The "Ball Under a Foot of Water" Challenge

[GolfLug]

I just tried to swing a club under 1 foot of water, and was actually surprised how little resistance I felt.

. My point! My point!

[iacas]

The reason why it's so hard is that unless you can maintain contact with the ball on the way out the ball will stop dead, and maintaining contact will be extremely difficult as the ball will have the tendency to slip off the club face.

That's not a legal golf stroke. You're not allowed to push, scrape, or spoon the ball.

[Lihu]

That's not a legal golf stroke. You're not allowed to push, scrape, or spoon the ball.

Right!

[David in FL]

Let me too go on record as saying that this thread was meant to be in good fun, @MS256, and simply played on your words. We've arranged a bet, as men often do, and it's now up to $220 versus your changing of your avatar/user title in a non-offensive way for 22 weeks. All in good fun. If you're not taking it that way, though, PM me or say so here.

Hope all is well. Again, just having some fun…

ABSOLUTEY!  If it's not taken that way, I'll immediately withdraw!

P.S. He not only would have to displace enough water to move the ball out, but the ball still has to have enough force to make it through about 17" of water in front of it. Unlike a ball on the sand, where all of the sand is UNDER the ball, the ball is riding out on a cushion of sand, not trying to power through 17" of sand.

For the record I don't think the said feat necessarily violates any laws of the known physical universe. A distant theory is that provided enough clubhead speed the club can actually displace the water in the direction of the ball and in water forces out the ball, much like sand cushion can carry a ball out of a bunker. Club might not even need to make contact. I just don't think the amount of velocity necessary is something our good friend (or with due respect, anybody on this thread, I will venture out to say) can muster on his best day.

Not sure why this would be OT as it's relevant to the topic......

@GolfLug is exactly right about how a water shot is accomplished.  Like an explosion bunker shot, the club never hits the ball, rather displaces the water with the ball in that displaced water.  I've accomplished it with the top of the ball barely covered.....but even then, the ball probably didn't go more than 20 feet or so.  It's fairly easy if at least half of the ball is exposed, which, as @Fourputt hat is generally recommended as the threshold of depth.

In order to "exploded" a ball a foot deep, you're going to have to displace at least a cubic foot of water, probably quite a bit more.  A single cubic foot of water is about 8 gallons and weighs about 65 lbs.  There's just not anywhere near that kind of force in a golf swing.....

[cipher]

I am thinking about trying this myself if @MS256 does not, even though I would have no shot of pulling it off.  I just want to actually see somebody try it. I bet @Shorty would love to give me an avatar as well, even though I would not be taking the actual bet.

[Ernest Jones]

Good luck displacing a cubic foot of water with the ~7 square inches of clubface.

[billchao]

I am thinking about taking this bet myself if @MS256 does not, even though I would be betting against myself and would have not shot of pulling it off.  I just want to actually see somebody try it.  :-D   I bet @Shorty would love to give me an avatar as well.

I had actually thought to try it, too, but the prospect of hurting myself for no good reason stopped me.

[Ernest Jones]

I had actually thought to try it, too, but the prospect of hurting myself for no good reason stopped me.

I'd want a tetenus shot and a few other precautions before wading into any of the ponds on my courses. I think everyone cares a LOT less about the "bet" than they do about the merriment of watching one of our members flailing about, knee deep in water. If MS opts out I truly hope someone else steps up. Good times await!! :-P

[GolfLug]

Good luck displacing a cubic foot of water with the ~7 square inches of clubface.

Club will actually cut through a lot of it (as Lihu seems to have already experienced). Not all it would need to be displaced.

[Fourputt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GolfLug

So this morning I find myself actually rooting for @MS256(all in good fun :-)) so I'm going to remove myself from the list of bet AGAINST and be the only one so far  I think, bet FOR. I hope ok since the bet is not on yet . Mods can advise if not ok.

1. @Golflug

Go @MS256!!

P.S. I have further OT explanation of my 'theory' so I am going to PM @iacas.

I just tried to swing a club under 1 foot of water, and was actually surprised how little resistance I felt. Even though I can probably make decent contact with the ball, I doubt my next experiment with a ball will succeed with me doing it. I might need to invite a scratch golfer to try, even then I doubt success.

The reason why it's so hard is that unless you can maintain contact with the ball on the way out the ball will stop dead, and maintaining contact will be extremely difficult as the ball will have the tendency to slip off the club face.

Pretty difficult.

