How to Compress The Golf Ball
If you’ve been trying to compress the golf ball for a while and still can’t seem to get it just right, this article is for you.
If you don’t know what we’re talking about, compressing the ball means hitting it with more topspin than normal.
Hitting shots that fly up and slice on their way down is not an accident – it’s usually caused by too much spin on your swing.
You might think that adding a backspin will help keep the ball from slicing but in most cases, doing so will make things worse!
In this blog post, I’ll show you how to use compression effectively.
1. But, why do we need to compress the golf ball before hitting it?
The golf ball has to be compressed before impact.
If you don’t compress the golf ball before impact, it will fly off at a lower velocity.
The reason for this is that when you hit or chip the ball with an iron club head and do not compress the ball, all of your energy goes into deforming and compressing down on top of itself to keep from flying away in opposite directions.
The compressed ball is not able to expand outwards in all directions when it impacts the clubhead because energy was spent compressing the golf ball down before impact, causing it to fly off with less momentum and velocity than if you hit a well-compressed shot.
2. The science behind compression in relation to distance, loft, and spin rates.
I have learned quite a bit about compression in relation to distance, loft, and spin rates.
This is why you are seeing so many companies pushing their “low spin” golf balls these days.
The idea of low-spin leading to increased power has been supported by numerous studies showing that the higher the backspin rate on a given ball, the more carry and distance it will generate.
This is because an object in motion wants to stay in motion — just like a high-spinning golf ball!
This same idea can be applied to your driver and fairway woods that have higher swing speeds: producing maximum speed through increased compression means you won’t lose any of that speed through the turf.
Compression affects all three major factors in terms of distance, loft, and spin rate: carry distance, launch angle, and ball speed are directly affected by compression so it’s important to have a good understanding of what is going on with your equipment!
3. What is the golf ball made of and how does it work in favor of compression?
The golf ball is made out of a rubber-like material called “polybutadiene”.
This type of compound works well for the golf ball because it’s soft enough to compress upon impact and then expand back into its original shape after making contact with the clubface.
There are also two types of layers that make up the exterior part of the ball, which are the “cover” and the “dimple”.
The cover of a golf ball is actually designed to be very thin so that it doesn’t disrupt airflow too much as air flows around it.
Below this layer is where you’ll find what’s called the core – typically made up of polybutadiene – but there can also be different cores with varied designs and compositions depending on how they affect ball flight.
The dimples are the part of the exterior that provides lift (or reduces drag) along with affecting backspin, which is what we’re talking about when we talk “compression”!
4. How to compress a golf ball?
The golf ball is compressed when the club makes contact with it.
This compression results in spin and speed, which affects how far the ball will fly through air resistance.
When you hit a slice or hook shot, this means that your clubface has not pointed directly at where you were aiming for on purpose to curve right or left of where you were aiming.
The ball will curve in the direction that your clubhead was traveling during contact with the ball, which is why a slice or hook results in a curved path through the air and doesn’t go straight like it should have been hit!
A shot where height off of the ground is increased due to high compression has too much backspin, which causes the ball to go up quickly and then come down with a steep descent.
This is known as “ballooning”
When you impact the golf ball with your clubhead at an angle that does not send it directly where you were aiming or hitting too far off-center from your intended target, this will result in a fade, slice shot.
If the clubhead is traveling down directly at your target and you impact it with too much of an upward motion or swing path that causes the ball to go up quickly and then come back down more steeply than what was intended due to overspin, this will result in a ballooning shot.
The proper way to compress the ball is to let your clubhead hit right in front of where you are aiming, which will result in a straight shot.
5. The proper contact point to produce compression?
To create more topspin, the proper contact point is to move your hands forward in order to make them hit the ball before it gets too low.
This will help create more compression.
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6. What happens at impact?
The golf ball is compressed when the club makes contact with it, which means that its rubber-like material of polybutadiene expands back into its original shape after making contact with the clubface.
There are also two types of layers that make up the exterior part of the ball, which are the “cover” and the “dimple”.
The cover of a golf ball is actually designed to be very thin so that it doesn’t disrupt airflow too much as air flows around it.
Different types of shots can result from how you compress or hit into compression:
The shot will go up with a nasty slice if the clubhead is traveling to the left of where you are aiming, which will cause it to move down quickly and then come back up with a steep descent due to overspin.
A shot where height off of the ground is increased by hitting too high on compression results in less control since there’s more room for error (where if your ball flies higher it has more room to fall).
This means that if the clubhead is traveling down directly at your target and you impact it with too much of an upward motion or swing path, this will result in a ballooning shot.
If you want to maximize spin potential on your shots, let the ball hit right in front of where you are aiming.
7. How Does Impact Affect Different Types Of Shots?
Golf is a game of beautiful simplicity and infinite complexity
It’s such an amazing feeling to hit that perfect shot, knowing you did everything right in your swing and the ball flight perfectly matched what was happening downrange.
When we do it well, golf is so rewarding but when we don’t there are negative consequences:
poor results on our scorecard, distance loss, or inconsistency in our ball flight.
So how can we make sure that what happens during impact is matched by the results downrange?
“What’s Happening at Impact?”
We hear this question a lot when people are struggling with their game so let’s answer it!
When you hit different types of shots there are different things happening at impact.
The first thing we must understand is that all shots start off the same: a certain set of conditions has to be met in order for them to exist, and those are…
A “perfect” ball flight requires these four criteria to be present:
-The clubhead needs to have sufficient velocity (speed) when it strikes the ball.
The clubhead needs to be moving at least 90 mph when it first makes contact with the golf ball.
-The face of the club must make a square, flush contact with the center or very “high” on the backside of a dimpled golf ball (in other words, not nicked).
-There should be an optimal degree of loft in the club.
-The shaft should enter the ball at a certain angle, which we call a “lie.”
But what happens when you don’t meet those conditions?
Well…A loss of impact velocity causes your shots to lose distance and spin.
This can cause problems such as slices or hooks because golfers are forced to swing harder in an effort to create speed (and spin).
So, the next time you are practicing on the range makes sure to check out your compression number!
If it’s at or below 80 then congratulations—you have found a great ball for yourself.
But if not, don’t be discouraged.
By noticing how much spin is carrying your shots and making appropriate changes to your equipment, you’ll be able to find a compression level that works best for you.
A loss of impact velocity causes your shots to lose distance and spin.
I hope this blog post was helpful in understanding what happens during impact with different types of shots: distance, loft, and rotation rates, and how to compress the golf ball.
