THE PERFECT LIEStudying the lie of a golf ball on fairway turf with a Lie-N-Eye.by LUKE CELLA, CGCS, and TOM VOIGT, Ph.D.

~

THOUGH the Rules of Golfnever mention the word fairway,

everyone associated with golfknows that fairways are an integral partof most courses. The history of the golfcourse fairway is somewhat like mostevolutions where humans are involved.lbere was a gap between the teeing andputting grounds and, over time, fair-ways filled that void.

Originally, golf course fairways wereknown as fairgreens. These were areasthat golfers would try to reach fromthe teeing area to set up the next shot.These areas contained some managedturf and gave a clear shot to the green.No one is quite certain if the managedturf was more important than the clearshot to the green on these early fair-ways. It could be imagined that bothattributes were important to the earlygolfer, especially when finding the ballcould have been quite a challenge. Inthese early days, the function of the

fairway was not completely clear, andthe fairway's form followed the naturalcontour of the course.

Today, fairways make up the largestpart of finely managed turf on most golfcourses. A typical IS-hole golf coursecan have between 30 and 60 acresof intensively managed fairway turf.Newly constructed golf course fairwaysare shaped and graded with specializedequipment to form smooth, contouredsurfaces. At one time, having irrigatedfairways was unique enough to use asan advertising advantage; now, irri-gated fairways are commonplace andexpected in most areas. Advancementsin mowing equipment and mainte-nance practices have led to closer andcloser mowing of golf course fairways.The driving force behind the state ofthe golf course fairway today is thatmost golfers have come to expect a ballcleanly perched on a well-drained,uniform, verdant fairway.

Fairways have become very impor-tant on each golf course primarilybecause golfers know that they shouldalways play the ball as it lies. Thisdictate comes into effect after one hashit the ball from the teeing ground andis playing from the area deemedthrough the green. Through the green isdefined as the "whole area of the golfcourse except the teeing ground andthe putting green of the hole beingplayed and all hazards on the course."Golf course roughs, surrounds, aprons,native vegetation, forests, decorativeplantings, and fairways fall under thisdefinition. Since most of the game isplayed from these areas, the lie of thegolf ball on the fairway is importantbecause it provides a better lie than anyother through-the-green area. The lie ofthe ball is produced by all of the turfspecies and/or cultivars and the man-agement practices employed to main-tain them.

Lie-N-Eye is a device developed by University of Illinois researchers to measure theability of a turfgrass species to support a golf ball under a typical fairway setting.

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2001 5

The numbers represent the mean amount of golf ball exposed above the Kentuckybluegrass canopy (measured in mm). The means followed by the same letter are notsignificantly different, according to Fisher's Protected LSD.

The importance of the golf ball lie(what we are referring to as the amountof a golf ball exposed above the canopy)can be expressed using simple physics.A golf ball in contact with a lofted clubhas two main types of force acting uponit, one normal (at a 90° angle) to theface of the club and one parallel(tangential) to it. The force normal tothe club generally affects the velocity,while the tangential force rotates theball. The rotation or spin (when a ballis hit correctly, backspin or under spin)placed upon the ball is necessary forproper lift and flight. The backspinimparted on the ball creates an upwardforce or lift, similar to an airplanewing.

There is another force acting be-tween the ball and clubface known asfriction. Increasing the roughness of theclubface increases the friction, allowinga rough clubface to grab the ball morethan a smooth clubface would. This canincrease the tangential force needed tospin the ball effectively.Ball spin greatlyaffects the flight path of the golf ball:sidespin results in a hooked or slicedball, while topspin results in a ball withnegative lift, creating a quickly divingpath of flight. When there is an inade-quate amount of the ball exposed abovethe turf canopy, there may not beenough friction to give the ball thedesired spin. Most golfers have heard ofa flier lie that often occurs when a ballis nestled down in the turf canopy,usually in the rough. Here, the grassblades that are between the clubfaceand ball are crushed, lubricating thetwo surfaces. In this situation, the club-face imparts less backspin on the ball,and ball flight and landing are lesscontrolled.

