Key muscles/ideas in creating club-head speed

[Richard Franklin]

With all that new science has taught us about how to maximize clubhead speed is it fair to assume the following:

1. Strong hands and wrists are more important than once thought due to their role in applying well timed and maximum torque (I recall Search for the Perfect Swing concluding that strong hands were not a necessity in long hitting).

2. Left thumb flexibility / "long left thumb" grip assembly is ultra important.

3. Leg and hip strength are relatively less important and probably serve their greatest function as a means to "going normal" and shallowing angle of attack by assisting the golfer in pulling up on the club?

 

[SteveT]

Your cogent questions deserve a semi-scientific reply... so here goes.

1. Strong hands and wrists are more important than once thought due to their role in applying well timed and maximum torque (I recall Search for the Perfect Swing concluding that strong hands were not a necessity in long hitting).

Rigid strong hands are death for the golfswing. Your wrists, hands and fingers must be strong AND supple so you can lightly grip the club while the kinetic energy flows to the clubhead. If you are uncertain about your golfswing you may apply a death grip out of fear and foreboding, which will short circuit the kinetic energy and mess up the timing too.

2. Left thumb flexibility / "long left thumb" grip assembly is ultra important.

I think that a long or short thumb position on the club handle depends on the anatomy of your hand. If your hand is short and thick, a short thumb may be a necessity... but if your hand is long and thin, a short thumb is unstable and a long thumb is necessary. What do others think on this topic?

3. Leg and hip strength are relatively less important and probably serve their greatest function as a means to "going normal" and shallowing angle of attack by assisting the golfer in pulling up on the club?

Wrong, wrong, wrong .... read this scientific news article:

Golf: Evidence of how 'loading the hips' improves golf drives

ScienceDaily (Sep. 7, 2010) — It's all in the hips. New research provides concrete evidence of how loading the hips improves the power and length of a golf drive. (click above link for more)

Hope this helps .....

 

[spktho]

Thanks for bumping this up SteveT, I'd like to throw in some input as well.

1. My take is the more power (strength and quickness) you can generate with your hands, the better in generating more club head speed. I don't know if this has more emphasis now or not.

2. I don't think left thumb flexibility is too big an issue. You can use a slightly bent lead arm elbow more if you have an inflexible thumb or radial deviation(wrist cock) inflexibility to get the "lag look" in the top of the the back swing and in the downswing.

3. I agree with SteveT that the legs, hips, and I'll throw in the torso are still very important. The force they generate to go normal is also very significant. I will also add that a more stable base has a greater ability to support a swing generating greater club head speeds.

 

[SteveT]

@ spktho .... yes these were good questions and now we have a scientific mentality to add to our feel mentality... both being necessary.

1. How can you 'generate' power with the hands? Are you referring to a 'hands force couple'?

2. Rather than bending the lead arm elbow would it not be more advisable to shorten the backswing and preserve hand stability?

3. Small 'scientific' nit-picking correction without any intent to belittle ... The legs hips and torso develop "torque" .. NOT "force"..... because torque is not a force and force is not a torque. Regardless, I know what you are saying and you are essentially correct. Perhaps if you said 'forceful torque'....

Ground reaction 'forces' do occur under the feet...

 

[spktho]

@ spktho .... yes these were good questions and now we have a scientific mentality to add to our feel mentality... both being necessary.

1. How can you 'generate' power with the hands? Are you referring to a 'hands force couple'?

2. Rather than bending the lead arm elbow would it not be more advisable to shorten the backswing and preserve hand stability?

3. Small 'scientific' nit-picking correction without any intent to belittle ... The legs hips and torso develop "torque" .. NOT "force"..... because torque is not a force and force is not a torque. Regardless, I know what you are saying and you are essentially correct. Perhaps if you said 'forceful torque'....

Ground reaction 'forces' do occur under the feet...

Lovin' the free education

1. Yes, much like how the hands are used to swing a hockey stick, baseball bat, axe, or dirt pick. This could have been described as stronger hands being able to perform a more forceful torque around the coupling point too, correct?

2. I think the old adage(sp?) about the straight left elbow is not too important and can be used to help maintain hand/wrist stability because radial deviation(or wrist cock) is a very restricted wrist motion, so people trying to gain lag with wrist cock have to extend (or cup) the left wrist which, as we know, opens the club face. They often try to correct this opening of the club face by having a stronger grip. Michael Jacobs also points this out in his video.

3. Thank you for the clarification. I have always understood torque as a force around a point as in twisting a screwdriver or in this case, the point(s) the force is around are the lumbar spinal joints, hip joints, and knee joints in order to "stand up" more from a bent over position.

 

[SteveT]

@ spktho ...

1. I've played hockey, street and ice... swung a bat, chopped wood, but not used a dirt pick... and my feel is the action of the hands is quite different than the golfswing... and I'm not so sure about applying a torque around the coupling point.

2. Bent left elbow at the top is okay provided it's unflexed quickly, otherwise unflexing deeper into the downswing is problematic. I think you would need very strong arms to maintain stability.

3. Yes, torque is a force around a point, but that means there is a force 'radius' that constrains the direction of the force. A plain 'force' is always in a straight line. Hope that helps.

 

[spktho]

On #1, you don't have a push with one hand and a pull with the other hand to get the bat head, hockey stick face, axe head, or golf head to accelerate?

 

[SteveT]

No... the hands coupling point is a geometric point and not necessarily the rotative point at all times in the downswing going into impact.

Don't forget the club and bat are freewheeling about the lead wrist joint. As for the hockey stick, the hands are so far apart, both hands are moving forward while angled to the stick.

