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Golf Answer
Mon Jun 02, 2003
Listen in RealAudio 
Hi, I’m Bryan Yeaton for the Weather Notebook’s special lesson in physics. Golf
physics. In May, we posed a Brainstorm about the dimples on a golf ball and what they
do to its flight. First, as to the number of dimples. Here’s what you said.
I am of the opinion that on a standard golf ball, there are 432 impressions.
I think it’s 373 dots on a golf ball.
I do believe 72 dimples on the golf ball.
I would guess there’s 681.
I would say that the number of dimples is 33.
Wow, that’s quite a variety of numbers. Actually, there is a standard number of dimples:
336. However, if you look at the US Golf Association’s list of conforming golf balls, very
few actually have 336 dimples—most have 392 or 440.
Now, as to why they’re there, As John Newman wrote in an e-mail: "They increase the
turbulence in the layer of air around the ball. This increased turbulence reduces the
aerodynamic drag which, increases the distance in flight over that of a smooth
ball."
Or, as Brent Allen of Pickering Ontario put it:
It creates rough air which actually makes the golf ball go further. So the golf ball needs
the dimples.
Greg Harvey, who listens on WBFO, elaborates:
My understanding is that dimples there to provide lift and backspin, to get the ball up in
the air and keep it up in the air longer by the lift and the backspin.
This makes a huge difference. Writes Susan Dean from Illinois: the dimpled ball will
travel four times farther than a smooth ball.
For lots of information about golf ball physics, go to our website,
www.weathernotebook.org. The Weather Notebook is supported by Subaru and the
National Science Foundation.
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