how well a golf ball bounces matter?

[scv76]

Just for giggles, after reading the threads about people using used golf balls, I performed some drop tests on a bunch of older used balls I had lying around.

I dropped each ball several times from chest height and noted how high they bounced.

I realized dropping in this manner only compresses the ball a fraction of what it would compared to being struck with a club.

Do you think the amount of bounce I observed can be used to rate how live/dead a ball is?

I did check some new noodles, nxt, and warbirds, and they all seemed pretty lively (all bounced about the same)

[Zeph]

Originally Posted by scv76

Do you think the amount of bounce I observed can be used to rate how live/dead a ball is?

Not really, no. The difference of a used ball sitting in water for a couple of months and a new one is maybe 3 yards on a 150 yard shot. That's 2% difference. If you're going to notice the difference, you'll have to look at the ball with a ruler behind it, preferably with a high speed camera. Then again you got the rotation of the ball, if it lands on a dimple or not may affect it. If you are dropping it, you won't drop it at the same spot every time. You'd have to do a Mythbusters test to find out. In fact, send in a suggestion to them about the theory of water logged balls. It's been tested by others, concluding that the ball does lose distance.

[scv76]

Can you tell I have too much time on my hands?

Zeph, I was not trying to determine if a ball that has been under water for a period of time looses distance when hit with a club, rather could the lively-ness (made up word) of a ball be determined if its bounce was measured via dropping on a hard surface.

Basically what I did was take a new ball (call it my standard) and an old ball, one in each hand, and dropped them onto a concrete surface at the same time from about the same height (about 56 inches).

I repeated the drop at least 4 times just in case the dimples came into effect.

Some balls bounced up to 6 inches less than the "standard", while others were only 1-2 inches less than standard. New balls of the same brand bounced identical distances as far as I could tell.

I like your idea of Myth Busters doing a segment on golf balls. They could acquire one of those robot strike machines and test new balls, new balls that have aged 2 months, and new balls that have been submerged for two months.

Unfortunately, I don't hit consistently enough to actually measure how well a ball travels when hit by a club such as a driver.  :(

I don't however see a difference in distance when chipping about 10 yards in the back yard between the "beat" balls and new balls.