 

[spktho]

Can one hand at least be pushing or moving forward more than the other in addition to the extension and flexion of the wrists?

 

[SteveT]

Yes, spktho.... one hand can be pushing or moving forward more than the other in addition to the extension and flexion of the wrists, but then the hands coupling point will not be the rotative center because the force couples are not equally shared ... and you may be flipping too.

(It's getting tough choosing the right words to explain things simply for a clear explanation ... apologies.)

 

[cmartingolf]

Strong hands can't mean much when it comes to overall speed. I think it helps a lot with slow swing clubhead control around the greens, etc.

One of my assistants is 145 pounds and could hardly tear a notebook in half, yet he can absolutely roast it. He'd blow away in a strong wind. His clubhead speed is 115 - 120 and he hits it in the middle of the face most of the time. The guy is simply fast. Some guys are fast and some aren't. I'm not fast, but I'm pretty strong. Wish I was "faster."

 

[spktho]

Yes, spktho.... one hand can be pushing or moving forward more than the other in addition to the extension and flexion of the wrists, but then the hands coupling point will not be the rotative center because the force couples are not equally shared ... and you may be flipping too.

(It's getting tough choosing the right words to explain things simply for a clear explanation ... apologies.)

I think I understand the stricter parameters or more precise explanation you are getting at. Feel free to use the technically correct terms, I can still learn some new things.

Yes, many have said that Michael and Brian's "new" release is teaching a flip because of them advocating the active flexion of the right wrist and extension of the left wrist early to midway in the downswing. But, Brian has defined a flip as the release of the club head too soon or prior to impact resulting in an ill-timed sequencing of the swing. Just another paradox in the golf swing feel vs. real.

I may have taken it a bit further--or too far--in trying to describe a shear force(hopefully the correct term for the pulling of one hand and the pushing of the other) applied by the hands to aid in the acceleration of the club head.

Oh, and along the lines Martin points out, what I meant by power of the hands/wrists was using them to accelerate the club quickly over a relatively short distance--please feel free to let me know the correct terminology.

 

[SteveT]

@ cmartingolf....

Your assistant is "secure" with his hands, and his clubhead speed is generated with optimal contribution from each segment of his light body mass.

If you measured his hip and shoulder rotation speeds you would be shocked. Remember kinetic energy is all about momentum, which in a simplified way is "mass x velocity". His mass is light but his hip and shoulder speed must be monstrous... and to support the flowing body torque he must be wiry too. Of course we know that smaller bodies can proportionately lift more weight than large bodies as in Olympic weight lifting.

Golf was a sport proportioned for the smaller body, and a larger body needs longer arms to match the equipment. I'm tall and slim, but my clubs are 2º up and extended 1".. definitely not a good solution for my longer clubs, but I'm great with my short irons and my vertical swing. It's called skinning the cat, I suppose. Wanna bet that Woods, Els, other tall players have exceptionally long arms??

 

[ej20]

Steve,is there more information about loading the hips being a big influence in power?That article you posted didn't really go into much detail.How does one go about getting more loading in the hips?

 

[SteveT]

Good question, ej20... but you just don't load the hips, you load the rear leg to enable you to launch your rear hip. Try this, standing up with a somewhat wider stance, put most of your weight on your rear leg and then lower yourself without any rotation. What you feel is your rear leg loading up. Now try to rotate your torso around with minimal hip rotation as stated in the article... and you've loaded your core muscles for when you launch your mass shift and downswing rotations.

The legs load the hips from the ground up with corresponding Ground Reaction Forces, and your torso core muscle tension locks because you resist rotating your hips too much. You must rotate the hips a bit otherwise you'll limit your shoulder turn.

Remember, the hips themselves mostly represent mass or weight that is going to be propelled to create a large momentum burst to start the kinetic energy chain that flows upwards to your shoulders which in turn provide the torque that flings your arms and clubs in the downswing. No scientific secret here... whiz those hips and then experience a raw power surge that you may not be able to transfer to your shoulders, and if you do, your arms will fling wildly out of sync!!

If your hip joints are somewhat inflexible due to arthritis or frozen from sitting too much, and you have lower lumbar pain, I don't recommend this hip loading manoever. Also watch out if you have knee joint problems, because the twisting shear loading across both knees increases dramatically.

Most rec golfers just rotate the hips and shoulders in unison with little x-factor separation or stretch of the various muscles involved, which is a massive power loss in the kinetic chain. Pro golfers whip their hips around well before their shoulders rotate rapidly... and even keeping their back to the target just a tad longer before committing the shoulder rotation.

Hope that helps ....

 

[drewyallop]

Tried the new release yet Steve? If yes, any comments?

 

[Brian Manzella]

Here is my take (and I am sure Mike Jacobs agrees).

If you learn to follow the hub path ideals, and "line the club up for impact" correctly, you will have MUCH BETTER body positioning and action.

I would like to reserve discussion on this important topic to AFTER the Anti-Summit, as it will be covered in detail.

deal?

 

[SteveT]

@drewyallop .... I have not altered my release action, but I may already be incorporating the "new" release because my downswing shaft loading profile is a double peak (per TT ShaftLab).

The first peak is my initial acceleration from the top reversal while the second peak covers the "toss-out" which momentarily increases the arms-club assembly MOI to slow down the rotation causing the dip between the loading peaks... then I apply the hand coupling torque to regain clubhead speed for the second loading peak going into final release.

Tuttleman explains the TT ShaftLab loading profiles in his science website.