Whole Network Most Recent TOP10 Golf Courses Golf Equipment Golf Instruction Golf News

 

Dat Damn Ball. Again.

Filed in archive Golf Equipment by Chris Henry on April 16, 2007

24258183.jpg
In my recent interview with patent lawyer and golfer, David Dawsey, he talked about the patents that had been filed by ball makers like Callaway and Bridgestone.

If you have looked at his site, you have probably found the post about Callaway's liquid filled golf ball patent.

The biggest advances in golf equipment over the past 12 or so years have come in the clubs themselves: the bigger head drivers with their surprising spring-like effect that has caused endless arguments about prodigious distance and the widespread use of hybrid clubs which offer the amateur and professional a wonderful alternative to long irons.

The golf ball has made more quiet advances.

Like golf clubs, golf balls are bound by rules laid down by the USGA and R and A on size and weight.

Balls are governed by one more rule: initial velocity off the club face.

Ball manufacturers have always hunted for scientific breakthroughs or advances to make their golf balls fly further.

They began their search for distance with the dimple.

Frank Thomas, the former technical director of the USGA and the man who developed rules for golf ball distance, has a wonderful article on his site about the humble golf ball dimple.

Thomas points out that a smooth golf ball, struck by a touring professional today, would travel about 130 yards!

Add dimples and the same pro can hit the same ball up to 290 yards.

But, as many of us know, those dimples are not in a random pattern. They have been carefully designed and placed on the ball in order to maximize aerodynamics.

When you strike today's golf ball, you are putting into effect the same laws of aerodynamics that are used in the aerospace industry and in motorsports (think formula one, in particular).

Too many dimples defeat their purpose; too few do the same. It's ends up as a "Goldilocks solution": ball makers look for the design, dispersion and dimple depth that is just right.

So Callaway's recent patent on a liquid filled ball just might take the golf ball in a new direction entirely.

By the way, the maximum distance for a golf ball as determined by Frank Thomas and his staff at the USGA was 296.8 yards. That was in 1976.

New ball testing procedures introduced about five years ago have modified that number.

It now stands at 320 yards.


Advertisement


Permalink: Dat Damn Ball. Again.
Tags: golf  golf  balls  golf  ball  dimples  ball  distance  USGA  rules  of  golf  balls  post  sandra+post 

Trackback: http://www.creative-weblogging.com/cgi-bin/mt-tb.pl/64113



Related Entries:

Dat Damn Ball - 03 January 2007

The Golf Patent Game - 13 April 2007

Roll, Baby, Roll - 13 September 2007

A Changing of the Rules - 04 November 2007

Bend that Arm. Draw that Ball - 05 January 2008

Persimmon vs Titanium - 27 March 2008

Advertisement


Advertisement


CW ToolbarInstall
RSSrss   | See all blog subscribe options
Googlegoogle   |   What is RSS?
Yahoo!yahoo
AddthisAddThis Feed Button
BloglinesBloglines
Newsletter
Advertisement - Book yours here.

Use our search feature to look for other interesting posts

Just this blog Whole network
Advertisement -
Book yours here..


 
  • Would you like to see your text link here? Let us know!
Advertisement
Book yours here.



  • Other blogs in the same channel in the Creative Weblogging Network

Advertisement -
Book yours here..






Advertisement - Book yours here..
 
Tagcloud: Golf Business Golf Courses Golf Equipment Golf Fitness Golf Humor Golf Instruction Golf Interviews Golf News Golf Travel Golf Wanderings