| The other day I golfed on a course with a | | | | of all these balls is about 80,000 tons, about the size |
| spectacular 18th hole. A narrow fairway, cut into a | | | | of an aircraft carrier or similar large ship.Anyone who |
| river bank, with a steep down slope on the river side | | | | is familiar with math, or anyone who has read the |
| of the fairway, and the dense brush of the natural | | | | “DaVinci Code”, will notice that the |
| riverbank on the up slope side provided a very | | | | numbers that measure a golf ball, 1.62 for both mass |
| challenging par 4. I was playing the white tees and on | | | | and size, are suspiciously close to 1.618, the number |
| this hole, the white tee box is on a small plateau, at | | | | referred to in math as PHI, the “divine |
| least 75 yards or so from the blue tee.Play was slow, | | | | proportion” or the “golden |
| so while waiting to drive, I took a quick look in the | | | | section”. This number is found frequently in |
| brush beside the tee box. Just as I suspected, there | | | | nature as a ratio and has been used in architecture |
| were quite a few balls in there, and I pulled out about | | | | and art since the pyramids and the Parthenon. There |
| a dozen good ones in a few minutes. Spots like this | | | | is an explanation of the number in the DaVinci Code |
| often have some lost balls because the guys | | | | because Leonardo DaVinci used the ratio in his art |
| (probably guys) who duff their shots from the blue | | | | and his inventions. This led me to speculate on |
| tee are probably a bit embarrassed about looking for | | | | whether or not the numbers were used intentionally |
| their ball in the proximity of the white and red | | | | by the inventor of the golf ball.I was not able to find |
| tees.Unfortunately, I paid dearly for my find with an | | | | the answer, but the inventor of the precursor to the |
| itchy skin irritation from some sort of noxious weed | | | | modern ball, a rubber ball, was Rev. Dr. Robert |
| that must have been in that patch of rough. I had | | | | Adams, who may have also gone by the name of |
| trouble getting to sleep that night – hard to | | | | Robert Adam Paterson, who golfed at Carnoustie, |
| scratch and sleep at the same time – so I had | | | | Scotland, a course that has hosted the British Open. |
| a bit of time to ruminate on the irresistible obsession | | | | An educated Scot like Adams could very likely have |
| many golfers have with looking for lost balls. I have a | | | | been a Mason and well aware of the phenomenon of |
| five- gallon pail full of used balls in my garage, so why | | | | PHI.I then wondered if the choice was made because |
| was I so pleased to find a dozen more?My middle of | | | | the width of the ball has something to do with the |
| the night contemplation led to some speculation | | | | length of the course. If you take 1.62 inches and |
| about how many lost balls there are in the world at | | | | multiply it by a nice round number like 100,000, you |
| any given time. So the next day I got on the | | | | get 162,000 inches. Convert the inches resulting from |
| Internet and found that I was not the only one | | | | that equation to yards, the result is 7290 yards, |
| asking this question. In fact, in 2001, a golf magazine | | | | about the length of many courses, depending on |
| actually did some more or less scientific research on | | | | which tee you hit from. Was course length |
| the subject and came up with the estimate of about | | | | determined by the width of the ball or was the width |
| 2.56 billion golf balls that are lost each year around | | | | of the ball determined by course length?Fortunately, |
| the world.To put this number in perspective, I found | | | | my rash lasted only a day or so, but the itch to learn |
| out that the regulation golf ball weighs 1.62 ounces | | | | more about the relationship of the divine proportion |
| and is 1.68 inches in diameter in the U.S. and 1.62 | | | | to golf has not gone away. Could there be a |
| inches in Britain. If put end to end, the lost golf balls | | | | relationship to why golf is the perfect game but so |
| in the world would equal the distance around the | | | | hard to perfect? |
| world at the equator, about 25,000 miles. The weight | | | | |