Abstract

The purpose of this paper was to examine whether the ball position and wrist action (different types of torque application) could be optimised to increase the horizontal golf club head speed at impact with the ball. A two-dimensional double pendulum model of the golf downswing was used to determine to what extent the wrist action affected the club head speed in a driver, and how this affected the optimum ball position. Three different patterns of wrist actions (negative, positive, and negative-positive torque at the wrist) were investigated; and two criteria (maximum and impact criteria) were used to assess their effectiveness in terms of the maximum horizontal club head speed, and the club head speed as the shaft becomes vertical when viewed ‘face-on’. The simulation results indicated that the horizontal club head speed at impact could be increased by these patterns of wrist actions and the optimum ball position could be determined by the impact criterion. Based on the analysis of the energy flow from the input joints of shoulder and wrist to the arm and club head, the way the wrist action affects the club head speed has been discussed. The sensitivity of the results to small changes in model parameter values and initial conditions was investigated. The results were also examined under different torque patterns. Verf.-Referat