My first physics project is about golf.
I’ve been playing golf since I was 4, and after getting into physics, I realized that golf, like other sports, is physics in action.
I live in Seoul, a city with not much open land, so it’s pretty common here to learn golf in a screen golf facility with a device called TrackMan. When you hit a ball into the screen, it gives you all kinds of data; not just how far the ball travels, but also my swing speed, ball speed, attack angle, etc. Looking back, even when I first started playing, I was always drawn to those variables.
Both of my parents avid big golf fans, but my dad takes it to another level – he’s obsessed with the latest gear. He’s the first to know when something new is out. Recently, he got the super hyped “zero-torque” putter. We already have at least five putters at home, and I was fine with my old one, but my dad pushed me to try the new one – almost to the point where it got kind of annoying.
But then I gave it a shot,and strangely, it felt great!
That’s what got me curious; I wanted to know if this was some placebo effect or the actual quality of the putter. I started researching how zero-torque putters actually work, expecting to find solid explanations. But there wasn’t much – just some YouTube videos with people debating whether it’s actually better or just hype – and their conclusions were usually just “these putters are good for some but maybe not for others”. Very clear.
So I wanted to know why this putter felt so good to use. What’s actually happening?
That’s what I want to figure out, and this is going to be the focus of my first physics project.