A Ball On a Rope Is Awesome

[LankyLefty]

I live in the woods. If I hit a golf ball into the woods the odds of me finding it are slim. When the golf ball disappears into the woods its hard to tell where it was headed and how good you hit it.

Solution?

Put a ball on a rope!!!

Haha today i took a maybe 30 foot piece of rope, drilled a hole in a golf ball and used epoxy to attach the rope to the ball. Tied the other end of the rope to steak and voila.

This thing is awesome!

1) It gives you a built in aim line, the rope, so you can tell if the ball is going where you aim it but how strait the rope extends out.

2) Although weighed down and restricting spin you do get an idea of ball flight about 20 Yards worth.

3) Nets are expensive, rope is cheap!!!

I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier its my favorite home training aid ever. It really does work.

Anyone else use this?

Any other good drills you guys can think of to take advantage of the setup?

[JackLee]

Sounds good.

Did you drill through the ball?

Did you use shafting epoxy?

Did you use nylon rope, and what diameter?

[LankyLefty]

Drilled bout quarter inch into the ball. Rope was nylon looked to be about 1/8th inch. I used regular old quick set epoxy from home depot.

[Ernest Jones]

Ha Ha awesome. I read this and was immediate tempted to try it myself. But I live in the suburbs and have neighbors, lord help me if that rope ever breaks!!

[LankyLefty]

Rope will never break. The apoxy has a 3200 psi breaking point and for about 10 bucks you can get nylon rope that can hold well over 100 pounds of force. That is not something you should be worried about.

[saevel25]

Well let us know how many shots it takes you to break that epoxy or the rope. you be suprised how much force is put on the rope with a sudden change of direction..

[LankyLefty]

Honestly I think im going to have to put a new ball on before it breaks just because the ball is getting beat up from being hit so many times. Im thinking maybe Ill go get some of those super durable balls that some ranges use. They dont hit as good but they are designed to last longer and give more sound and feel feedback at contact.

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by LankyLefty

I live in the woods. If I hit a golf ball into the woods the odds of me finding it are slim. When the golf ball disappears into the woods its hard to tell where it was headed and how good you hit it.

Solution?

Put a ball on a rope!!!

Haha today i took a maybe 30 foot piece of rope, drilled a hole in a golf ball and used epoxy to attach the rope to the ball. Tied the other end of the rope to steak and voila.

This thing is awesome!

1) It gives you a built in aim line, the rope, so you can tell if the ball is going where you aim it but how strait the rope extends out.

2) Although weighed down and restricting spin you do get an idea of ball flight about 20 Yards worth.

3) Nets are expensive, rope is cheap!!!

I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier its my favorite home training aid ever. It really does work.

Anyone else use this?

Any other good drills you guys can think of to take advantage of the setup?

Careful with the steak in the woods - wolves and bear look cuddly and friendly on TV, but in my experience (in Alberta) that's not exactly accurate.

[Ernest Jones]

Originally Posted by LankyLefty

Rope will never break. The apoxy has a 3200 psi breaking point and for about 10 bucks you can get nylon rope that can hold well over 100 pounds of force. That is not something you should be worried about.

Clip it with a wedge and the rope might break/cut. Trust me, hitting full shots with a real golf ball in your suburban back yard is most definitely frowned upon!

Hey those Nickent 3DX hybrids rock eh? I have  a 3 ironwood DC and a 4 ironwood RC both with V2 proforce shafts = AWESOME!

[dhanson]

a few years ago i took a golf class in college to fulfill my phys-ed requirement. the instructor had drilled holes completely through the golf ball, threaded about a foot of nylon rope through the hole, tied a thick knot and melted it, then attached the other end to a shuttlecock. they went further than 30 feet with full swings, but you could hit partial wedge shots and feet better feedback.

[LankyLefty]

Originally Posted by sean_miller

Careful with the steak in the woods - wolves and bear look cuddly and friendly on TV, but in my experience (in Alberta) that's not exactly accurate.

Softens my steaks right up though before i grill em

Originally Posted by Ernest Jones

Clip it with a wedge and the rope might break/cut. Trust me, hitting full shots with a real golf ball in your suburban back yard is most definitely frowned upon!

Hey those Nickent 3DX hybrids rock eh? I have  a 3 ironwood DC and a 4 ironwood RC both with V2 proforce shafts = AWESOME!

You are greatly overestimating the force of a golf ball. First before it applies its force to the glue or rope It must lift it off the ground. However even with that aside.

