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Golf Balls -- The Science Behind The Dimples

by Susan Chiang

The dynamics behind the flight of the golf ball offers a fascinating insight into the physical interworkings of air pressure, turbulence, and aerodynamics.

When golf was first played in Scotland, most players played using clumsy golf apparatus, with the first golf clubs and golf balls made of wood.

In 1618 the 'Featherie' was introduced. It was a golf ball made of feather. This feather golf ball was handcrafted from goose feathers tightly pressed into a horse or cowhide sphere while still wet. After drying, the leather shrank and the feathers expanded, creating a hardened golf ball.

As this type of golf ball was specially handcrafted, it was usually more expensive than golf clubs, so that only a few privileged people could afford to play golf back then.

After the Featherie golf ball came the Guttie golf ball. This type of golf ball was made from the rubber-like sap of the Gutta tree found in the tropics, and was shaped into a sphere when hot and eventually into a golf ball. As it was made of rubber, the Guttie golf ball could be cheaply produced and easily repaired by reheating and reshaping.

Comparing the two types of golf balls, the Featherie golf ball was said to travel farther than the Guttie golf ball because the Guttie golf balls smooth surface prevented it from covering more distance.

With this discovery, the developers of golf balls came up with the 'dimpled' golf balls that are so predominant in modern golf nowadays.

The dimples on the golf balls help reduce the aerodynamic drag. Aerodynamic drag normally affects smooth golf balls and slows them down, because when they sail through the air, they leave a pocket of low-pressure air in its stir thus creating a drag.

By applying dimples to the golf ball surface, the pressure differential goes down and the drag force is reduced. These dimples create turbulence in the air surrounding the golf ball, which, in turn, forces the air to clasp the golf ball more closely. By doing so, the air trails the warp created by the golf ball towards the back instead of flowing past it. This results in a smaller wake and lesser drag.

Dimples were first added onto golf ball surfaces back during the gutta percha phase. Coburn Haskell introduced the one-piece rubber cored golf ball encased in a gutta percha sphere. Then in 1905 William Taylor applied the dimple pattern to a Haskell golf ball, thus giving rise to the modern golf ball as we know it today.

After its beginning, dimpled golf balls were officially used in every golf tournament. In 1921, the golf ball took its current form with standard size and weight. Nowadays there is a wide range of golf balls to fit every style, game and condition, with some golf balls offering control, and other golf balls offering distance.

Though a common sight nowadays, the dimpled golf ball is not just a mere element of the sports arena; it is a showcase of physics at work.

For a more comprehensive look at golf and golf equipment, drop by Susans site Golf Ball City. Other informative sports related articles are available at Shopping Palace and Niche Weblog.

Thoughts On Golf

When starting the downswing the shoulders should be passive, allowing the forward motion of the legs to pull the right shoulder down and forward, squaring the shoulders to the target line at impact. If the shoulders have moved into an open position (facing to the left of the target) prior to impact, the clubhead will travel outside-to-inside of the target line. This brings the clubhead over the ball promoting an over the top move.
...US Open

Assuming the texture of the sand is similar, and the ball is not plugged, the technique for hitting out of a greenside bunker remains the same for shots up to 30 yards (27m). The key to making this shot is hitting the sand about 1 to 2 inches behind the ball, throwing the sand forward with the ball. For longer shots the only thing that changes is the swing's length. Rhythm and tempo remain the same.
...PGA Tour

You've heard that a golf-specific workout will help you get more distance, so you're pumping iron, jogging religiously, stretching - but you still haven't gained any distance off the tee. What's the deal? An exercise program will indeed help you gain distance, but you also need to have good swing technique to take advantage of your strength and flexibility.
...golf news

The key to hitting the ball farther with the modern driver and golf ball (which spins much less off of a flat face than balls of the past) is high launch combined with a low spin rate. Our goal is to get enough spin to achieve lift, while minimizing (hopefully eliminating) drag.
...golf news

Controlling the Course
In order to play the course well, you need to control the ball, it's a vicious circle. Control the ball, control the club, the body must be doing the right thing, the mind must be at ease and then you can control the course. We get two types of golfers at our school. Those who hit there ball and follow it around the golf course and it leads them on a very merry chase, and those who actually pick a target and direct, not steer, their golf ball toward the target. Basically, golfers swing different, but they all play the same. It's just a different target that they're playing to, a very long hitter is picking one out at 300 yards, a shorter hitter maybe picking one at 125 yards, but everybody needs to pick targets and break the course up into manageable bits of real estate. Very much like you'd cut your steak at night, you cut it in size bits that you're comfortable chewing and that's the way you have to chew up the golf course. So learn to control the golf ball, if you can control the ball, you must be controlling the club. If you're controlling the club, your body must be doing the right thing. If your body is doing the right thing then the minds probably in the right place and has been programmed correctly. Then, and only then, do you have any chance of controlling the golf course.
...by Jack Lumpkin

Golf Related News

Woods' charity event gets a new title sponsor

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 10:10:00 EDT
(AP) - Tiger Woods landed a new title sponsor for his holiday tournament in southern California, signing a five-year deal Thursday with Chevron with designs of raising money and developing programs to support Woods' education-based foundation.

An Iron Fitting: Eric Stull

Thu, 08 Dec 2005 00:00:00 GMT
In order to optimize a player's skill and equipment, Titleist believes golfers should be fit for their clubs by a PGA golf professional. This is the story of how Eric Stull, a scratch golfer, was fit for new irons by golf professional Jerry Smith.

Titleist Tour Report: The INTERNATIONAL

Fri, 11 Aug 2006 00:00:00 GMT
Ernie Els is featured in this week's Titleist Tour Report from The INTERNATIONAL, site of Els' debut on the PGA Tour back in 1991. Ernie talks about the tournament, which features a unique scoring system, as well as how he's preparing for next week's PGA Championship.


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