's.

Was just in Wal-Mart, and they have rubber yellow practice golf balls. Take a look, maybe you can paint your old gimmick if they fit.

If you are not a golfer, yellow balls are for playing golf in the winter. They show up better in the snow. They can be used as practice balls as well. The only thing I can recommend is getting the China/Taiwan plastic white golf balls and paint them yellow if they fit.

I have both the yellow Empire yellow and the imported plastic in white. If I get a chance, I will see if they fit.

These comments really kill me, white plastic don't match, what does that mean. They spend $3 dollars for a plastic golf ball, and think they should be like a $75 professional set. But mine do match very well. Stop listing to illogical comments, they are personal comments, and all what one person thinks is not what everyone thinks.

There is a set now on eBay.

If you have old Ireland ball sh _ _ ls laying around in your magic drawer and would like to use them , right now on Amazon are some white polyurethane foam balls that fit. You can get a set of 18 for $9.99. (current price as of February 2022) Be sure to specify white . There are other options for colored balls -- green, orange, red, blue , yellow -- which you could get if you wanted to do a color change effect in your routine. Use enough for your golf ball routine and store the rest of the balls in a sealed container in a cool, dark storage space to preserve them.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0728H3FLW?psc......_details

Here is a photo of one of these balls with the Ireland thingamajig (incidentally, this is one of two I bought from the late Dick Oslund for $5.00 several years ago. Thank you, Dick.)





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If my Fakinis go bad, I'll just use their uncoated shells and foam practice golf balls. I bought a couple of my shells used. They come up for sale from time to time. The yellow sets from Empire are nice, too.

Viking Magic sells a set of foam golf balls with four white balls, one red ball and two white shells. I own a bag of the foam practice balls and I believe they are the same type provided by Viking. The shells fit the practice balls in the same way they fit the provided balls, I think the shells are coated metal but I'm not sure about that. I was hoping the shells would fit my Fakini balls but the Viking shells are just a bit smaller. I find the foam balls a bit too light for some of the manipulations I want to do. The Fakinis are perfect for me.

BTW, I should have added to my previous post that the Viking Golf Ball set works for the silk through silk ala Billy McComb and Dick Oslund.

That should be ball through silk.

Indeed they are metal and will adhere to a magnet, which is really handy for ditching it with a magnetic hold-out or pull.




Yes, I can confirm that Viking's golf ball set works well for that purpose.