PowerPoint Presentation created about Golf Balls and their Bounce for the subject EDCU11020 - Science Curriculum and Pedagogy. Some images are missing from the presentation.

1. Golf Balls and Their Bounce
Alexandra Murphy

2. When a golf ball is dropped from a
controlled height, how many
seconds will it take for it to bounce 5
times?
Statement of the problem

3. Project Overview
• Golf balls come in all different models of design, patterns, colours and prices
• The aim of this experiment is to test to see which priced ball has the best
bounce by dropping the ball from a controlled height and timing to see how
long it takes for the ball to reach 5 bounces.

4. Research
• Each brand of golf ball is entirely different to another brand of golf ball. Position of dimples,
features of design, colours and their prices make each golf ball brand and golf ball unique as
one is never the same as the other.
• Golf balls are intended to bounce as this helps aid in their trajectory and distance they will
travel when being used in a game

5. Research
• Golf balls today can be purchased containing
different layers to suit the players needs but all still include rubber
inside of them to help aid in the balls bounce. Dimples are also
included on golf balls as they “create turbulence, or
mixed airflow, which, if done right, reduces drag”
(Life Science, 2013)
Figure 2: Layers of a Golf
Ball
(Sports n’ Science, n.d)
Figure 1: The affect
dimples have on a Golf
Ball (Life Science,
2013)

6. Research
• Although further research into this topic of study states that this test becomes
inconclusive as the results only show how high the ball will bounce when
dropped from a controlled height and does not factor in the speed of impact
onto the ball that would be done in a game through the club swinging onto
the ball, the test still is able to give us an idea on the level of bounce in
different priced balls and the test can be used to see “how fast it will come off
a putter” (Frankly Golf, n.d).

7. Variables
Controlled variables
• The height the ball
is dropped at
• Each ball will be
tested on how long
it takes for it to
bounce 5 times
Independent variable
• Each of the 4
brands of golf balls
will be tested
Dependent variable
• As each golf ball is
different, how long it
takes for each ball
to bounce 5 times
will be different
• How long it takes for
the ball to bounce 5
times will be
measured using a
stop watch on a
mobile phone

8. The most expensive golf ball out of
the 4 being tested will have the best
bounce
Hypothesis

9. Materials
Materials (detailed list) Quantity (be specific)
Golf Balls of different prices 4
A table to be used as the controlled height the
balls will be bounced from
1
A stopwatch on a mobile phone to time how
long it takes for the ball to bounce 5 times
1
Work book to record data found 1
Mobile Phone to take videos and photo’s of the
test being done
1

10. Procedure
The golf ball
was dropped
from the
controlled
height
Step 1
Time was taken
to determine
how long it took
the ball to take
5 bounces
Step 2
Data was
recorded
Step 3
Steps 1,2 and 3
were repeated
so that 3 sets of
data were
recorded for
each ball
Step 4

11. Procedure

12. Data/Observations
Ball Brand Price 1 2 3 Average
(seconds)
1 Optima $1.00 2.74 2.86 2.76 2.78
2 Wilson $14.95 2.5 2.47 2.52 2.49
3 Burner $25.00 2.68 2.89 2.54 2.70
4 Nike $66.00 2.67 2.53 2.52 2.57
How many seconds it took
before the ball reached 5
bounces
Table of Results

13. Data/ Observations

14. Conclusion
• When looking at the table of data collected and at the graph of how many
seconds it took each ball to bounce 5 times for each attempt, the conclusion
is able to be made that the Wilson brand golf ball had the best bounce out of
the 4 balls averaging 2.49 seconds for 5 bounces. As the bounces wanted
out of the balls are short and fast and not long and slow so that the ball
travels a further distance, the Wilson golf ball provided the shortest amount of
time to complete the 5 bounces.
• The Wilson ball was the 2nd cheapest brand out of the 4 tested at a price of
$14.95, which showed that purchasing the most expensive golf ball which in
this test was the Nike brand ball which cost $66.00, will not automatically
ensure you the best bounce on your ball.

15. Conclusion
• The starting hypothesis was for the most expensive ball to have the best bounce. The
results presented made the hypothesis false as they showed that the 2nd cheapest ball had
the best bounce out of the 4 tested. Although the most expensive ball which was the Nike,
averaged the 2nd best bounce out of the four tested, it still did not measure up to the
average seconds of bounce created by the Wilson golf ball.
• When swinging onto a golf ball, the speed of impact on the ball will have more of an affect
on how far the ball travels in distance and how much it will bounce. By doing this test and
not factoring in the speed of impact onto the ball, the results then become inadequate to
finding the bounce of a ball when being swung on at a high speed for greater length and
bounce. However the test was still useful as it showed what heights golf balls will reach
when being bounced from a controlled height and the results will help aid in being able to
see how fast the golf ball will come off a putter.

16. Conclusion
• For this experiment to be conducted in the future, recommendations could be
made to further its results. A measured height could be used to drop the balls
from for example dropping them from 1 metre, the ultimate height that the ball
reaches could be recorded to see how high each golf ball can get and the 4
most expensive brands of gold balls on the market could be tested against
each other to see which ball creates the best bounce or which ball creates
the greatest height.