Softer golf balls give worse dispersion!

[MadAdey]

My impression is that softer balls stay in contact with the club face for a little bit longer, so have more time to pick up spin.

I think there lies your problem. You are looking at things old school. Modern balls can be firm now and spin higher than a softer ball that is designed to spin less but not feel like a brick.

When I started playing if you wanted spin then you got a soft ball like a Titleist Professional or Tour Balata, both very soft feeling balls. Not anymore Del, the spin is now being defined by the varying layers like the TM 5 piece balls. They feel very firm when hit with the driver but soft and spiny with the short irons.

 

[the_coach]

think there's more of an inherent problem 'feel' is often times about folks preconceptions, expectations given the blurb that companies deal in with their marketing. can't blame them they sell stuff - the claims they make about clubs or balls cannot be false - but the increments of 'improvement' are on the small end of the scale.

feel is often times more to do with folks reaction to sound & sight at impact & the overall rhythm & balance through a swing motion, rather than truly 'feel' through the hands.
{practice with earbuds with music turned up some so you can't really 'hear' impact properly - puts a whole new perspective on 'feeling' how well - or not, a shot was struck)

there's no golfer that can truly feel a ball how long any type of ball is on a clubface, but every golfer will have an expectation clouded by their own preconceptions through the history of shots they normally hit overtime.

a golf ball in collision with the clubface at impact, it's total contact time is approximately just under 1/2 a millisecond, that's 400 microseconds or 0.0004 seconds (400/1,000,000 or 4/10,000 second)

so in that timeframe whether the ball is 50 or 80, 90, 100 compression rated, any timespan contact difference in balls would be real, real tiny, in microseconds. (microsec is 1/1,000.000 so 1 divided by 1 million)

 

[HawkeyeMS]

My impression is that softer balls stay in contact with the club face for a little bit longer, so have more time to pick up spin.

You're talking fractions of seconds, microseconds in fact. There is no way you could feel how long a ball stays on the clubface regardless of its compression.

The bottom line is, the ball hooks or slices because you put a bad swing on it, the ball isn't going to cause any noticeable difference to the amount it moves

 

[Region3]

The bottom line is, the ball hooks or slices because you put a bad swing on it, the ball isn't going to cause any noticeable difference to the amount it moves

I don't follow that. If we expect a prov1 to stop on a green quicker than an ad333 because it spins more, why wouldn't we expect a prov to hook or slice more than an ad333 given the same impact conditions?

 

[HawkeyeMS]

I don't follow that. If we expect a prov1 to stop on a green quicker than an ad333 because it spins more, why wouldn't we expect a prov to hook or slice more than an ad333 given the same impact conditions?

It might move a bit more, but not so much that delc could tell the difference.

 

[Imurg]

I don't follow that. If we expect a prov1 to stop on a green quicker than an ad333 because it spins more, why wouldn't we expect a prov to hook or slice more than an ad333 given the same impact conditions?

I thought most premium balls were designed to spin less from the driver but more from the wedge.
Low driver spin is a design of most balls, I guess, to try to minimise hooks and slices..

 

[Foxholer]

I don't follow that. If we expect a prov1 to stop on a green quicker than an ad333 because it spins more, why wouldn't we expect a prov to hook or slice more than an ad333 given the same impact conditions?

The action/effect of a Driver is different to the action/effect of a Wedge. An club-head speed for each type of shot is a consideration too!

I can remember when Hex Black first came out that Callaway stated that the design goals were to have as little spin as possible off Driver and as much spin as possible with Wedge.

And the stats showed that they were pretty successful! Though it was still a rock for me!

 

[MadAdey]

I thought most premium balls were designed to spin less from the driver but more from the wedge.
Low driver spin is a design of most balls, I guess, to try to minimise hooks and slices..

With you on that one. That is how these new premium balls work, that is why they have so many layers to them. Softer outer layers that grip the face of your irons, but then compress to release the firmer core when being whacked with a driver.

 

[delc]

It might move a bit more, but not so much that delc could tell the difference.

I had no preconceptions that soft golf balls would hook or slice any more than harder ones. However, after playing golf for over 50 years, I have a pretty good idea of how bad my poorer shots normally are and, shall we say, my expectations were exceeded! :mmm:

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I had no preconceptions that soft golf balls would hook or slice any more than harder ones. However, after playing golf for over 50 years, I have a pretty good idea of how bad my poorer shots normally are and, shall we say, my expectations were exceeded! :mmm:

Maybe you just put a worse than normal swing. It happens and maybe it's nothing to do with the ball at all