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Author
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Topic: Moon and space-flown golf clubs and balls
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MarylandSpace
Member Posts: 1336
From:
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted 09-30-2007 06:21 PM
   
I was just reading elsewhere about Brian Duffy's shuttle putter which is now on temporary display in Kansas. Was it a full size putter? |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42981
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 09-30-2007 07:12 PM
There is a picture of the putter on the USGA website: Spacemen Cometh AgainAlso see: ISS golf swing follows moon, shuttle shots |
Steve Smith
Member Posts: 503
From: Wichita, Kansas, USA
Registered: Mar 2002
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posted 09-30-2007 07:18 PM
Gary, I got to see it Friday night during Brain Duffy's and Tim Terry's presentation at Cosmosphere. It and Alan Shepard's lunar 6-iron will be here for about 6 months.It was full sized. It was broken once at shaft mid point, and at the head. Brian screwed it together on the STS-72 flight, and reenacted it for us with the actual flown hardware, bag and Tim's personalized golf ball. The bag was about 2'x3'. |
Larry McGlynn
Member Posts: 1255
From: Boston, MA
Registered: Jul 2003
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posted 10-01-2007 06:13 PM
quote:
Originally posted by STEVE SMITH:
It was full sized. It was broken once at shaft mid point, and at the head.
I recently had the privilege to visit the USGA offices to assist on a review of the Shepard's lunar surface golf club. I also was able to view and handle Brian Duffy's shuttle putter that he took on STS-72. I have attached some photos of the putter. You are correct about how the putter was cut into three pieces. There was one other thing about the putter that was interesting and that was the manufacturer's model name of the putter. It was called the "Grim Reaper" and featured a picture of Death in his hood and with his sickle. Now that was tempting fate.  
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mdmyer
Member Posts: 900
From: Humboldt KS USA
Registered: Dec 2003
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posted 10-03-2007 06:14 PM
quote:
Originally posted by MarylandSpace:
I was just reading elsewhere about Brian Duffy's shuttle putter which is now on temporary display in Kansas.
The shuttle putter club is in the same display case as the Moon shot club: |
MarylandSpace
Member Posts: 1336
From:
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted 10-04-2007 05:33 PM
Larry, what is the purpose of (what appears to be) an Alan Shepard autographed sweat sock? |
Larry McGlynn
Member Posts: 1255
From: Boston, MA
Registered: Jul 2003
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posted 10-05-2007 06:38 AM
Alan Shepard carried the club head in that sweat socks during his lunar mission. He carried the socks and club head in the right upper thigh pocket of his spacesuit. Given the desire for fire safety, I was surprised when the director of the museum told me that story as conveyed to the museum by Alan himself. It is your basic white sweat socks. It is a bit dusty though. |
GACspaceguy
Member Posts: 2474
From: Guyton, GA
Registered: Jan 2006
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posted 04-03-2008 05:55 PM
My wife and I are just back from a vacation that took us to the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Neil Armstrong Air and Space Museum in Wapakoneta, Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Goddard Spaceflight Center in Maryland, the US Naval Academy Visitor Center in Annapolis, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (NASM) in Washington DC, the NASM Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia and the Virginia Air and Space Museum in Hampton, VA. It was a 3144 mile trip over 10 days which included seeing my folks in Canada, a trip to the scenic Niagara Falls, and picking up a 1/144 scale Shuttle and Tower kit that had been professionally built . It was quite the trip!While we were at the NASM in Washington we saw the example of the golf club that Alan Shepard used while on the moon (it was neat to see Shepard's Mercury spacecraft in Annapolis in the morning and this replica golf club in the afternoon). I took a picture of the club head in order to obtain one of the exact same model with the intent to working on a replica of the contingency sample extension handle that was used by Shepard. What I am looking for are actual photos of the backside of the actual club used on the moon, to confirm the make and model is the same as the one that was displayed at the NASM. Below is a picture of the club head displayed at the NASM. I know that until February the club was in Hutchinson, Kansas at the Cosmosphere, and that the US Golf Association Golf House Museum in New Jersey was under renovations and is due to open again this month (I am assuming that is why the club was at the Cosmosphere for a time) and that will be its place of display. At this time I cannot find a picture of the real club that shows the backside with the information I need. Can anyone help in either posting a picture of the real club head that was used showing the makings so as to identify the make and type, or confirm that the one pictured below is the correct make and type? Any help would be appreciated.  |
GACspaceguy
Member Posts: 2474
From: Guyton, GA
Registered: Jan 2006
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posted 11-28-2008 01:14 PM
Well its finally finished, a replica of Al Shepard's Apollo 14 golf club. The club head is the exact same type as the one that was used. The shaft is aluminum tube cut to size and spliced together with a wooded dowel down the center. The tough parts were the centering bushings for the handle that was machined from aluminum block, and the white outer rings that where machine from a block of nylon, thanks Bob for all your work (it helps that I work at an aircraft company). Special thanks to Larry McGlynn for some great photos of the real club. 
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Philip
Member Posts: 5952
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 12-02-2008 10:45 AM
During an EVA (outside MIR space station?) a cosmonaut also tossed a few golf balls... |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42981
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 12-02-2008 10:54 AM
It was the International Space Station, cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin and only one golf ball. See: ISS golf swing follows moon, shuttle shots |
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