September 11, 2008

What's Special About a Golf Ball ?

In the golf ball design world of air pressure, turbulence, and aerodynamics, surface structurestructure of the surface is a critical design element. There are several historical events that have contributed the design and make-up of the golf ball. Evolving over a period covering hundreds of years, a better design and make up of the golf ball has been achieved, based on scientific research . The humble golf ball is a good example of the evolution of the history of aeronautical engineering.

When the game of golf started on the eastern coast of Scotland, most players used hand-made equipment in order to play golf which was a more informal game than it is today. Then, the first golf clubs and golf balls are made of wood.

feather golf ball was first introduced and made popular. This type of the golf ball gained the nickname of the "Featherie". This feather golf ball was a handcraftedhand made golf ball made with goose feathers securely pressed into a horse or cowhide sphere. The whole process was carried out while the ball was still wet. As the ball dried out, the the leather would contract and the feathers expanded to create a hardened golf ball.

Because these types of golf balls were hand made, they usually cost more than the golf clubs. As a result, only a few privileged people had the money to play the game of golf at this time.

The next version , to gain in popularity was the Guttie golf ball. This ancient kind of golf ball was constructed from the rubber like sap from the Gutta Percha tree which comes from the tropics. These Guttie balls could be simply moulded into a sphere when hot. as they became cooler, they kept their shape and could then be used as a golf ball. With its rubber nature, Guttie balls could be manufactured at a low cost and could be easily repaired by reheating and reshaping.

In a comparison between the two earliest forms of golf balls, the feather golf ball was known to go cover more ground than the rubber Guttie. This apparent paradox was eventually identified as being due to the difference in surfaces. The smooth surface of the Guttie limits the capacity of the golf ball to cover more distance.

With this new knowledge, the developers of golf balls eventually produced with balls with the "dimples" that are associated with modern golf balls in use today.

Dimples are put onto golf balls so as to reduce the aerodynamic drag, which acts on the ball and is increased if it were totally smooth. This is because smooth balls, when sailing through the air, leave a huge pocket of low-pressure air in its wake so producing drag. The drag acts as an anchor and the ball reduces in speed.

But in contrast, by placing dimples on golf balls, the difference in pressure gets lowered and the drag is reduced. These dimples create turbulence in the air surrounding the golf ball. This, in turn, forces the air to clasp the golf ball more closely. By doing so, the air flows in to the wake created by the ball instead of travelling past it. The result is a smaller wake and less drag. So the ball travels a longer distance.

Dimples also help players to put backspin on a shot so making the golf ball break off on the putting green.

The idea of putting dimples on golf balls can be traced back to the Gutta Percha phase of development. It was Coburn Haskell who introduced the one-piece rubber cored ball encased in a Gutta Percha sphere. It was during this time that players first observed how their shots became more and more predictable the longer that they used the same ball. They noticed that the rougher the balls became the more accurate and further they could hit it.

When William Taylor applied the dimple pattern to a Haskell ball in 1905, golf balls finally took on their modern shape. So the dimples were born. From then on, dimpled golf balls were officially used in every golf competition. In 1921, the dimpled golf balls took on a standard size and weight.

Nowadays, there is a big choice of golf balls suitable for different golf games and conditions. Some golf balls offer greater control, while some others offer greater length. However else these golf balls vary, they all have one fearure in common and that is the dimple. Golf balls are not just pieces of golf equipment; they are a paradigm of a concept in physics!