69 News at Sunrise: Golf Lesson with The Pros
Golf can be a tough game no matter what your skill level is but, luckily, golf courses like Saucon Valley Country Club have “in-house” experts to help work out the kinks in your swing. Gene Mattare is the director of golf and the general manager of the club. The 69 News at Sunrise crew had a chance to try our hand at hitting a few golf balls at the range and Gene was there to guide us every step of the way. Originally Aired: 7/9/2009
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Full power tests for the 5-armed MURLIN (Multi-Radius Linear Nodes) Trebuchet. Dropping the full 37.5 counterweight in a still wind results in consistent distances (5 shots) over 600 feet. Longest shot found was 620 ft. The frame is reinforced for these tests because previous movies had shown substantial flexure under the 1000lb load just before release. I believe my radar gun is unreliable (reading low due to slow sampling rates), but one reading of 127 mph was taken. If you look carefully, you can see the golf balls actually curve upwards in flight due to the (Magnus effect) spin given by the pouch upon release. Now it’s time to move on. I’m thinking about throwing baseballs next… LV 22 May 2011 – Update. Distances recorded up to 708 ft. this morning in a calm wind. 5mm Spectra cord and larger pulleys responsible for improved performance.
Video Rating: 5 / 5
@ianmlees : Thanks, the MURLIN is something the Tucson High MESA club and myself came up with. Take a look at the “hypnopult” from last years punkin chunk to see something close to what you are describing. Many people think these machines are the future of trebuchets.
My lowest test CW was 7.5 lb, so that’s 3.4 kg. the distances are about 100 feet or so If I remember. The design itself adapts pretty easily to lower CWs without too much efficiency change, so you should be OK within the 1-3 kg range.
Hi, nice job. Would this type of trebuchet work for CW’s from 1 kg to 3 kg? Im wondering if that weight would be enough.
I kind of don’t like the idea of using a golf ball. Damn thing is designed to create lift…
But, hey, none the less, DAMN impressive machine. I love the creative sling concept.
Interesting, I have built a traditional counterpoise trebuchet for my wife’s school but I have never seen a design like that. One thing that did occur to me is you could make just a disc of heavy plywood with the golf ball held i a recess in the disc. Get the weight to accelerate the disc by being wrapped 10 or 20 times around the axle. Maybe accelerate up to 100 or 200 rpm or just cheat and use an electric motor. Quite how to make it release correctly would be a challenge.
@CBasement Indeed your eyes do not decieve you. The optimum distance throw for this device is somewhere between 20 and 30 degrees above horizontal. This is because of the lift experienced by a spinning golf ball. I was messing around a little bit with the release which is why the launch angle wasn’t always consistent.
It’s a very satisfying little hurler. I’m now hoping to apply the design principles to larger devices.
Another cool video. That thing can really hurl. The trajectory looked on the flat side, or is it the camera angle? What angle was it releasing at?