Trees are 80% air? Myth Busted

Mark_G

Mark_G

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On the television yesterday, (probably a repeat so you probably already know), the MythBusters programme, tried to prove or disprove the theory that due to being 80% air, you should try to play through a trees branches. Now from personal experience I seriously doubted anyone who told me this but the programme built a machine replicating a pro's speed and trajectory so that it could be repeated 100 times, along side this a golfer also hit 100 balls attempting to play through the tree. The result was that only 25% of balls got through the trees branches, with the golfer and the machine. Myth Busted.
 
My ball can sniff out the last, thinnest twig on a tree, hit it and ricochet as though it had caught a bough full on. Guess if you are born lucky as a golfer you'll find the gap. I must have been bad in this and any previous lives as I never find a way through
 
The problem is that the branches are staggered, hence why you'll hit a branch more often than the tree percentage would indicate.
 
Theres one massive branch less at Davyhulme park after this weekend :rofl: Even my playing partners shouted" timber" !!!!!

That tree is at least 25% more air now :)
 
Trees ARE at least 80% air around their circumference, the myth centers around the fact there is hardly a straight line through a thick pile of branches.

Myth re-activated :ears:
 
Trees are absolutely 100% stuff other than air. The air that is between the branches and leaves is not actually part of the tree.
 
A tree is 3 dimensional in volume but when looking to play a shot through it then it becomes 2 dimensional as the third shot passes through the entire 3rd dimension, effectively cancelling it out.

Being now 2 dimensional all the the branches contribute to making it pretty tricky to find a ball sized gap, let along hit through it!
 
TBH, the modern ball with all its bells and whistles has the ability to swerve around branches and even back up if its finds itself in a dead end. Once you get your handicap low enough, a Jedi knight will visit you and pass on the secrets of how to do this.
 
ScienceBoy said:
A tree is 3 dimensional in volume but when looking to play a shot through it then it becomes 2 dimensional as the third shot passes through the entire 3rd dimension, effectively cancelling it out.

Being now 2 dimensional all the the branches contribute to making it pretty tricky to find a ball sized gap, let along hit through it!
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I don't understand this, go on give us an equation......
 
Mark_G said:
On the television yesterday, (probably a repeat so you probably already know), the MythBusters programme, tried to prove or disprove the theory that due to being 80% air, you should try to play through a trees branches. Now from personal experience I seriously doubted anyone who told me this but the programme built a machine replicating a pro's speed and trajectory so that it could be repeated 100 times, along side this a golfer also hit 100 balls attempting to play through the tree. The result was that only 25% of balls got through the trees branches, with the golfer and the machine. Myth Busted.
Click to expand...

Hang on a minute. If we ignore Hawkeye's accurate response and assume that we are talking about the entire area covered by the tree why should a tree being 80% air equate to you being able to hit a ball through it 80% of the time?
 
Doon frae Troon said:
Very good!
It is a bit like the agronomist who asks where do grass roots grow.
The answer is , between the air particles in the soil.
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Not quite correct, as the roots also take up the minerals from the soil, they must also take up some of the solid particles as well
And they creat voids, which is what roots can do to (mainly the mortar/joints) brickwork -the pressure at the tip of a root is quite substantial
 
I reckon if theres 1 single branch sticking out I can hit it 99% of the time, why cant I hit a bloody green the same ratio?

tree's should be banned from courses along with water, bunkers & anything else that gets in the way :p
 
G1BB0 said:
I reckon if theres 1 single branch sticking out I can hit it 99% of the time, why cant I hit a bloody green the same ratio?

tree's should be banned from courses along with water, bunkers & anything else that gets in the way :p
Click to expand...

maybe imagine the flagstick is a tree branch - the power of the mind, use the force Steve.

P.S stick with your clubs, it will all come good:thup:
 
Tiger said:
Hang on a minute. If we ignore Hawkeye's accurate response and assume that we are talking about the entire area covered by the tree why should a tree being 80% air equate to you being able to hit a ball through it 80% of the time?
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Good point Tiger, if it was a 2 dimensional tree then I suppose the theory holds up. When I first started it was an often stated "fact", maybe by people who enjoyed watching beginners hit balls into trees. Trees seem to have a magnetic effect on golf balls, just ask Sergio Garcia
 
I have never tried to hit a ball through a tree so 25% sounds good to me? I've tried to hit it under / over many a time and smashed it into the foliage. Attempting to hit it through seems a bit silly unless you have no choice which is unlikely.
 
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