last weeks PGA Championship in Oak Hill saw heavy rain during Saturday’s third inning, which only added to the variables players had to take into account when taking shots from the rough approach and fairway.
With that in mind, this week’s episode GOLF Fully equipped podcast decided to delve into this topic – Jonathan Wall started it with a question from Golf Laboratories’ Gene Parente. “How exactly does moisture affect performance?”
Thanks to robotic tests conducted by Golf labsGene was able to analyze what happens to golf strokes in a variety of wet conditions, including simulated rough surfaces.
“Water has a big effect on the golf ball… and what I’ve learned (through the testing process) is that water is a huge X factor that you just can’t control,” said Gene. “Shooting from the rough terrain is also fascinating… we found that under simulated conditions, and even in laboratory conditions, the reaction of the ball is random, even at thousands of revolutions per minute.”
It is these thousands of revolutions per minute that create shots that randomly fly much longer or shorter than the intended distance. Random! That’s why it’s so important to choose conservative targets when playing in wet conditions and even with dew – you just don’t know where your ball might land.
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