Golfers - can you become king of the swingers?
1 Dec 2008 by Evoluted New Media
Visiting researcher to the University of Surrey, Professor Robin Sharp, has shed light on how to perform the perfect golf swing. His findings show that using full power at the start is not ideal, rather it is preferable to build power up quickly and that technique is not all in the wrists as many golf pros believe.
Visiting researcher to the University of Surrey, Professor Robin Sharp, has shed light on how to perform the perfect golf swing. His findings show that using full power at the start is not ideal, rather it is preferable to build power up quickly and that technique is not all in the wrists as many golf pros believe.
His computer model is based on three points of rotation: the shoulders relative to the spine, the arms relative to the shoulders and the wrists relative to the arms. By analysing the swings of golfing greats Bernard Hunt, Geoffrey Hunt and Guy Wolstenholme, Sharp found that control of the arms and not the wrists will achieve the most powerful swing. This was also analysed by tracking motions using facilities in Surrey’s Biomechanics lab where visitors don a suit covered in reflectors where movement is recorded using infrared cameras. The lab has been visited by golfing professionals Nick Faldo and Justin Rose.
It was also found that shorter golfers are not at a big disadvantage because of their height when it comes to big hitting. Strength and inertial variations seem more likely than size to account for hitting distance.
Professor Sharp said, “Generating too much arm speed too soon causes an early release, with the club-head reaching its maximum speed before it arrives at the ball.”
Golfers may find that putting Sharp’s method into practice is a whole different ball game.
