Golf balls having volumetric equivalence on opposing hemispheres and symmetric flight performance and methods of making same
Golf balls according to the present invention achieve flight symmetry and overall satisfactory flight performance due to a dimple volume ratio that is equivalent between opposing hemispheres despite the use of different dimple geometries on the opposing hemispheres.
1. A golf ball comprising:
a first hemisphere comprising a first plurality of dimples; and
a second hemisphere comprising a second plurality of dimples, wherein each dimple in the first plurality of dimples has a corresponding dimple in the second plurality of dimples,
wherein a dimple in the first hemisphere comprises a first profile shape and a corresponding dimple in the second hemisphere comprises a second profile shape,
wherein the first profile shape is different from the second profile shape and the first and second profile shapes are selected from spherical or catenary,
wherein the spherical profile shape has an edge angle of about 12.0 degrees to about 15.5 degrees, and the catenary profile shape has a shape factor of about 30 to about 300 and a chord depth of about 2.0×10 −3 inches to about 6.5×10 −3 inches, and
wherein the dimple in the first hemisphere and the corresponding dimple in the second hemisphere have substantially identical surface volumes.
2. The golf ball of claim 1 , wherein the first profile shape is spherical and the second profile shape is catenary.
3. The golf ball of claim 1 , wherein the first profile shape is catenary and the second profile shape is spherical.
4. A golf ball, comprising:
a first hemisphere comprising a plurality of dimples; and
a second hemisphere comprising a plurality of dimples, wherein
a first dimple in the first hemisphere comprises a first plan shape, a first profile shape, and a first geometric center, the first geometric center being located at a position defined by a first polar angle θ N measured from a pole of the first hemisphere;
a second dimple in the second hemisphere comprises a second plan shape, a second profile shape, and a second geometric center, the second geometric center being located at a position defined by a second polar angle θ S measured from a pole of the second hemisphere;
the first polar angle θ N differs from the second polar angle θ S by no more than 3°;
the first profile shape is different from the second profile shape and the first and second profile shapes are selected from spherical or conical;
the spherical profile shape has an edge angle of about 12.0 degrees to about 15.5 degrees, and the conical profile shape has a saucer ratio of bout 0.05 to about 0.75 and an edge angle of about 10.4 degrees to about 14.3 degrees;
the first dimple and the second dimple have substantially equal dimple diameters; and
the first dimple and the second dimple have substantially identical surface volumes.
5. The golf ball of claim 4 , wherein the geometric center of the first dimple is separated from the geometric center of the second dimple by an offset angle γ.
6. The golf ball of claim 4 , wherein the first profile shape is spherical and the second profile shape is conical.
7. The golf ball of claim 4 , wherein the first and second dimples have a dimple diameter ranging from about 0.100 inches to about 0.205 inches.
8. A golf ball, comprising:
a first hemisphere comprising a plurality of dimples; and
a second hemisphere comprising a plurality of dimples, wherein
a first dimple in the first hemisphere comprises a first plan shape, a first profile shape, and a first geometric center, the first geometric center being located at a position defined by a first polar angle θ N measured from a pole of the first hemisphere;
a second dimple in the second hemisphere comprises a second plan shape, a second profile shape, and a second geometric center, the second geometric center being located at a position defined by a second polar angle θ S measured from a pole of the second hemisphere;
the first polar angle θ N differs from the second polar angle θ S by no more than 3°;
the first profile shape is conical and the second profile shape is catenary;
the conical profile shape has a saucer ratio of about 0.05 to about 0.75 and an edge angle of about 7.6 degrees to about 13.8 degrees, and the catenary profile shape has a shape factor of about 30 to about 300 and a chord depth of about 2.3×10 −3 inches to about 8.4×10 −3 inches;
the first dimple and the second dimple have substantially different dimple diameters and the first dimple has a larger dimple diameter than the second dimple; and
the first dimple and the second dimple have substantially identical surface volumes.
9. The golf ball of claim 8 , wherein the first and second dimples have a dimple diameter ranging from about 0.100 inches to about 0.205 inches.
10. The golf ball of claim 1 , wherein the dimple in the first hemisphere and the corresponding dimple in the second hemisphere have substantially equal dimple diameters.
11. The golf ball of claim 1 , wherein the catenary profile shape has a shape factor of about 50 to about 250 and a chord depth of about 3.8×10 3 inches to about 6.3×10 −3 inches.
12. The golf ball of claim 4 , wherein the first profile shape is conical and the second profile shape is spherical.
13. The golf ball of claim 8 , wherein the difference in dimple diameter between the first dimple and the second dimple is about 0.005 inches to about 0.025 inches.
14. The golf ball of claim 8 , wherein the difference in dimple diameter between the first dimple and the second dimple is about 0.010 inches to about 0.020 inches.