Welcome

Why so many patterns?

After many years of research, surely the golf ball designers have discovered the ultimate dimple pattern, right? Indeed, the performance of golf balls has improved greatly over the past 50 years. Modern balls fly significantly farther than those with the ATTI dimple pattern, which was in use for most of the 20th century. However, at present one can argue that the introduction of yet another new pattern is more a marketing thing than anything else.

Ongoing process

Some patterns are featured on more than 70 different models, while others on only one. So far, I have tried to visualize the most common patterns. It is an ongoing effort, and hopefully I will have time to visualize all the patterns I found.

Dimple physics

A lot has been written about dimple patterns in general, how they affect drag and lift forces acting on the spinning golf ball. This site is does not get into the physics of dimples. It is - at least for now - simply an inventory of patterns in use. Please visit to youtube if you want to know more about how golf balls fly.

Pattern categories and nomenclature

Dimple patterns may be classified by how the sphere is divided into smaller identical sections. Check out the different categories here. I have given each pattern a name, encoding the category and the number of dimples and - when appropriate - appending the manufacturer that introduced the pattern.