Inside the Physics of Shot Shape and Ball Flight With Titleist Golf Ball R&D

*In Partnership With Titleist*

Golf balls occupy a unique space in the equipment landscape because almost every equipment company offers golf ball options that span wide ranges of performance variables and price. This is good for golfers because it means that regardless of the category you’re shopping in, everyone can find a golf ball to suit their specific needs on the course.

It sounds obvious to say, but an often overlooked—albeit essential—detail about golf balls is that they are the only piece of equipment used on every single shot a golfer takes. Whether it be off of a driver, iron, wedge or putter, your golf ball needs to perform to help you play your best golf. But that performance doesn’t just apply to launch and spin, it also has a lot to do with shots hit in the wind, and this is where golfers of all skill levels tend to struggle picking clubs and selecting shot shape.

This universal struggle is what motivated me explore how golfers can better execute shots in the wind, but also consult with experts to dive deeper into the science and engineering behind designing high performance golf balls. So, to do that I brought in some experts from Titleist’s golf ball R&D team, Courtney Engle and Doug Jones, to help me help you make better decisions on the golf course and learn a little more about what's really going into your golf balls. Courtney is the Manager of Mechanical Engineering, and Doug is the Principal Product Development Engineer for all Acushnet golf ball products.

(Quotes have been edited for clarity)

Hitting Shots in a Cross Wind

Watching a golf ball curve offline because of the wind is beyond frustrating, especially when it's possible to make better choices on how to handle that environmental element. One of the comments you'll often hear on golf broadcasts is how golfers choose to hit various shots based on the wind—either by hitting into the wind and letting the ball come back to the target or using axis tilt (often referred to as “side spin”) to help a golf ball curve into the wind to fight the prevailing forces. But which one is really the best option?

As you might imagine, the answer isn’t as cut and dry and you might hope. Courtney explained it like this,

“Obviously, both options are possible paths that you can take. They are physically doable and the physics tracks. I think it's really situational… [depending on] how strong that wind is, your spin axis can only kind of overpower so much wind, for example.

At the same time, if you're teeing off and you're kind of down a chute and you don't have the capacity to go offline, then spin axis might be a better choice for you. Also depends on kind of what you're trying to accomplish with the shot. As well as your skill and comfort level as a golfer. For me personally, I have no control over my spin axis. So I'm just going to keep the same swing and go off target a little bit and let the wind do the work for me.

From a from a pure distance standpoint, you would probably, in most cases, be a little bit better off angling it against the wind and try and hit a straight shot because all of your impact forces are then being delivered to the ball as much as you can in a forward motion as opposed to trying to convert some of it into creating a spin axis tilt of fight against the wind.

Credit: Josh Driggs

You're effectively robbing yourself of some level of that flight sustaining backspin as you impart sidespin on the golf ball, and as you impart sidespin, you end up ultimately losing a little bit of your carry distance overall. But it it really does come down to player preference, too, though, because many pros, especially shots into the green, will work the ball against the wind into the green.

[The pros do this] because they're really working (the ball) into a very small target window. They feel that if they do it that way and there's any fluctuation in the wind, even a slight fluctuation, they're more apt to stay within their target window than if they angled out to the side and the wind died. Then they would be left out to the left or right.”

Courtney added an important point in regards to elevation that as air gets less dense at higher elevations, the golf ball doesn't have the amount of forces applied to it as it would at sea-level.

“The other thing to keep in mind, is that your ability to generate that that side force is going to diminish as you increase altitude. So if you're playing at elevation, your ability to generate enough spin, enough side spin to counteract a strong wind is going to deteriorate a little bit.”

This is exactly why players will often adjust their yardages when playing at elevation since it requires more spin to keep the golf ball in the air off the driver, and off of irons the ball will not peak as high, meaning it comes into the green on approach shots at a more shallow angle with less stopping power. As Courtney also mention shot shape matters a whole lot too .

“You have to factor (shot shape) because generally a draw bias tilt will turn over a little bit more and get down and want to roll out a little bit more where a fade or slice axis tilt depending upon your level, tends to as you say yes come in a little bit softer (at a steeper land angle).

Shots Hit Down and Into the Wind

Another difficult scenario are shots into the wind and a VERY common misconception when it comes to shots hit into the wind is that the golf ball spins more, causing a higher peak height. This is 100% false and is another example of a ball flight myth that is commonly perpetuated by announcers during golf broadcasts.

Courtney explains what actually happens, “If you've got a headwind, your lifting force increases with the square of the relative velocity of the air flying over the ball. So with that headwind, that relative velocity has increased. So both your drag and your lift forces are therefore increased, and that's what provides the additional lift and elevation.”

The inverse is true when shots are downwind since the relative velocity of the ball to the forces around it are lower. This means there are less forces to create lift—meaning if all things are equal, the ball will fly lower.

Another practical way this relationship is used in everyday life is how airports will use various runways so planes can takeoff into the wind to generate more lift so it can reach elevation faster.

Credit: Josh Driggs

What Powers a Golf Ball's Performance?

Of the many misconceptions in golf club fitting (the one that annoys me the most) is that “the shaft is the engine of the club”. Yes, it's an important component in helping a golfer time the club head up at impact but it’s not an engine because it is an inanimate object. The human body is the true engine.

This topic bring me to my last question for Courtney and Doug—What component of the golf ball has the biggest impact on ball flight, specifically when it comes to having a golf ball fly straighter and curve less? Is it the core properties or is it all about the cover and the aerodynamic package?

Doug put it like this “It's a combination of both. You can work them a little independently, but the best scenario would be to work them as a combination. To have a golf ball generally fly straighter, you would from a golf ball construction standpoint, build a construction that essentially had the lowest amount of spin that it would normally generate from an impact. So lower spin, again, more straight directionally.”

Courtney then pointed out that this marrying of components helps to achieve all kinds of flight windows depending on the performance goals of a particular design. “And like I mentioned, as we're talking about the different flight windows, yes, that's also achievable through both a marrying of construction and aerodynamics. If you want something that flies a little bit higher, you want to increase your spin. Your lift force is going to increase linearly with spin (which is big function of the core and cover working together).”

Check out the latest episode of Gear Smart for the full unedited version of my conversation with Courtney Engle and Doug Jones from Titleist's golf ball R&D ream. Listen to Gear Smart, hosted by me, Ryan Barath, on Spotify or Apple Podcasts or watch the entire video on Skratch's YouTube.