Apollo 14 50th anniversary images find Alan Shepard's ball and how far he hit it
1–10 of 122 posts
Re: Apollo 14 50th anniversary images find Alan Shepard's ball and how far he hit it
#2For those who want the TLDR:
> "We can now fairly accurately determine that ball number one travelled 24 yards, and ball number two travelled 40 yards," says Cheshire-based Saunders, who has been working with the United States Golf Association (USGA) to mark the anniversary.
> "Unfortunately, even the impressive second shot could hardly be described as 'miles and miles and miles', but of course this has only ever been regarded as a light-hearted exaggeration."
Is 40 yards impressive? I don't know anything about golf but as an ignorant observer that sounds fairly tame.
Re: Apollo 14 50th anniversary images find Alan Shepard's ball and how far he hit it
#3For those who want the TLDR: > "We can now fairly accurately determine that ball number one travelled 24 yards, and ball number two travelled 40 yards," says Cheshire-based Saunders, who has been working with the United States Golf Association (USGA) to mark the anniversary. > "Unfortunately, even the impressive second shot could hardly be described as 'miles and miles and miles', but of course this has only ever bee…
Any shot on the moon is pretty impressive.
But yes 40 would be puny on earth.
Re: Apollo 14 50th anniversary images find Alan Shepard's ball and how far he hit it
#4For those who want the TLDR: > "We can now fairly accurately determine that ball number one travelled 24 yards, and ball number two travelled 40 yards," says Cheshire-based Saunders, who has been working with the United States Golf Association (USGA) to mark the anniversary. > "Unfortunately, even the impressive second shot could hardly be described as 'miles and miles and miles', but of course this has only ever bee…
Any shot on the moon is pretty impressive. But yes 40 would be puny on earth.
He did it one-handed (with some sort of iron IIRC), and had to 'fight' his own suit, which offered poor visibility and range of motion, as well as 'elasticity' from changes in volume.
Re: Apollo 14 50th anniversary images find Alan Shepard's ball and how far he hit it
#5For those who want the TLDR: > "We can now fairly accurately determine that ball number one travelled 24 yards, and ball number two travelled 40 yards," says Cheshire-based Saunders, who has been working with the United States Golf Association (USGA) to mark the anniversary. > "Unfortunately, even the impressive second shot could hardly be described as 'miles and miles and miles', but of course this has only ever bee…
It's impressive if you're 40 yards from the pin!
But no, it would not be very long on Earth. A Par 4 hole would usually be between 300-470 yards from the mens' tees.
Re: Apollo 14 50th anniversary images find Alan Shepard's ball and how far he hit it
#6For those who want the TLDR: > "We can now fairly accurately determine that ball number one travelled 24 yards, and ball number two travelled 40 yards," says Cheshire-based Saunders, who has been working with the United States Golf Association (USGA) to mark the anniversary. > "Unfortunately, even the impressive second shot could hardly be described as 'miles and miles and miles', but of course this has only ever bee…
The entire second half of the article is devoted to that question.
Re: Apollo 14 50th anniversary images find Alan Shepard's ball and how far he hit it
#7For those who want the TLDR: > "We can now fairly accurately determine that ball number one travelled 24 yards, and ball number two travelled 40 yards," says Cheshire-based Saunders, who has been working with the United States Golf Association (USGA) to mark the anniversary. > "Unfortunately, even the impressive second shot could hardly be described as 'miles and miles and miles', but of course this has only ever bee…
This is the problem with DR...
> While those distances may appear underwhelming, it is still an astonishing feat by Shepard
> The pressurised suits severely restricted movement, and due to their helmet's visors they struggled to even see their feet.
> I would challenge any club golfer to go to their local course and try to hit a six-iron, one-handed, with a one-quarter swing out of an unraked bunker.
> Then imagine being fully suited, helmeted and wearing thick gloves. Remember also that there was little gravity to pull the clubhead down toward the ball.
> The fact that Shepard even made contact and got the ball airborne is extremely impressive
Re: Apollo 14 50th anniversary images find Alan Shepard's ball and how far he hit it
#8Probably should have gone with the wedge with that lie.
Re: Apollo 14 50th anniversary images find Alan Shepard's ball and how far he hit it
#9I wonder if things like this would ever happen now. The original Mercury and Apollo astronauts were Air Force test pilots, a group known for picking and choosing which rules they wanted to follow. Sneaking a golf club aboard, not to mention the possibility of falling and tearing his suit, is a non-trivial risk.
It's hard to imagine that culture of risk taking still exists, but at the same time, that culture may be why they were able to get to the moon so quickly.
Re: Apollo 14 50th anniversary images find Alan Shepard's ball and how far he hit it
#10video of the shots: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_jYOubJmfM