Neil Armstrong died today....

[Mike_Young]

the guy really enjoyed golf in a way most here would appreciate....it still amazes me to think what he did and one would never know it...

[Jeff Fortson]

It's still the single greatest achievement in the history of mankind to date, IMO.  Stud.  Hero.  True role model.  Never looked for fame or profit for his accomplishments.  Wrap your head around this... first human to set foot on somewhere other than Earth.  That is stuff of legends.  People 10,000+ years from now will speak his name.  

Jeff F.

[Marty Bonnar]

All happened in a hangar in Area 54.

Oh yes, it did...

F.

[mike_beene]

I was a nine year old with Chicken Pox and watched the whole mission from my grandmothers TV.Seems like yesterday in some ways.

[Dan King]

I'm a big fan of Mr. Armstrong, but when we start talking about greatest achievements of mankind, he is stuck with the No. 2 achievement in space.


Click here to watch golf on the Moon with Alan Shepard

If we can figure out how many flags are still on the moon, can't we figure out exactly how far that shot went?

Cheers,
Dan King

It can now be argued that golf was the first human game played on another planetary body. Those two shots Alan Shepard hit with a six iron at the "Fra Mauro Country Club" have brought a certain stature and gleam of the eye to golfers the world over.
 --Michael Murphy

[Tim_Cronin]

I'm a big fan of Mr. Armstrong, but when we start talking about greatest achievements of mankind, he is stuck with the No. 2 achievement in space.


Click here to watch golf on the Moon with Alan Shepard

If we can figure out how many flags are still on the moon, can't we figure out exactly how far that shot went?

Cheers,
Dan King

It can now be argued that golf was the first human game played on another planetary body. Those two shots Alan Shepard hit with a six iron at the "Fra Mauro Country Club" have brought a certain stature and gleam of the eye to golfers the world over.
 --Michael Murphy

"Miles and miles and miles," according to Shepard.

All that is remembered from the 15th century is Columbus' discovery of the New World. All that will be remembered of the 20th is the splitting of the atom and Neil Armstrong being the first to walk on the moon. Godspeed.

[Marty Bonnar]

Einsteinspeed.

F.

[Phil McDade]

It's still the single greatest achievement in the history of mankind to date, IMO.  Stud.  Hero.  True role model.  Never looked for fame or profit for his accomplishments.  Wrap your head around this... first human to set foot on somewhere other than Earth.  That is stuff of legends.  People 10,000+ years from now will speak his name.  

Jeff F.

Hear hear! Armstrong reminds us that there once was a time when greatness wasn't exploited to the hilt and commercialized for all it was worth; I remember a writer who was incredulous that Armstrong went into teaching following his remarkable walk on the moon.

A truly humble man, Armstrong recognized his singular accomplishment was the result of hard work, good fortune, the hard work of others, good timing, and a bit of luck. I grew up in Ohio, and we were all proud of our Neil for being the first to step foot on some other place than Earth.

[Chris Buie]

The actual landing itself was a much more harrowing affair than many realize. The computer was taking them down into a bolder field - so Armstrong had to go to manual and haul it for miles beyond the intended landing place. This made the jaws drop in mission control because they hadn't really simulated anything quite like that. Their monitors showed the lander bolting across the lunar landscape at an unbelievable and unprecedented rate. While that somewhat desperate scenario was occurring there was a piercing alarm going off a couple of times which took them a while to figure out. The didn't entirely figure out that issue in the few seconds that had to make the call regarding the multi-billion dollar project and the astronauts lives and the prestige of the nation. The techs just made an educated guess that they could make the attempt.
Going so far down range used almost all the fuel. In the recording you can hear MC say "60 seconds"..."30 seconds".
Less than 30 seconds of fuel left when they landed? Incredible.

Well, they got the right guy to pilot that flight. They already knew he was the best pilot in the world from some of the things he'd already done.
For instance, on Gemini 8 one of the guidance thrusters got stuck. The craft was turning 3 revolutions per second. Hardly anybody could scratch their nose in such a situation - but Armstrong miraculously was able to pilot the craft out of that unbelievable situation.
Everybody knows his name but I don't think they understand how incredible he really was. He was humble and had the image of pretty much being interchangeable with the rest of the astronauts.
That was not the case. He was on another level altogether - beyond extraordinary.
Just thought you might like to know that.

[Jeff Fortson]

Phil & Chris 

+1

[Dan King]

Chris, all very interesting.  I'm sure in circumstances like that there might be some overlap between the duties of the commander and the pilot, however, it was Buzz Aldrin who was officially the pilot of the lunar module.  Do you know if it was Armstrong or Aldrin that piloted the module to its eventual landing area?

Cheers,
Dan King

Faith sir, she looks like the Old Course.
 --Tom Morris (looking through a nineteenth century telescope at the surface of the moon)

[Chris Buie]

Hi Dan. Aldrin was pilot in name only - same with the other Apollo flights. That's the way they did the titles. He was reading the gauges while Armstrong's hand was piloting the craft as he looked out the small window. Aldrin didn't have anything to do with manually steering the craft or very quickly choosing where to go and where to avoid. That was entirely Armstrong..
Aldrin did his job very well, of course. Mainly he wisely kept quiet instead of saying "we're almost out of fuel and we don't have a landing site yet!". The only thing he does say is to calmly tell Armstrong to "take her down". It sounds casual but it was an incomparably tense sequence. If they hadn't handled it so brilliantly the consequences would have been profound in many ways.

[Dan Kelly]

All that will be remembered of the 20th is the splitting of the atom and Neil Armstrong being the first to walk on the moon.

