Kev's Golfing Tips - 1.The unbalanced Golf Ball

How often have we Golfers seen a putt veer away from the hole in the last few inches?



Was it your stroke? - Was it the green? - Or was you ball unbalanced? - Can it matter anyway? - Yes it can matter - you would never putt with a hard boiled egg, would you?

The unbalanced ball is not a new concept. Players such as Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson used to test the balance of their golf balls in salt water, and short-game guru Dave Pelz has written about unbalanced balls for years.

Stuck indoors during the bad weather? why not try a simple test for yourself?
Start by putting some salt and a few drops of dish washing detergent into a bowl of lukewarm water. Drop a ball in and spin it. After it stops, mark the top of the ball.
Spin the ball again. If it stops randomly at a different spot, it is a balanced ball.
If it comes back to the same place, the ball is unbalanced, because just like an unbalanced wheel, it has a heavy side and light side. For best results do this a few times .

I did this some years ago when I read about Wilson Golf's new ball the Staff True.
On average, I found that at least one ball out of a dozen from a premium label such as Titleist's Pro VI is unbalanced. The number got much higher with less expensive balls.
I could hardly fault the Staff True.

So am I a better golfer? - no. Should this post have been made on April the first? - no
It cannot be denied though that all machine made golf balls cannot be perfectly balanced, but it's all good fun and I bet you try the test anyway!

A quick Google on this subject could keep you entertained for ages - there is even a company who market a device that spins a golf ball at 10,000 rpm, and which they say 're-aligns' the ball. - great stuff this centrifugal force is it not?

In this post I have been quoting from The Chicago Tribune, the full article is here:

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