How Dimple Designs on a Golf Ball Affect Its Flight

Every golf ball manufacturers have their own patented dimple designs, some are superior than others. The tradeoff between higher spin for better control vs lower spin for longer distance is what makes one differ to another.

It was once thought that the more dimples a ball had, the further it would travel. This theory has been disproved, but that hasn't stopped golf ball manufacturers from creating all sorts of dimpled balls. Golf ball can have dimples that are deep, shallow, large or small. Some golf balls have different sizes of dimples on the same ball. Dimples come in all different shapes, including circles, ovals, teardrops and even hexagons like a soccer ball.

As Tom Veilleux, a senior scientist, and Vince Simonds, director of aerodynamic research at the Top-Flite Golf Company, explained to Scientific America: “Dimples on a golf ball create a thin turbulent boundary layer of air that clings to the ball's surface. This allows the smoothly flowing air to follow the ball's surface a little farther around the back side of the ball, thereby decreasing the size of the wake. A dimpled ball thus has about half the drag of a smooth ball.”

Based on the principles of aeromechanic, the trend of the dimple pattern on the balls are all heading trending towards bigger dimples and with less counts , and shallower in depth dimples, which allows the ball to travel farther and faster. The style is also smoother and more beautiful, such as the seamless dimple designs. All balls with this type of design allow the player to reduce spin with either an iron or wooden club which makes the ball roll farther to gain more distance.

As you know It’s easy for us to generate higher ball speed height and distances when hitting the ball, but apart from that, the ball has to be able to stay longer in flight the air and with more penetrability despite of weather conditions, environmental factors and equipment variations in order for the player to perform well. So how it works?

Let's see how it looks visually in the graphic below:

FORTÉ dimple designs don't have a seamless dimple ball, it's proven to have better cross-wind stability and it also create more lift without the need to increase spin. Getting a bulk of golf balls now, and looking at a golf ball cover, its shape and its depth all have great impacts on the ball’s appearance and trajectory.