drmoose: I still believe the ball speeding away from the hole faster than it approaches goes against the laws of physics and is the result of flawed programming intentional or otherwise on the part of WGT which results in shots/putts being denied that should have dropped into the cup. Once again , this is only an observation on my part, but, I'd still like to hear some theory as to why it happens other than "processing the graphics" which I don't think really covers it.
Dr. M, Here is a discussion on a physics forum that addresses your point. And yes, they agree with you it is impossible for the ball to gain speed on a lip out as no additional energy is added.
Can a golf ball gain speed when it goes round the hole and doesn't drop?
They conclude it is an optical illusion that it appears to gain speed due to the perspective of the golfer. The ball is moving directly away from us and so "appears not to be moving very fast at all (same as a star moving away
from us at light years of speed but appears not to be moving - this is called "angular speed and in this case is zero. Note that
"angular speed" is not the same as "actual speed". Angular speed is
about how fast something moves across your vision). When the balls comes
off the hole at 90 degrees, it suddenly has a lot of angular speed
(from the ball striker's perspective) but no more actual speed. The
human eyes and brain confuse angular speed with actual speed.)"
Another way to look at it is on a race track, cars moving down the straightaway appear to be moving slower than when they cross our field of vision in the corner.
As seen in this video of an Indy 500.
Bottom line, it appears to be accelerating, but its not.