I can’t say for sure regarding the speed of the golf ball but the site that I cited (wow is that a strange read) discusses the speed of a golf ball but doesn’t list that among the top three. My guess is that it loses speed so quickly after leaving the club head as to be no longer comparable. Your reference is to a golf related webpage that would be expected to be a little prejudice and as pointed out below isn’t too accurate in its info.
The cite you give incorrectly states that 1) Roscoe Tanner has the fastest serve in tennis (see my cite which has documented records and has been discussed above), and 2) that jai-alai is the fastest. Again, the cite that I give states that badminton is faster and references documented test results.
We really oughtn’t to count skydiving (even if we count the person as the projectile), unless you can think of some non-motorized means of getting to altitude. Cliff diving, maybe, but I would doubt that that gets anywhere near golf, jai-alai, or the racket sports.
In one of the two times I have ever been to a the great american pastime, I have seen, (Well, heard, actually) the bound barrior being broken. That is to say, I have seen the batter hit the ball, and heard the sound later. Wiki leads me to believe that must be one fast strike. Sure, so the impact breaks the sound bearier, not the ball per say, but still. Isn’t it faster then 200 mph
Scott, the delay in hearing the crack of the bat isn’t from any physical object going faster than sound. You see the impact pretty much as it happens, but the sound of the impact (travelling toward you at, well, the speed of sound) takes a fraction of a second to reach you.
