Moon Golf

February sixth, nineteen seventy one, something amazing happened in the world of sports. The very first sport was that was ever played in space was golf, when a US astronaut he had a golf ball off the Moon. Here's a story behind this iconic event to day on Daily Sports History. Welcome to Daily Sports History, Amethan Reese, your guide to a rapid deep dive into sports history. Every day. On February sixth, nineteen seventy one, nothing incredible was happening in the world of sports. Basketball was being played, as well as hockey, even some golf, as the Hawaii Open was going on. But something major in the world of sports was happening a mere two hundred and thirty thousand miles away. Alan Shepard was playing golf on the Moon, something that was being beamed into TV sets on Earth. Apollo fourteen, the third lunar surface landing, was showing of his driving skills. Shepherd was an avid golfer who had worked for the pro and his local country club in Texas to build a modified club that could work in space. The result of the creation was a Wilson was a Wilson staff and Dana powered six iron head was tucked away in Shepherd's spacesuits for launch. He had hidden a few balls in his sock. None of this was part of NASA's inventory. The Apollo program had cost twenty five billion dollars and some two hundred and roughly two one hundred and forty six billion today and over two hundred billion today, and it's rumored that the only mission that this was the only mission directed by bobill Roth, who knew of the astronaut's plans and gave him reluctant permission on the promise it would only be they had finished all their work in activities they needed to do for NASA. After ninety hours, after nine hours of walking on the surface doing several scientific experiments, Shepherd returned to the Lunar Lander, where he saw his chance. He attached a modified club to the head of a tool design for scooping lunar for scooping lunar rocks, the commander prepared to take to take on one of the universe's biggest bunkers one handed. You've been saying, Houston, you might recognize what I have in my hand as a genuine six iron on the bottom of it. Of a genuine six iron in my left hand, a white pellet familiar to millions of Americans. Unfortunately, the suit was so stiff. Unfortunately, my suit is so stiff. We are to try a little sand trap shot here. After two botched efforts, shepherd first shot shrinked into a nearby crater, much to the joy of the capsule commander Fred Hasi in Houston, who said it looked like a slice to meat, blowing up plumes of dust. His second shot struck a sweeter connection, and Shepherd liked what he saw. Miles and miles and miles. Jubileet astronaut remarked as the ball sailed out of view, swallowed by the darkness of space. Needless to say, the shot tracking technology was not available that the Minion Earth had missed what was going on for the Pallo Fourteine mission, as this was the third time. Immediate thought, we have already been there and done that. But seeing what Shephard was doing gave a whole new meeting to these lule landings, as it was something to actually watch that we could actually do something familiar to them on the Moon, also known as history's longest drive. We think we don't know where it actually landed it captured, but it captured the imagination for nearly a half century of anyone interested in golf, because now somebody had played golf on the moon. Thank you for listening to today's Daily Sports History Methan Reese. If you like this, please follow us on our socials. We're a daily sports history on Twitter, Instagram, basbook, tik tok, and YouTube. We'd love for you to join us there in a grower community, and come back tomorrow for more Daily sports History.