What affects the flight of a golf ball?
There are five causes that effect the pattern to your golf balls flight. Let’s start by getting your golf ball airborne. Another term for this law is “angle of attack”. Because of the semi-vertical swinging arc, there are three angles the clubs head will approach the ball at impact.
Does a Scuff on the ball affect ball flight?
A scuff on your ball WILL affect ball flight since it will make the air drag on the spinning ball greater than the non-scuffed part of the ball.
Does moving the ball back affect ball flight?
Other than that, my ball flight remained mostly the same regarding its shape, trajectory, and dispersion. I was surprised that I spun the ball the most and achieved peak height from the back of my stance as well. Most would assume that moving the ball back would keep the ball lower.
Why do my golf balls keep going in the same place?
Every golfer wants to play better golf and for most golfer’s that means understanding the fundamentals of the game. If your balls keep going in the same place, you can use the ball flight laws to help in identifying what your swing fault (s) are and to help you gain more control. Learning about ball flight laws can be tough.
What affects the flight of a golf ball?
The Speed Of The Ball Speed influences the distance you can propel the ball. Slower speeds produce less distance and higher speeds produce more distance. A lot of people who want to have a fast swing but who just focus on speed alone will struggle.
How do dimples in golf balls affect their flight?
Dimples on a golf ball create a thin turbulent boundary layer of air that clings to the ball's surface. This allows the smoothly flowing air to follow the ball's surface a little farther around the back side of the ball, thereby decreasing the size of the wake.
How does ball position affect ball flight?
It's important to know how ball position impacts your golf ball's distance, direction, and height. The farther back a ball is in your stance, the lower the ball flight, higher the spin, and more difficult it'll be to square the face.
Does a scuff on a golf ball affect its flight?
A slight scuff like the one pictured here, will actually make hardly any difference to your shots. The truth is, most of the damage that can occur during a round of golf makes no real difference to the performance of the ball.
How many dimples does a Titleist Pro V1 have?
388 dimpleNew Spherically-tiled Tetrahedral Dimple Designs– featuring a 388 dimple layout for Pro V1, and 348 for Pro V1x – are optimized to each model to maximize distance and flight consistency.
Is it better to have more or less dimples on a golf ball?
The number of golf ball dimples is less important than the shape and depth of the dimples. The number of dimples can affect drag, so it is important to not have too many dimples. Between 330 and 400 dimples is the optimum number. More dimples mean more focussed control over the ball trajectory.
How can I increase my golf ball flight?
How do you hit a golf ball higher? To hit the golf ball higher, you need four things: clubhead speed; a shallow or upward angle of attack; loading into your trail side; and a good hip turn away from the ball followed by a fast turn back through into impact.
What happens if golf ball is too far forward in stance?
If it's too far forward, it may be causing you to hit thin or fat shots and miss shots to the left. If it's too far back, you could be hitting tops, chunks, and missing the ball to the right.
How does tee height affect ball flight?
Tee height affects launch angle because, simply put, it influences where you hit the ball on the club face. With a higher tee, you're more likely to hit it higher on the club face and vice versa. It's not particularly surprising that shots hit using the . 5-inch tee launched appreciably lower (3.54 degrees on average).
How much distance do you lose with a scuffed golf ball?
Its results confirmed that in the absence of visible damage, repeated use had no effect on a ball's performance. However, it also found that even small scuffs led to a measurable loss in distance, reducing driver distance as much as 6 yards.
Do soft golf balls lose distance?
Do Softer Golf Balls Go Further? As a general rule, soft low compression golf balls will travel further when you hit your driver and irons. With your wedges, soft and firm golf balls should travel the same distance.
Do pro golfers use a new ball on each hole?
Professional golfers will change golf balls every five to six holes. The modern golf ball technology can last for quite some time as the materials used to make these golf balls are more durable and resistant to cuts.
My Testing
For my test, I took full swings with my Sand Wedge, 8-iron, 5-iron, and driver. I made a series of shots from the center of my stance, several inches towards the back foot, and then towards my front foot. Any extreme outliers were removed, and the remaining data gave me a good estimation of how my ball flight changed.
Sand Wedge
For my short iron testing, I hit full swings with my Sand Wedge. Usually, this is a club that I will hit 100 yards with a draw. Typically I will play the ball in the middle of my stance on the course.
8-Iron
Next up is my 8-iron. This is a club I usually hit around 155-160 yards on the course and will see more of an exaggerated draw pattern compared to my shorter irons. Typically, I play these shots from the middle of my stance as well on the course.
5-Iron
The last test of my irons was with a 5-iron. A typical shot will be around 185-190 yards. With my longer irons, I have started to play the ball more towards the front of my stance. I was interested to find out if this was a smarter strategy for my swing.
Driver
I saved the best for last. Ball position with your driver is extremely important. I’ve done extensive testing with my ball position already, so I know what works for me (and many other golfers). But I want to take this opportunity to show what a dramatic difference ball position can do to your driver numbers.
