On the last day of this year’s golf ball test, we had a little bit of extra time to run a few smaller experiments. Near the top of our list was mud balls. We wanted to find out what happens, or at least what you should expect to happen, when mud finds its way onto your golf ball.
It also seemed like the perfect opportunity to try and answer another question we get asked all the time: Does cover damage, whether that’s from the cart path, a crisp bunker shot, a tree or anything else that leaves a mark, impact the performance of the golf ball?
The original plan was for two separate articles but it turns out that the severity of the real-world implications is driven by the extent of the damage or disruption. In general, whether it’s mud on the cover or some sort of other disruption or damage to the cover, the resulting ball flight is basically the same. Not good, but the same.
So, with that said, let’s look at what we found.
Key Takeaways
It doesn’t take much damage to have an impact
It turns out that even the kind of thing most of us would overlook can cause performance issues. Anything that alters the prescribed shape and depth of the dimples, whether that comes from filling them with mud or scraping bits of them away with a crisp wedge shot out of a bunker (or a not-so-crisp drive that hits a cart path or tree), can be problematic. When you mess with the golf ball’s aerodynamic structures (dimples), bad things can, and often will, happen.
The bigger the damage, the bigger the impact
It should go without saying but the more significant damage, the bigger affect it’s going to have on performance.
Small paint blemishes and even very minor surface scratches are likely no big deal but if the damage is easily felt—if there’s a tactile experience—it will very likely have an impact on performance. A little bit of damage (or a little bit of mud) can cause your ball to fly a little bit offline or a little bit shorter. A bit more damage and you should expect to find yourself screaming “Fore left (or right)!”
The ball will move in the opposite direction of the mud or scrape
I’ve taken to using the word “disruption” as a kind of a catch-all for just about anything that buggers up the surface continuity of a golf ball. What’s important to know is that, regardless of whether that disruption is mud or a scrape, gouge or cut, the ball can be expected to move in the opposite direction of the damage.
If there’s mud on the right side of the ball, it’s going to curve to the left. If you’ve got a scrape on the left side of your ball, it’s going to cause the ball to move to the right. Adjust your aim accordingly and hope for the best.
When in doubt, throw it out
If there’s one overarching takeaway, it’s that you need to know when to say goodbye to your golf ball. The Rules of Golf leave little recourse for mud balls but you have near-absolute freedom to remove a damaged ball from play. We know it sucks to have to trash a $4 golf ball because of cover damage but you should be able to appreciate that there’s an inevitability to it. The probability is a damaged ball will eventually fly OB so you might as well trash it before it costs you strokes.
Mud balls
To test the impact of mud on the golf ball, we made our best effort to replicate the amount of mud that might realistically find its way onto your golf ball from landing and rolling on a wet and perhaps not perfectly manicured fairway.
We tried to put enough mud on the ball to have a pronounced impact but we didn’t cake it on, pack it tight or otherwise try to fill every dimple with soil.
Shots were hit using a mid-speed 8-iron (100-mph driver equivalent) in a configuration identical to that of the primary ball test.
Mud Ball Data
Observations
- It’s worth restating what is perhaps the most significant takeaway from this experiment: the ball will move in the opposite direction of the mud (or any other surface disruption).
- The majority of the mud flies off at impact. This doesn’t prevent the ball from tilting but it does reduce downrange aerodynamic implications.
- Key metrics like ball speed, launch angle and spin were only marginally impacted by the presence of mud outside of the impact area.
- The consequence of mud is most apparent in the spin axis number. The greater the axis tilt, the more the ball typically curves during flight. It’s worth noting that, in robot testing, spin axis numbers are typically +/- 1°.
- Mud on the left side of the ball (the scenario in which we had the most mud on the ball) caused the spin axis to tilt nearly 6 1/2 degrees to the left and the ball to fly seven yards offline (to the right).
- With less mud on the ball, we saw similar, though not as severe, results with mud on the right side of the ball.
- In our test, we didn’t see much of a distance loss due to mud. However, we surmise that not all mud is created equal. The stickier the mud, i.e., the more it clings to the surface of the ball post-impact, the greater the influence it will have on ball flight.
Scuffs, scrapes and other disasters
To test the impact of scuffs and scrapes on ball flight, we attempted to recreate the various degrees of cover damage that result from things like hitting the cart path or a tree or a crisp bunker shot. As we saw the results of our first couple of shots, we decided to get extremely aggressive—in some cases beyond what’s directly applicable to your round of golf (we hope)—but, nevertheless, the results are interesting.
