What's In A Golf Ball?
WHAT'S IN A GOLF BALL?
In the chemistry of air pressure, turbulence, and aerodynamics,
surface structures are vital physical element. History has it
that there are things that seem to be peculiar on their make-up
hundreds of years ago which eventually came up with a better
composition based on scientific research. And a golf ball is the
best paradigm of this theoretical stand in history.
During the earliest days of golf on the eastern coast of
Scotland, most players used ancient apparatus in order to play
the game in a more disorganized and informal way. Here, the
first clubs and golf balls are made up of wood.
It was on 1618 that the feather golf ball was finally
introduced. This was commonly known as the "Featherie". This
feather golf ball was a handcrafted ball made with goose
feathers securely pressed into a horse or cowhide sphere. This
is being done while the ball is still wet. After drying, the
leather shrank and the feathers expanded creating a hardened
ball.
But because these kinds of golf balls are specially handcrafted,
they usually cost higher than the clubs. In doing so, only a few
privileged people could afford to play golf during those times.
Next came the Guttie golf ball. This prehistoric kind of golf
ball was made from the rubber like sap of the Gutta tree that
can be found in the tropics. Normally, these Guttie balls can be
easily shaped into a sphere when hot and eventually used as a
golf ball. With its rubber nature, guttie balls can be cheaply
reproduced and can be easily repaired by reheating and reshaping.
However, between the two earliest forms of golf balls, the
feather golf ball was said to travel farther than the gutties.
This is due to the smooth surface of the gutties that limits the
capacity of the golf ball to cover more distance.
With this new scientific analysis, the developers of golf ball
finally came up with balls with the "dimples" that are
predominant in modern golf balls nowadays.
Dimples are crafted into golf balls so as to reduce the
aerodynamic drag, which will be acting on the ball 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
stir therefore creating a drag. With the application of drag,
the ball slows down.
Hence, by having dimples on golf balls, the pressure
differential goes down and the drag force 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 trails the warp created by the
ball towards the back instead of flowing past it. This results
to a smaller wake and lesser drag.
Dimples also help players to put backspin on a shot making the
golf ball break off on the putting green.
The idea of putting dimples on golf balls can be traced back
during the gutta percha phase. Coburn Haskell introduced the
one-piece rubber cored ball encased in a gutta percha sphere. It
was during this time when the players observed how their shots
become more and more predictable as their balls turned rough
from play.
When William Taylor applied the dimple pattern to a Haskell
ball in 1905, golf balls finally took their modern form.
>From then on, dimpled golf balls were officially used in every
golf tournament. In 1921, the golf balls took its form with
standard size and weight.
Today, there is an abundant selection of golf balls to fit
different golf game and condition. There are golf balls that
offer control, while some offer distance. In whatever ways golf
balls vary, only one thing is common and known. Golf balls are
not just elements of the sports arena; they are more than ever
paradigm of a concept in physics.
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