Post by dubiousgolfer on May 21, 2017 7:46:08 GMT -5
There is a really good article below that attempts to describe the forces/torques that are used in the 'Release' phase of the golf swing.
www.angelfire.com/realm/moetown/mandrin/golf/RELEASE_MYTH_REAL_1.html
It sort of explains how various golf instructors and scientists have confused many academic golf students with the use of 'Centrifugal' force. I always thought it was clubhead inertial mass (some mysterious innate property that cannot be seen or measured) that gave the impression of centrifugal force. But this article has basically proved its existence but not in the way many people have interpreted it.
I'm not mathematically educated enough to understand the differential equations or even validate their accuracy but found the conclusions very interesting.
Double Pendulum
1) release torque is generated primarily by the radial acceleration of the arms.
2) therefore, path of hands is important as radial acceleration is due to a curvilinear path, a circle in our analysis.
3) furthermore, speed of hands is important as radial acceleration is proportional to hand speed squared.
The surprising fact for many will probably be that the very large centripetal acceleration of the club has no bearing on release. Usually and erroneously one takes this large force to be a centrifugal force acting out from the clubhead. Even admitting, for a brief moment, this to be true it still could not contribute to release as it is a vector aligned with the club shaft during release, and hence can't produce any release torque.
Triple Pendulum
The forces and torques are shown using the same scale to allow comparison. Notice that the joint force associated with the radial (centripetal) acceleration of the club, see Fig34a, is much larger than the other joint forces, and yet producing zero torque, contributing to the release action, Fig34b. This large force is usually and erroneously being taken as the centrifugal force acting outward on the clubhead.
The beauty of the graphical presentation of forces and torques is that it gives a clear instantaneous picture of the relative importance of the various joint forces during all of the down swing. It can be seen immediately, as for the double pendulum model, that the release torque is generated almost exclusively by the radial (centripetal) acceleration of the arm, Figs 38a/b.
The triple and double pendulums have for all practical purposes the same release behaviour for the club segment. As can be seen from the graphs the shoulder segment motion does not produce any significant force/torque at the wrist joint.
Conclusions
- Centrifugal force does not power the swing. Also it does not play a role in the release of the club through impact.
- The release is not caused by a centrifugal force acting through the clubhead but by a torque developed at the butt end of the club.
- The impetus for this release torque is generated primarily by the radial acceleration of the arms/hands.
- Swinging or hitting, the arguments above do apply.
www.angelfire.com/realm/moetown/mandrin/golf/RELEASE_MYTH_REAL_1.html
It sort of explains how various golf instructors and scientists have confused many academic golf students with the use of 'Centrifugal' force. I always thought it was clubhead inertial mass (some mysterious innate property that cannot be seen or measured) that gave the impression of centrifugal force. But this article has basically proved its existence but not in the way many people have interpreted it.
I'm not mathematically educated enough to understand the differential equations or even validate their accuracy but found the conclusions very interesting.
Double Pendulum
1) release torque is generated primarily by the radial acceleration of the arms.
2) therefore, path of hands is important as radial acceleration is due to a curvilinear path, a circle in our analysis.
3) furthermore, speed of hands is important as radial acceleration is proportional to hand speed squared.
The surprising fact for many will probably be that the very large centripetal acceleration of the club has no bearing on release. Usually and erroneously one takes this large force to be a centrifugal force acting out from the clubhead. Even admitting, for a brief moment, this to be true it still could not contribute to release as it is a vector aligned with the club shaft during release, and hence can't produce any release torque.
Triple Pendulum
The forces and torques are shown using the same scale to allow comparison. Notice that the joint force associated with the radial (centripetal) acceleration of the club, see Fig34a, is much larger than the other joint forces, and yet producing zero torque, contributing to the release action, Fig34b. This large force is usually and erroneously being taken as the centrifugal force acting outward on the clubhead.
The beauty of the graphical presentation of forces and torques is that it gives a clear instantaneous picture of the relative importance of the various joint forces during all of the down swing. It can be seen immediately, as for the double pendulum model, that the release torque is generated almost exclusively by the radial (centripetal) acceleration of the arm, Figs 38a/b.
The triple and double pendulums have for all practical purposes the same release behaviour for the club segment. As can be seen from the graphs the shoulder segment motion does not produce any significant force/torque at the wrist joint.
Conclusions
- Centrifugal force does not power the swing. Also it does not play a role in the release of the club through impact.
- The release is not caused by a centrifugal force acting through the clubhead but by a torque developed at the butt end of the club.
- The impetus for this release torque is generated primarily by the radial acceleration of the arms/hands.
- Swinging or hitting, the arguments above do apply.