Cool Image

[saevel25]

Another image to proove the laws of physics can not be denied in golf,



Bottom Left, notice that tiger is hitting a draw here back in 200. the high speed camera caught the clubface at multiple spots, notice how the clubface points to the right, and the ball is head perpendicular to the clubface.

[B-Con]

Another image to proove the laws of physics can not be denied in golf,

Nice image.

Technically, though, while the clubface will dictate the direction the ball goes, the ball will not leave the clubface perpendicular unless it was struck square. The law of the angle of incidence is to thank for this. (If you bounce a ball off a wall at an angle the ball will come off the wall at an angle. It makes no difference if the ball is moving into the wall or the wall is moving into the ball, or in this case the clubface is moving into the ball.) If the clubface is 5* open to the ball at impact, the ball will leave the clubface at a 5* angle.

[saevel25]

Thats only if its inelastic, which isn't the case with golf were the golf ball and the driver are both elastic.

[iacas]

Thats only if its inelastic, which isn't the case with golf were the golf ball and the driver are both elastic.

Right. Well said. You can throw a rubber ball at a wall and it won't come off square - you must not play racketball, B-Con.

I hate those wacky bounces.

[saevel25]

Probably the best indoor sport ever, i took a quarter of that during college, had a blast. To bad my week ankle took me out for about 2-weeks, but man fun stuff. The best is double, 4 people in a small room, so much fun.

The best was when this one guy went to hit it off the back wall, just nailed his mouth, he had the taste of a racketball in his mouth for the rest of the session. ;b

[B-Con]

Right. Well said. You can throw a rubber ball at a wall and it won't come off square - you must not play racketball, B-Con.

Heh, no, I haven't, but I know that elasticity definitely plays a factor. I just would not have imagined that the golf ball would be elastic enough to generate that effect. At the speeds they are struck at, though, I suppose they do. I stand corrected.

[Edit] Thinking about it, I almost thought that a golf ball still couldn't come off square unless it were spinning to begin with. Then I realized that the clubhead itself is rotating from open to closed through impact, which accomplishes the same thing. I definitely believe it can come off square now. I could try to look up the elastic properties of the ball, but I'll just take your word on it for now.

[alisdair]

On the elasticity of a golf ball:

[Smyth]

On the elasticity of a golf ball:

The importance of a good ball. I was hitting some terrible balls yesterday and only then did I notice how much a difference that extra few quid makes. About 20 yards is the answer.