Record Hit For Six

Newcastle Herald

Tuesday November 21, 2006

WEIRD SCIENCE WITH EDDIE O'REILLY

WHEN a professional golfer takes a swing the head of the club can be travelling at about 160 kmh when it hits the ball.

The path of the ball is then set by three things: its initial speed, the angle at which it launches, and any spin on the ball.

Of course, a handy tailwind won't hurt.

A ball with plenty of backspin will "lift" travelling further than one without spin.

The dimples on a spinning ball create turbulence that reduces its drag but also pushes the air behind it, slowing its drop.

All this means you can hit a little ball a long way, though trying to find a definitive record for the longest hit in history is tricky.

Some say the title belongs to Mike Austin, who in 1974 belted one 471 metres during the US seniors open in Vegas the longest recorded at a PGA event. Others rate Scott Smith who during a windswept qualifier slugged a ball 493 metres in 2004.

Meanwhile, in 1990, Kelly Murray set a record when he blasted one 626 metres down an airstrip in British Columbia.

But all of this will become history tomorrow when a Russian cosmonaut tees off from the International Space Station as a stunt for a Canadian golf company.

The Russians say the ball will stay in orbit for up to three-and-half years, though a more down-to-earth NASA expects it to burn up on re-entry in less than three days.

While the golfer's swing will be hampered by his space suit, the fact that the ISS is travelling at thousands of kilometres an hour is going to give the ball a boost.

But it still won't be enough to take the record for the first golf ball in space, that belongs to America's first spaceman Alan Shepard, who did a quick round of three during the Apollo 14 moon mission in 1971.

He muffed the first, hooked the second, but nailed the third which went, according to Shepard "for miles and miles and miles", though no one was around to verify it.

Russia is offering tourists the chance to tee off from the "ISS Golf and Leisure Club" for a cool $15 million, on top of the $20 million it charges to get to the station.

© 2006 Newcastle Herald

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