If you check the rules, you’ll find that a golf ball must weigh no more than 45.93 grams. I wanted to dive a little deeper to get an idea of what the average golf ball weighs and try to understand what factors affect this. I weighed 100 golf balls and in this article, I’ll be documenting my findings.

1.620 oz

Titleist Pro V1 Golf Balls 12 / Box

According to the USGA, the weight of the golf ball can not be greater than 1.62 ounces and the diameter of the ball shall not be less than 1.68 inches. Golf balls vary in construction; as seen below, there are two piece, wound and multi layered balls. Ball construction is no longer synonymous with performance.

Why should a heavier ball go farther than a lighter one? This is surprising on the face of it. After all, the heavier ball will have lower initial ball speed, all other things being equal. Perhaps even more surprising is that the lighter ball goes farther with a low clubhead speed.

1.620 ounces

Golf balls are forbidden to have a weight that exceeds 1.620 ounces, or 45.93 gm (there is no minimum weight). Golf balls must have a diameter that surpasses 1.680 inches, or 42.67 mm.

Dimples on a golf ball create a thin turbulent boundary layer of air that clings to the ball’s surface. This allows the smoothly flowing air to follow the ball’s surface a little farther around the back side of the ball, thereby decreasing the size of the wake.

Contrary to golf folklore, the liquid cores aren’t dangerous. Titleist, for example, has used a salt water and corn syrup blend. Today’s core is generally made from synthetic rubber — which may be mixed with bits of metal, such as tungsten or titanium — or a plastic-like material such as acrylate.

Store-bought bouncy balls are made of rubber, another material that is made up of polymers. When the bouncy ball is stretched, these polymer chains uncoil and straighten. When released, the chains coil back up again. This makes the material stretchy and bouncy.

The forces acting on a spinning ball during impact are the force of gravity, the normal force, and the force of friction (which has in general both a ‘translational’ and a ‘rotational’ component).

In order for the ball to bounce (meaning physically lose contact with the surface of the ground) the compressive force created by the impulse of impact (the point at which velocity is downwards but acceleration upwards until the ball reaches its point of maximum deformation and velocity is 0) must exceed the force of …

2. When the ball is falling towards the table, it has kinetic energy. This elastic potential energy is why the ball is able to bounce, or rebound. After the ball rebounds, the elastic potential energy is transformed into kinetic energy, but it will never possess as much kinetic energy as during its original fall.