Physics of Golf Essay

It is unknown when the game of golf originated, but it is believed that people began playing in Europe during the middle ages. In the United States, golf was a sport primarily played by the wealthy individuals until tournaments began being televised. Since then, golf has grown to be a very lucrative industry with over 27 million golfers nationwide by the end of the 1990’s. “Competition in the Golf Equipment Industry,” a case study written by John E. Gamble of the University of South Alabama, is an overview of the problems currently facing major companies in the golf equipment industry: technological limitations (due to golf’s governing organizations), a decline in the number of golfers,

Imagine the sun bursting through the trees for the first time of the new day, the smell of freshly cut grass still potent to your nose as you tee the ball up for a round of golf in the cool mist of a spring morning. "That is what brings you back every time, the smell of the air, the coolness of the whether and the beautiful surroundings that make every shot enjoyable." (Suess, PI) This is the game of golf in its finest and most exquisite time to many people and many people it has touched in its long history. Golf is a lifestyle and not just games to people that are avid in playing. The game of golf has a history that is rich in technological advances and personal accomplishments, which through time has shown to shape

Good golf generally begins with a good grip. A golfer's power is generated by the movements of his body. This power is transferred from his body to his arms and from his arms to his hands. The hands are the only part of the body in contact with the club, so the proper grip is essential for quality shots. The most vital part of the grip is that both hands must act as one unit. With the back of the left hand facing the target, place the

In 1848, a golfing clergyman from St. Andrews, the Reverend Adam Paterson, experimented with a substance from India called gutta-percha. It had been sent to him as padding covering a gift and he found that the material could be softened with heat and then molded into a hard ball. The gutty as it was known was not an instant success as the smooth ball tended to duck in flight. Players soon found that its performance improved at the end of a round when the ball received some nicks and scratches. Therefore, newly molded balls were scored all over with a saddler 's hammer with such good playing results that the demise of the feathery was certain.

A matter of opinion has separated a variety of sports enthusiasts apart, due to the ongoing debate of whether golf is a sport or simply a skill. Famed golfer Arnold Palmer declared, “Golf is deceptively simple and endlessly complicated; it satisfies the soul and frustrates the intellect. It is at the same time rewarding and maddening – and it is without a doubt the greatest game mankind has ever invented. (ThinkQuest.com)” These words state what every athlete experiences and feels when he/she is turning a double play, making the game winning three point shot, or throwing a hail mary pass for a touchdown. Golfers are athletes too, they train for that big moment just like any other athlete, but

For hundreds of years, golf has been an extremely popular and growing sport all around the world. Looking where golf is now, it is growing rapidly from the young to the elder population. The first round of gold was first played in the 15th century off the coast of Scotland, but it did not start to be played until around 1755. The standard rules of golf were written by a group of Edinburgh golfers. Today, people of the US, Scotland, and England, have been drawn to the game because it is fun, challenging, and hardly any athletic ability at all is required for amateurs. In breaking down the game, geometry plays a major

Golf ball manufacturers would be looking to achieve several key strategic goals, such as increased sales, increased market share and / or increased profitability, to adopt and implement PI’s technology. Accordingly, manufacturers are mainly concerned with the cost and implications on manufacturing, competitor reactions (and customer perception), the forecast growth in the new balls market, the share they could capture and the financial details of agreement.

The U.S. Golf Association (USGA) specified the characteristics of legal balls within tight parameters. These restrictions on size, weight, materials, texture, etc., seemingly left little room for product innovation. In fact, the USGA regulations specified not just what went into a ball, but how it could perform, stipulating to within 10-20 yards how far the ball could travel when hit by a certain type of club traveling at a certain speed, all verified under controlled conditions with robotic testing equipment. Nonetheless, new product introductions were rampant in the industry, with slight changes in surface coatings and dimple patterns, for example, being touted for their ability to add a handful of yards to a golfer’s shots, to give more accuracy, or to create greater control through faster spin on the ball. In addition, ball manufacturers spent millions of dollars on advertising campaigns for their balls. There were three basic types of balls, all conforming to the same general specifications. The oldest technology still in use was the three-piece ball, which consisted of a core, windings, and a cover; this ball was good for spin and overall control. The second, and most popular, type of ball was the twopiece ball, which eliminated the windings of the three-piece ball; this ball produced more distance. The newest technology was the “solid core, multi-layered ball,” which had taken the

