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Driver Watermelon Challenge

SuperStroke
It's possible, but I have some issues with the way he's setting it up :D I would say the watermelon needs to be standing upright, not on its side. And I think the D200 is the wrong choice. It's too light. You need a heavy weighted head.
 
Lengthwise no. Sideways only if, and that's a big IF the shaft doesn't break. However, a really overripe melon and a steel shaft would definitely increase the odds of success.
 
I really don't think I would want to be the one swinging the club. Even though a watermelon has a certain fragility it there is still substantial mass. Much like a person can be injured by impacting water... I think the combination of mass and resistance is a broken wrist waiting to happen. Just think of the times players have injured their wrist trying to swing through a tuft of grass.
 
I don't see it working. I just can't imagine a 460cc head driver making it through without snapping the shaft from the force it would generate on impact.
 
It could work. Going to need 100+ CHS I think though
 
That was pretty good and I gotta think a driver is going right through a watermelon!
 
My honest opinion, is that no, it wouldn't work (wouldn't matter which way through either).
 
c0ncept said:
I have a steel shafted driver...hmm
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Welll.....what are you waiting for? Periscope that happening!


Fwiw, I think it's not possible. Golf balls hit by Sadlowski go right thru them, but the club itself, nah. And wrists would be hurting.
 
I'm thinking that the clubface is just too much surface area to get through either lengthwise or sideways.
If the club were a solid block of steel, with a strong steel shaft, then I'd go yes.

Thing is, do you really need to go "through" it? You need to split the rind on one side, and there's a chance that the other side just tears itself apart as the halves fly apart.

Hot glue a point of some sort to the face to concentrate the force at impact, and I'd say yes. Without it, don't think it has the mass to break the rind given the surface area.

It'd be fun to try with someone else's club, though.
 
I have an old R9 that is really calling out to try this. No doubt that it goes through.
 
I'm inclined to say no, based on some back of the envelope calculations I've done. The golf ball case gives me a much bigger force of impact that I think would correspond with the watermelon breaking, but I don't quite get there with the driver - it ends up being about the equivalent force of putting another watermelon on top of it.

But... I can't help but think I've made a mistake or incorrect assumption. It's been a while since I've done this type of stuff.
 
My thinking behind it is (and based on no other information):

The surface area of the clubhead is pretty large. The impact of the blow itself will be spread over the entire clubface. If you took a baseball bat to one (granted the speed of the blow would be less), but there would be more force behind it. I

The stuff we have seen on the internet with people like Sadlowski hitting a ball through a sheet of plywood is a different beast than trying to put a clubhead through a watermelon.
 
I think it could damage the watermelon, but maybe not go through it. But I think that the impact force could definitely hurt the one swinging.
 
Driver Watermelon Challenge

braddman19 said:
My thinking behind it is (and based on no other information):

The surface area of the clubhead is pretty large. The impact of the blow itself will be spread over the entire clubface. If you took a baseball bat to one (granted the speed of the blow would be less), but there would be more force behind it. I

The stuff we have seen on the internet with people like Sadlowski hitting a ball through a sheet of plywood is a different beast than trying to put a clubhead through a watermelon.
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Force has nothing to do with surface area - that's pressure. The reason the baseball bat is going to impart greater force has to do with the fact that there's more momentum due to the much greater mass of the bat.

Edit: or more kinetic energy of the bat. Both dependent on mass :)
 
mpeterson said:
Force has nothing to do with surface area - that's pressure. The reason the baseball bat is going to impart greater force has to do with the fact that there's more momentum due to the much greater mass of the bat.
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I wouldn't argue with mpeterson, dude is a legit Doctor.
 
I think you need a really stout shaft and hope it doesn't snap. If it doesn't snap I think the head gets caught up on exit and doesn't leave the watermelon cleanly.
 
I hate the fact that this thread exists. I'm actually debating setting up a simulation. Luckily I think the software I used for my materials class won't work for this.
 
Driver Watermelon Challenge

mpeterson said:
I hate the fact that this thread exists. I'm actually debating setting up a simulation. Luckily I think the software I used for my materials class won't work for this.
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You're the best doctor I know

Edit: non medical
 
Is there insurance? How big is the watermelon? How ripe/unripe is the watermelon? Can it not be a food item so people with issues about world hunger won't have a beef? Can it be an internet/computer simulated watermelon?

Seriously, I think it's possible, but this is in the realm of "Do not try this at home, this is done by professionals." I'm not worried about the broken shaft, I'm worried about the pinched spinal nerve or something that serious. I think this is safer if we're to launch a ball at something nearby. jmatt, mpeterson and the other guys said it here correctly - the surface area of the watermelon and the clubface at impact will multiply the forces of impact which are usually smaller with a clubface/golf ball strike.

For me, nah, I won't try it. Golf's hard enough.
 
I say no, but better YET.... What's the over/under on injuries caused by trying to do this???? It is stated in the video the swing speed range for the test debate. Was 105 at max....
 
I say yes as long as the hitter has a higher end swing speed
 
I'm tempted to bring an old steel shafted 3 wood and a watermelon to Chicago. This should be tested.

I don't think the driver would make it through the watermelon. The watermelon has too much mass and the driver head is too light to impart a large enough force to bust through.
 
I think what I'm not taking into account in my calculations is force imparted via the swing. I'm basically calculating this as someone throwing the clubhead at a watermelon at 100mph (if you want to put a weird picture in your head). So, disregard my previous conclusion.
 
mpeterson said:
Force has nothing to do with surface area - that's pressure. The reason the baseball bat is going to impart greater force has to do with the fact that there's more momentum due to the much greater mass of the bat.

Edit: or more kinetic energy of the bat. Both dependent on mass :)
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I'm not questioning, or disagreeing with any of the arguments (or the science for that matter)...... it was just my thinking on it. (the thinking of a guynot very good at the sciences LOL)
 
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