February 6th 1971 - Fra Mauro
A 6-iron clubhead outfitted with a little fitting (courtesy of the Rive Oaks CC golf pro) slid onto a retractable instrument used to collect samples while on the moon. Alan Shepard chose a six iron since the length was similar to the instrument. At the conclusion of their activities, he retrieved the club head and two balls from his pocket. Even with all his practice before flight he still shanked the first attempt. Playing golf in a full-on Apollo era EVA suit surely could not be easy. His second attempt was solid and a normal two-handed 150 yard shot went at least 200 yards - with only one hand!
Afterwards, Spalding made up limited edition boxed sets containing 12 balls individually packaged. One ball was given free with the purcahse of a dozen dot golf balls. Each golf ball has the color image from above and "First Golf Ball on the Moon" printed on it.
He gave the club to the USGA museum (where it belongs, he says) and the one you saw at the Smithsonion was a replica!
The moon club at the USGA Museum - article
here
Good
photos of the mission
Closeup
photo of the javelin and one of the golf balls on the moon
No comments:
Post a Comment