The Brunswick corporation produced the Mineralite Ball later in 1914. The ball, known for its “mysterious rubber compound”, became very popular. During this age in bowling, bowlers never had any worry about what type of bowling balls or lane surfaces that they used. In the 1970s more bowlers started using rubber balls. The rubber provided them a low surface friction coverstock that produced slightly more surface friction than a regular polyester bowling ball. When drilled, the rubber produced a horrible smell because of the friction making heat on the drill bit. Inside the rubber balls no core design existed except light material fillers with an added weight block. Weight blocks provided drilling layouts for different styles of play. These

1. Cultivating Technology to meet player’s needs. Prince Sports, Inc implemented a new technology progress in order to solve the main problem that most of tennis racquets had: contradiction between racquet speed and sweet spot. This new concept became essential after a meticulous work in gathering information about general consumer’s needs. Marketing team has reached out to a younger generation though different channels of social media and social network such as Facebook, be it Twitter, MySpace and then internationally, High Five and Orchid (Video Case 9) to understand what type of technological breakthrough will satisfy potential customers’ need. Prince Sports, Inc Marketing team work directly with R&D team to combine and collaborate marketing knowledge and technological ability. Together these two teams have created an evolutionary O3 technology with a 24 percent faster swing speed than traditional frames. The explanation of why their technology works better than other brands is pretty simple: “The secret is in the holes”. Like all world-changing innovations, O3 technology is based on an ingeniously simple idea. By replacing traditional pin sized string holes with massive O-ports, Prince Sports created a class of racquets that move through the air faster for increase power and greater control. (Tennis Express, Online Store, http://www.tennisexpress.com).

Students rated 4.7 out of 5 on average or the support of the high-end technology with learning a golf skill. On average students rated 4.63 points out of 5 for the support of using technology when they become teachers. Students showed great support in wanting to see more use of technology. Students rate themselves on their proficiency in golf. “27% rated themselves as somewhat novices; 48% rated themselves as intermediate; 18% rated themselves as a little better than intermediate); and 5% rated themselves as advanced learners ( Wang, et.al, p. 354).The faculty stated they supported the use of high-end technology such as the Dartfish program to analyze golf swing skills. The teachers felt they did not have adequate time to prepare because they did not know the program well. Faculty stated they spent more time and effort in preparation for lessons that included technology. This drawback could impact the use of technology in the classroom (Wang,

The aim of Performance Indicator is to increase golf ball manufacturers’ value by increasing revenue from new ball sales as a result of eliminating older, used balls through its color change coating technology.  Although there appears to be a possible financial benefit based on the future perceived demand for new golf balls, PI’s new technology does not appear to have any transparent benefit or value creation for the end consumer (golfer). Consequently, no manufacturer has yet to adopt this technology.

As anyone who has played a round of golf will attest to, the sport is based around many fundamental principals of physics. These basic laws are involved with every aspect of the game from how a player swings the club to how the ball moves through the air on its way toward the pin. It is the challenge that physics presents to the golfer that has allowed the game, and equipment used, to develop so drastically over the past one hundred years. The first golf balls used were called featheries. They were made with a horsehide cover packed with wet goose feathers. When the balls dried they became extremely hard. The major flaw with the featheries was that they could not be used when the conditions were wet because they

Helmstetter and his engineering team were very important to the execution of Callaway Golf’s competitive strategy. Callaway Golf Company consistently outspent its rivals in the industry on R&D which “allowed it to continually beat its competitors to the market with new innovations.” (P c210) In 1994, Callaway Golf opened the Helmstetter Test Center located a mile away from the main campus. The Helmstetter Test Center had two primary uses; it provided an ideal place to custom-fit clubs for the touring pros who used Callaway equipment, and it allowed Callaway R&D staff to test new products in the developmental stage. The development of new products at Callaway Golf Company not only included the research and development staff but also the sales and advertising staff. These teams worked hand in hand together. When the R&D would come up with a new product idea, the sales and advertisement staff would look over this idea and recommend changes based on the current market interests.

No matter what sport it is, equipment is essential in many sports and allows the participants to play the sport. The equipment for ball golf and disc golf vary distinctively in many aspects. The name of both sports gives you an idea of what equipment to use, ball golf uses a ball and clubs to hit the ball. On the other hand, disc golf uses disc that you throw into the “hole”. The target in which you try to get the object into varies, as well. For ball golf the target is a hole made into the ground that you hit the ball into. Whereas in disc golf you throw the disc into a basket that has chains around it, this basket is the “hole” and is required equipment to be able to play disc golf. Since ball golf requires the player to hit a ball on the ground a tee is used to elevate the ball off the ground so it is easier to