How Long is the Ball on the Clubface of a Driver?

[iacas]

Give your honest to goodness best guesses.

1. How long is the ball on the clubface of the driver. The full interval (even though the first half is all that matters).
2. How far will the ball move during this time? Again, the full interval.

Guess. Don't use a calculator, just guess.

FWIW I've heard the first before so I knew the answer there, but my intuitive guess on the second would have been off (I'd have guessed shorter by about 50%).

[Clambake]

About  1/3 to 1/2 millisecond.      And about an inch at high Tour-speed driver swings.

[dbuck]

I will play

.01 seconds and 2.5 feet

[Tlox]

1 Millisecond, and 3 inches would be my guess

[golfyboy4]

about 2/100 of a second and about .26 inch would be my guess

[Gioguy21]

23/1000 of a second...and roughly .43 inches.

[kurisu]

1/2500th of a second and about 3 centimeters

[Unkynd]

1/20 of a second, 1.5 inches

[ghalfaire]

It will be on the club face from impact until it is accelerated to a velocity greater than the club head's linear velocity.  I could probably figure this out but since you don't want us to use a calculator I'll just guess.  How about 50 micro seconds and a quarter of an inch?

[Aquaguru]

5 nanoseconds and travels .5 cm

[Fourputt]

1/60 of a second and 3 inches.

[iacas]

Okay, so here are the answers...

400 microseconds, 0.4 milliseconds, 0.0004 seconds. Almost universally true - doesn't vary much with swing speed, club used, etc.

At 100 MPH, the ball will be touching the face for 1.79 centimeters, or 0.7 inches.

Some of you were close, some of you were way off. Now you know, though.

P.S. The face can only really rotate about 1/4 to 1/2 of a degree in the first half of the impact interval in any sort of normal golf swing, and at most can go about a degree (center contact). Johnny Miller is 100% wrong when he says "turn the face down through impact, while the ball is on the face". Ain't happenin'.

[Clambake]

Originally Posted by iacas

P.S. The face can only really rotate about 1/4 to 1/2 of a degree in the first half of the impact interval in any sort of normal golf swing, and at most can go about a degree (center contact). Johnny Miller is 100% wrong when he says "turn the face down through impact, while the ball is on the face". Ain't happenin'.

Wait a minute, you're trying to tell us that something Johnny Miller said is wrong?   A man who shot a final round 63 to win a US Open?    Surely you can't be serious!  His golf credentials are far more convincing than yours, Erik.     Next you'll be trying to tell us the S&T is dead too!     Oh, the humanity!

[B-Con]

P.S. The face can only really rotate about 1/4 to 1/2 of a degree in the first half of the impact interval in any sort of normal golf swing, and at most can go about a degree (center contact).

Not surprising to me at all. I remember some rough calculations thrown around a while back that showed that offset does basically nothing to help align the clubhead. It's all about setting yourself up before impact. Once the face is within about 3 inches of the ball, your shot is determined regardless of what last-minute changes you want to make.

[ghalfaire]

Originally Posted by B-Con

Quote:

Originally Posted by iacas

P.S. The face can only really rotate about 1/4 to 1/2 of a degree in the first half of the impact interval in any sort of normal golf swing, and at most can go about a degree (center contact).

Not surprising to me at all. I remember some rough calculations thrown around a while back that showed that offset does basically nothing to help align the clubhead.

It's all about setting yourself up before impact. Once the face is within about 3 inches of the ball, your shot is determined regardless of what last-minute changes you want to make.

This might be a little off topic but think it is consistent with the quote.  There is a golf book from several years ago titled “The Inter Game of Golf” by Tim Gallwey.  It made this very point that what happens just prior to and after impact is not something you can consciously control because of the short duration.  That means you have to do what you can, prior to and during the swing, to “allow/permit” the body to react properly.  But you can not consciously control the impact event.  In other words you need to get your brain out of the way and let the body do what it know how to do.   Takes practice but it does work.

[Keep It Simple]

Originally Posted by iacas

Okay, so here are the answers...

400 microseconds, 0.4 milliseconds, 0.0004 seconds. Almost universally true - doesn't vary much with swing speed, club used, etc.

At 100 MPH, the ball will be touching the face for 1.79 centimeters, or 0.7 inches.

Some of you were close, some of you were way off. Now you know, though.

P.S. The face can only really rotate about 1/4 to 1/2 of a degree in the first half of the impact interval in any sort of normal golf swing, and at most can go about a degree (center contact). Johnny Miller is 100% wrong when he says "turn the face down through impact, while the ball is on the face". Ain't happenin'.

It doesn't matter how much the clubface rotates during contact with the ball.  Only rate of face rotation relative to the face center while in contact with the golf ball matters.  The clubface is only in contact with the ball for 0.0004 seconds and 0.7 inches but that is enough time and distance to propel the ball faster than the clubhead.  Same stuff.