Consider the golf ball as the standardized projectile for trebuchet competitions. Unlike the pumpkins in punkin chunkin which easily "pie" (disintegrate on launch), golf balls are designed to survive extreme acceleration and impact. Also, the distance traveled by a golf ball is something many people can relate to.
A pumpkin disintegrates on landing, making it easy to mark the landing point. A golf ball bounces and rolls, so the final resting spot could be much further than the distance flown as a projectile. I think there's no way to avoid bouncing: the elasticity that allows it to survive launch necessarily causes a bounce at the end. Maybe a muddy landing site.
How can the flight of a golf ball best be tracked? Maybe the golfers have already solved this problem.
Radar? Perhaps put a metallic shell on the ball to make it more radar reflective? Tangentially, bullets are metal. Can they be tracked by radar?
High speed cameras can triangulate velocity vector on launch, from which the trajectory can be calculated. Perhaps this calculation should be the official distance, removing the effects of wind and air pressure, allowing distances to be compared from year to year despite changing weather. This requires a standardized golf ball: no tricks in improving flight with a better dimple pattern.
Hold the competition at a golf course, a venue designed to handle wayward shots. Limit the energy budget so that the longest launches do not exceed the length of the hole.
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