Hi Art - I've been holding out for a fuller explanation of these points for a while now. And what do you know, all this time you've been waiting to be asked!
I know you've said that you intended to only answer questions, or directly relevant posts. So I'd like to politely ask you to expand on what you've written above in as much detail as you think is useful, prudent or appropriate.
I have a few questions based on your post - but my feeling is that you could easily extend your discussion of balance and stability in the golf swing, and you would probably present a more coherent explanation in doing so - rather than simply answering direct questions, which I would probably table in the wrong order.
However, if it's at all helpful to clarify where my interests lie, I'd like to initially hear more on the idea of whether swings can be classified as either "balanced" or "unbalanced", or whether most swings can be characterised by a degree of imbalance and recovery. Or, alternatively, are there disadvantages to having too small a distance between the center of pressure on the ground and the distance to the 'instantaneous' center of mass? Would such a swing be less than optimally dynamic?
Many thanks
BS
Dear birly-shirly,
JUST HAD ANOTHER PROBLEM POSTING, this time MULTIPLE (4), posts repeated themselves, so I hope this WORKS.
Yes, IF I didn't just 'answer the post-ers questions, I could easily provide a NOT SO BRIEF 'briefing', but IMO, that would be inappropriate on any site other than my own.
So, as you have requested, let me address ONLY YOUR expanded questions.
I DO NOT attempt to classify swings as "balanced" or"unbalanced" EXCEPT to use more of the 'data' produced from the "unbalanced" swing to identify the sources of the errors, and to use the "data" from the "balanced" swing to REINFORCE the golfer that they just 'smoked it'.
IMO, it is VERY IMPORTANT to let the golfer know, FROM THE DATA that they just produced a swing VERY WORTH REPEATING. Yes, I realize EVERYONE reading this is thinking, every golfer KNOWS when they 'smoke, or stripe' it. To which I always respond, IMO, the 'computers' within every bodies body, (yes plural), have 'data files' of ALL your swings, and I BELIEVE, when a good or great shot is made, IT IS NECESSARY to intensely watch its flight until impact with the ground, so that the correct computer has the chance to (1) either start a NEW file, with BBKIB, if appropriate, or (2), ADD this shot to the existing file to eventually OVERPOWER the previous file of mixed-performance shots.
I prefer thinking about (1), in keeping with a new hypothesis I am developing and testing, regarding "UNLEARNING" as a way to DRAMATICALLY" reduce the time to develop a NEW and more desirable thinking pattern, or much more importantly, BODY MOVEMENT/MOTION HABIT. Simply stated, it REMOVES THE OLD DATA FILE, leaving just the NEW, good/great data, from which to operate.
As for the "degree of imbalance", any is bad, however with this sport, some will just play by hoping to improve their BAD shots, ie, the BEST BAD shots win. If you substitute UNBALANCED FOR BAD, I think my answer would be to prefer BALANCE and varying degrees of Good to Great shots as the goal, and with BBKIB, my experience, with decreased dispersion, THIS IS POSSIBLE.
Finally, regarding your question about a 'center of pressure' trace that is close to the 'instantaneous screw axis of rotation', I would just caution you that using this as a 'goal', on say the Dynamic Balance System (DBS), COULD lead to an emphasis on 'being on you heels', the other extreme of instability by possibly 'falling back', as the human body has almost NO capability for stability in that direction.
I would shoot for a trace that stays close to the bodies 'center of gravity', not rotation, the very essence of 'stability' of flight.
Best regards,
art
