[BerntR]

Practically, at right angles is excellent. I wish I had read the book many years ago and it is right in line with all modern ball flight theory. Especially, since the golf balls have become more solid.

I think Homer is incorrect about how a perfectly straight shot is created. I think it is more logical to consider the path of the club during the impact interval as a tangent instead of a cord.

I think of impact interval as a circular motion by the club. The motion of the ball is a little more complex I guess. After all, the ball is being quite deformed and doesn't get back to normal shape before it's in the air.

I'm not sure what Homer said about a perfectly straight shot. But based on his impact drawings in ch two, i would say that a straight shot with as perfect as it gets compression would require a vertical hinge. Becaus a horisontal hinge would impose the rotation rate of the hinge itself on the ball. So even though we assume that separation occurs at low poing and club face pointing towards target it will be a small draw. But we are perhaps talking so small that it isn't even measurable.

I think that the ball does not get carried down and to the right during the interval.

There could be a little of both here. The part of the ball that sticks to the club face could be carried down and to the right, while the part furthest away from the line of compression move up and towards the inside of the club face. This is just a excample as I know very little about how the ball behaves during impact in detail. But there's no doubt that there is som serious redistribution of mass going on in the ball during impact. Elastic deformation. Of course, how the ball deforms and how it recovers will have an impact on the ball flight.

Otherwise the implications would be inconsistent with practically at right angles. It would also suggest that a ball resting on the ground is getting rammed into the ground some amount.

I agree the collision is so violent, as has been expressed here by many, to think that the ball simply does nothing but get carried from one place to another without anything else happening but compression seems illogical.

JG

Pehaps we should talk about elastic deformation, energy storage and elastic recovery instead. I bet the makeup of the ball can make a difference here.