Sometimes referred to as gutta balata. This hard rubberlike material is made by drying the juice produced by the bully tree in Guyana and the West Indies. The tree is tapped by cutting zigzag gashes in the bark and collecting the latex in cups, which is then coagulated in trays. Like gutta-percha, balata is inelastic, tough, leathery, and water-resistant, and it softens when heated.

Balata revolutionized the manufacture of golf balls when golf pros realized that they could hit high shots into greens and actually spin the ball backwards.