Golf balls having core formulations including polybutadiene, butyl rubber, or a blend thereof, and low surface coverage dimple patterns are disclosed. The combination of low surface coverage with particular rubber formulations helps to reduce the flight of the ball while also providing improved aerodynamic consistency and maintaining the appearance of a high-performance trajectory.

A golf ball having a North pole and a South pole, an equator and a primary meridian, the equator and primary meridian divide the ball into North, South, East and West hemispheres, and Northeast, Northwest, Southeast and Southwest quadrants. A grid pattern projected on the ball surface divides the ball laterally and longitudinally into a number of overlapping zones. The dimples within the zones have average depths hex, hsx, hpx, hei, hsi and hpi and selected values of Δe, Δs and Δp which are the difference between the minimum and maximum values of the relative ratios of the dimple depths, hex.sub.r/hei.sub.r, hsx.sub.r/hsi.sub.r and hpx.sub.r/hpi.sub.r determined when the ball is rotated by a value of θ from 0 to 360° about its polar axis.

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 core formulations including polybutadiene, butyl rubber, or a blend thereof, and low surface coverage dimple patterns are disclosed. The combination of low surface coverage with particular rubber formulations helps to reduce the flight of the ball while also providing improved aerodynamic consistency and maintaining the appearance of a high-performance trajectory.

Golf balls having core formulations including polybutadiene, butyl rubber, or a blend thereof, and low surface coverage dimple patterns are disclosed. The combination of low surface coverage with particular rubber formulations helps to reduce the flight of the ball while also providing improved aerodynamic consistency and maintaining the appearance of a high-performance trajectory.

Golf balls having core formulations including polybutadiene, butyl rubber, or a blend thereof, and low surface coverage dimple patterns are disclosed. The combination of low surface coverage with particular rubber formulations helps to reduce the flight of the ball while also providing improved aerodynamic consistency and maintaining the appearance of a high-performance trajectory.

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.

A golf ball which, when orientated in the cross seam direction, has an equator at latitude 0°, and poles at latitude 90° and longitude 0°, an equator region Ex at latitudes 0 to 25°, a region Ei at longitudes 0 to 25°, a shoulder region Sx at latitudes from more than 25° to less than 65°, a region Si at longitudes from more than 25° to less than 65°, a pole region Px at latitudes 65° to 90°, and a region Pi at longitudes 650 to 90°. The ball dimple pattern has the following average dimple depths, hex in the region Ex, hsx in the region Sx, hpx in the region Px, hei in the region Ei, hsi in the region Si and hpi in the region Pi; and the ratios hex/hei, hsx/hsi and hpx/hpi are each greater than or equal to about 0.75 and less than or equal to about 1.20.

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 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.