A ball weighs about one tenth of a pound. The biggest hitters on tour hit golf balls at 200-300 feet per second. Thirty feet of nylon rope stretches about 3-4 feet to stop the ball.

Taking all of that into consideration and using a fancy force calculator... a golf ball hit by the longest player on tour with a driver without even accounting for lost velocity from having to lift the rope into the air would put about 45-50 pounds of force into the rope which is only about 20% of its advertised strength. The glue joint is quarter inch deep and eighth inch diameter giving it a surface area of roughly an inch and a half so less then 50 PSI on a glue joint rated at 3200 PSI.

Over repeated use, will it break? eventually sure but if you do it correctly the odds of it lasting at least a few thousand swings are pretty good...

Oh and yes Nickent hybrids are in my mind still the best around although some marketing people at Adams might disagree :D

[glock35ipsc]

Originally Posted by LankyLefty

I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier its my favorite home training aid ever. It really does work.

Anyone else use this?

This invention is called The Rope It: www.theropeit.com .  They do work pretty good.  I imagine I will use mine more and more this summer as I don't like being bitten by rattlesnakes while looking for my balls I hit into the pasture.

[LankyLefty]

I think the stake and epoxy solution is much better. Stakes are not heavy, and the ball is not nearly as deformed. But I guess I'm not the first person to come up with this :(

[bunkerputt]

Every time I've ever hit a training ball attached to something, the whole thing snaps loose.  Just get some Callaway HX practice balls or some Almost Golf balls and you can see realistic flight and trajectory.  Hit it out of grass and look at the grass mark on the club to find out if you hit the sweet spot.  You can pretty much tell, though.  My neighbors hate me for it because I've got every tree from every yard in the neighborhood dialed in.

[LankyLefty]

I have hit this rig for at least 200 swings now with no sign of wear. Plus I absolutely hate "practice" balls, you get no feedback and the ballflight is unrealistic to say the least. Plus If i go full tilt with my driver I hit em like 50 yards and never find em again.

[turtleback]

Quote:

Haha today i took a maybe 30 foot piece of rope, drilled a hole in a golf ball and used epoxy to attach the rope to the ball. Tied the other end of the rope to steak and voila.

What kind of steak did you use?  Rib-eye?  Porterhouse?

and can you still grill it when you are done hitting?

[Ernest Jones]

Originally Posted by LankyLefty

You are greatly overestimating the force of a golf ball. First before it applies its force to the glue or rope It must lift it off the ground. However even with that aside.

A ball weighs about one tenth of a pound. The biggest hitters on tour hit golf balls at 200-300 feet per second. Thirty feet of nylon rope stretches about 3-4 feet to stop the ball.

Taking all of that into consideration and using a fancy force calculator... a golf ball hit by the longest player on tour with a driver without even accounting for lost velocity from having to lift the rope into the air would put about 45-50 pounds of force into the rope which is only about 20% of its advertised strength. The glue joint is quarter inch deep and eighth inch diameter giving it a surface area of roughly an inch and a half so less then 50 PSI on a glue joint rated at 3200 PSI.

Over repeated use, will it break? eventually sure but if you do it correctly the odds of it lasting at least a few thousand swings are pretty good...

Oh and yes Nickent hybrids are in my mind still the best around although some marketing people at Adams might disagree :D

With all due respect: You are greatly underestimating the worst case scenario of hitting full swings with a golf ball tied to a rope in a suburban back yard ;-)

If my yard faced the woods or a field I'd definitely do this because I agree 100% about the lame factor in hitting wiffle balls but I could never bring my self to do this with my neighbor's house in front of me! Plus he'd probably freak out too. Heck I'd freak out if my neighbor started to do this and I'm a golf nut!

As far as the Almost Golf Balls and Callaway HX foam balls its kinda the same story, great if you've got a field or something to hit them in but unless your yard is absolutely Ginormous you'll be sending them right over the fence and probably the next fence over too! Even with a wedge their gonna go 90' or so with a full swing and that's one big ass yard.

[glock35ipsc]

The Rope-It works very well.  It has a threaded eyelet screwed into the ball, and a small diameter bungee cord passed through it with a knot tied in it to keep it from pulling throgh.  Then there is a small diameter nylon prusik/accessory cord tied to that, which in turn is tied to a 5# weight.  As with anything, you should inspect the setup before using it.

I do like my Rope It!