They say golf is like life, but don't believe them. Golf is more complicated than that. ~Gardner DickinsonPING golf started as a garage business by company founder Karsten Solheim. Solheim's frustration during the game of golf resulted from his difficulty putting with the putters of the era. The engineer from General Electric invented a new putter in his garage know as the "PING 1A".
The name "PING" came from the sound that Solheim heard as the metal struck the ball. The 1A and other PING putters to come would revolutionize the putter market with newly found "heel-toe" weighting.If Ping Putters goes Ping... Then my balls goes............
TOK.....................TOK...................TOK.................TOK............... and jumps right up where it bounced off...
Why not try it yourself........ Take your golf ball out and bounce it off the floor.... Maybe it will go.....
TOK.....................Tiak........................ Toeng............. Twang........... and jump all over the place or ....like mine that goes steadily up and down with a constant decrease in height.
The behavoir of the ball can determine whats inside, how it is made as well as your results.
Let us find out more about golf balls.........
According to the wikipedia.......
RegulationA regulation golf ball weighs no more than 45.93 grams, with a diameter over 42.67mm and is summetrically spherical in shape.
History
Wooden Balls were used first in the early 17th century before it was taken over by the featherie ball.
The featherie ball is a hand sewn leather pouch stuffed with goose feathers and coated with paint. These goose feathers were boiled and put in the cowhide bag and as its temperature reduces, the feathers would expand and hide would shrink, creating a compact ball.
With its superior flight abilities, the featherie became the standard ball for golfing for more then 200 years, however when playing in wet wather, the stitches in the ball would rot and the ball will split open when it hits a hard surface,
In 1848, another new invention, the Gutta-Percha Ball surfaced. Rober Adam Paterson, the inventor, used the gutta, which is the sap of the Sapodilla Tree to create a rubber like feel ball. At this time, he also discovered that the defects in the sphere could provide a ball with a further flight then a pure sphere. With this discovery, comes about the creation of intentional defects in the surface to have a more consistent ball flight. Gutties were cheaper to produced and have better aerodynamic qualities, it soon replaced the goose feather balls completely.
Later in the 20th centuary, multi-layered balls were developed. These balls are wound with a layer of rubber thread, a thin outer shell and a solid or liquid filled core. This design allowed the manufacturers to fine-tune the length, spin and feel of the balls. They can consist of 2, 3 or 4 layered designs having made of various synthetic materials like surlyn or urethane blends. These golf balls come in various playing characteristic to suit the characteristics of the golfers.
Aerodynamics
When a golf ball is hit, at the point of impact, which is less than a millisecond, determines the ball's VELOCITY, LAUNCH ANGLE and SPIN RATE, all of which influences its trajectory which then affects the DISTANCE, BEHAVIOR AT TOUCH DOWN and LANDING POSITION.
A flying ball experiences two major aerodynamic forces which is the LIFT and the DRAG. Dimpled balls fly farther than non-dimpled balls due to the combination of these 2 effects.
Many issues can affect the aerodynamics of a flying ball, such as the amount of dimples, the contents in the ball and even the amount of dirt stuck to the ball.
DesignMost golf balls on sale today have about 250 to 450 dimples. All brands of balls, except one, have even -numbered dimples. The only odd-numbered ball on the market is one with 333 dimples, called the Srixon AD333.
Officially sanctioned balls are designed to be as symmetrical as possible. However, there are many asymmetrical designs that could help the ball self-adjust its spinning axis during the flight. The United States Golf Association refused to sanction such balls for tournament play and, in 1981, changed the rules to ban aerodynamic asymmetrical balls.
Since symmetry can no longer be manupulated, how should we then determine what kind of golf balls are best for our playing and training?
I believe there are a few areas we should look into to make sure our balls land where we want them to land.
- Area of Contact - Optimum contact is required. Not too much, Not too little.. Check out the circle engraved on your club head.
- Angle of Contact - The angle of contact will determine how high the ball flies and in which direction
- Swing Power - The smoother the swing, the further the ball.. Its not about brawl, its about fullness.... Think of a pendulum swing....
