Relationship between Golf Clubhead Characteristics and Rebound Behaviour of a Ball

Abstract

The objective of this study was to construct a finite element (FE) model which can accurately simulate the rebound behaviour of a ball including a spin axis for a golf impact, and to investigate the effect of centre of gravity (CoG) of a clubhead on the ball rebound, by conducting an FE analysis on a ball colliding with a simplified club. The club was constructed by holding the simplified clubhead in a locking ring fitted onto a steel shaft. The club model with linear elasticity was constructed. A ball model with hyperelasticity and viscoelasticity was constructed using solid elements. Impact experiments were also conducted to devise a method for calculating a spin rate and axis using a rotation matrix and to also confirm the accuracy of the FE model. The simulated results closely matched the experimental results. The ball rebound was analysed using the constructed model by varying positions of the height and depth of the CoG. The rebound angle and backspin tended to depend on the height of the CoG and the variation seemed to be influenced by the tangential force on the impact face. In the toe and heel impact cases, the deviation angle and sidespin tended to increase with the depth of the CoG. A component of impact force, which led to a generation of the sidespin, was identified from the relationship between the variation of the sidespin and positions of the depth of the CoG.