Method of treating rubber composition with cure inhibitor to create soft skin in golf ball core

1. A method of making a golf ball comprising the steps of:

providing a preform comprising an uncured polybutadiene composition;

coating the uncured preform with a first cure-altering material;

curing the coated uncured perform at a predetermined temperature to form a single unitary crosslinked golf ball core having an outer surface having a first hardness and a geometric center having a second hardness greater than the first to define a negative hardness gradient; and

forming a cover layer about the core to form the golf ball.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of coating the preform comprises rolling, spraying, dipping, or dusting.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the cure-altering material comprises antioxidants, zinc methacrylate, zinc dimethacrylate, softening acrylate monomers or oligomers, soft powdered thermoplastic resins, phenol-comprising antioxidants, or hydroquinones.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the cure-altering material comprises an antioxidant.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the soft powdered thermoplastic resins comprise ethyl vinyl acetate, ethylene butyl acrylate, ethylene methyl acrylate, or very-low-modulus ionomer.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of coating further comprises coating the preform with a second cure-altering material different from the first.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the first cure-altering material is an antioxidant and the second cure-altering material comprises an antioxidant or a peroxide.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of providing the preform further comprises extruding the uncured polybutadiene composition to form an extrudate and cutting the extrudate to form the preform.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of providing the preform further comprises cold-forming the uncured polybutadiene rubber preform into a spherical shape.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of curing the coated preform further comprises heating the preform at a predetermined temperature and compressing the preform at a predetermined pressure.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of centerless-grinding the core such that the core is uniformly spherical.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of surface-treating the core with plasma discharge, corona discharge, silanes, or chlorination.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first hardness is 0 Shore C to 10 Shore C lower than the second hardness.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the first hardness is 0 Shore C to about 5 Shore C lower than the second hardness.

15. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of forming an outer core layer about the uniformly-spherical core to form a dual core.

16. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of forming an intermediate layer about the core prior to forming the cover layer.

17. A method of making a golf ball comprising the steps of:

extruding a polybutadiene composition the form a cylindrical extrudate;

cutting the extrudate to form an uncured polybutadiene preform;

uniformly coating the uncured preform with a cure-altering material comprising a first antioxidant;

curing the coated preform to form a single, unitary crosslinked core having an outer surface having a first hardness and a geometric center having a second hardness greater than the first to define a negative hardness gradient;

centerless-grinding the cured core to form a uniformly-spherical core having increased surface roughness;

forming an inner cover layer about the uniformly-spherical core; and

forming an outer cover layer about the inner cover layer to form the golf ball.

18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising the step of forming an outer core layer about the uniformly-spherical core to form a dual core.