Can you hear the hiss of your own ball?

[Bristol]

When I am on the driving range next to someone who is a good ball striker I can hear the "hiss" sound that the ball makes as it comes off the club head of the person next to me. I don't hear that same hiss on my shots.

Was wondering if I'm not creating it or if I just can't hear it.

Thought?

[87vert]

I can't hear my own but I can hear others.

[iWALK18]

i do not hear my own ball hiss. I hear impact.

[Trav]

Only on the water holes.

[RocketSauce]

thats funny because i too can only hear others balls hiss, but not my own. but when i ask about mine, they say they can hear it, but i dont....

[DavidFehertysBike]

No, i dont hear it from my own shots. The onlything i hear is the club impacting the ball.

[Bristol]

Ok, well that is a relief then. I won't worry about it. I really would like to be a good ball striker and that was bugging me.

[Elvisliveson]

When I am on the driving range next to someone who is a good ball striker I can hear the "hiss" sound that the ball makes as it comes off the club head of the person next to me. I don't hear that same hiss on my shots.

Maybe the guy was just using one of those new PowerBilt Air Force One nitrogen charged drivers and it sprung a leak.

[iacas]

Why would you hear it? Of course you don't hear it. The sound waves aren't going towards you.

[sp33d]

My driver is to damn loud to hear anything. So no I cant hear it, but I can hear others.

[Zeph]

If I do happen to hit the ball great and get good compression I can easily hear it. Not with the driver though, it's too loud.

[ZaPPPa]

Why would you hear it? Of course you don't hear it. The sound waves aren't going towards you.

Sound waves travel in all directions unless blocked. Though, you'll hear them in a lower frequency that someone standing in front of you due to the doppler effect.

With that said. I generally don't hear the hiss with my driver because of the ringing of the impact, but I hear it clearly when I hit a good 5W and sometimes with an iron.

[iacas]

Sound waves travel in all directions unless blocked.

1) Sound waves don't travel in all directions. They spread from the source, but they don't magically go 360 degrees around, nor are they the same strength in every direction.

2) The golf ball does a good job of blocking the sound waves that would possibly head back your way. You won't hear much if someone hit a golf ball right at you, either. Most of the "hissing" sound originates from the sides of the golf ball (all around it - top, left, bottom, right), and it's caused by the air rushing over the dimples. Stand to the side of someone hitting a Caesar ball and you won't hear much, either. With a clean ball (no big scrapes, cuts, slices, or chunks missing) it's unlikely you'll ever hear the sound of your own golf ball. Your clothes make noise, impact makes noise, the divot makes noise, your breathing makes noise, and the sound from the golf ball headed back in your direction is incredibly faint. By the time the divot/impact/clothes noise diminishes to the point where you might be able to hear the faint noise coming back at you from the golf ball, it's too far out of range to hear it. Physics is great, but when it gets in the way of real-world experience, you've gotta step away from the physics and realize that the real world is messy and nothing at all like the over-simplified way we tend to like to deal with physics.

[bunkerputt]

I created a similar thread called "better players impact sounds" where I was curious about the same thing. I was at the range yesterday hitting a 4-iron and could definitely hear the hiss, but not until it was a little ways out, and then only briefly and faintly. I used to never hear it and marveled at the sound made by my friends ball (he's a +3). I realized it was due to several things:

1. Position. When you're not standing above the ball, it's easier to hear, as has already been discussed.

2. Impact quality. There's a lot of other noises when you hit the ball of the toe, dive it into the ground, etc, that aren't there when the ball is struck purely.

3. Swing quality. Fast, high-handicappers have a protracted swoosh where the energy of the swing is bleeding off for a much longer period of time, as opposed to better players whose swoosh occurs very near the proximity of the ball will a full release of energy eliminating the speed on the follow through. This swoosh adds noise that affects your ability to detect the hiss.

If I swing hard and toe the ball, I can't hear a 4-iron. This makes sense because the noise level is higher, and the ball speed is much lower. If I swing easy, but fast, and hit it purely, I can hear it pretty well.

[Williamevanl]

No I can't hear mine and yes I can hear others. No idea why that is.

[Zeph]

Are you sure you have one?

I don't think I've made much of a hiss before I got better compression, so it was no wonder I never heard anything.

[Williamevanl]

^ I assume so, I watch other people, old, young, slow and fast swing speeds and I have heard the ball hiss usually with a 3-5 wood but sometimes the irons as well.

Come to think of it, I had a stranger tell me the other day that he thought my shots sounded so much better than his but I could have said the same thing to him.

[Zeph]

Ask a friend or someone to listen while you hit a couple and you'll find out.