GOLF BALL DIMPLE PROFILE
Golf ball dimples having a non-circular plan shape and a cross-sectional profile shape defined by the envelope of the response of an under damped harmonic oscillator are disclosed.
1 . A golf ball having a plurality of recessed dimples on the surface thereof, wherein at least a portion of the recessed dimples have a non-circular plan shape and a profile defined according to a method comprising the steps of:
providing a response of an under damped harmonic oscillator, wherein the response has an envelope of oscillation, OE, described by
OE
(
t
)
=
±
X
-
ζω
n
t
,
where
ζ
=
c
4
mk
,
ω
n
=
k
m
,
X
=
[
(
x
0
ω
d
)
2
+
(
v
0
+
ζω
n
x
0
)
2
]
1
/
2
ω
d
,
ω
d
=
ω
n
1
-
ζ
2
,
and where t is observation time, v is velocity, m is mass, k is the spring constant, c is the viscous damping coefficient;
defining the dimple profile based on the envelope of oscillation where the observation time is equal to one half of the dimple diameter.
2 . The golf ball of claim 1 , wherein the non-circular plan shape is a polygon.
3 . The golf ball of claim 2 , wherein the polygon is an irregular polygon.
4 . The golf ball of claim 2 , wherein the polygon is a regular polygon selected from the group consisting of triangles, squares, rectangles, pentagons, hexagons, heptagons, and octagons.