Key Takeaways
This test confirmed many of the tendencies I had noticed in my swing. One of the benefits of working with a launch monitor from time to time is that you can remove the guesswork from your game. I’m a big proponent of experimenting with small changes in your setup and swing to see if there is anything to be gained.
A Drill For You
I want to provide a useful drill for everyone that relates to ball position. So I got in touch with Andrew Rice, who is a friend of Practical Golf. He’s also one of the most highly respected teachers out there with an enormous online following and a Golf Digest Top 50 Instructor as well.
What happens when the ball is at the bottom of the arc?
If the ball was directly at the bottom of the arc, your clubs head would approach the ball on a level/shallower approach.
What direction does the golf ball launch?
For a right handed golfer, if the face is pointed to the right of the target line (open) the ball will launch to the right of target.
How to make an imaginary ball to target line?
Again for a right handed golfer, let’s make an imaginary ball to target line by picking a target and going back behind the ball. Let’s straddle that imaginary ball to target line with our feet and look straight down that line towards our target.
What does a circle represent in golf?
The circle represents your club heads arc during your swing in motion. If you were to draw a line straight down from the center of that circle you would intersect the lowest point of that circle. That lowest point also represents the lowest point of your club heads swing arc.
Where do you contact the ball in golf?
You can contact the ball on the toe of the clubface (the farthest part of the clubs face from the golfer) inducing a hook shot. Or, contact can be on the heel (the closest part of the clubs face to the golfer) inducing a slice.
What does club head speed mean?
Club head speed: Or the speed to which the club head is traveling during impact. A no brainer, the faster the club head goes through impact the more velocity or speed the golf ball will have, providing you make contact (sorry, I couldn’t help it).
What is the path of a club head?
Club head path: This is the path the club’s head (club-head) is traveling through impact or in other words the direction it’s going during impact. Because of the semi-horizontal swinging arc, there are three possible directions the club-head will travel through the ball during impact...
What happens when you hit a golf ball?
When you hit a golf ball there’s various things that can affect the flight of the ball. Simply put, golfers want to to know simple reasons to explain: For golfers who struggle with any of the above problems, you really need to learn about the ball flight laws in golf which determine where your ball is ending up.
How many laws are there to control the flight of a golf ball?
There are five laws that influence the flight of a golf ball. These laws are absolutes. They are the physical forces that combine when hitting a golf ball and dictate how it reacts in flight. Understanding these laws helps to explain the answers to the key questions of distance and direction. These laws shouldn’t be confused with ...
Why do we use ball flight laws?
Every golfer wants to play better golf and for most golfer’s that means understanding the fundamentals of the game. If your balls keep going in the same place, you can use the ball flight laws to help in identifying what your swing fault (s) are and to help you gain more control.
How many laws can golfers control?
The 5 laws can all be controlled and improved by golfers once they begin to understand how they affect the golf ball. Great coaching from The Golf School together with a solid plan and correct practice drills can help the golfer through the process of realisation, understanding, and improvement.
How to control where your ball ends up?
Control where your ball ends up. The aim of a golfer is simple – to get the ball from one point to another point. To do so they must first negotiate a given distance and secondly, they need to arrive at that target in a certain direction.
Does the ball always go in one direction?
Your ball always goes in one direction. There’s no consistency with where your ball ends up. For golfers who struggle with any of the above problems, you really need to learn about the ball flight laws in golf which determine where your ball is ending up.
How does a ball forward affect loft?
Positioning the ball forward in your stance changes the normal loft angle in your club. Indeed, because contact is made past the middle of the stance the angle of the clubface will point towards the sky more than it normally would. This in turn will lead to a higher ball flight.
What does it mean when a golf ball is placed further back?
Positioning the ball further back will change the angle of the shaft in relation to the ground. Also known as the shaft lean, this will lead to a reduction in your clubface’s loft angle in contrast to what it would be if the ball was located in the centre. Ultimately, a reduced loft angle will lead to a lower flight path.
What does it mean when a golf club hits the ground before hitting the ball?
Indeed, a fat shot occurs when the club penetrates the ground before it makes contact with the ball. On the flip side, it will increase your chance of topping the ball. Topping the ball occurs when the club will strike the top half of the ball on a descending blow.
What is the meaning of "lower ball flight"?
Lower ball flight. In order for the ball to remain low and clear branches (or other obstacles), for example in a punch shot. In order to mitigate the effects of a strong headwind. Lower odds of hitting it fat. Useful for delicate chip shots.
How to position the ball forward in stance?
In order to position the ball forward in your stance you have to slide your feet and body away from the target slightly so that the left foot is closer to the ball than the right foot is.
How to move the ball back in stance?
Moving the ball back in the stance is achieved through moving your feet and body forward towards the target until the ball is closer to the right foot than it is to the left.
Why does impact occur sooner in swing arc?
Impact Occurs Sooner in the Swing Arc. Because of the ball’s relative back position, the club will struck it sooner than it normally would and it will do so while the clubhead is descending towards the ground. In turn, this will decrease your chances of hitting it fat.