Golf Ball Aerodynamics

Summary A wind tunnel technique has been developed to measure the aerodynamic forces acting on golf balls over a wide range of Reynolds number and spin rate. Balls with round dimples and hexagonal dimples have been investigated. The dimples are found to induce a critical Reynolds number behaviour at a lower value of Reynolds number than that experienced by a smooth sphere and beyond this point, unlike the behaviour of a sand-roughened sphere, there is little dependence of the forces on further increases in Reynolds number. A hexagonally-dimpled ball has a higher lift coefficient and a slightly lower drag coefficient than a conventional round-dimpled ball. Trajectories are calculated using the aerodynamic data and the ranges are compared with data obtained from a driving machine on a golf course.