On February 5 , 1971 , Apollo 14 bear on down on theMoon . As well as equipment for undertake to determine the national complex body part of our satellite , and to appraise the composition of the lunar atmosphere , the spaceman take with them a six - branding iron golf lodge head and some golf balls .
The head had been attached to the handle of asample - collection puppet , which you ’ll notice is not a character of club favour by the professional . The follow sidereal day , astronaut Alan Shepard get to do what nobody had done before , and do his swing on the Moon .
His first shots did not go well , skimming the top of the formal and ship it just a few feet . On the third swing , clearly motivated by this numeration against his grievance , he unite and the chunk flew out of shot on a clean low trajectory . Shepard managed to hit the 2d lump on the first attempt , believingit had gone " miles and miles and miles " .
Ball number 1.Image courtesy of NASA/JSC/ASU/AndySaunders
One of the ball was found by fellow cosmonaut Edgar Mitchell in a nearby crater , but the second was n’t find until half a century later when visualise specialistAndy Saundersdigitally enhanced scans of the original film taken during Apollo 14 . Rather than the " miles and miles and sea mile " Shepard had think he ’d hit , Saunders ' depth psychology bring out that , despite the low-toned gravity on the Moon , the ball had not get far at all .
" We can now determine the rough distances of both shot , " Saunders wrote for theUS Golfer ’s Association(USGA ) . " Ball number one ( 24 yards ) [ 22 meter ] and ball issue two ( 40 one thousand ) [ 36 meters ] . "
However , as Saunders countered , " The fact that Shepard even made contact lens and got the testicle airborne is highly telling . " The suit of clothes would have restricted movement and the helmet would have made it very tough to see , not to mention the one - 6th somberness and deficiency of atmosphere .
Ball number 2.Image courtesy of NASA/JSC/ASU/AndySaunders
" I would challenge any club linksman to go to their local course and essay to strike a six - iron , one - handed , with a one - quarter swing out of an unraked trap , " he toldBBC Sport . " Then opine being fully suited , helmeted and wearing thick gloves . Remember also that there was little sobriety to pull in the club head down toward the ball . "
Kudos to Shepard for being the first person to golf game on the Moon , but it was , in all satinpod , a terrible scene , even if he was wear out a awkward spacesuit .
" As a professional , I find out a multitude of alibi for poor golf carrying out , ' the club are too old ' , ' I never get to recreate ' , ' I ’m injured ' , " pro golferGary Feltontold IFLScience . " The truth is that some golfers are bad golfers and they lie . They lie about why they play badly , they lie also about their functioning . Mr Shepard was , unfortunately , a golfer who despite arguably ill - advised golfing dress , was a number of a fabricator . You disastrously blow up your operation on the Moon . "
Saunders look that if a professional golf player were to hit a golf ball on the Moon at 298 kilometers per hour ( 185 nautical mile per hour ) – 2016 PGA champion Jimmy Walker ’s Earthbound speed – at a clean 45 - degree slant , they could outshine Shepard by landing the ball an telling 4.22 kilometers ( 2.62 miles ) away , having stay in the atmosphere for a full minute .
" My passport for golfers who choose toplay the baronial gamein space suits on the Moon would be a wider stance and a shortsighted backswing , " Felton commented . " And verify no one is watching . "
An earlier version of this article was print inFebruary 2021 .
