The newest space golf stunt

[The Turlock Kid]

I'm all for Shepard (it was him right?) hitting his six-iron off of the moon, but this latest venture seems a bit too much hype.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...n_page_id=1770

Any other thoughts?

[RX Phoenix]

Had to be the biggest slice in history, not just one fairway over, try a couple hundred thousand miles right!

Is anyone going to yell FORE, maybe it's gonna hit a satellite or two before it burns up. "Uh . . . Houston, we have picked up a bogey (UFO) coming in, spheroid in shape, seems to be spinning rapidly."

Wonder what the spin rate is and how long it lasts and if that causes the ball to keep on rising indefinitely or slicing indefinitely. Maybe the ball will curve all the way around and hit the space station from behind.

Someones gotta give that cosmonaut some more lessons.

[SSandlin]

Purely for conversational purposes, since there is no atmosphere in space, spin will have minimal effect on the ball and should remain fairly constant until it hits the earth's atmosphere (the only effect being the torque it creates, but that's a very small amount). And, since the only force being applied to the golf ball is from the initial hit and the gravitational pull from the earth, it will continue on the same path as it did when it left the clubface until the earth starts to pull it in. Now, depending on which way he was pointing, that's one heck of a hook or slice. I think NASA said something like the ball will remain in orbit for about 3 days or so and travel close to one million miles.

I seem to remember hearing that Shepard's 6-iron shot went upwards of 6 miles in distance. Not a bad approach shot. What I would like to know/see is someone hit a ball from beyond any pull of gravity and straight into space. In theory, the ball would have no reason to deviate or stop if its path was clear. That could amount to millions of miles. Imagine posting that distance on your yardage sheet in the forum post.

I wonder if FootJoy makes golf gloves and shoes that fit over a space suit?

[The Turlock Kid]

I think NASA said something like the ball will remain in orbit for about 3 days or so and travel close to one million miles.

Ha!

I think it sucks that the longest drive record now belongs to a Russian cosmonaut who has never even played golf! (I don't care that he's Russian, but a non-golfer???) So would he be in the next Guiness Book? And I agree with FootJoy making that new golf glove... It's too bad astronauts and cosmonauts can only use one hand when they swing. Imagine if the space suits were thinner and they could use two hands? The shots would probably look a whole lot better.