WILDTHING
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This is related to research done by Dr Sasho MacKenzie
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"Ever look at how you use the ground for power? One of the things we know about club head speed.... The more pressure under the lead foot when the shaft is perpendicular to the ground in the downswing, the higher the club head speed. "
"An increase in clubhead speed has to happen through your connection to the club…the hands. • The fastest hips in the world don’t matter if it doesn’t change the forces you apply to the club"
Work done on the club = Change in Energy of the club.
• Linear Work = Force x Distance
• Only the component of Force acting in the direction of travel does work
• Distance refers to the path travelled by the point that force is acting on
• For a golf club, the point of force application at the grip is of interest.
• Angular Work = Couple x Angular Distance
• Only the component of the Couple acting about the axis of rotation does work
• Angular Distance refers to the rotation of the club about the instantaneous axis
Linear work predicts 90% variability in clubhead speed (average force predicts 92% variability in clubhead speed)
Angular work predicts 9% variability in clubhead speed (average couple predicts only 2% increase in clubhead speed)
Gravity work predicts less than 0.01% variability in clubhead speed
Hand path length predicts more predictability in increasing clubhead speed than the 'hand couple' while 'angular' distance have no correlation with increasing clubhead speed.
In general, if a player is short of parallel at the top with driver, there is a good chance that getting them there will increase speed.
Should you :
1. Increase wrist angle?
2. Increase pelvis and/or torso rotation?
• Increasing wrist angle will only change angular distance (no Bueno)
• Increasing pelvis or torso rotation will increase handpath length and angular distance. • More muscles adding energy to the system
Increasing Swing Length
• A 10 cm (~ 4”) increase in handpath length would add an extra 2.4 mph
• A 30° difference in rotation would change clubhead speed by 0.2 mph
Practical Application – Increase Average Force
• Increasing the average force by 5 lbs increases clubhead speed by 7 mph. By far the biggest predictor of clubhead speed.
• “Go-to” for long term and persistent increases
• Physical training
• More nuanced technical modifications (ground interaction, improved kinematic sequence)
• Intent (maximum maximorum clubhead speed)
• Potential ‘quick fix’?
---------------
Hopefully I haven't misinterpreted this research but apparently increasing your wrist cock at the top of the backswing doesn't necessarily have any relationship with clubhead speed. You can create lag angle in the backswing and then try to rotate a greater angular distance around your wrists but that will only predict a 2% share of your clubhead speed. But what about retaining that lag angle closer to release , doesn't that help increase clubhead speed when 'the hands turn the corner' ? So isn't it more likely that a golfer might find it easier to create a greater lag angle at the top of his backswing so that he retains most of it (if not all of it) later in the downswing just before release?
The biggest factor in predicting clubhead speed is creating a greater amount of force along your hand path over a longer effective distance (wouldn't we all intuitively know this?)
Sasho Mackenzie has also mentioned that a faster backswing can also create a faster clubhead speed by impact . This is because you have to apply more force on the club to stop it in the backswing and therefore you have a 'ready made' increased hand force to start applying in the downswing. Not sure about anyone else but purposely swinging faster in the backswing will ruin my tempo in the downswing and although my clubhead speed might increase , the ball is more likely to go sideways.
No mention of the 'shape of the hand path' to influence clubhead speed which I found surprising . For instance if you were pulling along the length of the clubshaft quite actively (with passive oily wrists) and then abruptly changed the direction of your hand path 'pull' , wouldn't that action cause the club to rotate with an increasing angular velocity? I suspect that action is incorporated in the 'Linear Work' aspect of his research because to sharply change hand path direction takes a lot of pull force. That's because the club wants to continue to move in its original direction while the golfer is trying to pull it in another and that causes a big increase in the tension of the shaft which the golfer has to battle against . Therefore the amount of force and 'work' required to do that 'hands around the corner' move must be included in the 'Linear Work' he mentions above .
Not sure if this research is just confirming things that we are already 'intuitively' aware of.
ADDENDUM :
Just thought I'd add something which I found completely weird -look at diagram below about what would happen to the club if you applied a hand couple (ie. Equal force around a mid hand point ) at the grip. So when golf scientists explain the motion of the golf club using inverse dynamics (by resolving the motion into a net force and hand couple), this is the effect the hand couple will have on the club. This is not what I expected!!!
