Abstract
The on-plane rotations of the inclined axle-chain system on the functional swing plane (FSP) can represent the angular motions of the golfer–club system closely. The purpose of this study was to identify key performance factors in golf through a comprehensive investigation of the association between the angular motion characteristics of the axle-chain system and clubhead speed in skilled golfers. Sixty-six male golfers (handicap ≤ 3) performed full-effort shots in three club conditions: driver, 5-iron, and pitching wedge. Swing trials were captured with an optical motion capture system, and the hip/shoulder lines, upper lever, club, and wrist angular positions/velocities were calculated. Time, angular position, range of rotation, and peak angular velocity parameters were extracted and their correlation coefficients (Pearson and Spearman) to actual and normalized clubhead speeds were computed (p < 0.05). Higher clubhead speed was associated with shorter downswing phases, larger rotation ranges (hip/shoulder lines, and upper lever), larger hip–shoulder separation at impact, delayed transitions (hip line and upper lever), faster rotations (backswing, downswing, and impact), and larger angular velocity losses (hip line and upper lever) with additional club- and body-specific correlations. Clubhead speed was not well associated with wrist cock angles/ranges, X-factors/stretches, and timings of the downswing peak.
Highlights
The golf swing is an angular motion-dominant sport movement in which a high clubhead speed is generated primarily by the angular motions of the golfer–club system
The main purpose of this study was to investigate the association between the on-plane angular motion parameters of the axle-chain system and clubhead speed in three different club conditions
While skilled male golfers overall showed proximal-to-distal transition sequences, the separation between the upper lever (UL) and club got obscured in the pitching wedge condition (Table 3). These findings suggest that more deviations from a full proximal-to-distal sequence may be observed in the shorter club conditions in some swing styles (e.g., LDS)
Summary
The golf swing is an angular motion-dominant sport movement in which a high clubhead speed is generated primarily by the angular motions of the golfer–club system. To develop a high clubhead speed, the golfer must (1) generate large external moments by using the ground reaction forces (GRFs) and moments (GRMs), and (2) transfer angular momentum sufficiently from the body to the club [1]. The legs are primarily involved in the golfer–ground interaction, while the trunk/arms are responsible for generation of a fast-angular motion of the club. The open chain was further modeled as a functional double-pendulum (FDP) system [3] in which the thorax, shoulder girdles, and arms form the upper lever (UL), while the club constitutes the lower lever (LL). In the FDP model, the hub of the open chain is located at the mid-section of the trunk through which the functional swing plane (FSP) [4] typically passes
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