Effect of gravity During the last part of a golf balls flight, the gravitational forces become dominant. As the balls velocity decreases due to the drag imposed upon it, the lift decreases. At some point, the lift will no longer be greater than the weight and the ball will begin falling to the ground. The effects of the dimples on a spinning golf ball were measured experimentally. This was done by placing a model of the golf ball in a wind tunnel.
Several problems occur whenever wind tunnel experiments are made.
Scientist always seam to have answers for questions like these. Wires were used to suspend the model in the tunnel. The diameter of the wire had to be much smaller than the golf ball in order to minimize any possible interference effects. Also, to stabilize the ball, two wires had to be used. The first suspends the ball from the top of the tunnel, while the s econd stabilizes the ball from the bottom.