Though the lie of the golf ball isrelative to each particular golfer, the liecan still be quantified. This can beaccomplished by accurately measuringthe amount of golf ball exposed above

the surface canopy of the fairway. A golfball in accordance with the Rules ofGolf must not be less than 1.680 inchesin diameter. The greater the amount ofball above the canopy, the better the lieof the ball. A good lie allows the golferto strike the ball cleanly with the cluband impart the desired amount ofbackspin needed for proper shotcontrol. With this in mind, we intendedto create an instrument that wouldaccurately measure golf ball lie onfairway turf, especially on higher-cutturf (0.75" to 1").

The Development of the DeviceA device called a Lie-N-Eye is de-

signed and constructed to measure theability of a turfgrass species to supporta golf ball under a typical fairwaysetting. The main component of theLie-N-eye is a Mitutoyo Digimatic@Caliper. The caliper accurately mea-sures an object by means of positioningthe object between two jaws. In thisproject, the two jaws were adapted byadding necessary surfaces to measureball position on golf course fairway turf.The first surface or plate was made fromstainless steel and was added to theupper movable jaw. The lower measur-ing surface was added to the lowerstationary jaw of the caliper and wasconstructed from sheet acrylic. Thetransparent property of the acrylicsheet was necessary to align the lowersurface with the upper plane of theturfgrass canopy. A handle was alsoadded through this lower measuringsurface for two purposes. The first andobvious reason was to give the operatora place to hold the instrument. Thesecond was to provide a means bywhich to place the instrument in theground in a stable manner. This wasachieved by grinding the opposing endof the handle to points and usingthem to position the instrument in theturf.

The operation of the Lie-N-Eye isvery simple. After a golf ball has beenuniformly rolled or dropped onto fair-way turf, the user opens the jaw of thedevice past the target zone of measure-ment. The Lie-N-Eye is then placedalongside the ball and the lower surfaceof the acrylic sheet is lined up with theupper edge of the turfgrass canopy. Theupper measuring surface of the Lie-N-Eye is then lowered onto the top of theball and the measurement is shown onthe liquid crystal display of the caliperand recorded.

A second, improved device, Lie-N-Eye II was developed to detect dif-ferences on shorter-cut fairway turf(0.375" to 0.625") and improve datacollection. The basic operating prin-ciple of the Lie-N-Eye was used in thedevelopment of the Lie-N-Eye II, butthe new device differed in severalcharacteristics. Those characteristicswere as follows:

• The lower measuring surface wasmachined to surround the golf ball onthree sides.

• The upper measuring surface wasresized and positioned to measure theball perpendicular to the caliper.

•The handle was moved to the rearof the device.

• The Lie-N-Eye II used a MitutoyoDigimatic@Absolute Caliper with SPC(Statistical Process Control) output.

• The SPC output enabled a directlink to a Palm™IlIx organizer runningDataGet™ software.

Testing and Results of the Devices

The Lie-N-Eye was tested in 1999 on25 Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensisL.) cultivars grown to simulate golfcourse fairway conditions in Urbana,Illinois, at the University of IllinoisTurfgrass Research Center. They wereplanted in a randomized completeblock with three replications, main-tained at 0.875", fertilized with 4 lbs.N/l,OOO sq. ft. per year, and irrigatedto prevent stress. The Lie-N-Eye wastested by uniformly rolling six balls ontoeach plot and measuring each ball fora total of 18 ball lie measurements percultivar.

The results of this test show thatthe Lie-N-Eye was able to measuresmall differences in ball lie among thevarious Kentucky bluegrass cultivars.Obviously, if planting Kentucky blue-grass fairways, cultivars that not onlyhave good pest resistance and ap-pearance but also possess t~e ability toprovide a good ball lie should be con-

6 USGA GREEN SECTION RECORD

• Growth regulation.• Turfgrass morphology.• Traffic.• Golferlballlie interaction.Good golf ball lie is an important

characteristic of a quality fairway. Any-thing that furthers the understandingand development of improving fairwayball lie will potentially make golf thatmuch more enjoyable for golfers andturf managers alike.