I won't be around to know, but I certainly hope this prediction is terribly wrong-headed.

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

May this true American hero RIP.

[Tim_Cronin]

The actual landing itself was a much more harrowing affair than many realize. The computer was taking them down into a bolder field - so Armstrong had to go to manual and haul it for miles beyond the intended landing place. This made the jaws drop in mission control because they hadn't really simulated anything quite like that. Their monitors showed the lander bolting across the lunar landscape at an unbelievable and unprecedented rate. While that somewhat desperate scenario was occurring there was a piercing alarm going off a couple of times which took them a while to figure out. The didn't entirely figure out that issue in the few seconds that had to make the call regarding the multi-billion dollar project and the astronauts lives and the prestige of the nation. The techs just made an educated guess that they could make the attempt.
Going so far down range used almost all the fuel. In the recording you can hear MC say "60 seconds"..."30 seconds".
Less than 30 seconds of fuel left when they landed? Incredible.

Well, they got the right guy to pilot that flight. They already knew he was the best pilot in the world from some of the things he'd already done.
For instance, on Gemini 8 one of the guidance thrusters got stuck. The craft was turning 3 revolutions per second. Hardly anybody could scratch their nose in such a situation - but Armstrong miraculously was able to pilot the craft out of that unbelievable situation.
Everybody knows his name but I don't think they understand how incredible he really was. He was humble and had the image of pretty much being interchangeable with the rest of the astronauts.
That was not the case. He was on another level altogether - beyond extraordinary.
Just thought you might like to know that.

I remember Gemini 8 as vividly as I do Apollo 11. There were plenty of worried faces on network TV that night and clipped voices from Mission Control. The trouble all started after 8 docked with the Agena – the test of space docking. Armstrong had to deal with the balky thruster several times. And it went on until the wee hours, the screen filled with only the NASA tracking map and the conversations from MC to Gemini 8, before the spin was stopped for good and the craft could return to earth early.

Gemini 8 today is at the Neil Armstrong Air and Space Museum in Wapakoneta, Ohio.

[Ivan Morris]

I hope that Neil Armstrong has overshot the moon on his last flight and landed safely in Heaven! Swing smooth for the rest of Eternity, Neil.

[Martin Toal]

Two Armstrongs died recently.

Neil, a great hero and pioneer, and the reputation and credibility of Lance, the former sporting hero.

Neil leaves a legacy of science, space exploration and discovery that has changed the world forever, Lance leaves a stain over his reputation and the sport he claims to love.

[RJ_Daley]

Two people's recollections about Neil Armstrong and golf.

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_21402032/mark-purdy-neil-armstrong-had-right-stuff

http://www.earthtothemoon.com/doug_sanders_journal.html

[Niall C]

All happened in a hangar in Area 54.

Oh yes, it did...

F.

seriously ? they filmed it in a disco ?

Niall

[Rich Goodale]

All that will be remembered of the 20th is the splitting of the atom and Neil Armstrong being the first to walk on the moon.

I won't be around to know, but I certainly hope this prediction is terribly wrong-headed.

You will be around to know, Dan, and your hopes shall be fulfilled, as at this moment, in a lab somewhere, ex-GCAer Geoffrey Childs is developing the secret to eternal life.  Just watch out for out-of-control buses and control intermittent desires to bungy jump in the intgerim....

[Mike_Young]

He has a lot at a course I did in Costa Rica.  A very humble guy....he was a very good friend of the owner....He sent me a letter regarding the golf course when it opened and I read it yesterday.... but it hit me just how much that letter meant ....he would not do autographs....

[Ben Sims]

Neil Armstrong is one of my heroes.  When I was very young and announced that I wanted to be a pilot, my mom was smart enough to find ways to motivate me.  She did some research and found that Neil Armstrong and I shared birthdays.  I devoured stories of his test pilot days at Edwards and his two space flights.  He, along with men like Jim Lovell, Robin Olds, Chuck Yeager and Bud Day have inspired a generation of aviators.  He was the ultimate ideal of credible but humble.  Godspeed. 

[Craig Disher]

I was fortunate enough to have a VIP seat at the Apollo XI launch. We were less than a mile from the launch site - as close as observers could get - yet the Saturn 5 was so large that it seemed only a few hundred yards away. I remember thinking that there were 3 men sitting atop that thing and that what they were about to try might be impossible. The noise and earth-shaking vibration from the launch were almost disorienting. I kept thinking about those 3 guys - just incredibly brave and fearless. NASA did well in putting Neil Armstrong in charge - without him as captain it's questionable whether they would have made it back. A true national hero.

[Billsteele]

There is also a tie-in to golf architecture since he was a member of Camargo.

I will always remember seeing Neil Armstrong and Jack Twyman (former UC and NBA player who did colore commentary for ABC with Chris Schenkel) sitting at a table on the patio at Camargo after my round there).

RIP to a true American hero.

[David Whitmer]

Same thing as Bill...

I played a round at Camargo a few years ago, and after we finished we had lunch on the patio. The member I played with whispered to me , " That's Neil Armstrong at the table next to us." I'm not the type to get all gaga over a celebrity, but I was immediately star-struck. I couldn't help but steal glances every now and then and think " Holy crap...that man was the first person to ever walk on the moon!" He automatically became the coolest guy I ever saw in person.

I of course didn't dare approach him, for a variety of reasons. It was odd being in his presence...it was like he was the elephant in the room that everyone saw but no one talked about. What a life he led, and what amazing things he did.