Does off-centered (or lopsided) core affect ball flight

I have developed a hobby that grew out of a curiosity about how golf balls are constructed. I make objects like clocks from golf balls that have been cut in half to reveal their interior. (For more information on this see: http://interiorgolf.weebly.com/).

In the course of cutting some golf balls in half I came across one (older Callaway model) that looks like it was manufactured incorrectly, see attachment below.

Notice how the core is off center, or lopsided. I imagine this would affect the flight of the ball if the density of the core and the second outer layer is significantly different.

For those engineers out there, do you have any opinions about the degree to which this would affect the flight of the ball or roll of a putt?

(This seems to be a relatively rare occurrence, most of the multi-layer balls I've come across have well centered cores.)

It should, but not sure how much.

Depends on how dense the core is and how far it is moved from the center of the ball. It might effect ball speed. The inner layers are most important on drives. So if the core is further away it could effect the ball speed.  It would probably effect the spin. Basically the mass of that core would tilt the spin axis due to momentum. It also might effect putting as well. Maybe cause the ball to curve one way or another.

Again I do not have any quantifiable data on this. It might be such a small effect you might not even tell the difference.

Yeah, the difference in weight between the core and the outer layer is going to dictate how much that affects the ball flight.

Look at modern bowling balls.  That is precisely (one of the reasons) how they are able to manufacture balls that react differently - by (intentionally ;)) having assymetrical weight blocks in the core.

15-20 years ago, I used to check the "balance" of my golf balls by spinning them in an epsom salt solution (for buoyancy) and mark which side faced up (meaning "heavy" side of the ball was down).  They sell this spinner called "Check Go Pro" that works on the same principle.  When I putted, I made sure the marks always faced up so that the ball would roll "end over end".  That was the era of wound, liquid-center balls.  When the solid multilayer balls came out (Maxfli Revolution, Strata, etc.) came out, the balls were very consistent and there was no "heavy" side or ball imbalance any more.

I would imagine the core being so far offset as shown in the picture would be imbalanced.  Too bad it's a destructive test...

Thanks, good stuff you have.

The slideshow was very interesting.

You should send the lopsided Hex Black to Callaway R&D; department, maybe they will send a new dozen in return.

Club Rat

What's going on here?  If that's a ball you cut in half why is the half on the left larger?

Probably just perspective.

Yes just perspective, see below. Here is the other half turned over.

Looks like an extreme closeup of Cookie Monster

I would expect a slightly wobbly ball flight and some putts wandering off line.

isn't it why Titleist was so popular? the guy who started Acushnet, Phil Young noticed some balls weren't flying well, so he radiographied them and noticed the cores were all over the place. Then went on to develop the most succesfull ball brand...

More info here:

http://www.golfwrx.com/247385/inside-titleists-golf-ball-facilities/

But seeing those off center cores from a modern company is borderline scandalous!

Cool link. Didn't know Titleists were produced in New England.

Years ago Pelz had a tool like a stimpmeter , called true roller(I think) which he used in his research . In his testing he discovered after figuring the line and speed of a given putt he found not all puts would fall. He realized it could be the inconsistency of the grass or ground also I'm fairly sure they were rolled and unused prior to testing which would eliminate the lumpy donut effect. Anyway he moved this experiment to a dead level pool table. Whereas all ball fell into the pocket but not all were dead center. He then did the salt water spin test to determine the heavy side of the ball. He discovered he could control the off-center drops  by the orientation of the ball on the true roller. I think he also said most balls were pretty good, however that didn't stop him from boxing the "bad" one's up and gifting them to his golfing buddy's!!