Golf balls having a dimple pattern arranged in a tetrahedral layout are disclosed. The dimple pattern has four substantially identical dimple sections, where each dimple section is defined by a spherical triangle. The dimples in each of the four dimple sections have at least three different dimple diameters including a minimum dimple diameter, a maximum dimple diameter, and at least one additional dimple diameter. The resulting dimple pattern has a surface coverage of about 70 percent or less. The reduced surface coverage helps to reduce the flight of the golf balls.

Golf balls having dimple patterns arranged in dipyramid layouts are disclosed. The patterns may be arranged in triangular dipyramid, quadrilateral dipyramid, pentagonal dipyramid, or hexagonal dipyramid layouts. The dipyramid patterns have six, eight, ten, or twelve substantially identical dimple sections, where each dimple section is defined by a spherical triangle. The dimples in each of the identical dimple sections have at least two different dimple diameters including a minimum dimple diameter and a maximum dimple diameter. The resulting dimple patterns have a surface coverage of about 70 percent or less. The reduced surface coverage helps to reduce the flight of the golf balls.

The present invention provides a method for arranging dimples on a golf ball surface in which the dimples are arranged in a pattern derived from at least one irregular domain generated from a regular or non-regular polyhedron. The method includes choosing control points of a polyhedron, generating an irregular domain based on those control points, packing the irregular domain with dimples, and tessellating the irregular domain to cover the surface of the golf ball. The control points include the center of a polyhedral face, a vertex of the polyhedron, a midpoint or other point on an edge of the polyhedron and others. The method ensures that the symmetry of the underlying polyhedron is preserved while minimizing or eliminating great circles due to parting lines.

The present invention is directed to golf balls having improved aerodynamic performance due, at least in part, to the selection of the plan shapes of the dimples thereon. In particular, the present invention is directed to a golf ball that includes at least a portion of its dimples having a plan shape defined by a low frequency periodic function mapped along a simple closed path. In addition, the present invention provides methods for designing dimples having a plan shape defined by a low frequency periodic function mapped along a simple closed path.

A golf ball can have a relatively large number of dimples on a surface thereof. A trajectory of the golf ball calculated under conditions of an initial speed of 260 ft/s, a launch angle of 15.0 degrees, and an initial backspin rate of 3000 rpm can satisfy the following mathematical formula:

Amin≥−5.0*Vave−38.98,

wherein A min represents a minimum value (degree) of a vector angle A in the trajectory, and Vave represents an average volume (mm.sup.3) of the dimples. The vector angle A can be calculated by the following mathematical formula:

A=ATAN(Vy/Vx),

wherein Vx represents a horizontal component of a speed of the golf ball, and Vy represents a vertical component of the speed of the golf ball.

A golf ball dimple pattern based on a square dipyramid, i.e., two square pyramids connected base-to-base, is disclosed. The dimples are arranged within four substantially identical triangular sections on each of two substantially identical hemispheres of the ball.

Golf balls having a dimple pattern arranged in an octahedral layout are disclosed. The dimple pattern has eight substantially identical dimple sections, where each dimple section is defined by a spherical triangle. The dimples in each of the eight dimple sections have at least three different dimple diameters including a minimum dimple diameter, a maximum dimple diameter, and at least one additional dimple diameter. The resulting dimple pattern has a surface coverage of about 70 percent or less. The reduced surface coverage helps to reduce the flight of the golf balls.

A golf ball has a generally spherical surface and a plurality of dimples formed on the surface. The dimples are arranged in a dimple pattern defined by a heptagonal dipyramid projected on the surface. The pattern includes fourteen substantially identical dimple sections including seven dimple sections in a first hemisphere and seven dimple sections in a second hemisphere.

Golf ball having a generally spherical surface and comprising a plurality of dimples separated by a land area formed on the ball surface, wherein the plurality of dimples includes at least one non-spherical dimple having a non-axially symmetric plan shape and a defined point of maximum dimple depth, wherein: (i) each dimple cross-section of the non-spherical dimple consists of two arcs, each arc extending from the defined point of maximum dimple depth to a point at the land area of the golf ball; and (ii) every point on the perimeter of the non-spherical dimple is located at a radial angle, θ, about a unit circle, where 0<θ<2π, and the edge angle value of the non-spherical dimple at any given point on the perimeter is defined by the solution of an edge angle function f(θ), wherein f(θ) is a non-periodic, continuous, differentiable function.

Golf balls having dimple patterns arranged in dipyramid layouts are disclosed. The patterns may be arranged in triangular dipyramid, quadrilateral dipyramid, pentagonal dipyramid, or hexagonal dipyramid layouts. The dipyramid patterns have six, eight, ten, or twelve substantially identical dimple sections, where each dimple section is defined by a spherical triangle. The dimples in each of the identical dimple sections have at least two different dimple diameters including a minimum dimple diameter and a maximum dimple diameter. The resulting dimple patterns have a surface coverage of about 70 percent or less. The reduced surface coverage helps to reduce the flight of the golf balls.