Losing Golf Balls in The Air

Ghostwedge · July 22

I occasionally play golf with guys who have no idea where the ball went. I notice after a few swings their head is down and eyes still looking at the point of contact. No natural rotation or release, just a fake finish.

We don't have to be Anika Sorenstam but having playing partners be your personal ball spotter can't be fun either for the whole round.

Socrates · July 22

11 hours ago, Jeff58 said:

Our eye has two types of receptors - rods and cones. As we age, or with many types of ocular degeneration, we loose rods. Rods are primarily responsible for differentiating light and dark, as well as detecting motion.

So, the optimal golf ball pattern from a human detection point of view would have high contrast as well as a perceptible motion pattern. When we look at models currently available, none are actively trying to address the issue.

So, in the name of science and such, I have sacrificed one of my best Kirkland balls for the experiment. I’ll hit it tomorrow and see how it goes (hopefully quite well LOL).

* an initial backyard chipping experiment showed the ball to be amazingly effective at demonstrating the amount of spin induced by different techniques.

I would think at higher spin rates the ball will look completely black. I don't think it is a fluke that the predominant color is white. In the fall, I will switch to a pink ball off the tee (Wilson Duo) as that color is easiest to find in leaves.

MAF360 · July 22

I have dealt with this same thing. My optometrist and I went through multiple rounds of tweaking my contacts prescription (both astigmatism and strength) so I could track the ball better. My vision is now close to 20/15, yet I still lose the ball (especially in clouds or overcast days). Here are some things we have found, though one caveat is I am very color blind and that may be at play as well. First, dry eyes and contacts make it much harder to track the ball. Apply rewetting drops before and during your round (test this out on the range). Second, most people do not realize they suffer from dry eyes, and more specifically that their ducts in their eye lids that release oils to help with lubrication are clogged. Every night before bed apply a warm wet compress to your eyes for 20 mins. After 20 mins, gently massage your both and top eye lids (i.e. don’t just rub your whole eye at once). They also make heat masks for eyes, which I use because my wife used it at some point. This will make a significant improvement in about a week of consistent use. Third, use sunglasses with brown or green lenses. I like the Tifosi ones. Cheap enough that if I break them I will buy another pair, but made well and sturdy that they don’t look like junk.

bluedot · July 22

Ok, bear with me here…

IF you have ever had floaters of any significant size, you know that your brain will eventually learn to simply ignore the floaters; they are still there, but you don’t “see” them.

After a detached retina, I had floaters that looked like Greenland or Cuba, and sure enough after a period of months, I stopped “seeing” them. BUT once I took my eye off the ball in flight, I couldn’t pick the flight back up; sometimes I could pick up the bounce, but mostly the ball had just disappeared.

I talked about this with my ophthalmologist and retina specialist, both of whom are jocks, and they agreed that what was happening was that my brain was simply ignoring a small dark spot in my field of vision, treating a golf ball in flight, in effect, as just another floater.

Knowing this doesn’t help me see the ball, but it does make me feel a little bit better to know what’s going on.

GolferTodd · July 26

On 7/21/2025 at 3:47 PM, Socrates said:

Not too early to see an eye Dr. Especially if you are experiencing Presbyopia already. At 31, your vision should still be like a hawk unless there are underlying problems. Even at 64+ I only occasionally completely lose a ball and that is usually when it goes off in a direction I wasn't expecting and I lost it right off the face. 20/20 with contacts and no cataracts, yet.

I actually worked for a surgical retinal ophthalmologist for a year, and I got a dilated exam of my retina just because it was free, and they said that my retina was fully attached and looked completely healthy, no signs of anything pathological going on other than myopia. My myopia has stayed between -3.25 and np-3.50 for the past 10 years so I'm still not convinced that it's a pure vision thing and it is more of a brain problems so to speak. My ability to track fast, flying objects may just not be the sharpest even with perfectly corrected vision without any retina problems.

Socrates · July 26

12 hours ago, GolferTodd said:

I actually worked for a surgical retinal ophthalmologist for a year, and I got a dilated exam of my retina just because it was free, and they said that my retina was fully attached and looked completely healthy, no signs of anything pathological going on other than myopia. My myopia has stayed between -3.25 and np-3.50 for the past 10 years so I'm still not convinced that it's a pure vision thing and it is more of a brain problems so to speak. My ability to track fast, flying objects may just not be the sharpest even with perfectly corrected vision without any retina problems.

Quite a few years ago, I saw a segment on The Golf Channel (TPI, I think) where they did a segment on how the brain and the eye work together to track things like golf balls in flight. Essentially, you (your brain) is making assumptions on where the ball will be and the eyes focus on that spot allowing you to see a track a ball. For some, the tacking doesn't go well and they lose the ball in flight. Something about how fast the eye is able to adjust as the ball moves away from you. They had a methodology in training your eye and brain to work better so that you would be able to track the ball. Unfortunately, I have never been able to find the video again.

