Golf: The Facts

Speed

• For a typical driven shot the force between the ball and the clubface at impact can be as high as 10,000N or put another way the ball is hit with one tenth the power of a 2CV car!
  
  
• The acceleration of the clubhead during impact can exceed 4,000gs (compared to less than 10gs for a jet fighter pilot in a high speed manoeuvre).
  
  
• A typical driven shot leaves the tee at about 160mph (the top speed of a high performance saloon car).
  
  
• A typical driven shot leaves the tee with a backspin of 3,000 rpm (over three times the spin of a car's wheel).
  
  
• Hit by a wedge the spin rate of a golf ball can be as high as 10,000 reve / min or 160 revs/ second!
  
  

Balls

• More than 5,000 patents for golf balls have been granted since 1900.
  
  
• The impact of a golf ball with a club lasts about half a thousandth of a second. Sound travels about 7 inches in this time so that the ball has left the club long before you hear it.
  
  
• In dry, clean conditions, the roughness of the golf club face of an iron (ie. the grooves) makes little difference to the spin imparted to the ball.
  
  
• Playing with a wound balata ball on a cold winter's morning (0°C) coudl reduce the carry of the ball by 10 to 15 yards compared to a warm day (23°C).
  
  
• The typical number of dimples on a golf ball is 392 and the largest number is 1000 (Dunlop Funball).

Golf Courses

• Bunkers originally developed from hollows on the leeward side of dunes where sheep used to shelter from the elements. After constant grazing the areas became bare, unstable and collapsed into pits or "bunkers" as they became known.

These facts are courtesy of Alistair Cochran (Golf the Scientific Way), Steve Haake (University of Sheffield) and Steve Mather (University of Nottingham).