weather conditions effecting distance of golf ball

Question
A few years back an engineer friend told me there was a German formuly that explained why a golf ball could travel further on a cloudy day with more moisture in the air than a bright clear day. He said the ball would slide further in the air due to the moisture. It didn't make sence to me. What do you think?       Thanks in advance      Dick

Answer
Hi Dick,

Your friend is correct.
As humidity increases, air density decreases. Less dense air creates less lift and less drag. The difference in ball flight between low humidity and high humidity is not that significant. I have not found any source that quanitifies the effect other than my own computer model for golf ball flight. As an example, my computer model predicts: Conditions: temperature = 30 degrees Celsius humidity = 20% air density = 1.158 kg/m^3 driver carry = 247.2 yd flight time = 6.1 s maximum height reached = 25.4 yd same temperature humidity = 80% air density = 1.170 kg/m^3 driver carry = 248.4 yd flight time = 6.1 s maximum height reached = 25.2 yd As you can see, the difference very small, so small that it would be difficult to verify experimentally. Hope this helps.

Please visit and patronize my site.

www.probablegolfinstruction.com

Best regards,
Ken Tannar