----------------------------
"Ever look at how you use the ground for power? One of the things we know about club head speed.... The more pressure under the lead foot when the shaft is perpendicular to the ground in the downswing, the higher the club head speed. "
"An increase in clubhead speed has to happen through your connection to the club…the hands. • The fastest hips in the world don’t matter if it doesn’t change the forces you apply to the club"
Work done on the club = Change in Energy of the club.
• Linear Work = Force x Distance
• Only the component of Force acting in the direction of travel does work
• Distance refers to the path travelled by the point that force is acting on
• For a golf club, the point of force application at the grip is of interest.
• Angular Work = Couple x Angular Distance
• Only the component of the Couple acting about the axis of rotation does work
• Angular Distance refers to the rotation of the club about the instantaneous axis
Linear work predicts 90% variability in clubhead speed (average force predicts 92% variability in clubhead speed)
Angular work predicts 9% variability in clubhead speed (average couple predicts only 2% increase in clubhead speed)
Gravity work predicts less than 0.01% variability in clubhead speed
Hand path length predicts more predictability in increasing clubhead speed than the 'hand couple' while 'angular' distance have no correlation with increasing clubhead speed.
In general, if a player is short of parallel at the top with driver, there is a good chance that getting them there will increase speed.
Should you :
1. Increase wrist angle?
2. Increase pelvis and/or torso rotation?
• Increasing wrist angle will only change angular distance (no Bueno)
• Increasing pelvis or torso rotation will increase handpath length and angular distance. • More muscles adding energy to the system
Increasing Swing Length
• A 10 cm (~ 4”) increase in handpath length would add an extra 2.4 mph
• A 30° difference in rotation would change clubhead speed by 0.2 mph
Practical Application – Increase Average Force
• Increasing the average force by 5 lbs increases clubhead speed by 7 mph. By far the biggest predictor of clubhead speed.
• “Go-to” for long term and persistent increases
• Physical training
• More nuanced technical modifications (ground interaction, improved kinematic sequence)
• Intent (maximum maximorum clubhead speed)
• Potential ‘quick fix’?
---------------
Hopefully I haven't misinterpreted this research but apparently increasing your wrist cock at the top of the backswing doesn't necessarily have any relationship with clubhead speed. You can create lag angle in the backswing and then try to rotate a greater angular distance around your wrists but that will only predict a 2% share of your clubhead speed. But what about retaining that lag angle closer to release , doesn't that help increase clubhead speed when 'the hands turn the corner' ? So isn't it more likely that a golfer might find it easier to create a greater lag angle at the top of his backswing so that he retains most of it (if not all of it) later in the downswing just before release?
The biggest factor in predicting clubhead speed is creating a greater amount of force along your hand path over a longer effective distance (wouldn't we all intuitively know this?)
Sasho Mackenzie has also mentioned that a faster backswing can also create a faster clubhead speed by impact . This is because you have to apply more force on the club to stop it in the backswing and therefore you have a 'ready made' increased hand force to start applying in the downswing. Not sure about anyone else but purposely swinging faster in the backswing will ruin my tempo in the downswing and although my clubhead speed might increase , the ball is more likely to go sideways.
No mention of the 'shape of the hand path' to influence clubhead speed which I found surprising . For instance if you were pulling along the length of the clubshaft quite actively (with passive oily wrists) and then abruptly changed the direction of your hand path 'pull' , wouldn't that action cause the club to rotate with an increasing angular velocity? I suspect that action is incorporated in the 'Linear Work' aspect of his research because to sharply change hand path direction takes a lot of pull force. That's because the club wants to continue to move in its original direction while the golfer is trying to pull it in another and that causes a big increase in the tension of the shaft which the golfer has to battle against . Therefore the amount of force and 'work' required to do that 'hands around the corner' move must be included in the 'Linear Work' he mentions above .
Not sure if this research is just confirming things that we are already 'intuitively' aware of.
ADDENDUM :
Just thought I'd add something which I found completely weird -look at diagram below about what would happen to the club if you applied a hand couple (ie. Equal force around a mid hand point ) at the grip. So when golf scientists explain the motion of the golf club using inverse dynamics (by resolving the motion into a net force and hand couple), this is the effect the hand couple will have on the club. This is not what I expected!!!
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