For this test, we used a driver at 100 mph. The configuration was designed to closely mirror the setup from our primary ball test. Note: for all shots, unless otherwise noted, the damaged area was aligned to the right side of the impact area.
Observations
Light Scuff
- Even with what amounts to a small but noticeable scrape—the kind of thing you often find after bouncing one off the cart path—there was a noticeable impact on ball flight
- Our lightly scuffed ball had a pronounced, though not massive, shift in the spin axis, resulting in a shot that flew more than eight yards off line.
- Peak height was well below the average for an unscuffed ball, though a significantly flatter descent angle contributed to a massive amount of roll.
Moderate Scuff
- With a moderate scuff—the kind of thing we think many golfers would likely replace—we saw a significant impact on ball flight.
- While ball speed, launch angle and spin rates weren’t far off from the unscuffed averages, the ball flew nearly 30 feet lower.
- Carry distance fell to 205. That’s more than 40 yards less than the average of undamaged balls.
- The spin axis tilted by more than 35 degrees, resulting in a shot that finished more than 45 yards off the target line.
Balanced Scuff
- While the damage isn’t likely to mirror anything you’ll experience on the golf course, we were curious to see what would happen when we moderately and evenly scuffed both sides of the golf ball.
- Scuffing both sides of the ball created a higher spin rate.
- The spin axis tilted a bit more than 4.5 degrees and the ball flew almost 13 yards offline. If nothing else, this suggests our scuffs were not perfectly balanced.
- Peak height was less than 50 feet and the descent angle was only 23 degrees.
- The total distance was less than 250 yards (only 200 yards carry) and, while it doesn’t come through in the data, the ball flight was erratic. Unstable is perhaps a good description.
Partially Sanded
- As a curiosity, we sanded off approximately one-quarter of the dimples on a ball. While again we don’t expect you’ll experience this type of damage on the golf course, it is a reasonable representation of what you might encounter while hitting your way through a bucket of old range balls.
- The spin axis of the partially sanded ball was nearly 50 degrees, resulting in a ball that finished almost 57 yards offline. Basically, the ball duck-hooked.
- Carry distance dipped less than 200 yards.
- Peak height was well below what we’d expect from an undamaged ball.
Core Only
- Admittedly, this one was just for fun, though I suppose I could tell you it was to see how a ball flies without any aerodynamic features (dimples). The results were, nevertheless, interesting.
- With no cover or mantle layer, ball speed actually increased by 4.5 mph.
- Without dimples, however, launch angle was only 10 degrees and the peak height was less than 20 feet—with a driver!
- The ball carried just a bit more than 115 yards. I’m guessing that’s wedge distance for many of you.
- If there’s an upside, it’s that the cover-less ball flew relatively straight, finishing three yards off the target line.
The takeaway
If you take one thing away from this article, it should be that any disruption on the surface of the golf ball, whether that’s mud or a scuff, has the potential to affect the flight of the golf ball.
Unfortunately, there’s nothing you can do about mud on your ball but the good news is that its impact is predictable. Whether it’s mud or a scuff, the ball will predictably curve in the direction opposite the disruption. For a bit more detail, we highly recommend this PING Proving Grounds article on The Science of Mud Balls.
If you’re trying to figure out if it’s time to replace your ball, a good rule of thumb is that if there’s enough damage that you can feel it when rubbing your finger over the ball, it’s probably best to toss it in the shag bag before it impacts your score.
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Brady
9 months agoThe country club drive parallels the first fairway, and out of 2-3 groups, someone usually creates a new logo ball with moderate+ road rash. Everyone has either done it of found balls like this, and we all play them. From now on, I’ll be treating them like a cut balata …. and I’ll toss it into the creek where someone else can find it and try to use it.
Cal
9 months agoI am just wondering what if you just smooth it out the light scuff area? I usually do that with my golf balls since it didn’t look appealing and I think it might affect the aeri dynamics, I usually use the medium used Scotch-Brite pad ( so it becomes soft not as rough).
Curious about what happened to this kind of golf ball in your test lab
Mike
9 months agoInteresting analysis. It’s very helpful that you put pictures of the balls in the scuff condition you tested. For me though, even a ball with that light scuff you showed in all likelihood get taken out of play immediately (assuming it was a ‘real’ round i.e., keeping score, and not just me out there practicing).. I can’t believe any serious golfer would play with that moderate scuffing on their ball.
Tyrant Rex
9 months agoSo, theoretically, I may be able to straighten out my slice by properly aligning the scuff on my ball? I’ll be testing this hypothesis next week.
