While most of the cutting edge research in physics, materials science and aerospace is for military purposes, eventually the knowledge gets used for peaceful means. Sure you know about GPS, but did you know the lasers in checkout scanner at the grocery store were developed as part of the Star Wars missile defense system? There is one area that has taken more military technology than any other. Is it medicine? Nope. Civil engineering agriculture or even something that benefits the whole human race? Wrong again. It is golf! Golf has become the most high tech of all sports. Sure Lance Armstrong’s bike is made of the same material as the wings of the Space Shuttle, the tires are filled with helium, and his helmet is designed to reduce drag and in some cases produce thrust, but he has nothing on the new driver your dad just got.
Golf balls are designed using simulators designed for aircraft testing, material scientists use advanced polymers to make the ball not deflect but highly elastic so that the ball flies further and straighter even if you hook or slice. The club faces are designed in ways that account for quantum mechanics (some have microscopic diamonds to better grip the ball or are chemically modified to increase the Vander Wals forces between the ball and club face.) (I have heard the impact of the ball and club face for some designers are modeled using software designed for simulating the impact of projectiles on armor plating, so they can model materials changes on the sweet spot. The Cold War ended what else were the National Labs going to do?)
The club shafts are built out of materials that Formula 1 racers or the Air Force would be proud of: Titanium, carbon fiber, advanced composites, I am sure if they could find away to make it out of beryllium they would (beryllium is toxic, but it is stronger and lighter than any other metal. Even the shaft’s aerodynamic, is calculated to minimize drag (It’s a stick! Ok it is the most advanced stick known to man, but it is still a stick!)
The grips again are designed to be sticky but not so sticky they piece up dirt, and to dampen the impact so that vibration is not transmitted to the holder. Again this is cutting edge materials science taking lessons learned from studying flies and geckos since they have natural non-fouling foot pads that permit them to walk up walls, but leave no residue. Viscoelectic polymers designed to cushion precision missle guidance sytems against takeoff shock are used as the core of grip.
Golf truly is the most advanced sport, even the courses are advanced. The grass is breed for the purpose (some require air conditioning), and are a tiny thin layer of dirt to pad the impact of a fat hit away from being grown hydroponically. (A greens keeper at a good golf course makes more than a $100K a year.) Many golf courses have high precision GPS based contour maps, so that people can study the course and make shot decisions based on geometry that was perfected by NASA for the Gemini and Apollo programs.
Golf has also spawned a whole branch of physiologists and psychologists. There is a place not far from my house that will use 3D scanners to build models of your swing. Then determine which muscle groups you need to work on to correct flaws in you swing dynamics. You can even use virtual reality to play golf, or if not VR then at least immersive environments, these are technologies designed to help pilots train for emergency situations, doctors better understand the body or geologists understand the earth, are now used so people can play any course in the world without even going outside. Golf is a game were grown men and women can beat the snot out of a small white ball with a metal stick, then chase it down and hit it again, and then using some of the best motor control skills a human is capable of, hit it into a small hole in the ground.
I look forward to the day when the defense contractors turn to golf for technological advances. I can see the cover of the Wall Street Journal“Lockheed Martin purchases Calloway Golf for $10.5 billion, sources say that Calloway’s piezoelectric carbon nanotube technology, will be used for the next generation of fighter aircraft.” or Jane’s Defense Weekly “Is Calloway the new Lockheed Skunkworks? See page 5 for recently declassifed analysis.”
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