Back in the 1980's, Howard Johnson used some sort of eye exercise regime to help him see the ball better out of the pitchers hand. I know that NHL goalies use eye exercises to help them track pucks better.

1. Tracking Exercises:

Finger Tracking:

Keeping the head still, a player focuses on a finger moving back and forth or in a figure-eight pattern, mimicking the movement of the puck.
Thumb Tracking:

Similar to finger tracking, but using the thumb as the focal point. This can involve moving the thumb up and down, side to side, or in a figure-eight pattern, according to a hockey goalie coach.
Ball Tracking:

Using a small, light-colored ball, goalies will toss it against a wall and track its movement off the bounce, simulating rebounds and puck deflections.
Eye Circles:

Keeping the head still, goalies rotate their eyes in full circles in both directions, strengthening the eye muscles.

2. Visual Acuity Exercises:

Contrast Sensitivity:

This involves focusing on an object while moving around, simulating how a goalie tracks the puck through traffic and different backgrounds in the rink.

Central Fixation:
Focusing on the center of an object, rather than the entire object, which can improve the ability to discern fine details.

3. Hand-Eye Coordination:

Juggling:

Juggling with tennis balls or other small objects improves hand-eye coordination, which is crucial for catching or deflecting pucks.
Wall Juggling:

Juggling against a wall, focusing on catching the ball with the glove or blocker, simulates catching rebounds.
Tennis Ball Drills:

Various drills, like throwing a tennis ball against the wall and catching it, help improve reaction time and hand-eye coordination.

4. Mental Exercises:

Visualization:

Goalies can visualize the game, mentally tracking the puck and practicing saves in their minds.
Mental Rehearsal:

Mentally reviewing specific plays or scenarios can help goalies anticipate potential shots and improve their reaction time.

GolferTodd · July 26

6 hours ago, Socrates said:

Quite a few years ago, I saw a segment on The Golf Channel (TPI, I think) where they did a segment on how the brain and the eye work together to track things like golf balls in flight. Essentially, you (your brain) is making assumptions on where the ball will be and the eyes focus on that spot allowing you to see a track a ball. For some, the tacking doesn't go well and they lose the ball in flight. Something about how fast the eye is able to adjust as the ball moves away from you. They had a methodology in training your eye and brain to work better so that you would be able to track the ball. Unfortunately, I have never been able to find the video again.

Back in the 1980's, Howard Johnson used some sort of eye exercise regime to help him see the ball better out of the pitchers hand. I know that NHL goalies use eye exercises to help them track pucks better.

1. Tracking Exercises:

Finger Tracking:

Keeping the head still, a player focuses on a finger moving back and forth or in a figure-eight pattern, mimicking the movement of the puck.

Thumb Tracking:

Similar to finger tracking, but using the thumb as the focal point. This can involve moving the thumb up and down, side to side, or in a figure-eight pattern, according to a hockey goalie coach.

Ball Tracking:

Using a small, light-colored ball, goalies will toss it against a wall and track its movement off the bounce, simulating rebounds and puck deflections.

Eye Circles:

Keeping the head still, goalies rotate their eyes in full circles in both directions, strengthening the eye muscles.

2. Visual Acuity Exercises:

Contrast Sensitivity:

This involves focusing on an object while moving around, simulating how a goalie tracks the puck through traffic and different backgrounds in the rink.

Central Fixation:

Focusing on the center of an object, rather than the entire object, which can improve the ability to discern fine details.

3. Hand-Eye Coordination:

Juggling:

Juggling with tennis balls or other small objects improves hand-eye coordination, which is crucial for catching or deflecting pucks.

Wall Juggling:

Juggling against a wall, focusing on catching the ball with the glove or blocker, simulates catching rebounds.

Tennis Ball Drills:

Various drills, like throwing a tennis ball against the wall and catching it, help improve reaction time and hand-eye coordination.

4. Mental Exercises:

Visualization:

Goalies can visualize the game, mentally tracking the puck and practicing saves in their minds.

Mental Rehearsal:

Mentally reviewing specific plays or scenarios can help goalies anticipate potential shots and improve their reaction time.

Wow, this seems very extensive in detail and I appreciate you taking the time to post this. I haven't fully digested it. I have just seen it, but from what I can see there are a lot of related phenomenon that I can help you to train my brain to track my golf ball better. Thank you for this very very insightful post. Like I said, I obviously haven't fully digested it yet, but I will look into those methods 100%.