September is just about the best time of the year to play golf. Even though the calendar says it’s still summer, the cooler nights and blazing sunsets remind us more of autumn. We seem to have gotten past the scorching hot, humid days, and have entered a phase of gorgeous, low-humidity sunny days.
However, the days are shorter, so you’re more likely to encounter various weather conditions in your round of 18 holes. On Thursday of last week, it was 49 degrees at 8 a.m., with dew covering the grass, but by about 10:30 it had warmed up to 75 degrees! What a difference the sun makes! When you play in different conditions, you might need to be aware of what kinds of things have an effect of the flight of your golf ball.
Temperature will affect how far a golf ball travels. When playing on days when the temperature varies, golfers should remember that just because their 8-iron came up short of the green on their first hole when the temperature was 50 degrees, doesn’t mean they need to take more club for the same distance three hours later when the temperature has risen by 25 degrees.
I found a guide on the web at a site called ProbableGolfInstruction.com. It shows that if you hit a 5-iron 168 yards when it is 41 degrees with 100 percent humidity, that ball would go 175 yards. At 68 degrees with 50 percent humidity or 182 yards at temperatures of 95 degrees and 80 percent humidity. For a driver that went 244 yards at 41 degrees, it would go 250 yards at 68 degrees and 262 yards at 95 degrees.
These are scientific calculations, using a robot for a exactly the same swing, and humans do not hit the ball the same way every time, so they can only be used as guidelines.
Also you have to be aware that the type of ball you play makes a difference on how much temperature affects the ball’s flight. A liquid-filled wound ball would tend to lose more distance than a two-piece ball or a solid-core wound ball. Your best bet is to practice with one type of ball consistently enough to be familiar with how much club you need to add or substract at hotter or cooler temperatures.
Spin affects the distance a golf ball travels. Speaking of different types of balls, dimple pattern has an affect on the ball’s flight. The combination of core type and dimple pattern is what categorizes a ball as being for distance or feel, usually giving up some of one to have more of the other. If a ball had no dimples at all, it wouldn’t go very far at all. The first balls used in golf, called the featherie, were made of a leather pouch filled with goose feathers. Since at that time they believed a smooth ball would go farther, the stitching of the leather went on the inside of the pouch, except for the final stitches used to close up the pouch. In 1845 the gutta-percha ball was first introduced. It was made from the gum of a Malaysian Sapodilla tree which was heated and molded to make a smooth sphere.
According to a professor at St. Andrews University in Scotland, it was discovered that the ball flew farther if the surface had been scraped up. If put a swing on a golf ball with dimples that would send it 250 yards, that same swing hit on to a ball with no spin would only go 180 yards. Today’s golf balls have between 300 and 500 dimples. Physics can explain why and how the depth and number of dimples affects the flight of a golf ball, but I’m not going to go into that. If you’ re like me you don’t really care why it happens, just that it does happen! Suffice it to say that it happens because of the forces of lift and drag. Which brings us to wind.
Wind will affect the flight of your ball. This is such a no-brainer that I don’t need to explain it. Just make sure to take it into account when you play golf. Playing golf is not the time to have an inflated ego. Take more club if you’re hitting into the wind. Remember that the higher the ball goes, the more likely it is to be affected by the wind.
Rain or considerable wetness will have an effect on your distance. Again, to me this is obvious. Your ball might plug or at least not roll very far if the ground is very moist. Drives won’t go as far, so you will be hitting longer clubs into greens.The putting surface is also a place where moisture makes a difference. As dew on the grass dissapates throughout a morning, the greens should get faster.
And finally, give verbal directions to your golf ball. There is no scientific evidence that this works, neither is there evidence that it doesn’t work. As long as golfers have voices, they will continue to try to manipulate the ball after it has left their clubhead, usually to no avail, but it is always worth a try.
Quote of the day: “You can talk to a fade, but a hook won’t listen.” — Lee Trevino
Vigo County golf leagues
• Idle Creek Wednesday evening — Low gross Ron Forester, 50; closest to pin Charlie Sullivan, No. 3.
• Ladies Tuesday morning — Team best ball, first Cathy Brannen-Sue Bordon 43, second Judy Hults-Rhea Gasaway-Mary Brannen 45; longest putt Gasaway, No. 1; closest to pin Hults, No. 3.
• Home Builders — Low gross Mark Tarrh 38, Tim Malooley 39; low net Gary Stout 31, Brian Holley 31; longest drive Tarrh, No. 2; closest to pin Malooley, No. 3.
On & Off the Course
On and Off the Course: Weather can affect golf ball in different ways
- On & Off the Course
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Death Notice: Feb. 7, 2013
• Gary R. Wright
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Donna Lynn Strahla Bown
Donna Lynn Strahla Bown passed away early Friday morning, Jan. 25, 2013, with her children by her side.
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‘The Match’ pitting amateurs vs. pros recalled 62 years later
Quote of the Day: “I play golf with friends sometimes, but there are never friendly games.” — Ben Hogan.
Bubba Watson has had a busy fall. Not only did he play all the way to the final round of the FedEx Championships, and in the Ryder Cup, he also played in an event commemorating a very famous match played at Cypress Point in 1956, pitting two of the greatest golf pros at the time against two of the best amateurs.
Come to think of it, all four were some of the best golfers of all time. This year’s event was celebrating The First Tee’s exceeding $100 million in pledges to reach 10 million new young people. It wasn’t televised and kept very quiet; only 225 people were in the gallery.
