This morning, at the “M&M Diner Breakfast Club” the subject that usually comes up at some point is sports, as it did this morning. This morning Gaylen Blosser asked us what we thought the hardest sport was between football, basketball, baseball, soccer and tennis. That is a tough question, but having dabbled a very little bit in several of those sports, except soccer, I said I thought golf was the hardest. That raised some eyebrows, but after some discussion, there was no concensus. Gaylen then asked about the golf ball, and why does it have dimples, and wouldn’t a smooth ball fly farther? I said no, because a smooth ball would not have the lift of a dimpled ball.
So, now that I am home, I thought I would see what really happens with a golf ball. A quick Google search provided this information, and it really is quite fascinating to see how much time and effort, not to mention money, is spent on the science of golf ball technology.
Engineers and scientists study the impact between a golf club and golf ball to determine “launch conditions.” The impact between ball and club lasts only 1/2000 of a second, but that establishes the balls spin rate, velocity and launch angle. This is why golf is so hard, you have so little control after you hit it, and you must hit it perfectly every time, which is impossible! After this brief impact, gravity and aerodynamics take over (no matter how much I swear at it!) As a result aerodynamic optimization, achieved through the dimple pattern is critical in ball design.
A smooth golf ball hit by a professional will only go half as far as a dimpled one. Most balls have between 300 and 500 dimples of about 0.010 inches deep. Lift and drag forces are very much affected by this depth. A depth change of 0.001inch can produce radical changes to trajectory and distance. Now, it gets very technical about how lift, backspin, and drag are affected, and air pressure in front of the ball, along with the backside turbulence, affect the drag, or air resistance to the ball. Dimples also affect lift.
A smooth ball with backspin creates lift by warping the air so the ball acts like and airplane wing. The spinning makes the air pressure on the bottom of the ball higher than on the top. This imbalance creates an upward force on the ball. Ball spin creates about one half of a ball’s lift, the other half by dimples which allow for optimizing the lift force. There is much more information to be had, but I got this information from an article in 2004 from Tom Veilleux, a senior scientist, and Vince Simonds, director of aerodynamic research at the Top-Flite golf company, now a part of Callaway golf I believe.
There are so many variables to making a golf ball fly, and how far, that millions are spent every year by companies to produce the longest and straightest, and workable ball there can be. However, the governing bodies of golf have set limits on how far a ball can go, so there really is no longest ball, but their characteristics change a lot of what the ball can do. Now, there is a call for limiting the distance that a “Professional” golfers ball will fly because the distances being hit now by pros is making obsolete great golf courses because of the advances of the modern ball.
Golf is a strange game, as Mark Twain once said “Golf is a good walk spoiled!” Anyone who has tried the game or plays it now will tell you how much fun it is, and how hard it is. It is the only game with a ball where the ball doesn’t move……all you have to do is hit it. Try that sometime! It is the simple joy of seeing that little dimpled ball, that you finally, after hundreds of tries, see react exactly like you want…..that is what keeps golfers coming back! The great thing about golf is you don’t have to be good to enjoy it! The fresh air, the companionship, and the laughs with friends are more valuable and good for the soul than you can imagine. The most fun is had when we don’t take it too seriously, just enjoy that walk you have spoiled by putting a golf club in your hand with friends! I love it! That’s the way I see it…..from the Golf course!