Momo
9 months agoenjoy your website/testing
very interesting, always wondered about ball scuffs. and mud
1 infrequently lose a ball and typically play with the same one for 2-3 rounds before I put it in the shag bag. my most common damage is from cart paths (75%) or an occasional tree trunk. (moderate scuff by the photo)
I find it hard to believe a 15-20% loss of total distance from the moderate scuff pictures. I discussed this with my golfing buddies today and they disagreed as well. the question I got was, “which ball company did the test?” (to get golfers to switch out balls much more often.)
from my/our experience maybe a 5 percent max loss from a moderate scuff but 40 yards, no way.
mud is a different story
todays round, 1 cart path scuff (hole 5), 1 tree scuff (hole 6), lots of mud, but still carried the lake on hole 17 (160yds) with the same ball with with the normal club. no noticeable distance reduction (maybe a couple yards at the most).
so the moral of the story is I should always use a new-ish ball on the water holes to be most consistent with carry and direction. many golfers actually do the opposite, but maybe that just puts bad mojo in their heads…
thanks
Gregg
9 months agoThanks.
Christopher
9 months agoOne of the other takeaways is that depending on your local driving range’s ball stock you might be wasting your money if you’re working on your game.
ChrisK
9 months agoFantastic article, great job MGS. My own driver swing speed is about 100 mph, and i’ve long noticed that a new higher-end ball (pro v1, for example) is awesome off driver when brand new, and you QUICKLY get diminishing returns as the round progresses. While the covers may not be scuffed, once they’ve lost some of that cover slickness, you absolutely need to take them out of play. At least, that’s my experience. It’s part of the reason i play the Titleist Trufeel. It’s not an expensive spinning ball, but the cover is tough. Even when slightly scuffed, it’ll hold a slick feel, and still get good performance (because it’s not a high-spinning ball)
Todd
9 months agoTime to start giving my opponents scuffed ProV1’s for par 3’s over water.
William Johnson
9 months agoI would see scuffed ball data for 140 MPH, 130 MPH and 120 MPH initial ball speeds as I am guessing the same ball might fly rather differently att the different speeds.
tim
9 months agoWhat about off center cores????? did you run any tests with suspected off center balls?
Matt A
8 months agoI suspect it would be tough to know if a ball was off center without first cutting it open or MGS purchasing\renting an expensive X-Ray machine
s.rebh
9 months agoThank you very much
RC
9 months agoCore only sounds like something I would try…to me that was the most fascinating part of the article!
Gerald Foley
9 months agoIn reply to “Rob”, the team of Jim Furyk/Fluff Cowan won the 2021 US Senior Open at Omaha Country Club using a 2017 Titleist ProV1X.
Glenn
9 months agoI love hitting cut and otherwise damaged balls. We have three holes along water on my home course. We save wrecked balls for this time of year and blast them out into the water.
South Texas Golfer
9 months agoThis is a great article which answered many questions; both for on the course and on the driving range. Question – would hitting a slightly scuffed ball directly into a one club breeze result in more than the observed -9.7 yards offline in this test? Am thinking so, and wanted to learn whether there’s any data on it.
Chris
9 months ago“The Rules of Golf leave little recourse for mud balls but you have near-absolute freedom to remove a damaged ball from play.” The 2019 rules changes only allow for substitution of a damaged ball during play of a hole if it is “cut or cracked.” The old subjective language for damaged ball replacement no longer applies.
Ell
9 months agoThe retirees I play with (all over 72 years old) don’t care about the USGA rules or what’s in their rule book. I had one 25 years ago, when I read all the ridiculous rules in it I threw the damn thing away. If a ball has mud on it, we wipe it off. If it has a cut, we replace it. If it’s under a tree, a shoe wedge takes care of the problem. In other words we play golf for the enjoyment of the game. In my opinion the game should be 12 holes instead of 18. Less time, less maintenance, more enjoyment.
Peter
9 months agoI love playing that game with mates, too. But it’s not golf.
Mike
9 months agoI guess that’s one of the beauties of golf, you can adapt the rules to whatever you and your friends want to do. I learned tha many people don’t take it that seriously and are out there just to have fun. I’m pretty competitive, but even I had to learn that since I’m not going to q school anytime in this lifetime, take it seriously but not uber-seriously. But rules are the rules. So don’t think I’m not going to look at you with a hairy eyeball if you tell me you’re an 8 index when I know you roll the ball, don’t count out of bounds penalties correctly, consistently take 3-ft gimmes, etc.. Play with some guys a few years ago and couldn’t figure out why they were always beating me by 5-6 strokes. Then I watched them practically tee the ball up in the rough!
