Size of the Golf Ball and Hole (Everything You Need to Know and More!)
How many cm is a golf ball? How big is a golf hole? Whether you’re designing a brand new short-game area for your basement or just plain curious, there are some golf-related questions that you just need to know the answer to. In this post, we try to tackle as many of them as possible.
How Many cm is a Golf Ball?
Let’s start with an easy one. The official governing bodies of golf (the United States Golf Association and the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews) agree that a golf ball can be no smaller than 1.68 inches in diameter and 1.62 ounces in weight. Converted to the metric system, the little white sphere needs to be 4.2672 cm in diameter and 45.9262 grams.
However, up until the 1990s, the R&A allowed golf balls to be as small as 1.62 inches or 4.1148 cm. Still, the current rule has been in effect for over 30 years, so if you want to play tour golf you had better use golf balls that adhere to this specification. Almost all golf balls nowadays are 1.68 inches because this is the best possible size for maximum distance and control over the golf shot.
Though the diameter and weight of a golf ball need to be standard, dimples on golf balls don’t. Golf ball manufacturers can create whatever patented dimple pattern they want and toss on as many dimples as they need. Anything is legal in the world of golf ball dimples. (Because of it’s small size though, the golf ball can only practically fit 500 dimples on it).
How Wide is a Golf Cart
If you’ve ever wanted to buy a golf cart and want to know its dimensions, or maybe rip through a tight alleyway at max speed, you’ll want to know how wide it is.
Most standard carts are about 4 feet in width, 8 feet in length, and 6 feet in height. That translates to 1.2192m x 2.4384m x 1.8288m. (If you’re wondering “how much does a golf cart weigh, they all weigh around 1000 pounds). Some limo carts can be up to 4 feet longer though, so be sure to check what kind of vehicle you’re getting before making any purchase.
Be it Yamaha or EZ-GO or Club Car, almost all carts will fit onto the golf course pathways. Some courses might have tight bridges or narrow underpasses that mean you’ll need to do some clever maneuvering but all will accommodate for the 4 feet width of a singular golf cart.
How Big is a Golf Hole
When I’m playing golf and hitting putts, the answer is not big enough! In all seriousness though, a standard golf hole measures 4.25 inches in diameter or about 10.8 cms. This is about 2.5 times the size of a golf ball and it’s just small enough to keep the game interesting.
“Why is it this size?” You might ask. Well, to be honest, nobody really knows. What we do know is that it all originated from the Royal Musselburgh Golf Club, where the first known hole-cutter was invented in 1829. It just so happened to measure 4.25 inches in diameter and so a new standard was born.
A lot of players argue for the merits of a larger golf hole, which would make golf more of a game of ball-striking and less of short game. Though this idea has had some significant players backing it (like Ben Hogan), it’s unlikely that the USGA and R&A are going to change the size of a golf hole any time soon.
What Are the Best Golf Balls
Regardless of whether you’re an amateur golfer with an 18 handicap or a professional golfer who’s scratch, you’ll want to know that you’re using golf balls that suit your golf game. Here are some of the best golf balls and their various attributes.
Titleist Pro V1 / Titleist Pro V1x: the “Apple” of golf balls, Tileist Pro V1 and Titleist Pro V1xs are played by professional golfers all over the globe. Boasting a urethane golf ball with high trajectory and lots of distance off the tee, great feel with the irons off the fairway, and precise greenside control, Pro Vs are truly the “elite” of the golf ball world.
Some may even say that Titleist makes the “best golf balls” and they’d be hard to argue with. The only caveat is that Pro Vs are pretty pricey. A good alternative is the Titleist NXT tour golf balls.
Taylormade TP5 / Taylormade TP5x: equally luxurious as Pro Vs but slightly less known, the only difference about Taylormade TP5s is that they are a bit firmer and tend to go farther. The general consensus is that when it comes to power distance, Taylormade takes the cake, but when it comes to straighter shots, Titleist is the one to go with.
Callaway Supersoft / Callaway Chrome Soft: like the name suggests, Callaway Supersoft and Callaway Chrome Soft are both soft golf balls. What “softness” refers to is basically how much you can compress a golf ball.
More compression = farther but less control and less compression = shorter but more control. When it comes to softness, Callaway arguably makes the softest balls in the market (the matte Callaway balls are also very fun to look at).
Some Other Notable Golf Balls
The above are some of the best golf balls (in my opinion). Some other notable ones are:
- Bridgestone (known for being Tiger Woods’ ball)
- Srixon (known for it’s softness + longness)
- Wilson Staff (known for being affordable and durable)
- Top Flite (known for its hardness and bounciness)
- Kirkland (known for being super affordable)
- Noodle (known for being super soft and affordable)
How Many cm is a Golf Ball and More!
From the number of golf clubs in a set to the size of fairways to what different putter sizes do, there are tons of questions to be asked in golf. This post has hopefully cleared some of them up for you.
You won’t need to know these if you want to play on most golf courses or even on a golf tour, but in case you’re curious…
- How Many cm is a Golf Ball: 4.2672 cm in diameter
- How Wide is a Golf Cart: 4 feet
- What Are the Best Golf Balls: Titleist, Taylormade, and Callaway (in my opinion)
- How Big is a Golf Hole: 4.25 inches in diameter
Now that you know all this, get out there, fill up your golf bags and go play a round or two! You might be able to impress your friends with some newfound knowledge…
This article is originally on Financial Pupil.
