Golf ball having reduced side spin

Abstract

A golf ball has one or more grooves in the ball surface. When the ball is initially struck by a golf club at an oblique angle the ball can have an undesired side spin. Each groove in the ball surface interacts with the air stream to absorb some of the side spin energy. The grooves act like miniature turbine blades, or vanes on an in-flight arrow, to decelerate side spin velocity so as to reduce the tendency of the ball to hook or slice.

1 . A golf ball having a center and an outer spherical surface concentric around said center so that when the ball is airborne the air in the path of the ball interacts with the ball to form an air separation point in front of the ball, an air attachment zone downstream from the air separation point, and a turbulent wake area downstream from the air attachment zone; multiple elongated grooves in said spherical surface adapted to interact with air in the attachment zone so as to be aligned with the stream of air attached to the ball spherical surface; each said groove having a depth dimension and a width dimension causing the ball-attached air in said groove to have a laminar flow velocity relative to the ball, whereby each said groove generates a resistance to side spin of the golf ball; each said groove extending along the ball surface between two imaginary points located on a diametrical line passing through the golf ball center, each groove having a length that is a major portion of the distance between the two imaginary points, whereby each said groove is in contact with essentially the entire length dimension of the air attachment zone; the non-grooved areas of said spherical surface being covered with turbulence-generating dimples; each dimple having a depth dimension; the groove depth dimension and width dimension each being at least five times the dimple dimension so that air in each groove has a laminar flow relative to the ball.