Robert M. Gary wrote:
Matt Whiting wrote:
:

I never disputed that golf balls have lift. I simply said I don't think
they will rise above the launch line as was suggested.

The lift will cause them to descend more slowly that they would due to
ballistics alone, but that is far different than saying they will rise
upwards above the launch path.


That is not what I've observed. When watching professional golfers hit
balls they appear to travel a traditional trajectory (often call the
"cannon" route) for the first couple hundred feet and then take a
noticable up path when they should start to sink. That up path seems
quite dramatic to me. Its often called the "second wind". That's just
my observation.

That is the same thing people claimed about baseballs, but it turned out
to be a combination of an optical illusion (the mound being higher than
the plate) and people's mind expecting the ball to drop more quickly
than it did and then perceiving this as the ball rising, when it fact it
was simply dropping at a slower rate.

I was watching golf this past weekend and they had several side aerial
shots of the drives. It was pretty easy to see the trajectory of the
ball from the lift or whatever they were filming from as the height was
about the same level as the apex of the drive. The ball was clearly
dropping away from the path of launch when viewed from the side at an
elevated position.

If you get a chance to see these sorts of shots on TV in the future,
look closely and I think you'll see the same thing.


Matt