Originally Posted by mikebrooman

Dimples first appeared on golf balls more than 100 years ago when golfers discovered that balls which had been scratched or roughed up traveled further than smooth balls. Dimples are what gives a golf ball lift. They create two layers of air going around the ball. The top layer is going faster than the bottom layer which creates turbulence. They also reduce the wake by keeping the boundry layer seperation to a minimum which reduces drag...so goes further.
In new zealand they make rugby ball shaped golf balls, and hit them into a big net!
Source: Aerodynamics lecturer yesterday!