Reflective Coating for Golf Balls

[Bill Ragan]

Is there a technology available that would let me paint some small dots of a reflective coating on a golf ball, and then use a radar-type device to detect it? I know that a company called Radar Golf has developed a gps system that uses a chip inside a golf ball and a scanner to locate it, but this is $349 for the device plus you have to buy the golf balls from them.

 

[Homer Simpson]

Tie a string on to the ball and the other end on to the tee. This way you can pull it right out of the woods or the water without even looking.

 

[dduardo]

It would actually be kind of neat if they could print a passive antenna on the golf balls (think RFID) and then there would be trackers all over the course that could tell you exactly where the balls are and who they belong to.

 

[Pengwuino]

It would actually be kind of neat if they could print a passive antenna on the golf balls (think RFID) and then there would be trackers all over the course that could tell you exactly where the balls are and who they belong to.

Now THAT sounds like something that RFID would be well suited to do based on its low-profile design. I know I wouldn't just buy it, I'd probably invest in the company who would make such a thing as long as it worked. I'm sick of hitting great shots that get lost because some course doesn't cut their grass.

 

[turbo]

It would actually be kind of neat if they could print a passive antenna on the golf balls (think RFID) and then there would be trackers all over the course that could tell you exactly where the balls are and who they belong to.

That would be a big seller at the Sugarloaf course here in Maine. Robert Trent Jones designed the course and you wouldn't believe how demanding it is. When your shot misses the fairway or you overshoot a green, you are almost certainly in the woods, and I mean the woods with all the trees that naturally grew there, brush, rocks, fallen limbs, and lots of leaves. If you tend to lose balls, don't come to Sugarloaf unless you are willing to pony up for a few sleeves.

http://www.sugarloaf.com/summer/golf.html
Here's the 11th. It's a par 3 about 200 yds from tee to green, but with almost 130' drop in elevation AND you have to hit over the Carabasset River, with almost no safe place to "bail out". If there's a little tail-wind a 7-iron can be too much club. If you can gauge the wind and have confidence in your short irons, and can ignore the existence of the river, it's a good hole to go for a birdie. It is by far not the most tricky and demanding hole on the course, but I think it's the prettiest and the most fun. Of course, if you're not accurate and you lose a few of those expensive "tracking" balls in the river, that could get expensive.

 

[Danger]

I sure could use something like that. One of our courses around here has a 'Bermuda Fairway'. I lost a ball right in the middle of the damned thing. We looked for at least 5 minutes for it, checking for gopher holes, within the entire area that it could possibly have bounced or rolled to. Nothing. :grumpy:

 

[PerennialII]

eh, as a "coating guy" how about "the usual" CVD or PVD or so:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_vapor_deposition
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_vapor_deposition

 

[dduardo]

If you really wanted to get good tracking from a far distance you would need active circuitry. This could be accomplished by have a layer composed of pizeoelectric material. When the ball is struck or hits the ground the layer deforms and generates a voltage which can be used to boost the gain of the transmitting signal and thus make it easier to track the ball.

 

[Pengwuino]

I sure could use something like that. One of our courses around here has a 'Bermuda Fairway'. I lost a ball right in the middle of the damned thing. We looked for at least 5 minutes for it, checking for gopher holes, within the entire area that it could possibly have bounced or rolled to. Nothing. :grumpy:

Yah that happened to me once! Hit a ball some 290 straight in the fairway and we go look and we can't find the damn thing even though we saw it bounce adn thought we had a good read on exactly where it stopped.

 

[R&DA]

We have recently developed a paint that promises to be radar reflective. Originally meant for boats and light aircraft, it could be used for golf balls. If anyone wants to give it a try, we would be ready to assist. Contact us at r_da@verizon.net .

 

[rplatter]

Just use the metal core balls.
The core should be reflective.

Either that, or use a radar frequency that reflects off the surface of a ball. Doppler radar can see disturbances caused by rain, something similar should be able to detect Golf balls.

But these will only work while the ball is in the air.
And requires a fairly expensive setup to detect it even then.

It's probably less expensive to buy new balls.
(Either that or spend time in the water hazzards collecting the ones other people left)

 

[mugaliens]

It would actually be kind of neat if they could print a passive antenna on the golf balls (think RFID) and then there would be trackers all over the course that could tell you exactly where the balls are and who they belong to.

With all the trouble involved with RFID, I'm thinking this is one of the few solutions where calibrated video (azimuth and elevation) wouldn't suffice far better using a narrow-band, IR-emissive, UV-excited flourescent dot paint at perhaps 12 points (dimples only, please) on the ball. Three cameras, mounted off common axes, located about 2/3 the way from the tee to the cup ought to do the trick.

Hey, the az/el calibrated video is what they use to paint the 1st down lines in modern football.

 

[pallidin]

Why not just imbed a mexican jumping bean? It will be so agitated from tee-off that it should jump up and down after landing ;)