Golf at elevation

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By Chris K

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  1. Chris K

    Chris K
    Calgary, AB

    Just wondering if anyone has any opinions or thoughts about golfing at different elevations.  For example, have you experienced noticable differences in your shot distances, or is the effect largely superficial. 

    I live in Calgary, AB, Canada, in the foothills of the Rockies, at an elevation of ~3700ft above sea level.  There are many mountain courses I play that are at elevations above 5000ft.  Most of my golf has been played in western Canada, probably above 2000ft, with very few rounds close to sea level, so I don't have much of a basis for comparison.

    I was once told (apparently second-hand from a PGA tour player) that the reason the tour doesn't play in mountain regions, is that most of the courses could not be lengthened enough to significantly challenge most PGA players. 

    Maybe someone from Titleist could validate this from a scientific/ball-flight aerodynamics perspective.

     

    Cheers.

  2. 19hole

    19hole
    Reading, MA

    At the elevations you play at (3700' - 5000' ASL) the ball will travel between 8%-12% farther than at sea level. It becomes an interesting trade-off. The higher you go, the less dense the air is. Without doing all of the math, you get to a point of diminishing return. You need the air to be dense to support the lift of the ball, but the density also contributes to drag which will make the ball fly a shorter distance. At the elevations you refer too, there is enough air density to support lift but the air is also just enough less dense tha tthe darg is reduced and you get the extra distance.

    The Tour was playing at Castle Pines in Colorado and the distance they hit the ball was incredible!

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