we didn’t go quite that far but we used to use the pencils for scorecards as a tee.
a golf club is designed to launch a ball at a given trajectory with a given spin rate that will influence its flight.
i don’t doubt that certain folks can hit a golf ball as far with a bat as they do a golf club but to suggest that a wooden bat and the lack of a tee will negate the constraints of physics is highly unlikely.
golf balls are tested for a maximum launch velocity. so to suggest that these physics do not apply to baseball bats seems questionable.
And according to this site, pro golfers generally hit speeds of 100 mph, while Tiger Woods has topped out at 125.
A note, Pujols was not picked because he was considered to be the fastest bat necessarily. I didn’t find a direct source, but there were references to a kid in the minors with bat speed of 100 mph.
and maybe this should go to GQ, but chronos could probably figure it out.
can the reduced arc of a batter as opposed to a golfer (golf clubs are generally longer) be compensated by the mechanics of the equipment? that is, golf clubs have a certain rating. but what would be the rating of an aluminum (not wood) bat and how would impact speeds and impact force be calculated and how it would relate to forward velocity which ultimately would determine distance. i think golf balls are rated to have a maximum departure velocity so it seems that the only determinates of distance would be arc and potential spin.
and now that i do a little research the maximum velocity is not only determined by the ball but also the equipment.
so i guess my question would be, can an aluminum bat impart more velocity than standard golf equipment even with the reduced speed at impact?
this seems counter intuitive unless there is something within the design of the equipment that would necessitate a more inefficient force transfer. but that is also equally counter intuitive in that it seems that most golf club manufacturers have been trying to hype the fact that their clubs are so efficient in force transfer.
all i know is i am taking my louisville slugger out for nine in about an hour.
Aside from the issues of length of a bat vs. golf club, the USGA has put limits on the “spring-like effect” of drivers because it seems that more spring equals more yards. So conforming driver heads are x springy, non-conforming heads are x+y springy…
But I’d imagine baseball bats are decidedly NOT springy. I would say using a wooden baseball bat would be like using an old persimmon wood, and using an aluminum bat would be… well, not like using a driver with a thin, titanium face.
I am really, really tempted to go to the driving range this weekend and try to hit some golf balls.
and i am really leaving but i just have to say this…
i want to play golf with you.
i remember when i got first set of persimmons and thought i had died and gone to heaven. the extra distance was unbelievable. could actually hit an iron into a 400 yard par four. 220 off the tee was obtainable.
jeebus those were the days. swimming in the lakes after dark and looking for balls. what a fracking hoot.
Dude, I’m not sure why you’re so skeptical that an aluminum baseball bat can send a golf ball a long, long way. Golf balls fly farther than baseballs–to prove this to yourself, try bouncing a baseball off a sidewalk, and then try bouncing a golf ball off a sidewalk. See?
When I was a kid, we used to play Home Run Derby. We’d usually hit baseballs, but occasionally we’d hit tennis balls or (old) golf balls. Baseballs flew farther than tennis balls, but golf balls flew the farthest of all.
In fact, I could stand at one end of a local pond, throw a golf ball to myself (it ain’t that hard, I’m not sure why you think making contact would be difficult), and damn near hit the ball across the pond using an aluminum baseball bat. I was 11 or 12 years old. The pond’s probably 500 feet long.
i was using an aluminum bat that i use for softball. and once again it is not scientific at all. but even when i pured one with the bat it would not have even have come close to heeling one off of my driver.
and 500 foot is about a nine iron. give me a driver and if you let me swing away 1,000 foot is pretty reasonable. seems to be a significant difference.
matter of fact i can’t think of a major league baseball park that you couldn’t just plink 9 irons out from home plate all day. give anyone with a modicum of skill a driver and the ball would still be going up as it exits the playing field.
You definitely can’t hit a golf ball as far with a baseball bat as you can with a driver; however, using a baseball bat is probably about as good as driving with a 7-iron, which you can get by with on a golf course.
jeebus, i don’t know what courses you play. but when i really whale a 7 iron i might get 190 yards or so (more likely 180). on a fracking 460 yard par 4 that would leave 270 or more to get home. that’s at the limit of my three wood. i don’t want to be hitting to many three wood approaches to par fours to have any kind of chance at a decent score.
whoops, i went and checked and it is actually a 10 degree old karsten war bird. but from what i understand they always played a little lighter than the stated loft. crap, the original big bertha i got was an 9 degree with a slight hood and i still get that sucker into the clouds.
'course when i got nervous and quick that puppy could kill people on the left side of the fairway.
I don’t think anyone doubts you can hit a golf ball a hell of a lot further than a baseball using a bat. As kids we used to do this just because hitting golf balls with bats made us fell like Babe Ruth; you could hit them amazing distances - by baseball standards.
If you hit a ball 120 yards you just hit a home run down either foul line in any major league ballpark - but in golf terms, that’s a decent nine iron. Shit, I can hit it 120 yards with my pitching wedge.
I believe I could probably nail a golf ball with my 29-ounce Easton about 200 yards. That doesn’t even come close to how far I can hit it with my driver, though.
There’s just a huge gulf between a long baseball shot, though, and a proper drive. A baseball bat simply will not hit a golf ball as far as a driver. It’ll hit it further than it will a baseball, but not as far as a driver. Drivers are, after all, specifically designed to hit golf balls a long way.