Little help with ball flight laws please!

[rehmwa]

Quote:

Sorry, in my haste, I worded myself poorly. I meant that the ball moves to the side more, relative to forward movement, later in its flight, because it's moving forward at a slower rate.

No, it's just turning.  You're confusing 'change of rate of turn' (vs just rate of turn) both of which would definitely reduce as the velocity slows (especially) if the spin axis is only changing 'slightly' or hardly at all, as Erik notes.

for that matter, there's still the impact of the angle the air hits the ball not just on the flat plane, but the ball also goes up and down - picking the best reference frame is even a neat trick.  So if the spin angle is constant to the starting point, it's not constant to the changing velocity vector......or vice versa

combine that with the linear velocity slowing down and the shape of flight starts to make sense

it still makes best sense to take the forces on the ball and split them up at right angles to each other - this does not mean there are two spin axis, it means that the single spin axis can broken into component parts

I hated dynamics of motion in college, probably the most painful course ever.  This is the kind of stuff we'd see on exams that had to be graded on a curve....(see what I did there?)

I'm full - enjoy the discussion

Edit:  I just noted my Icon.....oddly coincidental

[MS256]

I used to hit some balls that looked for all the world like fades starting down the right side (and probably going to end up in trouble) only to draw back into the fairway. Whenever it happened somebody in the group would inevitably say "That looked like a fade/draw."

I never figured those out.

Haven't hit one that looked like that for quite a while. Common sense tells me that shouldn't happen and it was probably either some kind of optical illusion, and wasn't happening at all, or something was wrong with the golf ball. The optical illusion was what I settled on as the best explanation.

If it really did happen the only other explanation I would have for it would be if it was possible to hit a knuckleball with no spin (and I doubt if that's possible).

Anybody else ever hit balls that look like that?

[saevel25]

I used to hit some balls that looked for all the world like fades starting down the right side (and probably going to end up in trouble) only to draw back into the fairway. Whenever it happened somebody in the group would inevitably say "That looked like a fade/draw."

I never figured those out.

Haven't hit one that looked like that for quite a while. Common sense tells me that shouldn't happen and it was probably either some kind of optical illusion, and wasn't happening at all, or something was wrong with the golf ball. The optical illusion was what I settled on as the best explanation.

If it really did happen the only other explanation I would have for it would be if it was possible to hit a knuckleball with no spin (and I doubt if that's possible).

Anybody else ever hit balls that look like that?

Could be mixing up your feel with what is actually happening. It could be your aim is slightly off so you think it starts right when it is starting left, or vice versa. It could be windy higher up, and you don't feel it at ground level. You could hit a slight draw, but the wind will push it right.

To hit a knuckleball you would need near zero spin axis, with nearly zero face angle and swing path. Just all neutral numbers. That would be very hard to achieve with a driver that probably delivers the club around 12-13 degrees of loft.

[14ledo81]

I used to hit some balls that looked for all the world like fades starting down the right side (and probably going to end up in trouble) only to draw back into the fairway. Whenever it happened somebody in the group would inevitably say "That looked like a fade/draw."

I never figured those out.

Haven't hit one that looked like that for quite a while. Common sense tells me that shouldn't happen and it was probably either some kind of optical illusion, and wasn't happening at all, or something was wrong with the golf ball. The optical illusion was what I settled on as the best explanation.

If it really did happen the only other explanation I would have for it would be if it was possible to hit a knuckleball with no spin (and I doubt if that's possible).

Anybody else ever hit balls that look like that?

I have had some pretty funky looking ball flights with range balls with defects.  They never travel very far though.

[rehmwa]

I used to hit some balls that looked for all the world like fades starting down the right side (and probably going to end up in trouble) only to draw back into the fairway. Whenever it happened somebody in the group would inevitably say "That looked like a fade/draw."

I'd go with either illusion (likely a push draw), or it's windy above the tree line.....

Bad golf ball can do it too - sometimes it's fun when you find one with a hidden void under the shell - weird sounds and flight paths.  though normally just a ball that sounds dumb and goes about 2/3rds normal....