The Physics of Golf
The game of golf is one of the most ancient games in existence today. Variances of the game were played by the Julius Caesar and his countrymen, who invented the first style of golf, called paganica. In the Roman version, a sack animal skin stuffed tightly with feathers was used as the projectile. This early golf ball was known as the featherie. The featherie was quite ineffective as well as inefficient. The feather-stuffed skin proved to be too light to go any remarkable distance. Frustrated with this, the Romans would only whack it harder, eventually discovering that the Featherie fell easily apart if too much force was applied. After the disaster with the featherie, the game of golf was given to rest for a few centuries, until the those crafty 19th Century Italians developed the "gutta-percha" ball. This new design in paganica balls was crafted from the dried gum of the Malaysian Sapodilla tree. This gum could be rolled into a ball and then heated until hard, providing the first smooth, hard, durable piece of golfing equipment to date. According to everything physicists and golfers alike knew at the time, the ball that was smoothest would go farthest. It was only logical, according to the laws of aerodynamics, which clearly s
Once the ball has stopped on the green all the golfer has to do is get the ball in the hole. The putt is not as simple as it sounds (or looks). To use dynamics again; when the golfer takes a putt, the putter makes the ball bounce very slightly in the air. The first part of the motion of the ball across the green consists of long shallow bounces and skids. The ball doesn't start to roll along the turf properly until about a third of the way to the hole, where hopefully it plops in. Jorgensen, Theodore P. The Physics of Golf. Woodbury, NY: American Institute of Physics, 1994. travels under the required distance in lab conditions but flies much further on the course. for the Malaysian Sapodilla tree. The rubber ball of course made it's way into the forefront of the golf scene, making obsolete completely natural equipment like tree gum and feathers. The first modern design in golf balls was introduced in the 1960's, and dubbed appropriately the "two piece". Almost all golf balls in use today are of this design, featuring a hard inner core cased by a multi-indented polybutadiene cover. Standards have been set by the United States Golf Association, marking the gold ball at 1.68 inches in diameter, and a 8.86 square inch surface area. The USGA set standards on the distance in which a ball can travel under "highly controlled test launch conditions" in 1976, stating that it should not be allowed to travel more that 296.8 yards while under these laboratory constraints. Of course, balls exist that can travel much further than this, therefore the physics "trick" that manufactures and designers must come up with is creating the perfect ball, which ! Fishman, Lew. "The evolution of the iron." Golf Magazine March 1985: 82. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ese face inserts help to increase shot length, and are sometimes made of copper. The inner cavity contains a foam or rubber plug to cut down on vibration and to improve the feel of contact. A shorter hosel (golfing term for the segment between the head and the shaft) moves the sweet spot towards the center of the face. The sole is integral in insuring that the club has as little friction with the ground as possible, and it is furrowed with grooves to reduce contact. The head is complex, and designers consider every single factor in optimizing its performance. Adlington, Gregory S. "Proper Swing Technique and Biomechani
Some common words found in the essay are:
Theodore Jorgenson, Lift Lift, Malaysian Sapodilla, Golf Association, Icosahedrons Icosadecahedrons, Julius Caesar, Stephen Hawkins, Frustrated Romans, Century Italians, , golf ball, club head, head shaft, game golf, sweet spot, club head shaft, sapodilla tree, malaysian sapodilla, tree gum, head complex, shot length, malaysian sapodilla tree,
Approximate Word count = 1642
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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