- Weight of the Ball - The heavier the ball, the further it will fly. This is hard to comprehend, however it has got to also do with air resistant. As the ball is being hit, it first experiences the air resistance which then results in the lift and drag effect.
- No. of dimples - Which was discussed previously
- Contents of the Balls - Which is very critical, yet if you do not have X-Ray Eyes like superman, you can never detect. However I can teach you how.....
- Amount of dirt on your ball - Clean them with a proper cloth
For the first 3 points, theres nothing you can do except practice practice and practice.
For the 4th point - the regulations have regulated that thus not much can be done
The content of the ball in this case made it most vulnerable yet most manupulatable. For simplicity, we shall now compare 2 nominal balls.
When we section 2 balls... We could immediately see the difference. Both these balls are 2 layered balls and from this picture could you determine which ball will bounce straight up with little lost of energy and which will bounce around everywhere?
If we look closely..... The pink ball on the left has got its content off centered with a variable thickness of its 2nd layer all around the ball. This has a great effect in internal pressure and during compression when it hit a hard surface, it will have uneven forces which then causes it to fly out of intended course and roll with undefined non-accuracy.
Please don't forget that now we're looking at the 2D cross section.. Imagine.. The ball is 3D and uneveness is all around... This has a massive effect on your game.
It Sure Looks Good on the Outside.. But What About the INSIDE?The particle size in manufacturing the center portion is vital. When the particle size is optimally small, during compacting and fusing, the core will be tighter and more even. If the particle sizes are bigger then optimum, there will be air pockets around which results in uneveness throughout.
During a section, we could detect these flaws by looking at the sectioned surface. If the particles are optimal, uniform in size and compact, during application of a constant slicing force of a cutting blade, the particles will tear apart with constant dislocation and thus producing a smooth surface. When the particle size is not uniform and not optimal, dislocation forces will be uneven thus producing an uneven surface. Sometimes we might even detect air pockets with the naked eye.
Before you buy a good box of balls, bounce it first...There are many uncertainties and factors that somehow we cannot control when the ball is in flight. We just have to reduce this risks and hope that since we could cut down on uncertain factors, then we could play a better game.Some pictures are taken from:
Eagleswing Homepage
Michael Shanks - site 2006
The behavoir of the ball can determine whats inside, how it is made as well as your results.
Wooden Balls were used first in the early 17th century before it was taken over by the featherie ball.
The featherie ball is a hand sewn leather pouch stuffed with goose feathers and coated with paint. These goose feathers were boiled and put in the cowhide bag and as its temperature reduces, the feathers would expand and hide would shrink, creating a compact ball.
With its superior flight abilities, the featherie became the standard ball for golfing for more then 200 years, however when playing in wet wather, the stitches in the ball would rot and the ball will split open when it hits a hard surface,
In 1848, another new invention, the Gutta-Percha Ball surfaced. Rober Adam Paterson, the inventor, used the gutta, which is the sap of the Sapodilla Tree to create a rubber like feel ball. At this time, he also discovered that the defects in the sphere could provide a ball with a further flight then a pure sphere. With this discovery, comes about the creation of intentional defects in the surface to have a more consistent ball flight. Gutties were cheaper to produced and have better aerodynamic qualities, it soon replaced the goose feather balls completely.
Later in the 20th centuary, multi-layered balls were developed. These balls are wound with a layer of rubber thread, a thin outer shell and a solid or liquid filled core. This design allowed the manufacturers to fine-tune the length, spin and feel of the balls. They can consist of 2, 3 or 4 layered designs having made of various synthetic materials like surlyn or urethane blends. These golf balls come in various playing characteristic to suit the characteristics of the golfers.
When a golf ball is hit, at the point of impact, which is less than a millisecond, determines the ball's VELOCITY, LAUNCH ANGLE and SPIN RATE, all of which influences its trajectory which then affects the DISTANCE, BEHAVIOR AT TOUCH DOWN and LANDING POSITION.
I believe there are a few areas we should look into to make sure our balls land where we want them to land.
