Dimples: The final frontier of golf (ball) technology?

Forget titanium and graphite and cavity-back irons and square-headed drivers. Just when you thought golf technology had hit a speed bump comes word that future advancement lies in … dimples?

As in dimple patterns on a golf ball, designs of which apparently are still in the stone age, according to stories this weekend in the New York Times and other publications.

Heck, and I thought they couldn’t possibly improve on Titleist’s Pro-V1 or Callaway’s Tour ix. But researchers at Arizona State University and the University of Maryland tell us significant extra yardage might soon be on the way for even the shortest hitters and slowest swing speeds. Their work so far strongly suggests that the rocket scientists who’ve dramatically changed the game with their ball designs to date essentially have been winging it.

We know dimples reduce drag, thus allowing the ball to fly farther. Experts also tell us that pattern combinations are essentially infinite, leaving it nearly impossible to know the one that gives us maximum distance. But the researchers are delving into taking some of the trial and error out of the equation, as well as unveiling more efficient air flow ideas. (All this could even apply to more important things than making a better golf ball.)

Amazingly, the USGA has no rule for the size and number of dimples. The Official Rules of Golf make no mention of it either. Now, seemingly out of the blue, they’re talking about the possibility of a scientifically proven dimple pattern that could cure a hook or a slice. Imagine the price of a dozen balls if that happens! We’d pay it, too.

And just in time for baby boomers who’ve been losing distance for years. Hey, this could be the Viagra of golf technology … go for it, baby, go for it!