ReferencesBeard, J. B. 1973. Turfgrass science andculture. Prentice Hall, Inc. EnglewoodCliffs, New Jersey.Beard, J. B. 1982. Turf management for golfcourses. Macmillan Publishing Company.New York, New York.Gross, P. J. 2000. How fair are your fair-ways? A report card for evaluating fairways.USGA Green Section Record. 38(2):1-5.Haake, S. J. 1998. The physics of golf.Science Spectra. 13(2) :48-56.Hurdzan, M. J. 1996. Golf course architec-ture design, construction, and restoration.Sleeping Bear Press. Chelsea, Michigan.Jorgensen, T. P. 1999. The physics of golf.2nd ed .. Springer-Verlag New York, Inc.New York, New York.Steel, R.D.G., and J. H. Torrie. 1980. Prin-ciples and procedures of statistics: A bio-metrical approach. 2nd ed. McGraw-Hill.New York, New York.Turgeon, A. J. 1996. Turfgrass management.3rd ed. Prentice-Hall. Englewood Cliffs,New Jersey.United States Golf Association. 1999. Therules of golf 2000-01 and the rules ofamateur status. Far Hills, N.J., USA.

LUKE CELLA recently became the super-intendent at Tamarack Golf Club inNaperville, Illinois, after completing an M.S.degree at the University of Illinois in May2001.DR. TOM VOIGT is an Assistant Professorand Turfgrass Extensirn Specialist at theUniversity of Illinois.

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Lie Mean(mm)

25.9dh25.8di'25.7di '25.7di25.6ei25.6ei25Afj25.2gk25.1hk23.81k23.4jk23.3K

Cultivar '" f' . 'd" <

L-93 ' ~11::';, :' ~,:' ~Providence ,!;;"'; i'ifl, 1

SR7100 ,<:::,;i::;;J,l:r

Pen cross '1,;Ri ~1<, ~ lllj

SRX7MOBB ./I!l:"i:j

TIger. ,::1,LSD

,tMeans followed by the same'letter are not sigtiifi~andy 4ifferent~ a:ccord~pgto I, Fisher's Protected LSD (0.05). '

The Lie-N-Eye and Lie-N-Eye IIwere designed to aid in the turfgrassselection process, as well as to judgethe suitability of a turfgrass to supporta golf ball in a fairway setting in anobjective manner. The ability to mea-sure and accurately quantify golf ball liehas interested others in this character-istic of golf course fairway turf. Studiesare now being conducted on warm-season turfgrasses (bermudagrass) usedfor fairway turf to identify differences inthe ball-lie ability of these turfs.

Other proposed work with the Lie-N-Eye II includes measuring the addi-tional effects of turf species or cultivarselection and also management prac-tices on golf ball lie. These may includethe following:

• Management practices (fertilization,irrigation, cultivation, and mowing).

CultivarConni ' 'r ,':?'"'I:,'i

Serene'" :RamboPrinceton 105AllureRavenMidnightExplorerGladeKenblueWildwoodChallenger

Lie Mean(mm)

28.4at2R3ab

,1, 28.0ac27.8ad27.5ae27.6af27Aaf27.~ag27.0ah26.6ah26.5ah26.2bh26.1ch

tMeans followed by the same letter are not significantly different, according toFisher's Protected LSD (0.05).

'Cultivar,ilAmerica ::r:,m

NorthStarOdysseyBaronLimousineEclipseAbsoluteAwardSR2000SR2109NuGladeTotalEclipseRugbyll

LSD

sidered. Conversely, cultivars that mayoffer a less desirable ball lie should beavoided.

The Lie-N-Eye II was tested in asimilar fashion in 2000, but on sixbentgrass (Agrostis spp.) fairway turfs.Three colonial bentgrass (A. tenuisSibth.) and three creeping bentgrass (A.palustris Huds.) cultivars were testedat the University of Illinois LandscapeHorticulture Research Center. Thebentgrass cultivars were planted in arandomized complete block with threereplications, maintained at 0.5", fertil-ized with 4lbs. N/l,OOO sq. ft. per year,and irrigated to prevent stress. TheLie-N-Eye II was tested by uniformlyrolling six balls onto each plot andmeasuring each ball for a total of 18balllie measurements per cultivar. Resultsof these measurements indicate thatthe Lie-N-Eye II was able to identifysmall differences on the lower-cutbentgrass turf.

Future Use of the New DeviceThe results of these tests indicate that

golf ball lie is determined, at least inpart, by turfgrass species and/or culti-var. The reasons behind these differ-ences have not been adequately studied;however, we can speculate that mor-phological characteristics (e.g., densityor leaf width or angle) and/or physi-ology (e.g., cell wall constituents) playa role. What we do know now, due tothe ability to measure ball lie, is thatdifferences between turfs do exist.

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2001 7