Question

This word problem seems so easy, yet so hard!

The almighty Steve hits a golf ball off the tee at an angle of 30° and lands 300 yards away. What was the golf ball's initial velocity in miles/hour?

Answer 1

i bet u its 89mph but idk how to do this

Answer 2

Try this: visualize the ball flying in 2 different directions at the same time (which is what actually happens here): vertically and horizontally. What are the horiz. and vert. components of the initial velocity of the golf ball?

Answer 3

How long does it take for the ball to travel 300 feet horizontally? What is the max. height reached by the ball?

Let v represent the initial velocity (which is our unknown).
The the vert. comp. of this init. vel. is v(sin 30 deg), and the horiz. comp. is v(cos 30 deg).

Answer 4

We are told that the ball travels 300 feet horiz., but are not told how long that takes.

Could you cook up an equation of motion for the vertical motion? Don't forget that the ball is always subject to the pull of gravity, and that you must thus use g for gravity, remembering that g in the English system is approx. 32.2 ft/(sec^2) .