How can science improve your golf swing? Some Stanford University researchers believe their digital cameras have captured the perfect golf swing. The key question is whether that knowledge can be transferred to your golf swing.
PGA professionals have known for a long time that proper technique within the golf swing is critical to ball speed. No matter the size or the strength of the golfer, a swing without solid technical elements will lose much of its force. Even at the age of 61, five-time British Open winner Tom Watson can hit a ball with more power, and farther, than fit competitors half his age.
In a high-tech analysis of golfers, a research team identified several key biomechanical factors that produce power, separating the elite professionals from the duffers. At the university’s Motion and Gait Analysis Lab, 10 pros used a 5 iron to swing at ping-pong balls on a linoleum floor, wearing only shorts and dozens of tiny silver light-reflecting balls. The volunteers were all Stanford alumni and included Will Yanagisawa, a Hawaii Pearl Open winner, and former pro Notah Begay, who is now an analyst with the Golf Channel.
Eight cameras made a digital record of their bodies during the golf swing, then compared the data to less reformed swings of amateurs. The team found that professionals’ swings are highly consistent, virtually indistinguishable from each other. And the pros, unlike the five amateurs who also volunteered in the study, always initiated their downswing by rotating their hips.
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