Year end musings

[jake2]

It is easy to see that the 200g mass looses a significant amount of it's velocity as it transfers energy to the ball. The large mass on the other hand does not slow down significantly.

What is more difficult to figure out how much difference this makes to the ball velocity, i.e. how much more kinetic energy can the big mass transfer because it does not slow down much in the process.

I'd say it does make a difference, but not very much.

Someone must have tried different weight driver heads with a swing robot that can be made to generate the same club head speed regardless of weight.

Anyway, it'll be interesting to see your results, Mandrin.

[holeout]

It seems that the reason for the absence of a "heavy hit" in golf is because the shaft deflects and you can't increase the "effective mass" of the hit. But in your example, mandrin, the "shaft" part is directly behind the clubhead. You never specified whether it would "deflect" or not upon striking the ball. If it doesn't, would it be right to say that all of the mass would be directed to the ball? Because if all the mass is directed at the ball, at the same speed, the golfer in Fig. 1 would produce a higher ball speed, right?

I'm curious for the answer...

[mandrin]

Originally Posted by Ryan Smither

I'll take the other route ... Daddy needs golf balls ... Large mass produces less velocity

Ryan,

Very Intriguing. Are you simply guessing or is there an intuitive reasoning behind your refreshingly different opinion.

[mandrin]

Originally Posted by jake2

It is easy to see that the 200g mass looses a significant amount of it's velocity as it transfers energy to the ball. The large mass on the other hand does not slow down significantly.

What is more difficult to figure out how much difference this makes to the ball velocity, i.e. how much more kinetic energy can the big mass transfer because it does not slow down much in the process.

I'd say it does make a difference, but not very much.

Someone must have tried different weight driver heads with a swing robot that can be made to generate the same club head speed regardless of weight.

Anyway, it'll be interesting to see your results, Mandrin.

jake2,

Interesting arguments. I agree that it is difficult to make a logical decision just using intuition.

[mandrin]

Originally Posted by holeout

It seems that the reason for the absence of a "heavy hit" in golf is because the shaft deflects and you can't increase the "effective mass" of the hit. But in your example, mandrin, the "shaft" part is directly behind the clubhead. You never specified whether it would "deflect" or not upon striking the ball. If it doesn't, would it be right to say that all of the mass would be directed to the ball? Because if all the mass is directed at the ball, at the same speed, the golfer in Fig. 1 would produce a higher ball speed, right?

I'm curious for the answer...

holeout,

I did mention in post #11 in this thread that the shaft does not buckle, hence it is assumed there to be no deflection of the shaft. Indeed, as a consequence, we have all the mass behind the ball in line with the strike.

[starretj]

My guess is that the heavy mass will have an 18% increase in initial ball speed due to the increase in the ratio of the masses in the examples.

I hope that I am correct, I can always use some new golf balls.

[rcw]

"The Bible first was taken as is, then various interpretations/schisms, and subsequently science came along and clearly said no."

Just when and how exactly has science proven the bible wrong?

[Ryan Smither]

Intuition tells me you're playing with us. Thus, I picked the most illogical response.

[mjstrong]

Originally Posted by mandrin

mjstrong,

Smart intuitive reasoning but do it a bit more closer resembling the case at hand.

Throw a ball towards a very light brick weighing the same as the club head, hence only a tiny 200 gram, and also at a solid brick wall.

Still quite convinced there is no difference?

Okay, I'll do by best "more scientific" approach. Momentum and collision formulae. Can I make some assumptions? I will.

First off, it bothers me that you listed the length of the club shaft in your examples, but I do not account for them in my guess. Oh well.

Looking at the second scenario: Taking into account the clubhead's mass, the clubhead's mass, and the ball's mass, and assuming a resultant ball speed of 240km/h (1.5 smash factor assumption), the clubhead's post-collision velocity should be about 109.8 km/h.

Now, here's where I don't believe myself. I'll assume that slowdown ratio (clubhead slowing down from 160 to 109.8, or 68.6%) applies to the heavier mass. So...you know what, I'm not going to continue because my resultant ball speed would be millions of kilometre's per hour. Probably barking up the wrong tree....

[mandrin]

Originally Posted by starretj

My guess is that the heavy mass will have an 18% increase in initial ball speed due to the increase in the ratio of the masses in the examples.

I hope that I am correct, I can always use some new golf balls.

starretj,

I like your way of thinking. Clear and straight from the hip. No beating around the bush.

I hope that Brian has put some golf balls aside.