Pick Up Golf

Question: Senior science investigation on golf....ideas would be greatly appreciated?

(Posted by: Catelynd H on 2009-07-01 22:31:18)

Hi everyone (who reads this post, ha ha) im in yr12 and for our physics assignment we have to design and conduct an experiment on the physics involved in a sport. ive chosen golf as my sport and ive done some research on the physics involved but im having a REALLY hard time trying deciding what to test. it doesn't have to test ALL the physics involved in golf, normally you can choose just one variable and see how it affects the results. im not really sure how difficult the hypothesis has to be but even if i have a few options and i email my teacher and ask him which one would be most suitable that would be better than nothing. please let me know if u have any ideas or u need me to expand on anything if you're unsure. thank- you so much for your help!!

Posted by: thelau on 2009-07-02, 02:14:01

Personally, I've always been fascinated with the backspin in golf and why some balls are better for them than others because of the layers, design, etc.

Posted by: Bryan on 2009-07-02, 05:49:56

One that would be fun to look into is the compression of the ball and how it affects the spin and distance of the shot

Posted by: Stephen on 2009-07-02, 07:42:21

You can use the whole nature of the swing, the effect the club has on the body's weight as it is being pulled around. However the idea of ball flight is a very interesting topic. The design of balls and how they react on impact is an amazing thing.

Posted by: Jaime on 2009-07-02, 08:30:47

Wow, that sounds fun. I don't think your hypothesis or experiment has to be totally complex. I think it's more important that you follow the scientific method properly, and that your and show that your analysis and experiment set up are correct. I would guess you don't have a ton of money to invest in equipment for the experiment, so here is my idea. You could form the hypothesis that uphill putts are easier to make than downhill putts. All golfers know this is true, but you'd need to design an experiment and document the results and physics analysis to support your theory. A great book for info on this would be the Dave Pelz Putting Bible. Perhaps you could make some sort of ramp like a stimpmeter so you can test different speeds and lines of uphill and downhill putts. The device would need to produce reliable, repeatable results given the same input (the height of the ball on the ramp). Take the device to a course, I bet they'd love to let you try it out on their practice green.

Posted by: Golf Pro on 2009-07-03, 06:23:15

Here are just some ideas that may or may not have been done to death elsewhere: Effect of height on golf ball distance Old clubs vs new clubs Different balls and their distances Effect of atmosphere on distances Investigate what spin is and how to maximise it Why do golf balls have dimples? Why do clubs have grooves?