Brady Ryan Sage
8th Grade, Saint Thomas More Middle School
Rapid City, SD
Optimizing Driver Flight Distance and Accuracy
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Project Background
Brady loves to play golf and is always trying to improve his game. “Over the years of playing golf, I have struggled with determining the correct tee height and the optimal placement of the ball in my stance when using a driver,” he says. Because the driver hits the first long distance shot down the green, a long shot with backspin yields the best distance with control. But if Brady tested all the variables himself, he’d quickly wear out from so many drives. He decided to build a machine to hit the ball the same way every time.
Tactics and Results
Brady modified a clay pigeon launcher, making it rotate the clubhead of a driver to hit a golf ball. He brought the machine to a golf simulator, and used it to test four different tee heights, 3 cm, 2.5 cm, 2 cm, and 1.5 cm, and three different tee positions: Centered, 2 cm forward and 2 cm back. The launch monitor on the golf simulator then told him which balls would fly the farthest and have the most backspin. He tested each position 10 times, and found that the second-highest tee, positioned 2 cm forward, gave him the best total distance -– it kept the ball in the air for the second-longest amount of time, and the ball still rolled when it landed. But it was the highest tee, furthest back, that gave him the most backspin, increasing his control when the ball hit the ground.
Beyond the Project
Obviously, Brady loves to play golf. He has been competing for the past four years. Brady also likes Destination Imagination, a team-based creative science competition. “I enjoy golf, Destination Imagination (DI), and skiing the most because they require mental and physical endurance and perseverance,” he says. Brady also plays trumpet at his church for special masses and funerals, and volunteers for church events making balloon animals. He’d like to be a mechanical engineer. “I think it’s fun to imagine machines that would make life more efficient and help people,” he says.
