Notice how the turbulators help break up the airflow.
PING
When you actually stop and think about it, the act of hitting a golf ball is a pretty astonishing feat. Even for recreational golfers, how often do you get to do anything sports-related at over 90 mph, launching a ball 150 mph along the way.
The design of the golf club itself is, obviously, an integral part of being able to do that. The engineers designing the club factor in everything, from the weight, design, shape and the aerodynamics.
I was reminded of the latter earlier this week when PING dusted off some old footage from its video vault showing the company wind tunnel testing its G30 driver, the first driver to feature “turbulators” on the crown of the clubhead. Here, you can see why.
When researching the design of the club, they found that the inclusion of turbulators on the crown of the clubhead broke up the air flow far sooner than a clubhead without them, which the company says reduces drag and allows for faster clubhead speeds.
Luke Kerr-Dineen is the Game Improvement Editor at GOLF Magazine and GOLF.com. In his role he oversees the brand’s game improvement content spanning instruction, equipment, health and fitness, across all of GOLF’s multimedia platforms.
An alumni of the International Junior Golf Academy and the University of South Carolina–Beaufort golf team, where he helped them to No. 1 in the national NAIA rankings, Luke moved to New York in 2012 to pursue his Masters degree in Journalism from Columbia University. His work has also appeared in USA Today, Golf Digest, Newsweek and The Daily Beast.