Lag in the shaft

[dmurfet]

I just saw this video posted on you tube and had to do a double take (actually watched it 6 times)

As I had always understood it you tuned the frequency of shaft recovery to coincide withe the clubhead returning to impact - but check the slow motion around 32 seconds into the tape and the frame before impact is hugely bowed past where I would have expected it to be.

Tiger Woods Golf Swing (Side and Back) @ 2009 US PGA - YouTube

It would appear to look at it that the over recovery of the shaft lag would leak a huge amount of power not to overlook the alignment issues at impact - am I being stupid or does anyone else think this looks odd?

High speed photography has certainly changed the way I think about quite a few things!

 

[Weetbix]

The way digital cameras work is that they take a picture from one edge of the frame across to the other. This means that there is a time difference with every line of data captured. Obviously it's a very small delay but given how fast the shaft moves it can create some incredible illusions.

Looking at the video I would say that the capture is from the top to the bottom which is why the clubhead at the bottom of the page looks to be ahead of the handle, because by the time it is captured it is. It's also why at the beginning of the downswing the bend is so far the other way. And why the change from well behind to WAAAAYYYY in front is so quick!

 

[BertramSterling]

The shaft doesn't actually bend like that - the camera starts processing the image (not sure of correct terms) from top to bottom. The faster the swing the more likely you'll 'outrun' the camera, so it appears to bend a lot.

Also, might be wrong on this, but I *think* some older cameras would work the opposite way, from bottom to top, and thats how we got some shots of the club head lagging way behind the grip end..