Why are golf balls full of pits?

In the beginning, the surface of the golf ball is actually very smooth, but golfers have noticed that the old balls, which are full of chips, bumps and flakes, seem to fly farther. As golfers, they naturally gravitate towards anything that gives them an edge on the golf course. As a result, old, broken golf balls have become the standard.

Subsequently, aerodynamicists began to study the problem and realized that the splits and cuts acted as "turbulents": causing turbulence in the layer of air next to the golf ball (the "boundary layer"). In some cases, the boundary layer where turbulence occurs reduces air resistance, which allows the golf ball to fly farther.

If you're looking for an in-depth look at the aerodynamics, here's a good listen.

There are two types of air flow around an object: laminar and turbulent. Laminar flow, although it has less resistance, is also prone to a phenomenon known as "separation".

Once the separation of the laminar boundary layers occurs, eddies form in the gaps, causing a sharp increase in resistance. At the same time, turbulent flows, although initially more resistant, also have better adhesion and thus are less prone to separation.

Therefore, if the shape of an object makes it susceptible to "separation", it is better to disturb the boundary layer (at the cost of increasing the resistance slightly) to increase adhesion and thus reduce eddy currents (which means a significant reduction in resistance). The pits in the golf ball are responsible for disturbing the boundary layer.

In summary, the pits in a golf ball serve the same purpose as rips and cuts, except that they create turbulence in the boundary layer in a regular and symmetrical way.

Have you ever played golf?

The surface of the golf ball is actually very smooth, but golfers have noticed that the old balls that have been beaten up with rips, bumps and flakes seem to fly farther.

This increases the ejection distance of the golf ball.

This is because it increases the friction between the ball and the club.

It's easier to hit it that way, otherwise it'll slip.

In this way, the friction can be increased to a certain extent.

This will increase the contact area with the ground.

This is done to increase friction.

Because this increases the friction of the ball.

This prevents the ball from rolling very far.

Because the ones that are full of rips, bumps, and flakes seem to fly farther.

When the golf ball moves at high speed in the air, the pits on the surface will disturb the nearby air, and vortices will also form in the front half of the ball, which will reduce the pressure difference between the front and back, and also reduce the pressure difference resistance. Compared with the smooth ball, the ball with pits moves in the air, although it increases the friction resistance, but greatly reduces the pressure differential resistance.

When a golf ball moves at high speed in the air, in addition to the frictional resistance of the air, it is also subject to a pressure differential resistance. The golf ball passes through the air, which is equivalent to the air passing around the golf ball separately, and at the same time the golf ball drives the air movement that adheres to its surface. When a certain velocity is reached, the air moves chaotically, and a very fast vortex appears in the back half of the ball.

At the front end of the golf ball, when the air is separated, there is a still air zone. According to Bernoulli's principle, the pressure of a fluid is low where the flow velocity is high and the pressure is strong where the flow velocity is small. In this way, the air pressure at the front of the golf ball is stronger than the pressure at the rear, creating a pressure difference between the two sides.

As a result, the backward pressure difference is generated, which is the differential pressure resistance. In addition, this pressure difference is very large, and the impact on golf is more obvious.

There are more than 300 holes in the golf ball, and the average depth of each hole is about centimeters. In fact, the surface of the golf ball is intentionally pitted with many holes, the result of dynamic aeronautical research. These holes exist precisely to reduce the drag of the air and increase the lift of the ball, which allows the golf ball to fly farther.

Therefore, how to reduce air resistance becomes the key. When a golfer hits the ball, each ball acquires a backward rotational force, which is closely related to these dents, as if creating a thick air pillow underneath the ball. When a golf ball is hit, it flies at high speed, with a high-pressure area in front of it.

Air separates from the sphere as it flows through the front edge of the ball and then to the rear. At the same time, the air behind the ball creates a disturbed wake that affects the amount of drag. Holes in the ball reduce changes in the direction of the airflow, smoothing out the airflow behind and thus reducing the range of the wake.

This reduces resistance by about 20%.

During the maneuver of the ball, a ball with a hole in it will gain nearly double the lift by deflecting the air current. The cavities reduce drag in flight, which in turn provides additional lift and therefore better aerodynamic performance. The ball can then fly farther, higher and more accurately.

