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In the physical world of air pressure, turbulence, and aerodynamics, surface structurestructure of the surface is a major design consideration. There are several historical events that have contributed the design and make-up of the golf ball. Over a period of hundreds of years, a better design and composition of the golf ball has been achieved, based on scientific research . The humble golf ball is a good example of the evolution of the history of aeronautical engineering.

In the beginning of the game of golf on the eastern coast of Scotland, most players used hand-made golf clubs and balls in order to play the game which was a more chaotic game than it is today. In these early days, the first golf clubs and golf balls are made of wood.

feather golf ball was used for the first time and made popular. This version of the golf ball gained the nickname of the "Featherie". This feather golf ball was a handcraftedhand made golf ball made with goose feathers securely pressed into a horse or cowhide sphere. The whole process was carried out while the ball was still wet. As the ball dried out, the the out skin would shrink and the feathers expanded to create a hardened golf ball.

Because these types of golf balls were specially handcrafted, they usually cost more than the golf clubs. As a result, only those people with time and money had the money to play the game of golf during this early period.

After the 'Featherie' the next type of ball , to become popular was the Guttie golf ball. This prehistoric form of golf ball was made from the rubber like sap from the Gutta Percha tree which comes from the tropics. These Guttie balls could be easily shaped into a sphere when hot. as they cooled, they kept their shape and could then be used as a golf ball. With its rubber nature, Guttie balls could be manufactured at a low cost and could be easily re-cycled by reheating and reshaping.

In a comparison between the two earliest forms of golf balls, the feather golf ball was known to travel a longer distance than than the rubber Guttie. The reason for the different distances was eventually confirmed as being due to the difference in surfaces. The smooth surface of the Guttie reduces the ability of the golf ball to travel over greater distance.

With this new knowledge, the developers of golf balls eventually produced with balls with the "dimples" that are associated with modern golf balls in use today.

Dimples are crafted onto golf balls so as to minimise the aerodynamic drag, which acts on the ball and is raised if the surface were totally smooth. The cause of this is because smooth balls, when sailing through the air, leave a large pocket of low-pressure air in its wake therefore creating drag. The drag performs as an anchor and the ball reduces in speed.

But in contrast, by placing dimples on golf balls, the pressure differential gets lowered and the drag is reduced. These dimples create turbulence in the air around the golf ball. This, in turn, makes the air flow around the golf ball more closely. consequently, the air flows in to the wake created by the ball instead of travelling past it. The result is a smaller wake and less drag. As a result the ball travels further.

Dimples also help players to put backspin on a shot so making the golf ball break off on the putting green.

The idea of placing dimples on golf balls can be traced back to the Gutta Percha phase of development. It was Coburn Haskell who came up with the one-piece rubber cored ball encased in a Gutta Percha sphere. It was during this time that players first observed how their shots became more and more predictable the longer that they played with the same ball. They noticed that the rougher the balls became the more accurate and further they could hit it.

When William Taylor applied the dimple pattern to a Haskell ball in 1905, golf balls finally took on their current shape. So the dimples came into being. From that time on, dimpled golf balls were officially part of every golf tournament. In 1921, the dimpled golf balls took on a standard size and weight.

Nowadays, there is a large choice of golf balls to fit different golf games and conditions. Some golf balls offer greater control, while some others offer greater length. However else these golf balls vary, they all have one attribute in common and that is the dimple. Golf balls are not just items of golf equipment; they are a paradigm of a physics concept!

Roger Titley is a successful webmaster who manages http://www.newgolfputter.com which is dedicated to all aspects of golf