Now that I have kids and have minimal spare time, my mantra is: Feel free to do whatever you want out there in terms of shots, scoring, etc. But DON’T. SLOW. ME. DOWN.
Aaron
9 months agoDid the balls curve in the opposite direction of the scuff just like the mud balls?
Joey5Picks
9 months agoYou must not have read the article. That was one of the first takeaways:
THE BALL WILL MOVE IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION OF THE MUD OR SCRAPE
I’ve taken to using the word “disruption” as a kind of a catch-all for just about anything that buggers up the surface continuity of a golf ball. What’s important to know is that, regardless of whether that disruption is mud or a scrape, gouge or cut, the ball can be expected to move in the opposite direction of the damage.
If there’s mud on the right side of the ball, it’s going to curve to the left. If you’ve got a scrape on the left side of your ball, it’s going to cause the ball to move to the right. Adjust your aim accordingly and hope for the best.
Aaron
9 months agoThanks! I don’t know how I missed that. 😄
Aaron
9 months agoDid the balls curve opposite of the scuff just like the mud balls?
Reading Comprehension
9 months agoRead the article and find out. The answer is there, if you choose to look.
Steve
9 months agoGreat information. I knew there was some effect but it was eye opening to see how much. I play desert golf so I think the game just got more expensive.
RT
9 months agoSounds like golf ball sales are slow!!!!!!
There was going to be a shortage !!!! Haven’t seen it.!!!!!
What’s next ? Golf tees ???
directional flight data is good though!!
hckymeyer
9 months agoThere is conflicting info up there, just wondering if it was a typo or if it happened? First takeaway was that the ball moves opposite the blemish. Mud on the left – ball moves right.
Then you have this takeaway – “Mud on the left side of the ball (the scenario in which we had the most mud on the ball) caused the spin axis to tilt nearly 6 1/2 degrees to the left and the ball to fly seven yards off line (also left).”
Should that be to the right? Great info and loved the article. Labs are my favorite!
Tony Covey
9 months agoGood catch. Yeah. Typo… Ball moved right. that was the one scenario in which we had the aerodynamic disruption of the left side of the ball.
Clay
9 months agoHoly cow! I’m stunned! I’m one of those players who rarely loses a ball. Instead, I tend to “play the paint off ’em.”
Time to change my game!
Pippo
9 months agoI am a 0 hcp and to be honest I often play with scuffed balls and never ever noticed any difference in shot length or ball flight. Maybe marginally difference. But nothing as shown above. Not on driver not on wedges…
joe
9 months agoGreat article.
did you publish any data on driver, iron struck on seam or brand name?
Thanks,
Joe
Gerald Foley
9 months agoI have a good friend who is a tour caddy and his player is a multi major winner. On a recent visit he gave me about 20 “used” balls his player used the previous week in a major event. Upon visual inspection they were all perfect with a light smudge here and there on the added ink stripe the player used for putting alignment. I was told the player takes the ball out of play after “4” holes or after a sand shot even if that ball was only used on a single hole. I was lucky to witness this player’s major win this summer and spoke to my friend at length after his stirring victory. On a closing hole he locked up his victory with a PW from 101 yds inside 3’. These professional players and caddies are exacting to a degree us mortals are not. They know how far they hit each club under whatever weather conditions including wind and temp and their ball is a key component in that. For most golfers hitting a ball that’s 9 holes old and dinged up is more of a financial decision when we retire it. For the big boys it’s a whole different decision. Consider that this player has Titleist custom make brand new 2017 ProV1X’s just because that’s the ball that his personal testing says suits his game best. So if anyone thinks having a scuff or chuck of mud on a ball is no biggie compare that to how the pro’s play the game.
Rob
9 months agoThis years majors winning balls were
Maters-Srixon
PGA-Callaway
US Open-Callaway
British Open-TaylorMade
So your story doesn’t hold water!
Gerald Foley
9 months agoHe’s now on Sr Tour so look up winners there.