In addition, the golf rules also stipulate that the shape of the golf ball cannot be changed arbitrarily.

Because these small pits can increase friction, it is easier to hit and have a point of focus, and the advantage of this design is that it can increase friction and allow the ball to fly farther.

Golf is a very exciting sport. With the continuous improvement of people's living standards, people are no longer satisfied with daily food, clothing, housing and transportation. Some of the seemingly tall leisure projects have also entered people's agendas.

For example, playing golf in your spare time. The investment time is long, and the effect is slow. Ordinary people are exhausted to death after work, and it is difficult to have time to cultivate this hobby.

On the contrary, the rich have more time to cultivate this hobby.

Why are there "pits" in golf balls: This is because balls with pits experience much less resistance and are more conducive to the ball's flight. When the golf ball moves at high speed in the air, the pits on the surface disturb the nearby air, and vortices are formed in the front half of the ball, which reduces the pressure difference between the front and back, and also reduces the pressure difference resistance.

Compared with a smooth ball, a ball with a pit in the air increases the frictional resistance, but greatly reduces the differential pressure resistance. Originally, golf balls were the same as table tennis balls, with a smooth surface.

It's just that people play golf and accidentally find that some of the older balls with a rougher surface are often farther than the smooth new balls, so they start to make small holes in the golf ball. Beginners in golf are always troubled by not being able to hit the ball, the second important tip of playing golf is to keep your eyes on the ball until it leaves the ground until you swing the ball and don't hit it, in life we are the same, do what is in front of you, don't eat the bowl and look at the pot!

Many people play with all their strength to play, but they just can't hit far, why is this? In fact, the main force point of playing golf is the waist, use your waist to drive the shoulder, and then use the shoulder to drive the hand, so that you can play far! On golf, the reason why there are "small holes" is to let the ball fly higher and farther.

Holes in the golf ball not only increase the lift of the golf ball, but also reduce air resistance, allowing the golf ball to fly higher and farther. So, in order for the golf ball to fly higher and farther, there are small holes in the golf ball.

1. There are small holes in the golf ball to make the ball fly higher and farther.

2. The golf ball is designed with a small pit, which is to increase the buoyancy of the golf ball in the air and reduce the resistance of the air.

3. Studies have shown that smooth golf balls have half a shorter flight distance than hollow golf balls, and the pits are designed for more long-lasting development.

In general, it is assumed that the rounder the ball, the smoother the surface, the less friction it will have with the air, and that the ball with a smoother surface will fly farther under the same force. But in fact, this is not the case, scientists have shown that under the same conditions and the same force, the rough surface of the golf ball in flight is only half of the smooth surface of the leaky ball, and the distance can even reach 5 times that of the smooth surface of the ball. Behind this phenomenon lies such a physical principle.

When an object moves in the air, it is mainly subjected to two kinds of forces, one is the frictional resistance between the surface of the object and the air flow that we all know, and the other is the pressure difference resistance between the front and rear ends of the object. Figuratively speaking, for example, when the spacecraft is returning to the atmosphere, due to the very fast speed, the front end of the spacecraft collides violently with the atmosphere and rubs against it, generating huge pressure; The air behind the spacecraft is squeezed out, and according to the principle of gas pressure, the pressure in the rear decreases, resulting in a pressure difference in the direction of the backward, which is called differential pressure resistance. The function of the small pit on the surface of the golf ball is to keep the surface air close to the surface of the ball, so that the rear maneuver air resistance is smaller, which can make the golf ball fly farther and faster.

In addition, there is a certain amount of fluid mechanics involved. We refer to liquids and gases collectively as fluids. In the process of flying an object or aircraft in the air, the air around the object will form a thin layer of special space environment, which is called the flow field.

There are two fluid modes formed in the flow field, namely turbulent and laminar. The critical point at which an object flying in the air changes from chaotic turbulence to a smooth laminar flow state is greatly affected by the roughness of the object's surface, and the small pits on the surface of the golf ball can increase its roughness, so that it can reduce shaking and falling when flying at high speeds, so that the golf ball can fly farther.