Ball Damage

[Deadskins]

While playing yesterday, my partner and I mistakenly switched balls at the cup.  Two shots later he hit a 3 Wood squarely into tree.  At the end of the hole, we realized the switch and continued playing the correct balls.  Mine was a Pro V1X.  My round promptly turned to crap as my drives were off and putting erratic.  Four holes later, we noticed my ball was not rolling straight, threw it out and my game came back.

Could a ball be knocked out of roundness from hitting a tree?

[Hacker60521]

@Deadskins I’ve never heard of a ball being knocked out of round. But I’m looking forward to seeing what other folks say. I can see how damage to the surface (like a scuff, cut, etc ) could affect ball flight. Did the ball “look” okay?

[JDHolmes]

I actually cracked a ball by hitting a house off the tee box (200+ yds away), bounced back in bounds. Next shot was squirrley, second shot with 3 wood went 100 yds and duck hook. Inspected ball ar end of hole and it had a 2" crack.

I've hit a lot of trees in my day and never knocked a ball out of round, even balata balls. It could happen, but an X is hard and gets hit much harder at driver impact than a tree compression. My thoughts.

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[Brooky03]

The greatest amount of energy that can/will go into the ball is when it's struck by the club.  Anything it hits after that, even a concrete wall, can't/won't result in a greater transfer of energy.  This is my understanding of physics, at least.

So, no, I don't think hitting a tree could knock a ball out of round if hitting it with a club can't.

My guess is a crack or scuff.  Something caused by the roughness and hardness of the tree.