Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Has anyone ever hit a golf ball off MW summit?

Would it be too dangerous for climbers? From pics I have seen it looks like one could hit a golf ball off the peak away from any climbers comming up. Hey Neil Armstrong hit one on the moon. I am sure this will get an avalanche of reasons why it shouldn't be done. I would hate to do something dangerous or environmentally challanged. Sure would be an awesome story to tell. I would also hate to start a bad precedent. Then again....Hmmmmm.

I guess it should be OK so long as you pick up the ball afterwards, leaving no trace behind.

You sound like Kramer on Seinfeld......remember the whale?

Actually, I would obviously be worried about hitting hikers/climbers, and also leaving the golf ball in the wilderness. Those two results would be bad. You could always dip the ball in meat sauce before you hit it, and a bear would eventually find it and eat it. But then again, I guess it would still remain as a golf ball in the wilderness.
Nevermind.

Why do you want to hit a golf ball off of the summit of the mountain?

toddc you obviously are not a golfer.The same reason Sir Edmond Hillary climbed Mt. Everest and Neil Armstrong hit a golf ball on the moon.

Yup, it's already been done.

All you need are some of these water soluble-biodegradable golf balls and your all set, no Eco worries. Just make sure to yell "Four"!

http://www.ecogolfballs.com/aboutecogolfballs.html

I should have known that it has already been done and that there is already a product on the market for an environmenatly safe ball.I guess I will have to settle for taking a ball to the summit and bringing it back for a wall mounted plaque.I think I will take an autographed Jason Gore ball that he played with in the 2005 US Open.

Perhaps a permit and quota system can be set up for this?

And the water soluble-biodegradable balls can be dipped in meat sauce before being hit?

So wwkayaker what club did you use? I was thinking a 5 iron.Do you think I can get a Mulligan in case I shank the 1st swing?

I saw a guy driving balls of the summit in 1985.

I can’t imagine why you would want to hit a golf ball off the summit, unless you are an idiot.

I would think landing in 'Guitar' Lake would be a good incentive, but that might be the wrong way . That's great to know about the water soluble balls. I'll have to look for that.

The poster Seh needs to lighten up a bit . . I don't see anyone posting that isn't aware of the need to be careful. Some of the best mountain climbers, including someone I know, has his own quirks about celebrating a succesful summit.

You can live well, have fun and be aware of anything that can adversely affect anyone else . . all at the same time. Peace.

Well said jt.There is definately a little tongue-in-cheek with this thread. A little humor never hurt anyone.Water soluable ball is definately going to make its way into my future summit plans.I really do like the ball dipped in meat sauce idea.

I didn't do it. I have only heard that it has been done long ago in the past. If I was going to golf on the summit, I'd stick to putting. Far safer for everyone and a MUCH bigger challenge.

Last year while climbing to Whitney-Russell pass, I found a golf ball sitting on a piece of talus a couple of hundred feet above Iceberg Lake. I assume that someone had driven it off Whitney in an attempt to sink it in Iceberg Lake.

There a couple of unexplored issues here to consider:

First, and most importantly to my budget conscious self, you apparently have to buy 4 dozen of those eco friendly golf balls. But this actually presents a business opportunity. Perhaps someone could drag a bag of clubs and balls up to the summit and then camp there for the summer -- then charge summiters to hit a ball or two.

Next problem is the fact that eco balls hit with drivers (undoubtably the club of choice for most hikers) will go only 1/2 the distance of a real ball. This presents targeting issues -- you won't hit it as far as you think. But this is only one of many targeting issue to consider. First, there is no target at the same elevation, so you have to consider the extra distance the ball will go into lower elevations (there's a par 3 in the SF bay area that is only about 80 yards long but you hit it from the top of a hill about 100 yards high). But to further complicate the issue, you are at 14k feet and so the ball will travel farther than normal since there's less air -- but since the ball will land at a lower elevation, you have to compensate distance-wise for the altitude differential as the ball descends -- the ball will start out with little air resistance, but will pick up air resistance as it descends. But if you hit it high enough, could it act like a meteorite and become a flaming projectile???? We just haven't done enough studies to show that this is safe under all trajectories.

Doc, this is a big can of worms you've opened up.

Mr. Wizard

A long time ago there used to be a driving range at the summit. They sold buckets of balls at the summit hut and you could rent clubs there too. Unfortunately, it went out of business for lack of interest. But what's really exciting are plans for the Main Mount Whitney Trail Golf Course. There will be magnetically levitated golf carts and balls with locator microchips embedded in their cores. But that's a long way off. So for now, I would be content to just enjoy the hike.

That's what the little metal objects are for around the Whitney area that we've been warned about touching right? Those are where the proposed tee boxes are going to go...

Chris

BeachAV8R, Shhhhhh. Keep the cover story alive.

BTW the physics of golf is interesting, especially the dimples on balls. Believe It Or Not, the dimples on golf balls help them go farther by reducing air drag. I wonder if hikers with dimples go farther?