Dillo
9 months agoNone of the 2021 men’s major winners play a Titleist ball
Gerald Foley
9 months agoDillo, I guess if you don’t consider the 2021 US Senior Open a major you’re correct. However Jim Furyk does play a 2017 spec Titleist ProV1X. My point was not to be obscure but rather compare how exacting the big boys are. Furyk as a matter of routine practice does not play a ball that might remotely have a micro scratch on it. The testing MGS did here shows how debris or scuffs can impart unwanted spin. Thus guys who play for a living have slightly higher standards than the rest of us. Furyk’s caddie Fluff Cowan has 29 tour wins with 4 majors with some pretty good players, Jacobson, Tiger, and Furyk is more accurate with distances than a laser rangefinder and reads greens literally beyond belief. Anyway, Professional golfers don’t mess around with equipment and certainly don’t play a ball in less than perfect condition.
DILLO
9 months agoYour or Rob’s replies were not live when I made my comment..
And no, of course I don’t regard the 2021 US senior open as a major simply because it’s not..
There are only 4 majors in men’s golf., as listed by ROB above..
Pros change out their balls regularly. Why wouldn’t they? They get them for free. If we mid handicap amateurs did the same we would be spending and extra 50 buck a week playing golf. A slight scuff on a golf ball is a very minor contributor to the erratic nature of our golf shots
bob
9 months agoSo the light scuff ball properly aligned down the correct side of the fairway will get you another 10 yards?!!? Awesome. I am picking up some 30 grit sandpaper at Lowe’s this afternoon.
Steve Smith
9 months agoI’m with you. I have a couple of holes that need a long power fade. A little left scuff and I can sneak it around the corner. Alas, if only I could control it that well.
Mark R
9 months agoTony,
I”m a 6 handicap index golfer who tends to not to lose many balls; my issue is normally scuffs. from normal wear and tear. This article offered solid info – when it’s beat up, time to replace. Matters more than I thought..
Thanks-
Mark R
Bill
9 months agoWhat abound magic markers drawing lines, dots etc. ?
Steve-O-hio
9 months agoI was wondering the same thing. I would imagine a little sharpie mark or two wouldn’t be that big of a deal. My question for Tony would be if balls like the Vice Drip with paint splatter would have an impact on the flight path? I have some of the Vice Drips and you can feel the paint splatter with your fingers. I wonder if the splatter is “balanced” enough that it wouldn’t disturb the flight pattern all that much. Curious to see if Tony has any thoughts on that? The article makes me feel like I should stick to white golf balls. Bummer to toss one after a minor scuff, but science don’t lie!
Bill
9 months agoGreat report
Steve S
9 months agoThanks for confirming with data what we knew about mud balls. It’s why my group and leagues I play in use “lift, clean and place(or drop)” on virtually all golf courses we play. I will also never play a scuffed ball again. I thought it was me, not the ball.(well a lot of the time it is me)
B.Boston
9 months agoI actually can take away something from this…. it shows that I need to pay attention to the balls I’m hitting at the range, and take any big movements left or right with a grain of salt if the balls look beat.
I’ll also try to align any minor damage to the top at the range. Otherwise, maybe really bad balls will be relegated to warmup and short chip work.
Greg Garner
9 months agoI recall reading somewhere (maybe here??) that you should use the best-looking range balls with your driver, medium with your mid-irons, and the absolutely wrecked ones with your wedges. I have no numerical data on this, just anecdotal, but I haven’t seen nearly as many squirrely shots in my warmups, which helps me feel more confident heading into my round that I’m not about to snap one off the tee 🙂
B.Boston
9 months agoYeah, for the long game I always use the best looking ones. I knew that generally they would fly more truly (I did not realize how impactful those scuffs and wear spots were though) and also they were less likely to mark up the face on a dark finish. Which also means my set GW get’s the worst balls since the MIM Black wedges get the “good ball” treatment too, unless it’s a 15-20 yard shot.
It’s always funny when you see some balls really drop out of the sky or start off going left to right then come back to the left as they fall down to the ground.
Terry
9 months agoI follow this practice although I am really just trying to loosen up my swing on the range.
Kenny B
9 months agoUnless the range balls are fairly new, it makes you wonder why we even hit range balls for anything other than just a swing warmup.
Leon
6 months agoI prefer to chip and putt with my gamers instead of range balls, since picking them up when finished is not an issue, like it would be if you went “downrange while the firing line is hot” with other folks still striping long irons at your back. Also, instead of trashing scuffed balls, why not store them in a separate pocket of the golf bag, or segregate them in a grocery or some such bag apart from the gamers, then donate them to the local school team’s practice range ? Video yourself doing it, then email the video to the school admin. to request a receipt for tax purposes.
John
9 months agoHow many shots were hit for each type of scuff? One shot or a bunch and then taking average data? The moderate scuff changes seem extreme, so I would assume you tested more than once to make sure it wasn’t an outlier or a fluke.