A famous golfer tees off on a straight 390 yard par 4 and slices his drive to the right. The drive goes 280 yards from the tee. Using a 7-iron on his second shot, he hits the ball 180 yards and it lands inches from the hole. How many degrees (to the nearest degree) to the right of the line from the tee to the hole did he slice his drive?

Question

A famous golfer tees off on a straight 390 yard par 4 and slices his drive to the right. The drive goes 280 yards from the tee. Using a​ 7-iron on his second​ shot, he hits the ball 180 yards and it lands inches from the hole. How many degrees​ (to the nearest​ degree) to the right of the line from the tee to the hole did he slice his​ drive?

Ciara · Accepted Answer

Im still not understanding.

Reiny · Answer

Instead of the triangle having sides 390, 280, and 180
let's use the similar triangle of 39, 28, 18 , the angles of course remain the same.

looks like we need the angle opposite the side 18,
using the cosine law:
18^2 = 39^2 + 28^2 - 2(39)(28) cosØ
2184cosØ = 1981
cosØ = 1981/2184 = ....

Ø =