And if you do maintain contact all the way to the surface, then you are "spooning" the ball which is not allowed under the rules.  The ball must be "fairly struck", meaning that there is just an instant of contact, after which the ball rebounds from the clubface.  Since the ball is only very slightly more dense than water, such an instant of contact can never impart enough momentum to propel the ball through 17 inches of resistance.  If you watch the video that inspired this thread closely, I'm not certain that the guy even touched the ball.  It appears to move a couple of inches, but it looks like that is just from the turbulence caused by the club head.

[iacas]

And if you do maintain contact all the way to the surface, then you are "spooning" the ball which is not allowed under the rules.  The ball must be "fairly struck", meaning that there is just an instant of contact, after which the ball rebounds from the clubface.  Since the ball is only very slightly more dense than water, such an instant of contact can never impart enough momentum to propel the ball through 17 inches of resistance.  If you watch the video that inspired this thread closely, I'm not certain that the guy even touched the ball.  It appears to move a couple of inches, but it looks like that is just from the turbulence caused by the club head.

Yeah. We already covered that… :D http://thesandtrap.com/t/78113/ms256-vs-physics-1-foot-underwater-versus-10-a-man/72#post_1075417

[14ledo81]

I will try it right now... Wait.... All the water near me is ice now.....

[Ernest Jones]

FWIW, I like the new thread title, seems to be a more accurate reflection of the spirit of the thread. It's a "calling out" but not meant as a mean spirited one. At this point I'd be willing to pay $10 to the first member who pulls it off successfully and $2 to the first member to attempt it on video. Even at $2 there is a potential pay-off of, what, $42 as it stands now? I just want to see some flailing!

Edit* Officially throwing the gauntlet down on a wider field.

1. @iacas

2. @Lihu
3. @jamo
4. @Golfingdad
5. @Shorty
6. @Ernest Jones
7. @boogielicious
8. @cipher
9. @JetFan1983
10. @Jakester23
11. @billchao
12. @mvmac
13. @l3rewski
14. @Pretzel
15. @David in FL
16. @flopster
17. @newtogolf
18. @scorpion12
19. @MacDutch
20. @nevets88
21. @Fourputt

Who wants to make $2 the hard way?

[iacas]

I maintain that the Sports Science video is even more convincing than this (he could barely get the ball out of spaghetti, despite the ball sitting on top of the spaghetti), but I put the ball under about 9" of water today and was able to get it to pop above the surface…

---

It's at about 2:20 in the video below.

As you can see…

• The water was frozen in the form of very, very fluffy snow. Seriously fluffy stuff. Look at how I can cut through even a few inches without losing clubhead speed.
• It took me two tries to even swing deep enough to hit the ball.
• The ball popped up about 10 inches out of the snow.
• It moved less than 10 inches forward.

I remain steadfast in my conclusion that you can't hit a ball out of a foot of water if you're a few feet from shore.

[14ledo81]

^^^^^^^ Rats. I was gonna do that. Oh well.. At least EJ owes you two bucks.

[Ernest Jones]

^^^^^^^ Rats. I was gonna do that. Oh well.. At least EJ owes you two bucks.

Nope. Sorry. No payout on snow.

[Pretzel]

FWIW, I like the new thread title, seems to be a more accurate reflection of the spirit of the thread. It's a "calling out" but not meant as a mean spirited one. At this point I'd be willing to pay $10 to the first member who pulls it off successfully and $2 to the first member to attempt it on video. Even at $2 there is a potential pay-off of, what, $42 as it stands now? I just want to see some flailing!

Edit* Officially throwing the gauntlet down on a wider field.

@iacas

@Lihu

@jamo

@Golfingdad

@Shorty

@Ernest Jones

@boogielicious

@cipher

@JetFan1983

@Jakester23

@billchao

@mvmac

@l3rewski

@Pretzel

@David in FL

@flopster

@newtogolf

@scorpion12

@MacDutch

@nevets88

@Fourputt

Who wants to make $2 the hard way?

I would do that, if I could find a body of water that wasn't currently frozen solid (with a non-rock bottom to it) within a reasonable distance. Unfortunately, considering the high in the last week has been hovering around 30*, I imagine I won't be able to find that.

[Ernest Jones]

I would do that, if I could find a body of water that wasn't currently frozen solid (with a non-rock bottom to it) within a reasonable distance. Unfortunately, considering the high in the last week has been hovering around 30*, I imagine I won't be able to find that.

Paging @Golfingdad

Time to pay the price for living in the land of the 12 month golf season. I got $2, now get in that god damn pond and flail!