This simple cheat sheet will tell you how mud will affect your golf ball

It’s never a good feeling when, after you’ve striped a drive right down the middle, you get to your lie only to discover that there’s a large chunk of mud attached to one side of your ball. For years I had heard that mud on the ball causes it to do crazy things in the air, but I was never sure.

Since the best way to build clarity about a theory is to test it, I did, at my school at the Club at Savannah Harbor in Savannah, Ga. Here’s a sampling of what I found:

Mud on the Left Side of Ball

Mud on the left side of the ball will almost always will cause the ball to move strongly to the rifght in the air with a “neutral” swing.

Mud on the Right Side of Ball

Mud on the right side of the ball will almost always cause the ball to move strongly to the left in the air with a neutral swing

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Mud on Top

Mud on the top, front, or back portions of the ball doesn’t necessarily affect direction (i.e., left or right), but it will cause the ball to carry significantly shorter.

Mud After Impact

Large clumps of mud will be ejected off the ball very quickly after impact; it’s the remaining small particles that alter ball flight.