One of the people in the gallery was Mark Frost, the author of a book titled “The Match,” which is about that match played 62 years ago that was re-enacted in modern terms last week. The pros in 1956 were Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson and the amateurs were Ken Venturi and Harvie Ward. It was supposed to have been a private affair, built around a wager by two millionaires, George Coleman and Eddie Lowery. -
ON AND OFF THE COURSE: Golf from the wrong side of the brain
Imagine this scenario: a woman, small in stature (possibly freckled), walks into a hospital emergency room and says, “I have an emergency, I need a doctor quickly!” The admitting nurse, ever trying to be helpful, asks what the emergency is.
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Farmers looking at widely varying yields
Combines will roll through fields this weekend, bringing in the harvest from a summer with nearly no rain.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: Golf debut in London would have been nice
As the Olympics get underway in London this weekend, I was thinking it’s too bad that the Olympic committee decided too late to add golf as one of the sports for this event; instead it will be added to the 2016 Olympics in Rio De Janeiro.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: Getting to Hoosier country’s best golfing venue part of the fun
If you are looking for Indiana’s premier golfing destination, then you should look no further than French Lick.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: Indiana's Pete Dye courses worth the drive
You’ve probably heard of the Robert Trent Jones Golf trail throughout Alabama, but you might not be aware that Indiana has its own “Pete Dye Golf Trail” comprised of seven courses.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: Fathers typically a big influence on golfing sons
Some events fall naturally into place around holidays. The Fourth of July always falls somewhere during Wimbledon, giving all of the Yanks in attendance something to be boisterous about, to the chagrin of their hosts; The Masters often, but not always, ends on Easter Sunday, which is fitting since golfers find it such a reverent occasion.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: Memorial just one of many visions of Jack Nicklaus
When Jack Nicklaus was a young man, the golfer he most admired was Bob Jones.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: With some tricky rules, golf is not a walk in the park
Golf is not a casual sport, even though it has a term called “casual water.”
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On and off the course: Sycamores seeded sixth heading into MVC golf tourney
It wasn’t too long ago that Indiana State University didn’t even have a women’s golf team.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: A hard ticket to come by
This is the weekend of the Masters Tournament, the first of the four major tournaments.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: Some things on golf course are worse than steep putts
It’s not often that anything gets more scary on a golf course than a steep downhill putt, but on some courses around the world, things a little more on the supernatural side might give you a bigger fright!
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: The shot heard round the world
I don’t know if the Golf Channel will show a “Best Shots of 2011” highlight reel, much like ESPN does for baseball or football.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: The Red, White and Blue visits the Isle of Green
In 2006, the Ryder Cup was held in Ireland at The K Club in County Kildare.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: Fall may be coming but golf season is far from over
Once the major tournaments are over with, what’s there to look forward to in the world of golf?
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: Golf… simplified!
Golf is not a simple game. A golf course is made up of 18 holes, all different. There are par-3s, par-4s and par-5s; they all vary in length and elevation, and each has its own challenges. There can be water hazards, trees, sand bunkers, tall grass, hills, valleys — and then, if that’s not enough, there’s probably wind too.
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On and Off the Course: Northern Ireland builds on golf history
Northern Ireland is only about 5,452 square miles in area and has a population about the same as West Virginia, which is about 1,880,344.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: Women’s Open at the Broadmoor
This is the weekend of the U.S. Women’s Open, and this year it’s being played at The Broadmoor, East Course, in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: The Fort Golf Course: A Walk in the Park…
Indiana has some pretty spectacular state parks, but one of them gives you the ability to “spoil a good walk” by chasing a little white ball.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: Father’s Day is a good day for golfers
Most people consider the time around Christmas to be the gift-buying season.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: Playing with lead a difficult task
As exciting as last week’s Masters was, with six players being tied for the lead at one point on Sunday, it was very difficult watching Rory McIlroy fall apart to shoot an 80.
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ON AND OFF THE COURSE: Masters a rite of spring
This is Masters weekend, the grand kickoff to the golf season for a lot of golfers. Sure, there have been tournaments on TV, because the professionals have been playing in Hawaii, California, Texas, Dubai, and other areas not so affected by winter as we are here in the Midwest, but to me, watching The Masters is a rite of spring.
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ON THE OFF THE COURSE: Some history on the Ryder Cup
I fell asleep in way too many history classes to ever qualify as a history buff. However, since I have grown up a bit (not much), I enjoy learning about all kinds of history. I often have questions about how something began, or how something came to be.
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On and Off the Course: Purdue's Kampen Course a gem in Indiana's rough
About a month ago, Indiana was still heavily mired in heat and humidity, making outdoor activities such as golf less appealing than usual. At that time it felt like the repressive heat would never go away, it would never rain again, and all of the grass was just going to continue to wither and die. And the month prior to that we kept getting rained out of golf events!
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On and Off the Course: Successful golfers know ... focus is the key
I have a good friend who coached his daughter’s basketball team for a number of years, and told me that his theme with the girls was always “focus”, until it was ingrained in their brains. Now when they play high school ball, if they hear “focus” yelled from the stands, they know the source.
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On and Off the Course: Technology adds even more fun to the course
You’ve hit a drive into some brush in an area marked as a hazard, but you can’t find the ball to prove it is there. And no one actually witnessed it go in the hazard. You just think that’s where it probably is. What is the rule for this situation?
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On and Off the Course: Anthony Gonzalez First Tee Classic a worthwhile charity event
On Monday, I worked as a volunteer for the Anthony Gonzalez First Tee Classic, Golf Tournament and Auction at Eagle Creek Golf Course in Indianapolis. It was an absolutely beautiful day, with clear blue skies, just a few wispy clouds here and there and a high temperature of about 76 degrees.
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On and Off the Course: Trends show golf in decline
You don’t have to watch the news or read the paper to understand that America is struggling on the economic front. The evidence can be witnessed at the local golf course.
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