The Moment of Impact: An Inside Look at Titleist Golf Ball R&D

Here's a video from Titleist showcasing a series of tests to capture the moment of impact of differing Titleist balls across various clubhead speeds

Andy Roberts's picture
Wed, 6 Nov 2013


For the Titleist Golf Ball R&D team, the goal is always the same: Design and develop the most consistent and best performing golf balls to help golfers shoot lower scores.

It's a process focused on continuous improvement, fostered by many talented individuals working tirelessly behind the scenes.

The Titleist R&D team recently fired up one of their mechanical robots to film golf ball impact footage, using a high-speed camera, at 22,000 frames per second.

Here's a video of Paul Furze, Titleist's Manager of Product Test Methods, at the Manchester Lane Testing facility, running a series of tests to capture the moment of impact of different Titleist golf ball models across various clubhead speeds.

Using the high-speed footage, the team could then analyse how the ball reacts to the force being applied and show the actual compression upon impact.

One result, as you will see in the video: "If you compare the 120 mph driver speed to the 175 mph driver speed, you'll see that the compression on the ball is really quite similar," said Furze.

In other words, every player, no matter their swing speed, compresses the golf ball.

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