The average golf ball has 336 dimples

golf ball

Dimples first became a feature of golf balls when English engineer and manufacturer William Taylor, co-founder of the Taylor-Hobson company, registered a patent for a dimple design in 1905. William Taylor had realized that golf players were trying to make irregularities on their balls, noticing that used balls were going further than new ones. Hence he decided to make systematic tests to determine what surface formation would give the best flight. He then developed a pattern consisting of regularly spaced indentations over the entire surface, and later tools to help producing such balls in series.

The number of dimples on a golf ball varies, depending on the manufacturer and may even be different for different models made by the same manufacturer. Most golf balls on sale today have about 250-450 dimples, and 336 is a common number, though there have been balls with more than 1000 dimples. The record holder was a ball with 1,070 dimples.