Is golf swing planar or not? Young-Hoo Kwon, Ph.D. Biomechanics Laboratory Texas Woman’s University, Denton, TX Is golf swing planar or not? 6th World Scientific Congress of Golf, Phoenix, AZ
Golf Performance Factors Accuracy & consistency: Distance Direction Planar Motion? Planar motion = the simplest shape of motion Simple motion more accurate & consistent swing Impact Conditions: Motion of the clubhead (velocity) Orientation of the clubface Location of impact on the clubface
Swing Plane Swing Plane: Controversies: Mechanical Meaningfulness: A frequently used but misleading concept Controversies: Different definitions Single vs. multi-plane Swing planarity Mechanical Meaningfulness: Plane of motion of the club Directly related to the impact conditions
Functional Swing Plane TB All phases include BI. MF ED MD New Approach: Clubhead motion-centric Portion of the downswing (Kwon et al., 2012)
TB-MF ED-MF MD-MF
Actual Trajectory Projected Trajectory Instantaneous Rotation Center Rotation Arm Slope Direction Angle
FSP & Swing Styles Planar Semi-Planar Spiral
Shoulder-Ball Plane Double-Pendulum Triple-Pendulum Backswing Plane (Hogan & Wind, 1957; Cochran & Stobbs, 1968)
Motion Planes of the Arm/Shoulder Points L shoulder Plane L hand Plane
Left Shoulder Right Shoulder Right Elbow Left Hand
One-Plane vs. Two-Plane Swing Two-Plane Swing (Hardy & Andrisani, 2005)
On-Plane (Haney & Huggan, 1999)
TA LB TB
ED MD BI
Rotation Center & Arm Shape of Trajectory at BT Smooth Sharp
Sharp Transition near BI Impact Impact
A Bogey Player
Is Golf Swing Planar? Yes: No: A well-defined FSP could be determined regardless of the overall shape of the swing. FSP can be used in characetrizing a golfer’s swing. No: Motion planes of the arm points show large off-plane motions of the major players of the multi-pendulum model. Validity of the double- & triple-pendulum models is questionable.
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