As anyone who has played a round of golf will attest to, the sport is based around many fundamental principals of physics. These basic laws are involved with every aspect of the game from how a player swings the club to how the ball moves through the air on its way toward the pin. It is the challenge that physics presents to the golfer that has allowed the game, and equipment used, to develop so drastically over the past one hundred years. The great sport of golf was introduced to me by my dad over ten years ago. I spend hours weekly fighting the physics this sport, and it is this challenge that attracts me to the game. When deciding what to research for my YOYO project, only golf was what came to mind. The physics of this game are so vitally important to becoming a great golfer; only those that can defy the laws soundly are able to achieve greatness.
             Before delving into an elaborate discussion on the physics of golf, it is necessary to know just how far the little dimpled ball has come. The first golf balls used were called featheries. They were made with a horsehide cover packed with wet goose feathers. When the balls dried they became extremely hard. The major flaw with the featheries was that they could not be used when the conditions were wet because they would soften again.5 Despite the flaw of the featheries, they remained the only ball used up until the middle of the 19th century when the revolutionary gutta-percha ball was invented. The new ball, sometimes referred to as a "guttie", was molded from the warmed, dried gum of the sapodilla tree.5 These balls were cheap to manufacture and opened up the game of golf to a more diverse socio-economic group. This in turn made the game of golf very popular, which led to dramatic improvements in golf balls in the next decades. In 1900 a unique event occurred. Some claim tha!
             t it can be called the first professional sports endorsement. The Spalding Company paid Engl...